Crewcut

Probably best if you measure the existing bunk cushions & then either buy the foam cut to size & cover yourself or there's a few places like these: https://foam4u.co.uk/products/v-berth/ https://www.thefoamshop.co.uk/FOR-BOATS/V-Berth-Mattress-Toppers https://www.gbfoamdirect.co.uk/foam-cut-to-size/foam-shapes/boat-mattresses/ For what it's worth I got rid of the two piece mattress in my forecabin, bought a foam mattress with removable cover and trimmed it to size (with a bread knife, there is a bit of a technique to it but not hard to make a reasonably neat job and the cover's going back on after) so now have one "proper" mattress where there were two separate pieces. The trouble with them was that you always ended up wedged in the middle of the two pieces no matter what. I think even if you got a king sized mattress it still might not be wide enough at the aft end of your vee berth but it would be significantly cheaper than having a full set of custom made bunk cushions...

It probably did have a Plastimo bladder now you mention it & they are notorious aren't they. The Vetus ones were supposed to be a lot better I dunno if they still are. I had a bad feeling about the particular V23W my mate was looking at & told him not to buy it. When he did it kind of became my responsibility to sort it out which is entirely my fault but you're right, for £5k if it gets you out on the water...

Mate new to boating bought a 23 widebeam, we had reason to suspect there was a lot of water under the cabin sole but there was no access to that area. I fitted an inspection hatch for him and we pumped out a LOT of water which we think mostly/probably got in through the "aft cabin" windows over the years and accumulated there. Also had occasion to remove the rear bulkhead in the head and discovered chipboard behind it. And it skittered about like a roller skate but I guess a few strategically placed sandbags would counter that somewhat. So no I personally wouldn't touch a Viking with a barge pole because in my opinion they're flimsy, poorly designed and poorly built. You'll have to make you own mind up and others clearly are happy with theirs but I would suggest having a look at a few others first and apologies if reading this upsets anyone it's just one person's opinion...

The big window area & associated condensation will be the worst aspect of trying to keep such a boat warm & dry. As said if you have shore power available not so much of a problem you could run a dessicant dehumidifier & an oil filled radiator but if you're off grid a small narrowboat would be infinitely better. And I know from experience how badly built Vikings are so I'd look at others if you do go down the fibreglass route. I have had some success with the self adhesive closed cell foam sold by Hawke House for insulating fibreglass but you've still got that big window area. You could if you really wanted remove the windows, then there's a few ways you could fill the area left and then have a few portholes. Seen a Highbridge 32 where this was done very nicely...

£30k is about where you start to see some reasonable boats & it is a buyer's market so if you don't rush you should be able to find something fairly decent, i.e. not needing immediate overplating & preferably with a newer generation engine, by which I mean Beta/Nanni, Barrus, Isuzu, Vetus (less well regarded, expensive spares). Hull condition and engine are the most important factors. I'd aim for something that was built with a 10mm base plate if possible & it's worth remembering that comprehensive insurance requires 4mm minimum plate thickness. As already said get your own survey & don't be distracted by boats that have been "refurbished" which often means no more than tarted up cosmetically inside a bit. Have a think about whether you'd prefer pumpout or cassette loo, personally I'd go for cassette for simplicity/ease of maintenance, others much prefer pumpout. Looking outside the most popular size (57ft) might get you something a bit better value for money so 40-50ft maybe for a couple for leisure use? Things fail all the time on boats, sometimes this is because they're only really suitable for occasional use, sometimes through lack of use or lack of maintenance. There is a lot to learn but none of it is rocket science, if you're a practical, handy with tools type it makes things a lot easier... Good luck and ignore the bickering on here...

It's a constant battle to get the (sea) marina where I am to put a stop to the regular seagull feeders amongst us. They do my head in - noisy, aggressive, sh*t everywhere. As for feeding rats, well why don't we all just do as much as we can to help the local cockroach population FFS...

Welcome, keep an eye on the Waterside Moorings site, not sure if you can set up alerts on there. Google finds 4 marinas, have you contacted any of them to ask about a mooring? There will be people who don't live on their boats or have a mooring but make it work by moving their boats every two weeks. Or not...

Caframo or Hella for 12v, or if you have 240v available I can thoroughly recommend a Meaco 1056, absolutely streets ahead of anything else, about £100 but well worth it. I treated myself to one a couple of years ago as we seem to get these 30 odd degree days increasingly frequently. Downside is it's about the size of a baseball so perhaps not the easiest to store...

And if your friend asked the offerer (if that's a word) to arrange & pay for someone other than them to move it, they could ask their mate who is coincidentally a professional boat mover if you get my drift... And look I know it's probably too early for most to have got on the sauce already but we're already 6 posts in and nobody's disagreed with or insulted anybody, is this a forum record? 😀

Seems reasonable to me - assuming your friend isn't going to give the keys to the person who's made the offer subject to survey on her boat so they can move it (or steal it), is she wanting them to pay for someone to move it?

Well you've mentioned the two big pitfalls & you don't really get one of them with fibreglass boats - if a fibreglass boat is floating the worst you'll likely have is some osmosis and perhaps the hanging gardens of babylon underneath. A bit of drilling and filling, scrubbing and scraping and off you go. That said it's always better to see out of the water and also where you can check the condition of the hull from the inside. An outboard engine can easily be replaced and taken home to service but diesel inboards are so much better to live with. That wee steel boat might need a full overplate, I'd guess that would about double the price and I don't think anyone in their right mind would bother. Boatwork in general takes 2/3 times more time & money than you think, so unless you really enjoy that sort of work/project, have the money, skills, tools, time and motivation then I'd carry on doing what you're good at to earn enough money to get the boat you want. Persuading your wife that any of the above is a good idea is a whole other ball game but you will need to get her on board (ha ha) as well. Best of luck though, boating in all it's forms is a joy...

There are loads of threads asking the same question, have a read of some (by, e.g. typing "survey" into the forum search). A survey can be a requirement for comprehensive insurance but if you're happy (as many are) with third party and with the boat you're buying then you can go ahead and buy it. You could argue that the older a boat is the more there's a need to at least establish (as far as the limitations of a survey go) the condition of the hull. It could be fine or it could be microns away from becoming a collander. But you already know all this because you've reached the point of saying you're hoping to buy a narrowboat soon and will have done your research, right? Personally I'd be happy to satisfy myself about the condition of the engine and all the other equipment and I might or might not have a hull survey but everybody's different - some would never buy any boat without a survey, others would never bother with one no matter what boat they're buying...

Forgive me but just to check because on my Isuzu the oil filter is upside down, you are undoing it the right way? When the filter has been replaced run the engine & recheck, you'll find the level has gone down some. And when it's all finished you can treat yourself with the £50 you saved...

There's another N27 with a nearly new Beta engine here: https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/nauticus-27-for-sale/744543 That Beta engine is infinitely preferable to an old BMC & I don't imagine anybody in their right mind wouldn't service the outdrive properly before fitting a new engine that would likely have cost about the asking price (£8.5k) by the time all the dust has settled. But there are people about who aren't in their right mind...

Generally yes most of us are very friendly & helpful. If you're in a marina then condensation & lack of insulation are much less of a problem, use a dessicant type dehumidifier (Meaco DD8 or Ecoair DD1) rather than compressor type because they work well in colder temperatures and are less prone to spontaneous combustion. Heating with gas is going to be expensive, cheapest form of heating would be multifuel stove and scavenge your own wood but that's time and labour intensive, you can't just burn anything you find. Coal I honestly wouldn't know how expensive that is but it's not cheap. Diesel options are warm air or drip feed. Given the choice I'd have drip feed diesel feeding radiators but that's an investment of a few thousand. Chinese warm air diesel heaters are cheap to buy and replace, you'd need to upgrade the ancilliaries for boat use - not difficult, for a few hundred quid you can have a useable, usually reliable and reasonably economical form of dry heat. I have an older Mikuni warm air heater that works well on my boat (Colvic Watson 34, fibreglass, well insulated) but I'm in a marina most of the time and FWIW I use an Ecoair DD1 dessicant dehumidifier, a 1500w oil filled radiator and an electric blanket. Do get youself an electric blanket! I also have a fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster, telly, etc. and in the very coldest weather spend about £50/week on leccy and we're still paying almost 40p/unit, most marinas are on about 30p/unit now I think. In the summer when I don't need any heat or dehumidifying it drops to a fiver a week...

Hi, If you've lived full time in a van you'll be ok with the space, fg boats have poor insulation and relatively large window areas so condensation in winter is a real issue. If you have mains you can use a dehumidifier (dessicant type) but if not you'll need to work on the insulation. And if it was me I'd also remove the windows and fit portholes instead - more privacy/security, less condensation. There's a few ways you might go about this, I saw a Highbridge 32 where it had been done, massive improvement in liveability. Nauticus or Highbridge yes but avoid Viking boats, they're poorly built. Be aware that some NB'ers will assume if you're living on a "plastic yogurt pot" that you have mental health/substance misuse issues and are destitute. Hence they'll likely give you a wide berth which might suit you, or you could be friendly and normal towards them which might in turn give them a pleasant surprise... Good luck! No reason why a Nauticus 27 can't be made into a decent liveaboard for 1...

Dessicant type work better at lower temperature than compressor type - Meaco DD8 or Ecoair DD1 are good, compact, not too power hungry (relatively) and also raise the ambient temperature by a few degrees. Also great for clothes drying. If you're on mains & on the boat all year I think it's a no-brainer, they make a huge difference in Winter as does an electric blanket (I believe 12v electric blankets are available as well). Some will tell you that unless you're able to hermetically seal your boat they won't work which is not the case but do seal as best you can, little things like leaving the plug in the sink to stop air getting in that way make a difference. Most of the time the outside air in Winter is already quite humid so less heating, minimal ventilation and a dehumidifier work better and are more cost effective than more heat and more ventilation in my experience but then I'm on a sea boat in a lumpy water marina. My mates NB had double glazed windows, a drip fed diesel heater & a Webasto feeding radiators, the only condensation he ever got was on the metal window frames. Amazing really how cosy the whole boat was, off grid and in freezing weather...

Here's an online layout planner: https://www.narrowboats.org/narrowboat_layout.aspx

I would want to see any of them out of the water or at the very least be able to access the whole of the bilge from bow to stern, this because I went to see a Highbridge 32 that was out of the water & that's how I found out that there's a very heavy wooden I suppose you could call it a rubbing strake (keel?) underneath down the centreline that was through bolted and on the one I saw the whole thing was coming away. You could relatively easily recify it with a few bottle jacks, bolts and a good adhesive sealant but it would have been a maul of a job, difficult to do alone. Just something to be aware of, like I say this was a Highbridge, not sure about the others. Such a thing would also help with directional stability I guess... I think fg narrowboats are definitely worth considering if you're on a relatively tight budget...

If the OP is still listening and FWIW if you can't afford the boat you want you're better off saving up for it by working doing what you're already good at rather than taking on a project. It's one thing ripping out a boat's interior, it's another making a good job of building one. They always cost a lot more and take a lot longer than you think. For £40k you can get a reasonable boat that shouldn't need a great deal doing (usual caveats). The one you're posting about looks tired in the pictures let alone up close. If you do really, really want to do a build yourself with your £40k you're not that far off the price of a new sailaway, which, again, will cost more in money and time than you think. In your position I'd be looking for a much more recent boat, shorter and already having most/all of what you think you want. Always try living with whatever the boat you end up buying has to see whether it works for you or not before getting destructive... Good luck with your search...

I think survey and RCR breakdown cover would be more appropriate for a canal boat. The sorts of diesel engines that canal boats have are relatively simple, reliable (when serviced and maintained correctly) units. Learn how to self service your engine, it's not difficult, access is sometimes the most difficult thing to overcome - squeezing yourself into a small space to get to different components. Spending that sort of money there should certainly be no need for overplating and well worth epoxy coating the next time the boat comes out for blacking if it doesn't already have it...

The "landlord" has gotten off very lightly if all he has to do is shell out for some new batteries...

Dessicant dehumidifiers work much better than the compressor type at lower temperatures, I believe they're also less noisy & less prone to spontaneously combusting. I'd suggest Ecoair DD1 or Meaco DD8. I have an Ecoair, it makes the world of difference but I am on a mains umbilical full time... FWIW I think I'd be inclined to go all or nothing with washing clothes, i.e. either have a washer/dryer and do whatever's necessary to have enough power for it, or use launderettes...

I spent 3 years out of the UK & it was the devil's own job getting a rental after I got back. As per Lady G no rental record so ended up having to pay 6 months rent up front & 2 x deposit after a phone call with the landlord during which I reassured him that I was a responsible 40 something year old not a party animal & more likely to leave the flat in a better state than I found it than vice versa. If I was less confident/articulate I would have failed, as would I if I didn't have the funds of course. I think he thought I'd just come out of prison. That was in 2009, it's much worse now. To the OP if you have a valid driving license and can provide an address (friend/relative?) I'd suggest getting a van...

FWIW I recently had a Sterling Pro charger fail. It'll have been 15 or a few more years old. I got as far as removing the outer case to check the internal fuse which was intact so that was that. Replaced it with a Victron 30 amp 3 output charger that I was recommended to get rather than another, more expensive, Sterling...