Abandoned Boat

[Randomhorse]

Hi all, This is my first post for critique - hope I can learn loads from your comments

Whilst out camping in the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand, we came across this abandoned boat. I love scenes like this - they conjour up feelings of lonelyness and mystery - how did this boat come to be abandoned there? What happened to the owners? I felt the image best conveyed these feelings in black and white. I spent a fair bit of time with the channel mixer in photoshop doing the B&W conversion and then playing with curves and dodging and burning to try and enhance the shadows.
Unfortunately, this was taken a couple of years ago before I had any idea of exposure and highlight clipping etc so the boat itself is rather over exposed.
What I'd like to know is:
a) Composition. I chose this crop (the original image was much more expansive) to ensure the boat was the definite subject, but I think it still gets a little bit lost whith the shrubbery and background competing for attention. The trouble is, I think the mountain and sky are necessary to give the abandoned feeling I'm after. Do you think a different crop would work better?
b)Contrast. Sometimes I look at this pic and feel it is still a little flat. Is there anything I can or should do to adjust for this or have I just been looking at it too long?!

Any comments or criticism are welcome

Thanks
Chris



EXIF:
Camera make and model: Panasonic DMC TZ3
Focal length: 4.6mm (28 in 35mm equivalent)
ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/1250
Aperture: f3.3