DandGNWales

That's the good thing about running a Pub, we knew a guy who comes in was a welder but when we asked him it got even better, he used to build Narrowboats, and chatting the other night he said if the whole stern needs welding a said it will be no more than £600.00 so a total bargain, for once lady luck seems to me in our corner

Thanks for your tips I will give her a thorough going over

Yes he was a great guy, looks like we will be neighbours very soon

As a Corrosion Engineer in the Oil & Gas Industry I already have ordered the new Anodes, I would never live it down if our boat Corroded Away lol

Has anyone used this paint on their Narrowboat and is it any good as the price seems good http://www.paints4trade.com/boat--barge-enamel-paint-785-p.asp#

Just to try and pre empt things how hard v costly is it to have a stern tube replaced ?

I only ever get bad luck usually looks like for once it's gone our way, can't wait to re-fit and paint her for lots of cruising in 2014

Just sorting out the BSC and license in Meadow View Marina in Barrow Upon Soar, then steaming her to Chirk Marina and dry docking her at Trevor, so at least by the time we get her there we will know if she is reliable or not, plus with 105 locks the Mrs will have arms like popeye lol

Thanks Richard, that is good news bit more cash to waste on other boat things lol

When our boat is in the dry dock we will be re-naming her, we understand that some boaters are a supersticious lot and have been told it's very bad luck to re-name her if still in the water, so are there any other things we need to do to get some good luck for a change ?

We are dry docking our new to us boat for re-blacking and some over plating, so is there anything else you would change as a matter of routine, like when you change a clutch in a car if you have the engine out that kind of idea and rough costs etc. Also apart from removing the alternator and battery wires do we need to remove anything else ?

Turns out just by chance I approached the current insurer's and they told me it's 1978 so that will do, so just insured it with Saga fully comp with no need for an out of the water survey and a bargain at £162.00

Did you ask her any questions?, it was like trying to get blood out of a stone but think the lady owner works strange shifts

Yet another update, Saga just called said the underwriter did not require a survey so got it fully comp for £162.00 which I think, but remember are new to insuring our own boat so no previous experience seems like a great deal to me, especially as 3rd party only was coming out at £100.00

Saga may have changed their policy as just tried to get a quote from them and they told us because of the age of the boat (1978) that they have passed it to the underwriters and that they will probably ask for a full out of the water survey, told them it had been surveyed by the guy who was going to buy her but was put off by the stern welding repair required and they said it would have to be in my name, that sounds daft to me

Thanks for that, so for insurance we will go with the 1980's build as that is what the previous owner told us

Sadly I'm a mere boy at 47 lol, but the wife is over the magic 50 years young, so will get her to get a quote, so thanks for all the replies, the boat did have a survey by the guy who was going to buy it for £20,000 but it failed on the starboard side stern area, so got a welder that used to build narrowboats going to overplate the stern for £600 max so a bargain, all the rest of the hull passed with flying colours, also just oredered 4 normal anodes for the bow and stern and 2 of the slim line ones for the side, as a Senior Corrosion Engineer in the Oil & Gas Industry would not be a good advert for my job if our boat corroded away

I may try and catch up with the Davisons and see if they keep records of all the boats they have built, our boat runs a BMC engine so are we saying she is possibly a 1970's model rather than 1980's?

When I did a search on Davison, I found a lot of info and not sure if the could have a similar named company but I did find company info on a Davison Brothers still trading today, so will have to drop them a letter or email to see if they are the same company, be good if we could get to the bottom of this

We have been getting quotes to insure our new to us narrowboat, but as she is knocking on a bit (Been told she was built in 1980 but need to verify this) we have spent a lot of time pumping all our info into various websites for quotations only to find we can only get 3rd party cover or as she is old no quote at all, so to sum up are there any specialist companies that insure boats at the lower end of the market

We will be re-ferbing our boat over the next few months, at the moment she has steel rails topped with wood around the cruiser stern I don't think it's rotten but will require a good sanding and re-coat, so my questions are as follows: 1. Worst case, if the wood is rotten when we start poking around, what wood would be the best to replace it with ? 2. If we get lucky and it's a simple sand back and re-coat, what product would be the best to use ? Thanks in advance for any replies Denise & Geoff

Hi, I have done that and very little info, says maker unknown and length at 55 feet but we bought it as a 57 footer so will have to get the tape measure out lol, but after looking at pictures of other Davison Brothers Boats I would agree 100% that is what she is. Thanks for all your input

Do you think it's earlier then ?, to be honest when I asked the Vendor what the engine make was, I was told Diesel so as she told me it was built in 1980 thats what I was going from

After doing a bit of googling, yes I know I will go blind lol but the pictures I found I would agree it's a Frobisher, I will post a better pic of her as the rennovation gets underway.

I will go and google that now for any info, thanks for your input