BilgePump

There's also the village of Adlington on the Macc with Lyme View marina nearby. Both Adlingtons are close to Manchester. We do need to ask the right questions!

Hi Laura and welcome to the forum, and sorry that you have found your way here in such horrible circumstances. My condolences for your losses and we realise that you and your mum will be lost in all of this and just need a bit of advice and pointers. If you could help with a little bit of information about the boat people may well be able to help by pointing out dry-docks, cranes, capable yards / workers etc. nearby. The key question would be, do you know what needs doing to the boat? Was there a survey done, where your grandad was going to address the problems it raised or are the problems plainly self-evident. Are the major problems engine, hull, electrics, windows or a bit of everything? Were any words like 'overplating' or 'engine rebuild' mentioned? They are expensive words. What type of work was the 'cowboy builder' supposed to be doing before he did a runner? When you say a lot of expensive stuff has been taken, what type of things are they. If it's some nice brass lamps they can be lived without, but if it's the gearbox, the boat's going nowhere without it. I'm slightly confused when the thread title says 'sinking' but at the end of post #1 you say you want to get it back afloat. I was assuming that you were meaning that it was in the canal already, in a state where it needs attention, and the 'back afloat' meaning in decent usable condition. Is it correct that it is in the water at present? Talk has been made of getting it out onto the hardstanding to work on it. This may be necessary for some of the work but the boat is going to have to be able to move at least to a place where it cold be craned out. Are you practical minded yourself with the time to do any of the work. If you can do some of the basics like sanding and painting, it won't be the aesthetic standards of a professional job but it will save a lot of money and be acceptable. Whatever the boat needs, even if it doesn't need to come out of the water for work to the steel, it will probably be well overdue for drydocking and blacking. Doing the blacking yourself can save several hundred quid. However, spots for dry-docks are usually booked well in advance and this lockdown will have caused much disruption to their calendars. Please don't despair about the situation. If we work out what questions need asking, we can work out what issues need fixing and where you might be able to find skilled and reliable assistance without breaking the bank.

They had already mentioned movement to a quieter spot in a previous update but it wasn't in the list of reasons to move. It was in the do not obstruct the towpath, do not confront people section and continued that if a boater was worried about footfall and other boats then they should consider moving to a quieter mooring spot.

Interesting to see the Dawncraft 22, 25 & 30' represented by Clubline. Out of interest Googled to see what the hire prices were back then. Could have had the King of Clubs, a 30 centre cockpit Dawncraft for a week for 4 starting April 24th 1976 for £55+VAT. Mind you, back then I think pocket money was 20p (there wasn't a 20p coin in the 70s), but it always looked to be more if it was in old shillings and sixpences (used as 5p and 2.5p post decimal for those too young to remember) Found price in another Blakes brochure page at http://www.jonesboatyard.co.uk/boat-sales/documents/Dawncraft-Boats.pdf

So nice to see a boat like that looking in such good shape. May not be to everyone's cup of tea but the caracruiser and caraboats were innovative designs for their time with a huge amount of interior space for their LOA. I did see one knocking around on the Macc a few years ago but they are certainly few and far between these days.

Send those plane flight path pics to your David Icke conspiracy loons. They'll mix them in with a smattering of mentions of Nazca lines and declare the Anunnaki to be down a Welsh slate mine, controlling the spread of coronavirus through 5G and nanotechnology. It's simples sheeple. Wake up and see the evidence!

Up here in t'north, a CRT towpath mooring without facilities for 30' would could be somewhere around £1k per annum, if you can get one near enough the right size. Obviously all depends on what they have available in any given area. I'm paying for 7' of mooring I don't currently need but happy to do so as it means I can move up to a 26' boat in the future without having to change moorings. Cost for that is about £870/yr on the Macclesfield and I had to wait six months for a smallish spot to become available in the place I wanted. Previously, the closest small CRT mooring I could find near to there was over 40 locks away down on the Shroppie at Nantwich and that's £645 pa for 23'

Next week, I'm going to set up a sockpuppet account just to ask how much it will cost to live on a 40' boat and we can run through the same comments all over again for the nth time. Keeps us occupied during lockdown! At least in this one the OP thanked those who offered some advice and wasn't a one post, nine page thread wonder

Hi Dan, can I suggest that if nobody has forwarded themselves, the role for a single person seems a little like a poisoned chalice. Rich has done an amazing job and no wonder he needs some down time. I'm quite sure from posts by some on here that there is a communal knowledge that could deal with SQL databases, software patches and AWS buckets etc. Maybe ask if anyone would be part of a team that could deal with the tech side.

I think that extra few inches height and the step up looks better than the original continuous roofline. Is this mod to give decent space under a shower head? It's properly coming along now. So wish I had my boat at home during the lockdown to mess about with cover/canopy ideas, except George Hill is shut and getting timber and ply delivery not easy.

I took it when I went to India in the monsoon, obviously against malaria infection. Found it to be horrendous stuff, just made me feel very sick and aching. Stopped taking it after week three of sixteen; had to make sure I covered up near every inch of skin during the day and slept under a mosquito net instead.

The Norman ad says they'll split boat and trailer. Lots of options for a buyer. I do imagine we'll see more of the small leisure boats on the market in the not too distant future as families have to address what is important to them financially and decide to cash in and avoid future bills.

That Buckingham 25 is a nice boat with a reasonable outboard. Although it doesn't come with the trailer its pictured on there is a thought for the OP. If they are looking at GRP cruisers and one they are interested in comes with a good trailer that they don't want/need then that will always find a buyer for strong money to offset against the initial buying price for the package. I sold the trailer mine came on for more than I paid for the project boat and trailer in the first place.

No pics on the ad but there is a Freeman 22 narrow beam on ebay at £4k. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Freeman22-Mk1-Narrow-Version-Cabin-Cruisers/143561995457 (needs a bit of tlc but sounds interesting). Very nice boats but if you look for a later Norman, Atlanta etc. the choice gets wider. Was going to link to a Norman 23 found on ApolloDuck called Delusions but looks as though dora has beaten me to it. Recommend standing headroom and a toilet in its own cupboard as the bare minimum you'll need in a cabin, especially if you have an animal with you. As an owner of a little 19' Shetland yoghurt pot I would suggest that the OP will be fine with their budget for a weekender leisure boat / holiday boat for one and dogs. That size of boat can be had had for a few k running or much less if a project. There is a Fairline 19' on AD for £2k https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/fairline-19-sports-cruiser/633236 The market is very strange at the moment with this coronavirus and the choice very limited compared to normal, considering that viewings aren't allowed, but be ready to go when viewings are possible again. If you are ready to buy then I guess prices may well be pretty negotiable. The licence and mooring will cost the same whether a boat is a 23' shell of a project or a stunning example of the model so it makes sense to get something that can be used straight away. Say £175/month for the mandatory costs (licence (55), mooring (95), insurance (20), BSS (5). If it's just a leisure boat, electric use minimal and semi-camping style acceptable then an outboard doesn't have to be the nightmare that some suggest (possibly one of the biggest issues is the attraction for theft). For those of us who don't understand engines, it's good to know that I can lift a dead one off and put something else on to get moving again. A cheap small second hand outboard that would push a 23' boat on a narrow canal is in the hundreds not thousands if you need to swap over mid season. Hull maintenance for GRP can be minimal especially if outboard propelled. Lots round me never come out. However, if you do want/need to, many boatyards have cranes, hoists or slipway trolleys that can bring out lightweight GRP boats for a cleandown without breaking the bank (couple of hundred). Big expenses that can take up your sinking maintenance fund on an older GRP boat will be the engine, canopy and windows / seals. Old cushion covers, curtains, cosmetics etc can be replaced at leisure but leaking windows are no fun and do the boat no good. A shot engine won't move it and a destroyed canopy won't keep the rain out. Replacing the windows or canopy or fixing an inboard could easily get to the £1k mark and more (but that's still a hell of a lot less than finding out a steel boat needs overplating). Getting the mooring first is a sensible idea for the few months it may sit empty to know you have it ready for the boat when you get it. I'm in an area with marinas, farmers' fields and CRT towpath moorings. There are lots of GRP leisure boats on the towpath aswell as the steel boats. Maybe just have a word with some of the existing moorers at the location to ask about any recent issues if you have any worries about security.