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we recently bought a narrowboat, she's 30ft, built by eastern caravans and narrowboats ltd. the boat came with a folder & all the pamphlets for all the appliances etc, there's one for a bulge pump, so we know there is a pump somewhere on the boat, it's hooked up to the 12v battery, and the wires for it run under the floor, the switch is on, etc. there's defo a pump down there somewhere, but how the heck do we get to it to check it's working & in good condition? short of taking the floor up? there's no hatches for the main bilge of the boat. most articles about bilge pump maintenance assume you're installing one for the first time, or that it's easily accessible (eg in the engine bay). the bilge is divided into three segments (the two outside ones are fuel & gas lockers) and dont have pumps in them any advice would be gratefully appreciated

Hello all, Sorry for the long post and the rather basic questions, I am a genius with computers but a complete novice when it comes to boats. I have recently become the owner of another cabin cruiser after receiving a second chance offer on eBay and am after some advice/guidance on renovating her. This was the original advert: 20ft Cabin Cruiser Chenise is a great little family cruiser ideal for both river and sea, she has a forward cabin equipped with sink, work tops, bench seating with storage under, top hatch with integrated fan and two under counter cupboards. The V shaped hull is designed to form a bed with the appropriate cushions and boarding. A 12v inverter is fitted to power 240v equipment via the solar charged battery such as dvd player, radio etc. The rear deck has a full canopy witch has recently been re-proofed, the flooring is decking planks with an access panel to the electric bilge pump. Bench seating with loads of storage under including manual bilge pump. Water from the bilge and sink is ejected via built in ports. Steering wheel and remote controls for the main engine, cabin door with padlock clasp, window and port hole with removable panel. The decks have anti slip plates, bow rails, bow anchor roller, tie off points etc. 2x nav lights and 1x rod holder. Main Engine. Mercury 40hp (pull start) connected to remote steering and controls, last serviced November 2014. Great motor and moves her along on both river and sea. (see below) Auxiliary Motor. Mariner 2hp. Small unit but pushes her along to get you home if main engine should fail. Recent service with new impeller, oil etc. Chenise is a great boat and has given us some good family weekend fishing / cruising etc. She is currently moored at Heybridge Basin in Essex offering great cruising and fishing and access to the sea via the manned sea lock. It is possible to sail to Chelmsford stopping off at supermarkets and pubs on the way for great family days out. (Moorings available) Chenise was bought with the intention of a full refurbishment but enjoyed her so much we never got round to it and just enjoyed her “as is”. We have now purchased a larger boat hence this sale. Bad Bits. Used boat 2 weeks ago and all fine but now can’t start main engine, started to rub down cabin but never finished. Needs some TLC but will come good. Viewing welcomed and encouraged. Was purchased in this location so no trailer. If you buy to remove she will need to be sailed through sea lock to a slip way about 15 min sail at the cost of £30 to use slip way. (aux engine will get you there) Less than 10 feedback score please contact me before bidding! UK buyers only. You bid to buy, not view or haggle so please come and view if you have any concerns as this is now relisted and I really need the mooring for new boat Pictures can be viewed here: http://s287.photobucket.com/user/southeastbikers/library/Chenice?sort=3&page=1 The pictures are from two adverts, the original sale in August, which apparently fell through (and then the Mercury outboard unit stopped working) and how it looks now with the yellow/green interior, sink, and worktop units. She is cosmetically a tidy cabin cruiser but I need help with creating a 'plan' of things required to have her canal/seaworthy as I wish to take her from her current moorings out of the sealock and around to other rivers/routes (she is currently on a 13mile navigation that does not connect to anything else) So far I have secured the rights to her moorings and insured her with AIG (Insured her as a Microplus, although any confirmation would be great!), and thankfully at this stage she does not require a BSC due to being moored at the Basin, but obviously this would be necessary to take her on either the current navigation or any other inland waters. My first priority is to have the outboard repaired and hopefully have this running, having no experience of outboards and limited experiences of boats in general this will certainly be an adventure/challenge, I am currently attempting to contact the previous owner to obtain the 'auxilary engine' mentioned in the advert as this was not left on the boat, nor were any batteries or other marine items. My questions are: The boat apparently has 2 navigation lights but I have not seen a fuse panel like we have on our other boat, infact I am not sure how any of the electrical components are being powered so would like to fit a fuse panel, are these panels difficult to wire in yourself and do they need to meet any sort of requirements? What one would I require? According to the advert, there was a small auxilary engine (which we are still attempting to obtain), other boats we have seen have these mounted on a square block that protudes from one side of the transom, but our boat does not have this, is there a specialist mount we require to mount this next to the main engine? I aim to kit out the interior further, do I require a particular foam/wood for this purpose? I am not a fan of the padlock/clasp cabin lock, are there any issues with fitting a general yale-type door lock to cabin doors? I'm sure I will come across more on a closer inspection over the weekend, but all help for now is much appreciated!

So our survey has been completed, a few points were picked up that included, Small bit of welding on the base plate(Had hit something, no leak) Fit Anodes Service gas boiler and hob These have been done, apart from the gas which is being completed today, then BSS will be issued Thursday all going well. Payment will be made Thursday and with a bit of luck paperwork completed by mid next week! Here is the boat we purchased, its an ex hire boat, but at the minute it suits our needs in terms of family holidays, we have a mooring sorted at Atherstone on the Coventry canal and hopefully will be bringing it up over the Easter holiday. http://www.abcboatsales.com/boat-sales/vidar/ Plans are to use it as a holiday boat for the next three years, then remove the extra bedroom and convert to a living room with a view to becoming a live aboard when all the kids move on in the next 5-8 years. Very excited and also very nervous as never been on one before and the three day trek to the mooring has a few locks.

Hello all, We have lived on our lovely 50' narrow boat for a year now and whilst we love it and planned to live on it for a good long time, circumstances have changed somewhat unexpectedly and we will be doubling our crew with the arrival of twins in January some time. We plan to stay on the boat for maybe another 6-12 months (basically until they are getting too big to share the same cotbed) but have started looking for a new home just to see what's out there and how much it costs (if we see the right one we will buy it sooner rather than later). We want a boat with at least 2 cabins and the space to alter it to one fixed double and 2 bunks or twin beds. So far we've spotted a couple of boats with good potential but they always seem to be ex hire boats. The things I can see as potential issues aren't clear cut in my mind for example: The engine may have been abused by hirers but equally been looked after/serviced properly etc. by the hire company. The lack of permanent storage but then enough space for up to 10 people to store a weeks worth of gear. The hulls being battered but then they are generally not that old. The lack of a solid fuel stove but central heating which is probably safer for babies/toddlers and an even heat distribution. So basically what are peoples opinions on ex hire boats? does anyone have experience living on one? Thanks for any information/advice/opinions.

Hi all, Myself and my partner have recently purchased a converted paddleboat - lovingly described as a 'shed' by our surveyor. It needs a lot of work, we were present for only the last half hour of the in water, pre-purchase survey as the guy turned up an hour and a half early and we live the opposite end of London. He was a recommendation of the estate agent (we knew at the time this was probably a bad idea but didn't know the first thing about finding someone ourselves) and he seemed like a nice chap. He patiently answered any questions we had and was very honest about the condition of the boat; the hull was fine but everything above that needed work! Fast-forward to now, over a month and a half later and we have found two square feet of rusty sludge in middle of the hull. Floorboards had been covered with insulation and mdf laminate so there was nowhere for any water to go. Unsure of how to proceed, we turned to consult our survey report only to discover it still hadn't been emailed to us. After a few days of nagging, we finally received it earlier today. It is literally ten bullet points that were clearly copied from the surveyor's very basic notes (spelling mistakes and all). Is this what you get for £300??? We were at least expecting thorough ultrasound readings. The report reads '5. Hull 4.7 to water line good to 4.5 good' Is this typical? Would be grateful for any info! Thanks, Naive

Just thought I'd update you all- we didn't crash through the floor and break anything this weekend. Though we did dismantle the bedroom- ripped out the badly constructed bed frames. We found some ballast-like iron on one side of the bow doors (deck level) and nothing the other side. The side that was free has the stove- so could it have been moved when that was installed. We found two batteries also on the other side- was the ballast move to accommodate them? I would have thought it would be easier to just move the batteries- the ballast was crazy heavy. (As are the batteries) The walls that back in from the bow are no longer damp- as we have sealed the doors. However, the floor is sodden. Could this be from the door leak- or is it a possible thing for the water tank to be leaking? The floor will need replacing. Concerningly, there was not a small amount of water under the engine in the bilge and the whole engine hatch compartment needs a good clean. Eik! Next weekend we install the new bed frame and sleep no longer on the dinette. However, the dinette was very comfy, especially for our cats that we took with us. Yes we took the cats- two reasons really. 1. We are insane and 2. The plumber was coming to our flat to do some work and needed them out. (But mostly number 1) The cats usually don't sleep with us, so this was a treat for them- a treat that they reminded us of every couple of hours by jumping on us in our sleep- purring- curling up- asking for pats and basically being annoyingly gorgeously murderable! (Photos to follow) Next weekend we don't bring the cats!

Well the transfer went through - took blimmin' ages thanks to the bank hol.. We are pretty much beside ourselves with happiness! Hope i can attatch these pics ok....

HI , just bought new boat for me, second hand, loving it second day on it, but has no seating apart from camping type chairs, approaching Braunston tomorrow, then Rugby next day, any ideas where how I can get a futon delivered to the boat nr rugby on Tuesday. Cheers.

Hiya I'm new to live-aboard boating and have been researching and trying to buy a narrowboat for about 3 months now. My budget is on the lower end of the spectrum (£21k max) and i've found a 45footer just within my price range. It seems as though it's ready to live in, burner, calorifier, batteries (2 leisure 1 starter), solar panel, 12volt for cc'ing, 240v basic landline installation, last survey looks good (no overplating been done), (not had my own survey done yet), however, the engine was overheating when it was brought into brokers by previous owners. The marina advises that they will get this fixed before sale. I'm tempted to make an offer (pending survey) but not first without getting some advice about the engine situation. It's a Perkins 4108 diesel. My main concern is due to the long cruise back to where I live. (London to Bristol), part of which will include a piece of the tidal thames. I really don't want to be doing that with a dodgy engine. another concern is future costs, which i have left a small budget for, but if the engine problem turns out to be something major - i'm not sure i'll have the budget for it. Plus i plan to be a continuous cruiser so this would be an issue. A bit more info about the engine - from the previous survey in Late 2013 it seems the engine was smokey when cold and on high load, cranked pressure was present - both indicators of internal wear. Also fuel leaks were present at the fuel filter top and the aft injector (which was recommended to be fixed - and at this point i assume it was). It also appears that the engine was serviced in Feb 2017. So my questions are - 1) is it possible at this stage, with the information here, to get an idea of what the cause of the engine overheating can be? 2) Is it possible that the fault could appear to be fixed after a short test cruise and an hours running of the engine, and then 4 hours cruising later start to overheat again? 3) Are there some specific questions I should ask the brokers/owners? 3) Am i crazy to consider this boat as an option, since I have so far to travel back? I would be very grateful for advice and information to help me make my decision. Any other advice also welcome. Thanks Sadie

Hello, I want to borrow £15k to help buy a boat but I am self-employed. I do have a near perfect credit rating though (971 out of 1000) Does anyone have any recommendations of where to look? Obviously I will say I am buying a car etc. I've tried HSBC and if you're self employed they want a tax return. This is okay but tax returns are kind of quite far in the past and the last one I filed in for 2014 - 2015 was the year I was doing an MA so there isn't mega bucks recorded, about £10k. There will be more on my next one which is due in January so could wait until then. Any advice appreciated. Thank you, Ruth

Hello All, could somebody please point me in the right direction as to where I can look for some Boaters that have has experience with Aintree boatbuilders, i'm trying to find out other peoples experience, of having a boat built. Many thanks your help is much appreciated !