MrsM

And historic properties - owners of old or significant properties are often referred to as 'custodians' too.

We live in Lincoln but moor our boat in Newark (half an hour away) because we like the convenience of being on the Trent.

Best of luck. It's an exciting world on the waterways and there are so many experienced boaters on here that are happy to give their time advising others. If you see boats you like feel free to share for feedback.

Hi Derek and welcome to the forum. As you are new to boating and are based close to London you could do a lot worse than spend several days browsing this site. Many people have been in your situation and have probably asked the questions that you are thinking, and had them answered. In order for people here to help you in a useful way it would be good if you provided more information about what you want from your boat - will you be cc'ing etc? An oft repeated recommendation if you are not planning to cc is to find a mooring first. As I understand it widebeam moorings in the London area are not easy or cheap to come by. Happy browsing!

We just use thin curtain or wardrobe hanging rail from the DIY - they also supply the right size brackets etc so v simples.

My thoughts exactly

To me beauty = curvy, swept up lines, cherished chug chug engine on display, bronze portholes etc. Very far removed from my ugly duckling, straight-sided, Polish cruiser stern .... but you can't always have what you want!

Looks a reasonable price for London. Bit frustrating having a canalside property but no mooring though.

Wow you did a super job! We need to replace our deck boards and I actually screenshot one of the pictures to show my o'h. I think there's a lot of truth in the 'reality not living up to images' issue. We had a similar situation to brook23 when we sold our last house - the estate agent video was incredible and as great as the house was it was a hard act to live up to. Many of the youngsters who post doctored, filtered images of themselves on social media must also experience this.

Perhaps that's the last time the boat looked that good. It might be full of clutter now and the vendor can't be bothered to clear it for sale (or maybe they liveaboard and it's too tricky).

Very nice but OMG that's big money!

So sad to see how the waterways are treated as dustbins in some areas. It was similar going through Leicester a couple of weeks ago. Particularly poignant when you see the waterfowl that are trying to live among the trash and muck.

Hi Brian and welcome. This boat is owned by a liveaboard? Can you give us some more info about it is just possible someone here might recognise it and/or know the owner.

Absolutely terrible for the poor owners. As a marina moorer I agree that we assume our boat will be safe and sound when we leave it.

Me too. We moor next to a fatty in our marina and he is always out and about on the Trent.

- UPVC house windows on a boat - People who paint without masking windows etc and get paint all over them

I suspect this is the best outcome but it is good that Mr and Mrs OP know that a NB could work for them at a pinch.

I absolutely love the T&M - every inch of it.

Enough of beams, draughts and beds we haven't drilled down on the very most exciting of topics - toilets!! AndyE ask your o'h to sign up and join the bun-fight 😄

We haven't discussed the obvious - the easiest way to get a king-size in a NB is to have a pull-out section. Our lengthwise bed is 4' at its smallest but pulls out to 5' if needed. We just have an extra 6" section and pull it out to a standard double so it is easy to walk past. Could make it a king-size if we wanted but we are both short-arses and prefer the extra floor space.

My dream scenario: 1) book build slot with my builder of choice, 2) identify and buy a used boat that ticks most of my boxes, 3) spend the next 1-3 years exploring the system, learning exactly what works for me layout & equipment-wise & practicing my boat handling so my shiny new boat doesn't take too much of a hammering, 4) take delivery of my lovely new boat, 5) sell my first boat. Sadly only steps 2 & 3 are my reality!

Thanks for clarifying. As a "bolt-hole", and assuming your main home is a house, I would recommend you do not discount narrowboats. Plenty of narrowboats provide everything a bijoux holiday home could. If you are to liveaboard then there is undoubtedly more space on a widebeam. The freedom to roam and moor on a NB is fabulous and we wouldn't trade that, but then we are lucky to have a house to go home to when we are not aboard.

No, he was 'done away with' in Sileby!

Our NB is 6'8" high in the centre and has 12mm baseplate. Can the OP say what he wants to do with the boat? Marina based and not travel widely or move around extensively. Agree with comments above about buying secondhand for first boat. We love our first new-to-us boat but after a year and a half of many months heavy cruising now know exactly what we would change if we were to upgrade in the future.