What boats leave behind.
ReFloat turns end-of-life boats into a school, a workshop and a shop, in that order.
Mission
We care for our coast locally, we teach what the ocean receives, we take direct action on what boats leave behind, and we count the impact.
What it is
ReFloat is an Open Coastal Laboratory: a workshop being set up to take apart and study end-of-life or abandoned boats and reclaim their materials, with the people who live alongside them.
It has to pay its own way, be good for people and be good for the coast, all three at once.
How an object moves through ReFloat
- Raise awareness
- Collect
- Repair
- Transform
- Recycle
A boat that can still sail is kept sailing first.
Four pillars
- Dismantling as an education platformSchools will visit the workshop to see up close what a boat leaves behind. Each boat taken apart becomes a case: its story, its materials, and where its waste would have gone. Pupils learn from real hulls and parts, not handouts.
- Reuse and repurposeTested equipment goes back on sale as it is. Sails, canvas and expired safety gear become bags, covers and other products.
- Learning through workTrainees at a distance from the labour market learn at the bench, with supervision: repairing, sewing, repurposing.
- Responsible disposalOne door for a boat at the end of its life: useful parts stay, the hull goes to a certified partner, and the owner receives a certificate.
How it works
The workshop is designed so that those who buy keep the school open. Income is meant to come from the shop for tested parts, products made from sails and canvas, sessions with schools and organisations, and fees paid by owners, marinas and municipalities for removing boats and harvesting their parts. Those who learn (pupils, teachers, trainees and refitters on small budgets) do not always pay. The balance between sources is not yet set.
What we count
Starting from zero: kilograms kept from waste, parts reused, products made, trainees placed, boats disposed of with a certificate, pupils through the workshop and cases published.
Where it starts
ReFloat grew from a conversation among fellow sailors, on 10 September 2026, about what happens to pleasure boats at the end of their life.
The Netherlands first, in a neighbourhood community workshop in Amsterdam. Portugal and Brazil are being explored.
Status
Early stage: a continuous social design project, built in the open. First concept and business plan drafted around 10 September 2026.
Designed to be governed with its community, for the common good. Legal form to be decided.