harleyj

The fantastic part about owning your own boat opposed to renting is that if its raining we will just moor up. It also helps that we have three months to travel.It really is a dream come true.

Thanks for the good wishes. A bit better wifi once we got away from Crick. Just moored the other side of bridge 91 Braunston. Having a ball!!!

Well we will be tomorrow. We head out from Crick Marina tomorrow on our big adventure. So if you see us heading to Braunston tomorrow aboard Lazy Bee give us a wave. Harley That is meant to be way . I blame it on the English beer!

Off topic, but what footwear do you use?

As we are about to cross the divide, 6 times hiring over 10 years and now having bought our own we will see if we are treated any differently. On our last hire, Venetian Hire Boats, which when I asked why they dont have their company name on their fleet, they said that the hirers dont get the grief from "owners". We then thought that we had noticed a different attitude towards us on that trip. Like in everything if you think you know it all something will eventually bight you on the a*#e. On a brighter note 63 days to go until we fly out, cant wait to just lay eyes on Lazy Bee!!

Because my iphone is my work number I can assure you that I will not be making calls and any dill that calls me from home will soon be told how much it is costing them so they wont be on for long.

I went to our local electrical store recently to buy an ipod and a dock for when we finally get onboard Lazy Bee (69 days) and he asked me if I have an iphone which I do. He suggested I could use that instead of an ipod and also suggested a brilliant gadget called a Solid Surface Boom Box which is a bluetooth speaker with a suction cap at its base which attaches to solid surface (we hope the roof of the boat will work) which acts as a subwoofer. The other great thing about it is its only about 4inches high and about 2inches across, wont take much room in the case.

Hi fellow sandgroper, welcome to this great forum. We have hired six times and only once (Napton Nsrrowboats) did the hire company supply wet weather gear.Last year I bought a drizabone before we did the Cheshire Ring and it sure came in handy. A good umbrella is also essential. You may also get a shock, in 2010 we bought two items that we never thought we would buy in the UK, sunscreen and a hat. It was bloody hot for a couple of days, mind you not Feb 2016 Perth hot. Wish you all the best on your holiday you are going to love it. We love it so much we have bought our own boat. Harley

This forum is fantastic, been a member since 2006, most people on here just want to help. I hope you get as much fun out of your boat as we intend to get out of Lazy Bee

Hi Boat Fan,we dont have the big rivers like The Murray over this side so we have done what a fair few Aussies have done and bought a narrowboat in England. Just can't wait to get on it. We will be onboard in the middle of June. Love your beautiful photos of our spectacular country.

Hi Dragons did you get my PM. Harley & Shelley

All monies were finalised yesterday(10/11/15) for Lazy Bee. She is now ours. A special thanks to CWDF members Ally & Heffalump for your offers of help and the forum as a whole for advice. We would also like to thank & recommend Trevor Whitling for his excellent sevice on both the survey and advice re the purchase. This also goes for Jackie @ ABNB. What a treat to deal with. Now the hard part, waiting until June until we can take her out for three months.

One of the things that we are looking forward to now that we have bought a boat is not having to be any place in particular at any special time. Having always hired and coming as far as we do to narrowboat along the canals we have always tried to do as much as possible which is the antithesis of what is the essence of narrowboating, slowing down! Your original post made my day.

Lazy Bee which is with ABNB. I think she is named after me(Lazy Bas***d)

We would love to have been there but as we both still work full time and flights alone would have cost at least $4,000 or over 2,000 pounds we have had to be brave and rely on expert advice.

We did have advice from locals.

Not what you lot are thinking, we have bought a boat, how good does that sound. Subject to a survey of course which is being done next Friday 30th, so keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes well. The hardest part is that we will not be able to get aboard until the middle of June 2016 but from 2017 you will have to put up with us from early April until September each year. We will now be seeking advice from this wonderful resource of a different kind as previously we have only rented but as I have found since I joined this forum in 2006 the font of knowledge that this forum offers is amazing.

You think that is tough, we are trying to buy a boat from the other side of the world. Even thought of flying over for the week. Talk about daunting!!!

We usually fly into either Birmingham or Manchester, much easier all round.

Our special thanks to all that have replied to this inquiry as from my many years of reading this excellent forum I knew you mob would be a great help. The main bone of contention appears to be the wood fire but as we will only be aboard from about the middle of April to September we would mainly be using the central heating when needed. We would either remove it completely or replace it with a smaller stove or change to a diesel unit. As for smoke alarms & co2 detectors we would install immediately. We probably made too much of the smell side of things when we really wanted an opinion on the overall condition of the boat. If we make an offer on this boat can someone recommend a surveyor in the area. And again if after we have spoken to ABNB tonight our time, we would be very happy for Heffalump to be taken up on your fantastic offer to have a look for us. Harley & Shelley

Three of the boats we last looked at stunk of those particular odours and my experience with those particular smells is that it may take more than elbow grease to get rid of. I will PM Ally asap

As any of you will know by looking at my bio we live on the other side of the world which makes looking for a boat very difficult even with the internet. We have seen a boat that meets all our requirements and is within our price range, but not being able to view it ourselves it makes us very nervous. When we were in the U.K. in May we looked at several boats and one of the things that the internet cannot tell you is whether there is any overpowering smells, for instance cigarette odors, pet smells or leaky plumbing. The boat we are interested in is Lazy Bee with ABNB at Crick(can't work out how to attach the relevant file). Does anyone around the Crick area know anything about this boat or could find anything out about it for us. We will be getting a survey done on the boat if we do make an offer on it. Thanks in advance for any help.