Last chance

Gig Harbor Yacht Sales (Gig Harbor, WA)

Literally, last chance, as last I heard it was scheduled to be scrapped around this time.

Wifey B: Rather than Kalakala, I like the name Kackerlacka better for it....

Gorgeous! What a wild design. All those plates had to be bent...

Hubby is correct. The Kalakala is being scrapped. The latest owner has no funds, the CG has deemed it a hazard to navigation so the state is scrapping it. That picture looks great but it currently looks nothing like that. Nothing has been done to it other than keep it floating for at least 8-10 years.

Poor thing, very sad - but at some point the struggle to keep that boat alive just becomes too much. I've been watching that story since I lived in Alaska in the 80's and 90's. Certainly the current owner wants to recover some of his costs, but it's the kind of project now where you'd be lucky to find someone to take it at $0 purchase price. It's like the Queen Mary in Long Beach, constant streams of money poured in by hopeful investors and buyers over the years, but you're always fighting constant - and expensive - deterioration.

Well, the previous owner had it for sale for $1. Then the CG stepped in and said it was unfit. The owner then sued the state, saying they should fix it.

I don't know what facilities are available to destroy it in the Tacoma area or how they handle a vessel this large. Last year there were three fishing vessels destroyed by the state in Westport. Basically they were pulled to the ramp area and then dragged up on shore. They used a track loader to beat and batter them into submission and into pieces. As they'd get one section, they'll pull the boat further up and get another. All the pieces went into dumpsters and were hauled off.

Greetings,
That's gonna be a shatload of dumpsters...

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
That's gonna be a shatload of dumpsters...

Click to expand...

Yes, but amazing how a crushed boat fits. I think Washington has a good program for disposing of abandoned vessels, just not enough budget to do but so many a year.

Also not sure how the ownership of this vessel was transferred if it has been. Vessels over 65' and 40 years old must be inspected to have ownership transferred.

From last year:

The FV Centennial, FV Crosswinds and FV Great Northern V, three vessels that were pulled ashore at the public boat launch last week and deconstructed, with their remains hauled away.

Over a five-day period, the combined crew in turn pulled, pushed, prodded and then pummeled each boat into submission with the remains loaded into Dumpsters for disposal.

The project was not without major challenges, however. While the Crosswinds succumbed to its final demise with relative ease on Monday morning, the Centennial and Great Northern V each presented unique problems. Steel stabilizing batwings attached to the keel of the Centennial made her reluctant to come out of the water. Sorenson was force to lighten the load by crunching the bow and much of the boat’s superstructure at the base of the boat launch before the rest of the vessel could be dragged fully ashore to face final demolition.

The FV Great Northern V had tons of poured ballast concrete covering its keel, making its overall weight a major problem. Again, Sorenson had to remove much of the upper portion of the vessel to lighten the load enough to get it up on level ground to complete deconstruction.

Now obviously those don't approach the size of this vessel and I don't know what methods they might use for this one. I wonder if it would just crumble if they tried a crane. Perhaps a marine railway. But then how to get it to either. Quite a challenge ahead.