[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Both of them knock seven shades of sherbet out of your first choice, in my opinion. The first one looks a good bet in most regards: one owner fr9m new, so in all likelihood a well looked-after family boat, appears to be in good condition. It's nice to discover what the person who designed the interior sets for 'Downton Abbey' wa sdoing previously, too. To me this boat shouts out "home" and "comfort", though to some people it would shout out "fussy" and "old-fashioned".

 

Both the licence and the safety cert. run out at the end of this month, so I guess the owner wants a quick sale. There's something in the wording of his bit about sales procedure which suggests to me that he might be inflexible to deal with, but I could be way wrong here.

 

Cattybrook did probably start life as one of Concoform Marine's "Weed" hire boats but she has been considerably modified since her hiring days; the interior looks quite new from the photos, and appears well made. It does make the boat look like a shaker kitchen throughout, mind. She sounds rather under-engined for such a big boat.

 

Oh, and the first one (which seems to be anonymous) has central heating. It is not clear whether the second one has - and if not, a stove at one end is unlikely to heat her right through despite the open plan layout.

 

I would certainly view the first one if I were looking for that type of boat.

 

See to me the first one (ebay) looks like not such a good by compared to the original boat. Way older with a interior and not somewhere I'd want to live! Other than personal preference for the kit out - is there a reason why you think these two are better? They both had the same amount of owners, so thats not a factor.

 

I'm going to try to view them all anyway, just to give myself a better grounding before I see the original

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Cheers for all the replies. I've emailed in reply to say I will get a survey post viewing.

 

Very useful advice about feeling for pitting.

Engine wise I'm confident, having rebuilt a couple of engines in the past.

 

Other boats I'm hoping to see I this weekend;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171547356602 Issue here is the headroom potentially. It is however about 2 miles from my family home which is a bonus!

http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=394238 This I need to check isn't too long to get it where I might need to.

 

But both seem expensive compared to the original to me...

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

No the boat has not had a survey, the reason being I have had the boat 4 years and blacked it religiously every 2 years, when I bought it, the boat had only been in the water 6 weeks from new. So it has only been in the water 4 years despite being 7 years old. When the boat went into dry dock in September I had the hull stripped right back ready for the hempatex and we didn't think it needed it since there was very little pitting let alone serious corrosion.

The boat is second hand and I bought it as a lined she'll, which I ended up ripping out and redoing because it was done badly.

I can try to get some photos of the engine bay, however it is pitch black and I don't think I have any to hand. I'll try to get some to you though.

If you would like a survey then please feel free to organise one and we can try to get it done, however I honestly don't think it needs it since it has only been I the water 4 years.

I hope this helps

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

As far as I can gather from googling it's onl been up for sale as long as the apolloduck ad, so 5ish days?

I already spoke to him and he accepted £35k as I explained the interior layout isn't quite as I'd want it and I'm overbudget as is.

 

As for fit out, I've seen a few posts about diy jobs, but I guess it depends on the quality of the work really. As such will only know from a viewing really.

 

An advance search on google shows that he has only had this boat for sale. Thats all google has caches at least - I think their cach is usually a few months...?

Bottle did he definitely have another boat for sale?

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Interesting stuff Goat. I have googled Gary Gorton and results show he was still building into the 2000s and from what I can gather builds / built tugs mostly and hence the shape of this one.

 

The old engine is an odd one to me too, I figured that who ever commissioned the boat ran out of money so opted for a running 2nd hand unit... Or that Gorton built the boat without customer in mind and fitted a working engine he had...? Dunno, I should ask.

 

The 3.152 is quite a general term for an engine that was produced over many years from what I can gather. Modern 3.152s are now called 3HD45 or something like that

 

cheers

And to reply to Loafer, point noted about surveys. And about the stove, I did figure that it might keep some embers burning through the day.

 

I agree the deck is a little big for my tastes too, but I then that's kinda an advantage for the summer.

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

I'm quite tall at 6'2" so this puts quite a few boats out of the running, the square roof shape means more usable head room for me!

Cheers for all the very quick replies!

 

I have emailed the owner about the survey. Cheers

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Cheers pal, yer as a geeky engineer I get obssessed and geek out regular with stuff.

 

Yer from what I can gather it's light the wood burner or be cold. Which I'm happy enough with as a situation as having just spent a winter in Canada I'm pretty accustomed to getting the fire on sharpish once you get home, but yer I appreciate that a heating "on tap" situation is definitely more desirable.

 

The looks aren't very traditional and are a bit square and industrial, but I aint to arsed about that apart from a resale point of view. That said I would definitely prefer a pretty boat, but I'd definitely prefer not to pay for pretty over function.

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

I don't want to take too much time as I'm living in the back of my VW Transporter at the moment through the week! By choice I must add, I could hotel it but I'm northern and so parting with cash for frivolous things is quite difficult.

 

I figured the Safety thingame was close to a survey? Guess not as you've just asked about it. I will email the bloke and ask if there has been one done (likely on a 7 year old boat?), or when the last one was.

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Aye, I certainly think so, I'm right paranoid about someone snatching it up before I get to view it this weekend!

 

Gonna see a couple of others over the weekend too - to I'm not buying one of the first ones I've seen.

[Opinions and advice on my first boat]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

 

My first post to the forum after a week of geeking out reading various posts.

 

So I'm in the process of viewing boats for my first purchase and a plan to live aboard. With a budget of £30k and looking for something around the 60ft mark and a preference to cruiser sterns for fixing my bikes outside when the weather permits. Liveaboard as I am an contract Engineer so never really know where my next 12months will be and so can't really buy a house.

 

So I have this boat in mind - which is stretching my budget somewhat but seems worth it.

http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=392973

 

Breifly: she's a 60ft Gorton 2007 build with an older 3.152 perkins engine, recently redecorated internally and had hull blackening and safety thing this year.

 

Pricewise it seems very good for the age and seeming quality of the interior. I would need to add another leisure battery or two and I would also consider about quite a big interior reshuffle to make the living space a bit more open plan. Engine wise I'd prefer someting newer that likely better on fuel bu I'm a softie for British built stuff having had a few minis over the years.

 

 

Anyone got any advice for when I view her in the next couple of days?

 

Cheers very much!