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Project boat - sail away or old wreck?


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I’m still in the research stages so forgive me if this is an obvious question.

 

I want to buy either a new sail away (unlined) or a second hand boat and spend the next few years putting together my dream boat we will eventually live aboard full time. My husband will be doing this with me, narrowboat living is a dream we have had for a few years and I have a lot of enthusiasm and he has the handy experience of a background in joinery.

 

would we be better off starting with a clean slate of a cheap Collingwood sail away? Or buying what would be essentially a wreck, for even cheaper, ripping out the insides and doing it up? Money is very tight, or we would go for a better quality sail away. I have heard mixed reviews of Collingwood, but if it’s just the hull that we are buying from them I’d hope there wouldn’t be too much they could do wrong.

 

We love the idea of living in a boat we’ve made together, which (apart from the cost) is also why we probably don’t want to buy a boat which is ready to live in

Ps - by wreck I mean one less than £10K

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Trouble is that at that price most of the boats will be close to colanders so take great care. You could spend a lot of that money on surveys and still not have a good boat. £10,000 this year plus another £10,000 in a year or two for over-plating.

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https://www.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=315776

is a nice boat, and it starts off as a good boat.

It is nowhere near complete, but it will always be a good boat.

If you don't know what you are doing you may end up buying a skip which will never be anything other than a skip, no matter what you do.

PS boats are expensive toys

Edited by LadyG
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25 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Far cheaper to buy an old boat that's been well looked after, is complete and perfectly usable. What you'll get is something pretty unfashionable aesthetically, but a great start to a boating career. 

What he said.  From 20k you will be able to find a useable older boat with plenty of scope to improve and make something you can be proud of. Working for us anyway!

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1 minute ago, system 4-50 said:

Neither. You can't afford either. (I just like being cheerful.)

 

This is probably correct. 

 

Living on a boat is not a cheap option, as so many people find out but only after they have committed to it....

 

 

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

If you are not 'boaters' then how do you know what you need, or don't need ? so how can you fit out either a wreck or a sail-away.

 

How do we know they're not boaters? Genuine question. Perhaps I missed something. They may have owned a boat before or been hiring for years.

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1 hour ago, Donna said:

Ps - by wreck I mean one less than £10K

 

Can you clarify this bit please? If your initial budget for purchase of a wreck is only £10k, then presumably your budget for a sailaway is at least double that? Even a budget 57' Collingwood shell and canaline engine will cost that surely?

 

Edit: It might be an idea to look for a sailaway that someone else started and didn't finish. You might get it cheap

Edited by blackrose
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1 hour ago, Donna said:

I’m still in the research stages so forgive me if this is an obvious question.

 

I want to buy either a new sail away (unlined) or a second hand boat and spend the next few years putting together my dream boat we will eventually live aboard full time. My husband will be doing this with me, narrowboat living is a dream we have had for a few years and I have a lot of enthusiasm and he has the handy experience of a background in joinery.

 

would we be better off starting with a clean slate of a cheap Collingwood sail away? Or buying what would be essentially a wreck, for even cheaper, ripping out the insides and doing it up? Money is very tight, or we would go for a better quality sail away. I have heard mixed reviews of Collingwood, but if it’s just the hull that we are buying from them I’d hope there wouldn’t be too much they could do wrong.

 

We love the idea of living in a boat we’ve made together, which (apart from the cost) is also why we probably don’t want to buy a boat which is ready to live in

Ps - by wreck I mean one less than £10K

By chance I was wondering if someone would offer me up to 10k for a basically sound 45 footer that needs quite a lot of work... 

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1 hour ago, Donna said:

I’m still in the research stages so forgive me if this is an obvious question.

 

I want to buy either a new sail away (unlined) or a second hand boat and spend the next few years putting together my dream boat we will eventually live aboard full time. My husband will be doing this with me, narrowboat living is a dream we have had for a few years and I have a lot of enthusiasm and he has the handy experience of a background in joinery.

 

would we be better off starting with a clean slate of a cheap Collingwood sail away? Or buying what would be essentially a wreck, for even cheaper, ripping out the insides and doing it up? Money is very tight, or we would go for a better quality sail away. I have heard mixed reviews of Collingwood, but if it’s just the hull that we are buying from them I’d hope there wouldn’t be too much they could do wrong.

 

We love the idea of living in a boat we’ve made together, which (apart from the cost) is also why we probably don’t want to buy a boat which is ready to live in

Ps - by wreck I mean one less than £10K

It’s already been said but......

 

If you can afford a wreck for £10k plus the money to do it up, or a sail away plus the money to do it up, you can afford a second hand boat in good condition that is ready to go - £20k to £25k or so.

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Sail away prices at Lymm

 

http://lmbs.co.uk/boats/narrowboat-lined-sailaway/

 

 

1 minute ago, blackrose said:

Yes I would never bother making an enquiry for anything where the vendor doesn't state the asking price. 

Built to order sail away, so price will depend on what you want. It won’t be £10k, that’s for sure.

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7 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Yes I would never bother making an enquiry for anything where the vendor doesn't state the asking price. 

Why not, there could be several reasons.

If you want to offer £30K, you might get it........

It's a lovely thing. 

Could it be £25K? Cash?

I would not buy a sailaway, but if I did. This would be the one.

I'd need another £25K to fit it out, but at least I could camp in it and tootle about

Edited by LadyG
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6 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Why not, there could be several reasons.

If you want to offer £30K, you might get it........

It's a lovely thing. 

Could it be £25K? Cash?

Simply because if someone can't be bothered to state the price I can't be bothered to make a call. My prerogative. And how would one know what to offer without a starting point (an asking price)?

 

Edit: the price is really just basic information that anyone in the market needs to know. If I go into a shop and look at something and there's no price shown it just pisses me off. Likewise cars, boats, etc.

Edited by blackrose
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I think the general consensus is that if you buy a second hand boat for £10k it is likely to have a hull with the metal equivalent of wood worm and will probbly sink before you have time to spend the £thousands it will take to stop it doing so. 

 

I can appreciate you wanting to get your new boating project off the ground as soon as posable though. There's a couple who bought a sailaway from Tyler Wilson and did all the fitting out them selves, they filmed a great deal of it and put it up on youtube and it's a really interesting watch. They can be found by searching "Narrowboat Zero Gravity" another good watch on youtube is a chap who is quite experienced at fitting out, his channel can be fond by searching "Narrowboat Helen"

 

These are quite handy to help you see just what fitting out your own boat will take - if you haven seen them already that is :D

 

Edited by Tumshie
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2 hours ago, Donna said:

I’m still in the research stages so forgive me if this is an obvious question.

 

I want to buy either a new sail away (unlined) or a second hand boat and spend the next few years putting together my dream boat we will eventually live aboard full time. My husband will be doing this with me, narrowboat living is a dream we have had for a few years and I have a lot of enthusiasm and he has the handy experience of a background in joinery.

 

would we be better off starting with a clean slate of a cheap Collingwood sail away? Or buying what would be essentially a wreck, for even cheaper, ripping out the insides and doing it up? Money is very tight, or we would go for a better quality sail away. I have heard mixed reviews of Collingwood, but if it’s just the hull that we are buying from them I’d hope there wouldn’t be too much they could do wrong.

 

We love the idea of living in a boat we’ve made together, which (apart from the cost) is also why we probably don’t want to buy a boat which is ready to live in

Ps - by wreck I mean one less than £10K

Probably already been said, but a wreck may well need overplating etc. and chances are needs a new engine or a rebuild. As already stated a good buy can be a sailaway project that somebody has lost interest in. 
We put a lot of work into our first narrowboat which had been neglected. Our second (current) boat of 15 years was bought as a sailaway which we fitted out to our spec. I always feel that this was better value for money. Also nice to start with a new engine and steelwork. 
Good luck with your project, whatever you decide.
 

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13 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

I think the general consensus is that if you buy a second hand boat for £10k it is likely to have a hull with the metal equivalent of wood worm and will probbly sink before you have time to spend the £thousands it will take to stop it doing so. 

 

I can appreciate you wanting to get your new boating project off the ground as soon as posable though. There's a couple who bought a sailaway from Tyler Wilson and did all the fitting out them selves, they filmed a great deal of it and put it up on youtube and it's a really interesting watch. They can be found by searching "Narrowboat Zero Gravity" another good watch on youtube is a chap who is quite experienced at fitting out, his channel can be fond by searching "Narrowboat Helen"

 

These are quite handy to help you see just what fitting out your own boat will take - if you haven seen them already that is :D

 

And Colin Jaques. 

My thinking is that both of you get a part time evening job for six months, go out for a meal at a service station once  a week and see how you feel after six months. You should have another £10K,

Edited by LadyG
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