[A couple of questions regarding address that someone may be able to advise me on?]

 

As I mentioned in an earlier posting I am returning to my birth place (The UK) and will be buying within the next few months a narrow boat. So far not a problem but a couple of things I have come up against are :-

In order to open a British bank account I need an address in the UK, and my ONLY address in the UK will be on board my narrow boat, which they do not accept as my address.

Has anyone any earlier experience of this?, and who may be able to advise me?

Thanking you in advance ....
Neil

[Going it alone ...]

40 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

My technique going uphill is to have the boat come out on it's own, under engine power which it does because it was in forward gear while the lock was filling, and change it from ahead to astern as it passes me at the gate. It travels about a length forward before it stops and comes back to me, by which time I have closed the gate and I'm ready to step back on board. My triumph was the time I persuaded a fisherman that I'd trained the boat to come back to me when I whistle; as it started back I whistled and he looked up, the look on his face was priceless.

 

Going down I often shut the bottom gates by standing tall (on the roof if necessary) and passing the stern line through both handrails and holding the end until it pulls the gates shut, then letting go and pulling it through from the other end (putting the boat in neutral after the loose end has fallen in the water, until I've hauled it all in)

Hi Allan,

I had to read your post a few times to fully understand it but it sounds quite interesting! I also spent quite a time on your website "Visit the Keeping-Up website to see where we've been" which I found very informative and I have made a book mark so that I can check it out again.

 

Have a great day

Neil

[Going it alone ...]

14 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Dont let people behind you hassle you, especially in locks. The perception is they can go faster than you, and may pressure you. In reality with marginal help from them you are only slightly slower. If we encounter a single hander in a lock flight ie napton, in front of us, one of us goes and works in front of them, to assist, rather than behind. Takes the pressure off because the following boat is not then catching them up at every lock.

working solo on my own its dreadful when a following boat expects you to do everything, setting  ahead and closing gates behind you, because they are always waiting. The other way you both keep going only slightly delayed.

remember when boats were working many were single handed motors , particularly at the end when the money was not sufficient for a family.

Hi Roland,

Thanks for your reply which was very interesting reading.

In general British people are a lot more relaxed in a boating / canal environment in comparison to British road users. 

 

Thanks again and I hope you have a lovely day,

Neil

[Going it alone ...]

25 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Some thoughts:

 

Single handers are in the minority.  Female single handers are an especially rare species, but we do exist.  No sure about gay single handers, but trailblazing is always a good thing.

 

If you get to a narrow bit, you can just power through with your fingers crossed and a clean pair of underwear at the ready, or if you have time, you can wait for another boat and follow them through.  This approach is good for wide locks, which you can share with another boat, and swing/lift bridge where you can sneak through behind.

 

Many other boaters and gongoozlers will offer help to single handers at locks, which is nice, and can be a real help, but remember it's your boat and you're in charge.  If people aren't helping in a way you're comfortable with - tell them.

 

I quite like travelling very early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people about, I can take my time and do things my own way.

Hi Doratheexplorer,
Thanks for your reply which made very interesting reading. So you yourself are a single hander. I found it very interesting when you said "I quite like travelling very early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people about, I can take my time and do things my own way". I am an early bird and love waking up early, but late evenings I am usually curled up in bed!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your very valuable experience.

Have a lovely day

Neil

[Going it alone ...]

Well .... I just saved 5 pounds!

 

Neil

[Going it alone ...]

WoW ... Thanks guyz ..... Some very interesting reading here. I do agree that safety is of the highest importance and especially when single handed. I read everyone's comments and appreciate all your replies.

Have a lovely day ...

Neil 

[Going it alone ...]

23 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

A lot of people boat alone. It’s called single-handing. Which is odd, because most of these people have 2 hands!

 

Narrow locks aren’t a problem, you just need to get into a routine. Wide locks are slightly more difficult, well harder work, anyway. But at least in summer, you can often share with another boat which reduces the workload and helps to stop the boat moving around too much. Sharing locks can be a good social event too.

 

Some swing bridges can be awkward because the bridge operating controls are on the side opposite the landing stage. Quite a few of these have been modified to have a landing stage on the control side, but plenty haven’t. Makes it fairly awkward, but not impossible.

 

Narrows: you just have to go for it. If you encounter someone doing the same thing coming the other way, someone has to reverse. Not a disaster!

 

Anyway, in summary single handing is commonplace and no problem.

Hi Nick or Norman? .... Thanks for your very positive reaction and thanks for signing off "single handing is commonplace and no problem". (I feel more relaxed now!)

 

Thanks again

Neil

[Going it alone ...]

I'm learning as I go along, no hurry, just reading lots of the wonderful pieces of information that I come across in this forum, so now for something different.

I would love to hear from others who are navigating the waters alone as I plan to do.
How is it?
What are the pitfalls?
How is it opening and closing lock gates alone?
Swing bridges and many more things that make life so exciting!
Are there people who may like to join a lone boater on their travels?

I was watching a video blog on YouTube where they showed a CRT notice advising boaters to send someone ahead as the canal was so narrow at this point and there was no possibility of passing another boat. As a lone boater what do you do?

Any information would be very appreciated …

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

2 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Sorry, but I'm completely baffled about what this means.

Luckily at my age I am allowed to be "Baffled" .... (and it often happens!), but I am waiting for someones wise words to explain it.

 

Everyone have a nice day,

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

I deliberately bought an ex hire boat with a big ding or two in the bow about 20 years ago and feel I could not have done better. Easy to service, good access to parts needing attention and as long as its from a REPUTABLE fleet likely to be properly  and regularly serviced. Now selling on at 29 years old and I understand the survey only found wear that required attention on the uxter plate and even then I am not sure it was not a reading error (my survey said it had a 5/16 and a 1/4" plate there with no apparent reason).

 

Mind you I wanted a cruiser stern rather than an anti-social trad or a more difficult to board semi-trad, horses for courses.

 

Note REPUTABLE in caps!

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the reply and some of the points in your posting are very valuable "Easy to service, good access to parts needing attention".

Have a lovely day

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

3 hours ago, Martin@75 said:

 

We purchased an 58'-6" Ex Black Prince boat 7 years ago, we CC for 9 month of the year and have been very happy with ours. 

 

Our need.

1). Something bullet proof, to “try the life” have a look round the system and learn on.

Then after 2 years move up to have a high spec boat built.

2). Simple to maintain.

3). Go anywhere.

4). Look good.

 

Outcome

 

We have had two big rams amidships (and others) from hire boats out of control on bends. They are built like a BSH, so no probs.

 

BP converted her from a four berth to 4+2. So she is very flexible.

BP provided us with new mattress and other odds & sods as well as the re-paint to out design.

We often have other boaters visit and they are usually amazed at the quality of the fit out, some who have bespoke boats are even envious.

The fit-out is very easy clean. 

The engine room is large and all the bits are standard.

So we have never felt the need to up grade as intended.

We were told she could go anywhere and she has, including down all the Witham Drains, up the Slea, on to the Uttoxeter and over all the Huddersfield.

 

 

Re Mods

 

Remember IT IS NOT A HIGH SPEC boat. Timbers are not solid.
If you want a boat with a Queen Mary timber fit out with lots of dials and gadgets you will have to fit them yourself.

The only thing we added were low profile solar panels

and some extra shelving.

 

Ex BP boat owners have a bit of an unofficial club going so one is often invited for inspections of the mods they have made.

 

BP boats have very good but distinctive fenders so you WILL NEED a roof top decoration.

Immediately we put one on we were treated with respect by other boaters.

 

Hi Martin,

WoW, You really gave me quite a lot of very good and well formatted information.

I am now feeling quite confident about the firm "Black Prince" and have joined their mailing list.

Thank you again that you took so much time to reply to me,

Have a lovely day

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

1 hour ago, Richard T said:

We have an ex-hire boat. Tyto Alba was built for the Bank of England social club and was operated by them for a number of years. (They still have one called Watermark it was based at Teddesley not certain if it still is). After the bank sold it our boat was operated as a hire boat on the Soar until we bought it 7years ago. We were looking for a boat having been part of a share boat for ten years and it ticked most but not all of our boxes. However we saw the potential in it - we had it converted from a semi trad to trad with a large slide which means that 3 people can stand comfortably at the stern. We added a solid fuel stove, cratch and cover, rebuilt the seating, coverted one set of bunks into a sofa plus many smaller things. The boat was well built and maintained and we have the advantage of keeping it at the place it was hired from so any issues with maintenance we can get solved quite quickly. It has a hull by a well known and repected builder - Colecraft- and a very solid fitout. We are happy with what we bought and it suits our needs. So if a boat ticks your boxes or can for modest sums be made to tick them and it is an ex-hire boat go for it.

One member of this forum bought a hire boat found that they were not really using it enough so have now placed it into a different hire fleet.

 

Hi Richard, Interesting reading and thanks so much for your comments. I am feeling more and more positive about buying an ex hire boat as time goes by.

Have a lovely day

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

18 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

No after sales service if you buy a private boat, no comeback if it falls to bits.

Hi Brian, Thanks for your comment but I also noticed that in a footnote you said "Brian - Who writes a boring blog every day when he is on board Harnser travelling the canals.". I found your blog quite interesting and it is something I may consider to do myself in the future.

Thanks again and have a lovely day

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

2 hours ago, magictime said:

We never knew our boat was a (sort of) ex hire till we found an old blog by the first owner. They had it built for themselves, but put it into a hire fleet for a couple of seasons while making preparations to move on board. So we bought a (sort of) ex hire boat without knowing it!

 

Personally I'm inclined to think the regular maintenance, repaints etc. weigh more in ex hire boats' favour, than the risk of their possibly 'hard life' bumping in to things weighs against them. Many hire boaters are regulars and good at boat handling, many private boat owners will have had bumps over the years from awkward manoeuvres, accidents, high winds or whatnot. Most such bumps do no harm anyway. And in many ways I'd rather know that if any damage has occurred in the past, it's been assessed and dealt with by a hire firm rather than a private owner with who knows what level of expertise or DIY skills.

 

Having said all that, we didn't (intentionally!) bother viewing any ex-hire boats when shopping around for our liveaboard because the layouts always seem to be based around cramming in extra berths and often extra toilets and showers. At the end of the day they're designed to be used generally by 4-8 people for short periods from spring to autumn, with most of every day spent on deck or in the pub - not by 1-2 people living on board all year.

Hi Magictime ..... Interesting reading and thanks for your very comprehensive reply. I am gaining information every day.

Thanks again and have a lovely day.

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

1 hour ago, Richard T said:

We have an ex-hire boat. Tyto Alba was built for the Bank of England social club and was operated by them for a number of years. (They still have one called Watermark it was based at Teddesley not certain if it still is). After the bank sold it our boat was operated as a hire boat on the Soar until we bought it 7years ago. We were looking for a boat having been part of a share boat for ten years and it ticked most but not all of our boxes. However we saw the potential in it - we had it converted from a semi trad to trad with a large slide which means that 3 people can stand comfortably at the stern. We added a solid fuel stove, cratch and cover, rebuilt the seating, coverted one set of bunks into a sofa plus many smaller things. The boat was well built and maintained and we have the advantage of keeping it at the place it was hired from so any issues with maintenance we can get solved quite quickly. It has a hull by a well known and repected builder - Colecraft- and a very solid fitout. We are happy with what we bought and it suits our needs. So if a boat ticks your boxes or can for modest sums be made to tick them and it is an ex-hire boat go for it.

One member of this forum bought a hire boat found that they were not really using it enough so have now placed it into a different hire fleet.

 

Hi Richard,

I am so pleased about the number of people who take the time to reply to my postings. I am very new to Web-boards and how they work. 
Thanks for your reply which I read with interest.

Have a lovely day,

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

6 hours ago, The Dreamer said:

No worries.  It worth noting that ABC sell for private owners too, so look for the bright yellow (with Viking names), or the red and green ones (with double barrel bird names).  At the moment they are also selling a few for a hire firm called Valley Cruisers, who recently went bust...

Hi Dreamer,
All replies are sounding very positive regarding buying an ex hire boat but you also mention about "a hire firm called Valley Cruisers, who recently went bust...". I think I personalty would be a bit dubious about buying from a firm who went bust. I would worry about the after sales service which of course would not exist if the firm were no longer trading.  

Anyway, have a lovely day and thanks again for the information.

Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

6 minutes ago, The Dreamer said:

We brought our boat, just about a year ago, directly out of a hire fleet.  She was an ex-ABC Goose (Bean Goose to be precise but we soon changed that!).  14 years old, 69 foot long, fully maintained and we paid £40k for her.  The surveyor was very happy, and commented on the amount of boat for our money,

Hi Dreamer ..... Thanks for saying hello .... It sounds like a fair comment.

Have a lovely day ... Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

3 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

It can be a very good idea, designed to be robust and easy to service and as you suggest well maintained,  buy from for example Black Prince and you can negotiate a respray and other odds and sods, worth considering 

Hi tree monkey .... Thanks for your reply. Spooky! ..... Both the other friends who mentioned about looking at an ex hire boat mentioned the same firm "Black Prince" ....... Do you know where they are and do they have a website?

Thanks Neil

[Purchasing an Ex Hire Boat, whats your view?]

So, I have been given some very positive reviews on purchasing ex hire boats. Normally I would personally stay clear of ex (anythings!) but on reflection I can see and understand the logic of looking to purchase an ex hire boat. 
Why you may ask? .... Because hire companies need to keep their fleet in top condition as they don't want problems when a boat is out on hire for someones holiday. As far as I have understood they will check and service their engines far better and more often than a private individual. They also tend to repair all and everything immediately in readiness for their next customer. 
I wonder if anyone (other than the person who advised me to look at ex hire boats) could give me their views? Positive or Negative, I would like to find out more.

 

Thanking you all in anticipation .... Neil 

[A student film about life afloat]

On 10/10/2019 at 04:20, Davidm17 said:

https://vimeo.com/365314807/description

Hi David .....  Interesting film, thank you for sharing it.