BlueStringPudding

To be honest, I the owner knows it's deteriorating badly. He bought it like that I assume, thinking he could do a quick botch-job to hide the defects and sell it on. However (and this came straight from the broker's mouth!) he's told them he can't handle it and wants them to sell it straight away. He only bought it last summer from the same broker and by the autumn gave up on it. It's never even left their boatyard. I don't doubt for a second that the vendor as well as the broker know the state of the boat. Perhaps the vendor bough it when the paintwork looked better, (but there would still have been a lot of tell-tale signs of the rust) and maybe he didn't know to look out for those signs himself? Who knows - perhaps he was a bit conned too? You're right about the joinery - there's gaps, and rough edges and splintering wedges used to prop up windows - bizarre, really. I could do a beter job and I haven't done woodwork since making a rather nice spatula in CDT when I was 13! I think you're right - this poor boat is not far off scrap now. I should imagine the bottom or entire hull would need replacing, all the surfaces of steel would need grinding back to find anything that was smooth and resembled metal and the entire inside stripped out because the damp has been covered and not treated. It'd be cheaper to start again - what you'd call in motoring terms a write-off! Regarding your last point, if they don't withdraw it from sale it ought to be advertised as a project. (Which means they need to greatly reduce the asking price) I think it will have sunk by this time next year. Sad but true.

Thanks for the advice Dan - it's always good to hear which brokerages people recommend - and yes, it's sad when that happens to a boat. I hadn't anticipated the boat being luxuirous at all especially as at my price range I want something basic inside to enable me to get as much length of boat as possible for my money. However this poor old thing was shot to b*ggery! I'd love to see your pictures of her in her hey day. I'll PM you with me e-mail address. Thanks Thanks Charles, Yes, I look at the Apollduck site most weeks as well as Whilton, VC, Harral (but no more, eh!?), Crick and a couple of others who's names escape me right now. I do find often the boats on Apolloduck seem pricer than similar craft on some brokerage sites. Or maybe that's just my imagination? Thanks for your recommendation, though. Much appreciated. Hi Noah, I suspected what I went through yesterday was unlikely to be the first time that had happened there! Thanks for your reply. We expect to be perhaps a little disppointed on a few points when looking at a boat that doesn't quite live up to our expectations, it's the same as househunting in that way, but I was shocked at how ridiculously out of synch with what I'd been told, this boat actually was. What surprises me is how the brokerage thinks this tactic helps them sell boats - it must put more people off ever going back to look at future boats with them. Oh well, I'm happy to keep travelling round when a bargain boat pops up somewhere - it's part of the fun and useful experience too. Thanks, Yes - it's the job of many a salesman to sell the unsellable. The owner has been on the boat in the last couple of months, and indeed the staff at the brokerage have been on the boat in the last fornight; so their excuses were pants! I don't think the refit is 20 years old - I think the boat is, but the new ply and batonning which is hiding the damp and stopping the windows from falling in seems to have been done in the last year. Also the shower tray and some of the B&Q style melamine kitchen cupboards look very recently installed. The whole thing is a very bad cover-up job. The thick rust outside has been recently painted over on half the boat only - but not filed down or treated, so it's already started seeping through and just my fingertip could rub away chunks of paint and rust from it. If even a rookie like me can spot it, I doubt they'll sell the boat before it sinks.

Ladies and gentlemen... spot the difference: and this: One of these images is how the broker saw this particular boat, the other is how I saw it! (And I've taken care to ensure the name of the boat is unreadable) The winner gets a bucket full of iron oxide Yes, today I ventured up to my first narrowboat "viewing". The brokerage in question remebered I was coming and travelling quite far, which was nice of them. Then they handed me the keys to the boat and a map of how to find it and sent me on my way. I reminded them that on the phone I was told that someone would come with me to start up the engine etc. To which they told me to go and look at it first and then phone them on my mobile if I want them to come over. Needless to say my spidey senses started tingling! And justifiably so - I met a boat that, in my opinion, contradicted a plethora of facts that the brokers had A advertised on their website; B publicised in their detailed handout about the boat and; C told me (in answer to specific questions) on the phone. So rather than waste the opportunity (and the £40 train fare) I still had a jolly good look round and photographed every nook and cranny. Why? Well, as bench marks go for comparing boats that I may view in the future (elsewhere!) you might as well have a low one. I won't go into reams of details here, but there's a lovely gallery of highlights of the trip to the brokerage on my profile page, if anyone cares to look. When I returned to the brokerage office I asked them what they understand by the term "Trades Description Act" and shared a few of what I consider to be glaring lies I had been told by them in advance. And I don't mean a glossing over of a few minor defects, or naivity because they've taken the vendor's word as good, I mean utter contradictions that came from them. They had little answer for it except that "they hadn't been down to look at the boat for a while" (despite twice in the last fortnight members of their staff going down to it in order to answer my questions about it... or so they told me at the time). They took it on the chin when I told then that the "refit" is, in my opinion, a terrible attempt at covering damp, mould and rot with cheap ply (I could smell the damp and in places see it seeping through despite one of the windows being left open to get rid of the smell!) . They eventually admitted that the boat has been with them some time - they sold it to the current owner who says he "can't handle it" and wants them to sell it again. When I asked who the previous vendor was they just shrugged! I also asked them about when I phoned on Thursday and said that "I know it needs some paintwork redoing, but are there any signs of rust at all?" - I was literally told "Oh no, there's no rust, it just needs a lick of paint here and there"! (Now take a look at my gallery and tell me if you see any rust!) I told them that there is nothing on that boat for the paint to cling to! Some of the pitting was 3mm or more deep and much of the outside is like flaky pastry or bubbling around the windows. I also told them that I'd rather have been told the truth or even an "I don't know" rather than a blatant lie and saved myself the train fare and 4 hours of travel each way. They looked rather forlorn and started going through their list to see if they had any other boats more suitbale for me!!!! I laughed, thanked them for their time and left! I think even if I had a proverbial bargepole (and I wouldn't buy one off them, that's for sure) I wouldn't touch that company again. Unbe-luddy-lievable! So for fun , peruse these contradictory statements and hazzard a guess which may come from a broker who shall remain nameless and which from a potential buyer (equally nameless ): "There are only 12v sockets and lighting throughout the boat" It actually has all 240v sockets via a shoreline and there doesn't appear to be a 12v socket anywhere "It's on hardstanding and has been since it arrived last year, so you can inspect the hull" It's been in the water at the yard for nearly a year and still is... "There's definitely no rust or pitting" There appears to be more rust and pitting than steel "Survey available from 11/05" It's actually a receipt for blacking - no-one knows when it was last surveyed "There's one starter and one domestic battery" "There's one starter and three domestic batteries" "There's one starter and two domestic batteries" ???? "Radiator heating from gas boiler and additional heating from stove!" "Radiator heating and hot water from gas boiler" "Radiator heating from calorifier and hot water from both calorifier and stove" !!!!! And here's my favourite: "Very clean and tidy craft" (And that I have in writing!!!) So... that's excepting the rust on the hull, cabin and new stove; the thick grease and dirt on the hob, the mildew on the bathroom walls, the moss growing in the windows, the oily (and rusty) water in the bilges; the black mould on the ceiling, the green powdery mould on the new ply panelling, the spilled food in the galley cupboard, the rust and stickiness in the fridge and of course the spatters of what may or may not be vomit still in the toilet bowl... one must assume? Rant over. Despite these shenanegans, I have to admit, I came away from it with a sense of humour - the situation was soooo ridulous, and the poor boat so delapidated that you couldn't make it up if you tried! It's a shame a boat like that has been so badly neglected. Especially when there's people out there who could have loved it and kept it beautiful. Oh, well, I've chalked that up to experiece. (I have purposely not put the name of the broker or the boat here so as not to put the operators of this forum in a difficult position, however tempting naming-and-shaming would be)