Tom and Bex

We could hardly contain our excitement when we arrived at Whilton on Friday 27th August to pick up the keys for the last time for what was now our own boat. The plan was to settle in on the boat and move everything aboard we might need for the trip and set off on Saturday lunch time. We also had one of our cats Mars with us as he was recovering from a broken leg and needed to be kept in a confined space for another 2 weeks. We reconnected the water pipes at the front and proceeded to carefully fill the tank. Unfortunately I had not checked the gas water heater and on turning on the pump, promptly sprayed the whole kitchen with water. Turned out I hadn't checked the drain plug had been put back. After fixing that with some PTFE tape the water system seemed to be holding and all other systems appeared to work, at least enough for us to use for this trip. We had intended to sleep on this sofa bed that was in the lounge: However after the first night this proved so uncomfortable to either sleep or sit on that we ended up on the floor and wish we had binned it at the start to give us more room! On Saturday Morning we moved the boat on our own for the first time for some fuel and made a right mess of moving it back due to the wind! Becky's cousin Hannah and her fiancé Craig kindly gave us a lift to leave our car at Debdale Wharf and about 2.30pm we left Whilton and finally got on our way. Not many photos of the first day as the weather was very wet but we were lucky and met a very nice family on a shared ownership boat who we locked up Buckby locks with in the pouring rain - although they decided to stop just below the top lock as it was so wet so we carried on our own. Arriving at Watford Locks about 6pm we thought we were expecting to wait 'til the following day but the lock keeper said we could be the last boat up after the boats in the flight had come down. We entered the bottom lock at 6.45 and exited about 7.30 with me steering and Becky working the locks. Day 2: Having moored just above Watford locks we cruised to the end of the Welford arm on our second day and having turned and filled up with water we moored just before the corner above Welford lock. On the way we called in to Yelvertoft Marina for some coal to try out the stove! It might only have been August but it was another day of torrential rain at times and we were both cold and wet. Moored Just above Welford Lock. Its pictures like these that show why we love boating so much. Day 3 and we left the Welford arm and headed for Foxton. We arrived at Foxton Locks at 3.30 on bank holiday Monday and having booked in with the keeper we had to wait ‘til 5pm before we were able to start the locks - not as bad as some people had been predicting. We managed to get down the locks in 1hr despite the number of people around. Becky steered this time and I worked the locks. We moored for the night in nice countryside on the Market Harborough arm. View out of side hatch in the morning. Tuesday 31st August and we cruised to Market Harborough and back and spent the rest of the day starting to strip out the Boatman’s Cabin. View whilst working in the Boatman's Cabin. No more cheap pine stuck and nailed on to rotten wood! Swing Bridge at Foxton. Becky doesn't like this bridge and nearly demolished it and the boat moored the other side! If you're the owner of the boat she says sorry! Wednesday and we called in to say hello at Debdale Wharf Marina and let them know we had arrived! However we were having such an enjoyable time we didn't want it to end so cruised past and down to the winding hole below Crane's Lock where we turned and moored for the night just above Kibworth Top Lock. Becky worked the locks going down and I worked the Locks coming back up but Becky decided she doesn't like steering for wide locks so I have some persuading to do for next time! We both much prefer narrow locks! Finally arrived at Debdale on Thursday and they found us a nice mooring at the end of one of the marina jetties for a few weeks until they could crane the boat out onto the hard standing. We didn't think we would like being on a long jetty shared with other boats but it seems much nicer than most marinas as you have water beside you rather than being inches from the next boat. So much so that we are now hoping to stay at Debdale when the boat is finished if they will let us! Luckily we only had to pay the hard standing rate but we certainly made the most of our time in the water and thoroughly enjoyed our first holiday. Can't wait ‘til Diesel and Dust is back in the water again! The stripping out of the interior continues after attending Hannah and Craig's wedding on Friday 3rd September and don't need to worry about getting too dirty after that!

One final worry was when we arranged to go to Whilton on 17th August to make payment and have a look at what would now be our very own boat. We had a phone call from them just as we were about to leave Somerset to say not to come up as there was some problem with finance. It turned out the previous owners had not paid off the balance of finance and as our offer was less than outstanding finance the finance company couldn't release the boat until it was all sorted out but not to worry it should all go through and they would phone us back in an hour. Eventually after a very tense 3-4 hours they phoned back to confirm we could complete the transaction! Needless to say we were up there straight away to complete before any further problems and Diesel and Dust was finally ours once the money cleared. We became well known in the office at the time due to getting the boat for less than half the original asking price Now would be a good time to say how pleased we were with our experience as a buyer from Whilton. We particularly like that they will let you have the keys and spend as much time as you like having a good look at the boats you are interested in and as many times as you like! We did visit to look round lots of times before finding our ideal boat. Had we just been given a quick guided tour as at some other brokers we almost certainly wouldn't have bought it. They allowed us to come when moving the boat, and even arranged it for a Saturday so we could fit it in around work. They were also very helpful with guiding us through the buying process and explaining how it all worked. Our other observation which worked very much in our favour with the negotiations on price was there sales info was not very accurate. In our case it they had several details wrong - engine was listed as Lister SR3 when it was HA3 (quite a difference!); they said it had integral water tank when it had stainless steel; polystyrene insulation and it had rock wool; and failed to mention built in LPG generator in front locker. All things that we picked up straight away on our first viewing. Also they were very honest with us about the fact the owners needed to sell because of outstanding finance and that we were the only ones to express serious interest. Definately not a Lister SR3! Stainless steel water tank LPG Honda generator

Next was arranging survey but as the boat was at Wigrams Turn Marina and had to be moved to Whilton Marina we asked if we could come for the trip. This gave us a lovely day out on 7th August moving the boat as well as a chance to see how she handled and make sure the engine ran ok and there were no major problems. Some photos of the trip can be seen below: Leaving Wigrams Turn Marina Braunston crawl! Working through Braunston Locks We somehow got to the top of Braunston Locks (after towing a boat off that got stuck) in time to moor up, have some lunch and still get away ahead of the boats queuing in front of us at the bottom! Waiting at Buckby Locks Arriving at Whilton - apparently the turn into Whilton is quite tricky but the steerer surprised us (and himself!) with how easy it went round and said the boat handled far better than most boats he moves. We used Craig Allen for the Survey and it was booked for 10th August. We had an anxious wait for him to turn up but the survey went better than expected and only picked up on everything I had already found when looking round and some plating needed from well deck drains back 4' which considering it was the only plating needed was better than expected. Also deeper pits along side needed filling with weld. It turned out the whole bottom had been replated recently and was in perfect condition. Overall we found Craig very helpful and he answered any questions we had as he went and even charged less than quoted as it was in better condition than expected! His opinions on the cracks by the front window was the same as mine - that there was nothing to worry about and it had probably been involved in a collision with a bridge at some point causing the welds to crack. It turns out they were not seam welded and the tack welds had cracked - more in a later entry! On slipway waiting for survey to begin First thing was to go round the whole boat hitting it really hard with a hammer Then clean off patches along the length of the boat to take the ultrasonic thickness measurements

After much discussion and asking for advice on here we decided to ignore all your advice and go with our hearts and made a stupidly low offer in July. Needless to say this was refused and the seller said he was insulted by our offer! We then wrote a long email detailing all the faults we found and asked them to let us know if they changed there mind. Some of the faults can be seen in the pics below: Poor standard of workmanship with doors that didn't open; tiles falling off the walls; messy wiring & plumbing; exposed wiring running across the floor and rubbing on steel; and as seen in photos on first entry, a useless child’s bedroom and boatman’s cabin area. Then there were the problems with the boat itself, the main ones being the cracks around front window and cracked porthole glass: There was also the potential re-bottoming work that needed doing as a previous survey suggested that the rear half of the boat had already been done but the front half would need doing very soon. After 2-3 weeks we phoned them up and asked if there had been much interest in the boat and if they would consider a revised offer subject to survey and we were told by the broker that they needed to sell to clear outstanding finance and we had been the only people to show serious interest. We made a revised offer on 30th July which was refused but after increasing it by £2000 we made it clear that was our final offer and we would not be able to increase any further. The broker phoned back 2 hrs later after they should have been closed to say it had been accepted

We've recently installed a wood pellet stove in our garage to run central heating in the static caravan we're currently living in. Doesn't put much heat out to room but does good job at running central heating. Have been using 2-3 bags of pellets per day in the very cold weather (10kg bags) but very controllable and about the same as bottled gas at 1 47kg bottle per week, although for much better heat output. We were given ours for free and had to repair and service it so if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer although our use is perhaps unusual! Reason running cost is so high is the very poor insulation in the caravan and the large single glazed windows that don't shut properly. Cheers Tom

This is going to be a blog on the purchase and refit of narrowboat Diesel & Dust that we bought from Whilton in August. I'll be making a few entries initially to bring the story up to date then hopefully keep this up to date as work progresses. To start off with here are some photos from the sales brochure that made us curious enough to view Diesel & Dust. We wanted to know more about this boat and particularly what was going on with the gates in the boatmans cabin! Went to view during our holiday at end of June and surprisingly both really liked it and felt Diesel & Dust deserved someone to look after her and bring her back to her former glory. Our holiday ended in North Wales (we like to travel around a lot!) but decided to go for a second viewing (at Wigrams Turn Marina in Warwickshire) on our way home to Somerset! We thought a second look would make us see sense and realise it was not a practical project but instead we both fell in love with the boat but didn't think we could ever afford it at that time. More about the purchase coming soon..... Tom & Becky

We love doing locks and movable bridges and find the very long lock free stretches can get a bit tedious. We like to share the locks when possible but our last holiday ended up with me doing all the locks coming down the Cheshire locks while my wife did the steering and looked after the fire as she had hurt her leg - typical as it was pouring with very cold rain/sleet and the only day we had any rain all holiday! Tom

We both quite liked the engine! Started very easily and ran smoothly with no smoke and quiter than expected. Don't think previous owner has been near engine as it looks well cared for and not swiming in oil like some boats we have seen, although not so clean that it has obviously been cleaned for sale. Besides I like air cooled listers - have rebuilt one as a generator and parents have one that I look after as a spare pump in case of flooding. Some of the boats posted look good value but not really what we are looking for. Have thought about sailaway and although the shell could be had for not much more than asking price of this boat it would cost a lot more to fit out as you would have to buy all the appliances etc. Still might put in a very low offer of 10-12k and leave it with the vendor to think about. In the mean time we'll keep looking - have a huge list of brokerage and boat for sale sites saved to favourites! Still looking for a trad boat with boatmans cabin and preferably vintage engine if anyone hears of one going cheap! Thanks for your time and advice Tom

Thanks for the comments. We're looking for a trad boat with boatmans cabin and engine room, don't like modern style trad as find it very hard to get in and out of. There seems lots of cheap cruiser styles around but they don't really appeal to us. Problem we have at the moment is budget. We could afford max of 15-20k now and spend money and time over next 12 months doing it up and making it just what we want or carry on saving and try to buy a boat thats more suited to us and ready to go in 12 months time. We have allowed in that figure enough for survey, moorings, license etc. Whilton charge £190 for slipway and they said survey should cost about £300 for just a hull survey, don't know if that is about average or not? Edited to add:- we don't really need the full 70' but thought the space might be useful for liveaboard. Have been looking at trad boats 60' and up. Cheers Tom

I think now is probably a good time to introduce myself a bit! I have some previous experience of boats – I helped out in the summer holidays on the trip boat and camping boats of Birmingham and Midland Canal Carrying co when I was at college. I also helped out a lot with the local IWA branch in the 90’s with running and repairing their trip boat and during one winter fabricating an extension of the back deck and lifting outboard bracket, and some other general hull repairs including removing some concrete ballast and helping build a wooden cabin for her so am not new to boating as such, although have had a few years gap until we took our first hire boat holiday since getting married and it reminded me how much I love boats and waterways. I am also very practically minded and try to repair just about anything instead of replacing things from electronics to wooden sheds including building a complete interior for my VW camper, rewire, and repair and respray of bodywork. I expect that refitting a boat will be a very steep learning curve but look forward to the challenges it presents and am sure with the help of this forum and a friendly retired carpenter who will help and let me use his fully equipped workshop I should be ok. As for time, I work as a community carer at the moment and would be able to arrange my days off to give me 3.5-4 days off every other weekend. Tom

If this boat looks too much trouble then where are all the cheap boats for sale? We’re particularly looking for a trad boat with separate engine room and boatmans cabin. Not afraid to do some work on it! What attracted us to this one is it just felt right when we were on it. The previous 2 surveys (1999, 2005) both say the hull was well built with very little pitting and wear to the sides but the bottom (only 6mm originally) has worn to 5.3mm in places with several pits 2mm deep. The bottom has been plated at the back end last time and the survey said it the front was ok for insurance purposes for another 4 years but would likely need doing then. Incidentally the 2005 survey put a value of 36k on the boat so the current owner may be expecting a lot more than the boat is worth now! I was intending to weld the cracks by the window (which I would ask the surveyor about) myself, but don’t feel confident to do the plating at the front if required so would need that doing by boatyard. Once that is done it should be a solid boat for the next few years shouldn’t it? Or am I missing something? Maybe following Wrigglefingers advice we’ll just keep searching. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help – I have been listening honest! I was thinking of offering 17k and hoping to get it for about 20k but if we still decide we still want a challenge we’ll seriously revise that down now and have a rethink on the whole project. I wouldn’t even have considered offering the full asking price. Seems like you may have saved us a lot of money. Thanks Tom

Thanks for replies so far. I noticed those cracks and there seems to be some bucking of the steel around the window in that area. From what I can tell by looking it may have suffered some damage there and the cracks deffinately look like cracked welds. No sign of any damage on the other side or accross the roof although there is a patch on the roof opposite where it looks like the chimney has been moved and a patch welded on. Still interested in this boat and feel like I have the time and skills to bring it up to standard. Would be getting a survey on it before buying and would make any offer subject to survey. What would a full survey tell me above just a hull survey? Bearing in mind most of the interior would be changed or rebuilt.

I'm doing the figures at the moment to work out how much we can afford while still allowing enough for the work to be done. I have searched but can't find reference to this boat being discussed before. I agree that it is overpriced at 25k and was thinking of offering 15k but don't know if that is too low to be taken seriously as it was originally on for 30k (although I was told the owner has outstanding finance on it and needs a quick sale so is open to sensible offers). The mesh doors and the very cheap and badly done pine tounge and groove would be the first to go! It's a shame what he's done as from the bits left over it looks like the original boatmans cabin was really nice. Luckily it seems as if the toungue and groove lining has been fixed on top if the existing and from what I can tell it seems ok underneath - most of what he's put up is falling off already.

Hi, Need some advise on this boat that we are looking at. It's this one. Have been to take a second look and both really like it and are thinking of putting an offer on it but not sure what would be a reasonable starting offer. It needs the back cabin completely refitting and the bathroom and bedroom need refitting as well. It's had the bottom replated at the back 5 years ago and survey then said the rest of the bottom would probably need doing after the next 5 years (i.e. now!) We would of course get a full hull survey done. Roughly what would replating the remaining half of the bottom cost? Sides were fine with very little pitting on the last survey. Have had a search of the forum and picked up loads of useful advice about what to look for. One concern is it has poured concrete ballast in the back half of the boat with tiles or laminate floor put straight on top. From what can be seen it seems original and no signs of any damage to concrete. Front half of floor is ply and looks dry but rusty underneath (but unable to lift all of it). No sign of water anywhere inside boat. Are we completely mad to be considering a boat like this? We are thinking of visiting boat for 3-4days every other week to do the work with some work done in my workshop at home in between. Where would we be able to do the work - do marinas let you refit part of the boat on your mooorings? Any mooring recomendations in the area? I'm tempted to get the cheapest mooring I can for the first year to do the work and maybe cruise to a remote spot on the canal when I visit so as not to disturb anyone (and get some use out of the boat!) Sorry for all the questions. We would be looking to live aboard in about a years time when the work is complete and wife has finished her nursing training but may move the boat to different area depending what job opportunities there are for her. Thanks in advance, Tom and Bex