The 43-foot Triton sits in Morro Bay, slowly decaying, its hull worn and waterlogged, deemed “abandoned,” “unseaworthy,” and “a threat to pollute.”
It’s not the only neglected boat in the bay gradually surrendering to the water, but the city is preparing to demolish the Triton and other abandoned vessels with the help of a state grant.
“As stewards of the harbor and ocean environment, these grants enable the Harbor Department to continue to accept surrendered vessels for demolition prior to them becoming abandoned and posing hazards to navigation or the environment,” Harbor Business Manager Lori Thompson said in an Oct. 14 staff report.
The $15,750 grant from the California State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways—known as SAVE, or the Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange—supports local harbor jurisdictions in demolishing abandoned boats and accepting voluntary vessel turn-ins before they sink or release hazardous materials into the water.
The current grant cycle covers the demolition of several boats already identified by the Morro Bay Harbor Department. Along with the Triton, four others have been surrendered by their owners: the Travel, Why Not, Starduster, and Kaifu. The vessels range from 16 feet to 41 feet and are in various states of disrepair.
Harbor staff say additional vessels may soon join the list. Two others, the El Solyo and Native Dancer, are considered likely future abandonments because of extensive past due fees. And another boat, the Grandlainie, may be voluntarily surrendered after the city determined its mooring is in “disrepair.”
For longtime Morro Bay Yacht Club member Charlie Nichols, boats in disrepair are easy to spot in the harbor.
“I’ve seen demolished boats that are old and falling apart,” Nichols said. “People get into old boats, they may run into financial issues, and sometimes they just abandon them. It’s probably an OK thing for the harbor that they remove them.”
Nichols described the demolition process in detail: At high tide, crews bring the boats in, haul them up the launch ramp and begin cutting them apart. Before demolition, fuel and diesel tanks are drained, and wood, fiberglass, and debris are loaded into dumpsters and trucked away.
“It breaks my heart to see really cool old boats just cut up,” Nichols said. “There was one huge wooden boat with a ton of bronze hardware that should have gone to a museum. I asked if I could salvage anything, and they said no. … It’s part of the program. I get why, but it’s a shame.”
Nichols said neglected vessels tend to accumulate in back bay areas near the RV park and in older mooring fields.
“Just by walking around, you can see a lot of boats that aren’t going out on the water anymore,” he said.
Thompson explained that identifying at-risk boats starts long before they become wrecks.
“The Harbor Department identifies vessels in danger of abandonment and prioritizes removal of them by working with willing owners, as well as identifying and prioritizing vessels in probable need of future abatement,” she said in an email to New Times.
Determining when a vessel is officially abandoned can involve months of monitoring, warnings, and attempts to contact the registered owner. In cases where the owner can’t be located or there is no registration, the city must begin a legal title process with the DMV before demolition can occur.
“The average costs of a vessel that is turned in by an owner over 30 feet is $4,327 and under 30-foot vessel is $2,818,” Thompson said. “Average cost for a vessel that is abandoned [and] is over 30 feet is $4,818.”
Given that the city has a projected $17,325 worth of demolitions on its plate and a grant of $15,750, the Harbor Department is already operating with a deficit.
When asked whether the funding is enough to address the backlog, Thompson simply said, “no.”
The additional funds needed, however, will be met with “in-kind costs”—such as city staff time spent administering the grants—through the department’s operating budget, Thompson said.
Paul Gillen, president of Associated Pacific Contractors, a local marine contractor, has handled vessel disposals in Morro Bay when projects don’t go out to competitive bid. He said vessels need to be found in one of three conditions to go through the disposal process.
“One where somebody abandons their vessel and we have to go through a DMV procedure, like a lien sale, to get entitled to it so we can dispose of it. The other option is if somebody doesn’t pay their bills for storage in the marina or on a mooring, we have to go through the same procedure in order to get rid of the boat, either for disposal or resale,” Gillen said. “And then the third is if somebody just wants to dispose of their own boat and they’ll sign the title over and it gets disposed of either by the city grant, or they pay somebody to dispose of it.”
Gillen noted that large removals usually go out to competitive bid, though smaller cases are handled individually. Contractors must be capable of draining fuel and safely dismantling vessels before disposal.
“It’s probably a good thing overall,” Nichols said. “It keeps the harbor clear, and people who want to use their boats don’t have to navigate around hazards.”
Morro Bay has participated in the SAVE program and its predecessor grants for more than a decade, according to a staff report. The program began when two state efforts—the Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund (created in 2009) and the Vessel Turn-In Program (also created in 2009)—were merged into a single funding stream, Thompson said. Together, they help coastal agencies remove abandoned vessels and accept voluntary turn-ins before they become environmental hazards.
“To date, together the Harbor Department has received and expended over $203,500 in 10 separate grants,” Thompson said.
The Harbor Department’s previous grants, $72,000 in combined funding (from a 2023 SAVE grant and leftover Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office allocations), were fully exhausted by year’s end, according to the staff report.
Removal work is expected to begin at the beginning of next year, when the launch ramp is less impacted. Thompson said the Harbor Department will remove as many vessels as possible with the funding available and continue monitoring other boats in danger of abandonment.
Had the city not received the funding, Thompson said the vessels would still be removed “but not in a timely fashion, increasing risk of pollution or navigation hazard.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Chloë Hodge at chodge@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-16, 2025.
The owners of these boats aren’t charged for their removal? There has to be more to this story. Like a rental unit I would expect that whoever owns the slip would be able to “claim” the boat once payments go delinquent for a period of time. Then they would be able to sell or scrap the boat instead of taxpayers footing the bill. Where do you think that grant money comes from?
I think a lot of people abandon boats in MB because it’s the only natural harbour between SF Bay and So Cal. They get sucked in by the tide with engine trouble, can’t afford to fix, and just leave the vessel. Sadly, a place where dreams go to die.
They don’t want people salvaging boats because they make money off of destroying them. They obviously put more in their own pockets that way.
The law of the water is much different from the law of the land. Frankly, an abandoned boat is fair game and they do not have the jurisdiction to prevent a person from salvaging an abandoned boat.
In 1988, I wrote a story for the Telegram-Tribune about live-aboards in Morro Bay. There was a couple named John and Margie Liston who lived on their trawler named the Triton. They were in their 70s then, so it’s unlikely they still own it, but I wonder if was once theirs? They had marvelous tales to tell of their fishing years. Ironically, before they met and moved to Morro Bay in 1974, Margi had paid $400 for a sinking cabin cruiser named the Edna down in San Pedro and restored it to its original 1915 luxury.