Zanyzoya

What a fantastic idea! At least she he has something to show for her money at the end, other than the qualification of course 🤣.

Maybe the grand plan wasn’t so grand after all. Ah well it was worth considering. Thanks for all your help. The two ‘children’ will be 18+, it would be for them to live on whilst at university 🤣

Thanks so much everyone, this thread has been very insightful! It seems the options are to spend £10k-£20k on a steel walled narrow boat to do up or forget the idea. This is going to need some serious thought! It still may be preferable to throwing tens of thousands of the family coffers down the drain on rent, but it’s a large chunk to find. Time for a good think…. My daughter is also off the uni this September, (5year vet course in Nottingham, fingers crossed). If we could get the boat ready in time for her second year then she can live on it too, perhaps with a pal or two. When she finishes her course, my son should be starting uni a few months later so we could sail it to his area. For my daughter rent is costing £170 a week, which we have to pay for 30 weeks of the year. We may still be quids in with a narrow boat.

Thanks Mad Harold. Sounds like I need to stick with the grp idea. And thanks for the heads up on the highbridge cruiser, it does look a little rough round the edges to be fair! Back to the drawing board …

MrsM! I’m a sixth form teacher myself 👍😁. A level physics teacher to be precise. Absolutely some would be out of their depth and it does not bear thinking about 🤣🤣🤣

Maybe I’ll just have to bite the bullet and get a second mortgage to buy a rental terraced house or something if he doesn’t want to waste money on rent then 🤷‍♀️. It was a good try.

You’ve got my number LadyG - total boating newbie 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thanks for your help everyone, I’ve decided to steer clear and look for a grp instead, it sounds like a much safer option. My plan is to buy a do-er-upper for my son to live in whilst he’s at university to avoid burning money on rent. That way he can sail it back after graduation. 👍. He can then either live in it or sell and put towards a house deposit. This is all his idea, and hubby has the skills to help him do the work. Son is only 14 at the moment so we have plenty of diy time on our hands. He very luckily won a couple of thousand pounds on premium bonds a couple of months ago and wants to invest it in his future. (Not bad for his £100 birthday money put in premium bonds last year 🤣🤣😊) I’m going to add some extra cash to help him out. Today I saw highbridge crusader (32ft grp) which seems a good hybrid between a narrow boat and a cruiser. The boat is for sale at £6000 (I bartered down from £10,000. It’s currently in the water. They are also selling a brand new Beta 14 engine. Does this sound a better bet lovely people?

The purchase price of the boat is £3500, plus and extra £3500 for a reconditioned Lister SR2 2 cylinder engine, 2-1 reduction gearbox and prop (also from same seller). The mechanical bits above need fitting (which my hubby can do).

It does have a lister air cooled engine, so that’s a very interesting point Alan!

Thanks for your reply LadyG, it was the seller who told me this in the advert. I am viewing her on Sunday so I'll ask if I can get a survey. 🙂 Thanks for your advice. 🙂

Hi all, Thanks for accepting me to your forum! I'm considering purchasing a 45ft springer narrowboat, however she needs the swim overplating. I believe that the rest of her hull is ok. Would anybody know how much this would cost to put right? I live in the north west. Many thanks for your help Zoe