anthony

they built shells for Lees Narrowboats that went bust. Ok shells and they claim they can copy anything you want.

im not refering to anyone really just diferent things ive read. i myself have questioned sheathing in depth some are for it some against. An old springer is not a good move (something else ive researched) A couple of boat welders to me in no uncertain terms they are a pain to weld because of the shape. I know where there is one now for 2k 23ft that needs doing up but i wouldnt touch it. I would think a decent ply over frames then seathed boat will take a good six months to build. Worth it though.

Hi the cost for the timber would be £2500. If using exterior ply then an epoxy and fiberglass cloth externally was recommended (although some would disagree). Quality marine ply would be very good,but some lower end marine ply is no better than best exterior ply. It wouldnt be a really expensive boat and it would be cheaper than steel and have a rather nice look too. Its built over frames not a stitch and tape jobby. Selway did an excellent job on the drawings and is always on the end of a phone if problems arise. Ive stated to build a canadian canoe 16 footer using ply with the stitch and tape method. However im going to square the back and try and make a cabin for it. Once im happy with it ill separate top and bottom and try to make a mold. Ill take a couple of pics later and post them up. Cheers.

I would have to echo what dccruiser has said. Ive been doing up a dawncraft Dandy and spent a lot of time and effort on it. Sanding then sanding then more sanding then prep work new windows paint,oh and the bloody bird sand technique for grip the list goes on. If anyone suggested i would be dodging fees after putting in so much work they are frankly totally daft. Ill have to put up a little blog with the before and after pictures of the project I think so folks can have a look,ill even include one of my BW receipt. Bye.

hi, sorry ive not been clear. I meant as its not possible to stand in the dandy i may as well forget about standing in the cabin. So a car topable boat with a cabin yes but without standing space other than on the helm where there would be no cabin so skies the limit. LOL I designed it and commisioned Selway to draw it up. Its a great boat but left on the drawing board for now not cheap to build either!!

Why not build a cabin? A tent would be cold no? Simon im not bothered about paying just want to pay less. Like most i guess. The dandy is a great boat but even with full headroom would not be ideal. I think what i want is something up to 16 foot car topable.

not bad mate. what do you reckon to sticking a cabin on it to sleep in for shelter ect?

thanks for the idea Fuzzy but i will want to use a camping stove too. So on a rubber boat that could be a nightmare.

well im not sure about the norman 18 whats your point please? my thinking is i cant stand in the dandy so all the head space is redundant really a total waste. I can only sit in it or sleep in it and stand on the back deck. So you are right i may as well have a canoe with a cabin really. At least then i could cartop it drop it in the canal and pay a day fee or something. Less cost all round for exactly the same function perhaps. Now all we need is somewhere to stick the portaloo! i forgot to mention one important factor. i would need a new car to tow a 1500 kg dandy too.

that would be a perfect idea but trailer are not cheap as IM sure you know.

yes you are right but its going to cost around £65 to keep it on the water then the insurance then maintenence on top. IM thinking of something else perhaps.

With all the talk of boaters on the lower price end of the market one question that comes to my mind is what do people want on a budget? What compremises are people prepared to make? Today I finally got my boat safety on my Dawncraft Dandy that ive been doing up. Although I got it cheap its not a cheap boat now. So ive been wondering what kind of boat would be ideal for people who just want to camp on the water and pay a temporary license and take the boat home when its time to go? Something you can have a portapotti on use a little camping stove ect. IM thinking about this as ive just worked out how much keeping my Dandy on the water is going to cost me.

Were things this problematic when boats were built from wood?

A mini moto is a little rev and go 39cc small scale replica of a full size racing bike. You would never get one road legal either. A monkey bike is road legal and has gears. How about a small road legal quad bike? A 125 or 250 cc. I wouldnt fancy trying to get a two wheeler on and off a boat in the wet and mud. At least with a quad its a bit more stable on four wheels plus more carrying space for shopping ect. Then again under £800 for a brand new monkey bike that you can stash away and can ride on a learner plate seems like a good do to me. There is a massive customisation scene on these bikes too. One being jacking it up so its not so low down. Good luck looks like fun.

Gosh typical of me Ive opened a can of worms again. Sarah I dare say your dad builds great boats and good for him. Please point me in the direction of his website so i can check his work out. I wouldnt say something is of better quality just because its been built bespoke as one persons idea of bespoke is another persons idea of ''what on earth is that'' Plus a smaller builder charges more because they dont have the buying power of a larger firm in terms of materials. When i made my comment i made it from the point of small builders who slag of Liverpool boats and say buy a shell from me after telling a horror story. I dont think paying 50 percent more for a bespoke boat means better weld and better steel,possibly better design yes better looks. To say you build better boats because you take longer could also be laughable too though. Sorry John i thought your boat was a liverpool shell you fitted out yourself. Did you mention you did one previously perhaps or am i getting my wires crossed? Cheers.

the reason i came up with the idea of starting this thread is as follows. I was working on my fiberglass boat and a couple of blokes were working on a narrowboat. They told me of a liverpool shell that had leaked and Liverpool boats didnt come out to fix it after i suggested i was thinking about a liverpool shell. I was told of another story where the bulkhead between the engine bay and cabin had a nice big bit of weld missing so if it rained the cabin was getting wet. My reply was right ok but Liverpool boats have been in business for how many years and built how many boats? Not to mention the fact that since ive had a boat in the past myself and seen a fair few some of the nicest ones have been liverpool boats. Take Johns boat for example its a lovely boat as far as im consearned. It confuses me in fact why people think there is a diference in a narrowboat shell really. Plus they are all made from steel to the same specs anyway are they not? I must be missing the point some where or is it small builders who cant compete with liverpool shells pretend to build higher quality boats to hide the fact it takes them longer to build theirs to the same standard?

LOL yes good idea but i dont think the bloke who owns the mariner is going to be happy with me filling a 55 footer with his water.

Thanks for the replies so far. Does a shell come with a guarantee lasting a year like other consumer goods that are brand new?

IM going to be in the market to buy a shell soon which i plan to fit out myself off the water. After hearing stories about certain companies where shells have actually leaked when put in the water. Then the responsible company not comming out to fix the problem, im wondering how i can protect myself from being a victim of lousy workmanship. Say for example i wanted a shell from Liverpool what kind of legaly binding agreement can i have drawn up that ensures they put all right that goes wrong or refund me if they dont within a limited time scale? Fair enough cheap is cheap but that does not mean cheap should be rubbish and devoid of customer service. Any tips would be good plus im sure others on this forum would find the info usefull. Thanks.

I just want to point out that despite having a license when we had our boat we had to have the receipt in the window as BW took 3 months to send the stickers.By then we had sold the boat.

hi, no we cancelled the direct debit once the boat was sold and informed BW of this also.

Lets be clear Eugene. So now you have told the other side lets break it down. If BW had our phone numbers why would we pretend to not be the person in question answering the phone? Do my forum posts on this matter represent someone who is trying to avoid BW? BW obviously has our address anyway but somehow dose not receive our letters! The fact is we moved shortly after selling the boat and our phone was disconected. However why would this be a problem when we sent BW a letter to inform you of the new owners details as per the terms. Yes you have been in touch but from our point despite whatever efforts you personally have made which we thank you for they have until today had no effect! Your debt collectors say we will have to speak to our client, Bw say its a different department so you will have to deal with the debt collectors as its being passed over to them now!! BW have had several letters from us but claim they have not received them. So enough was enough when we received yet another debt collectors letter. I have had to track down the boat and the bloke who i sold it too and work my way backwards because BW are fully aware they are receiving funds from him for the same period of time they claim we owe money for! You would think its simple wouldnt you? But no because BW dont communicate successfully internally which is why you are all moving to Leeds so you can begin to try and resolve this problem according to a member of your staff I spoke to. This has been explained clearly on the phone months ago so what is it you are trying to defend exactly Eugene? BW'S bad admin. We sent a letter as advised from a BW officer Sandy Duston in nottingham where the boat is now to explain everything in writing to shared services to a chap called Ben Cousins. We received no notification from him to confirm had received the letter. After waiting 3 weeks i called him up he was not there so i spoke to someone else who informed me he had put no notes on the system to show we had contacted Bw! The next day the legal department called me/us and bleated on about terms and conditions and how we didnt return the plates/stickers they want over 700 quid for! This person attempted to shout me down and talked over me a rude Tammy Midgely I recall. For the record she gave me her name and said she did not care if i use it on a forum while telling people of our bad experience. In fact her arrogant rudeness ruined my day and evening. I made it very clear that when my Mrs a respected person and teacher says she has sent back plates/stickers and letters you can take her word as being true. Tammies reply was ,well surely she would of had the sence to send them via a secure method of postage! She said it means nothing who she is or what she does!! I was deeply offended to be frank. She then confirmed she received our letter and that it reapeats what we have said before when Bw 1st contacted us! Oh right so now BW did recieve contact from us but choose to ignore us and send another debt collectors letter. Then we recieve another letter a few days later from the legal department aknowledging the letter we had sent nearly a month prior. In this letter Bw highlight their terms and conditions which clearly say when selling a boat you must inform them in writing. Erm but we did and Bw are basically saying no you didnt you are lying so you must pay us for stickers as someone else is paying us for the boat!! Come on Eugene there is only one side to this story BW have messed up. The way the company you so proudly defend has treated us like dog mess on a shoe and we are deeply upset. This is why we are writing about this. Owning a boat should be a nice experience something to look back on and remember fondly. Not a total stress. Finally today someone from BW called us who is in a position to get to the bottom of this we hope. We are not holding are breaths though. If BW are not prepared to accept we sent the appropiate letter when selling the boat as per their terms in good faith along with the stickers I cant see how this will be resolved. For the record Eugene the email that was sent to me was adressed to a MR Lovell not to I. Despite you having my name somehow somewhere a MR Lovell has something to do with this so you can see even more confusion for us. We dont want to disrespect anyone but what this is putting us through is simply not fair. Thank you.

Just a suggestion this. How about we complile a list of builders who supply shells ect on the budget end of the market like Liverpool Boats. Make this list sticky so all can check out the links of such builders.

thanks for the reply. does this mean all the debt collector letters and threatening legal action and us incurring more costs is their way of trying to bully us into paying them?