How do you end up with just a hull?

Rob B

Rob B

Well-Known Member
I see folks in the want ads looking for all of the gear for a laser. They have the hull and spars, but nothing else. My question: How do you end up with everything found on a laser stored at a YC, but nothing else? It just always makes me think of what you'd end up with if you had a "hot" boat.

I guess some of these can come from estate sales, or storage facilities and YC's selling abandoned boats, but I would think that does not happen often.

Has anyone here started with just a hull and spars or just a hull? If so, how did you end up in that situation?
 
I agree that is wierd, I recently saw a stack of 5 of them (all pretty beat up with no spars) on ebay they sold for under a grand. Those seemed to have come from a defunct sailing program that some ebayer picked up at auction somewhere. Also there is a hull right now on ebay that looks like it was stripped of all hardware etc. Hopefully those are not "hot" hulls. With Ebay and other online venues someone could readily sell all the pieces parts so that might be one way. The other would be as you say a hull abandoned at a yacht club with just spars.
 
Maybe it would be useful to post a list of Stolen hull numbers on here soemwhere if that is the case? If there are police reports out there somewhere (or insurance claims) it would be easy enough to trace if one showed up. Why someone would steal just a hull is wierd though... The big money is all in the hardware.
 
Rob B said:
I see folks in the want ads looking for all of the gear for a laser.

Has anyone here started with just a hull and spars or just a hull? If so, how did you end up in that situation?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't automatically assume they were stolen. Sometimes they just get abandoned.

Last year when I became fleet captain there were two Laser hulls in the dinghy rack that no one knew anything about. They had been there a long time and most people assumed that they were donated to the club at some point. But there were no records of donations or anyone having rented space for them. There were no spars or blades. After posting club wide notices for several months, we tried to sell them, but no one wanted them as the decks were really soft and delaminated. We ended up carting them off to the land fill after pulling what little hardware was left on them.
 
It's from boats that have belonged to YCs and junior programs, etc...

They start with, say, 6 boats.

As you know, daggerboards, rudders, spars, lines, parts and pieces all break and get lost.

Something breaks, the club doesn't need the boat that badly, doesn't have the scratch handy to pay 250 for a new (say) daggerboard, and now you have 5 usable boats. Soon, you're scavenging other parts off that one sidelined boat in order to keep the other 5 in working condition. The hull sits on some grassy lawn somewhere. Eventually, you're down to 4, or 3 working boats, or whatever. Eventually, someone wants the space, (maybe they get some newer boats donated to them) and so the YC sells (for chump change) or gives away the hull with whatever few parts remain to it.

This is unbelievably common. My YC has like 5 aging laser hulls they want to get rid of, but they're unwilling to sell them without clear DMV title, and no club volunteer wants to spend the necessary time (day) down at DMV doing everything required in order to get it all cleared up so they can sell them. And so, the hulls continue to sit.
 
My situation. My dad and I were given an old laser from a neighboor at the beach whose son didnt sail it anymore. Only thing that was good was the hull. We sanded the entire boat, patched some spots and painted it. The boat looked brand new. Bought everything for the boat. I mean everything, rudder tiller, boom, masts, sails, lines and rigging. Sailed it a few times but it was stolen a few months after being finished. All they took was the hull, I still have everything for the boat and it basically new. I am actively looking for a Hull around South Carolina thats old-ish, I would love to find an old YC boat that needs a little work. I dont get to sail much, and its only for fun and dont care what it looks like. But i understand just having either a hull or everything but the hull.
 
Try this club. We cleaned up some old dingy racks a couple of years ago and there was at least 1 old laser hull the club WAS trying to get $ 250.00 for. The club manager is Bo.

http://www.byscnet.com/
 
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