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confused ...what is a good boat?


New Begining

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On 12/08/2019 at 16:15, New Begining said:

Thank you Master Po for pointing out just how much I didn't realise I needed to know lol..

 

I feel even more doubtful about the whole exercise.

 

I have actually looked inside some engine bays and I know what you mean by being rusty and crabby down there, I also looked at a very vintage old thing trad build. that had a walk in engine room and overhead brass levers pullies and things,

 

I like the cruiser stern with a reverse layout,

have to admit 9-10k for a paint job was not on my budget list

 

perhaps I should shelve the idea until I have a 30-40k

 

 originally though I was going to rent one for 6 months to see how I fared, but when talking 6-7k I changed my mind thinking it would be better spent on one fettle it up then flip it perhaps loosing less money   

I bought my 45ft cruiser stern for £18,000 in 2011. It was built in 2001 and had 10/6/4 steel, (still had this thickness when surveyed in 2011).

 

Good enough to live on when I bought it, although I have made a few modifications.

 

I have seen a couple of things here which might put you off the idea, but which are not as critical as they may seem:

 

I have a boatman stove at the front of the boat. It keeps the boat toasty throughout, although the bedroom does not get as warm as the lounge but, even in the depths of winter, if I don't keep an eye on it and alter the airflow, the temperature can reach 30C and even a bit more. I also have a simple gas warm air heating system which I might use occasionally to take the chill off while the stove is warming up. I also use it a bit on nights like tonight, when the stove would be overkill.

 

You dont need to have your boat stripped and professionally painted for £10k at any time. I black my boat myself and, if a particular area needs some painting, it's not too difficult to buy the bits and do it yourself. I've done my roof and handrails, gunwhales, side decks, and engine bay, over the past 3 years. I'm having the boat lifted tomorrow and, over the next 3 weeks, I'll do front and back decks, parts of the sides above the side decks, gunwhales again, and blacking.

 

Watch the John Barnard videos and if you do half as good a job as he teaches, you will do a really good job.

 

http://www.johnbarnard.biz/tips-tricks-videos/

 

Servicing the engine isnt rocket science.... oil and filters, tighten the alternator belt, check for no leaks. If you do the RYA diesel engine course, or one of the similar courses, it will be fairly straightforward, and there will be youtube videos to help, as well as all the good advice here.

 

Your budget is possibly a bit borderline for a decent boat, but you don't have to convert your money into a boat overnight, so just keep looking, keep saving a bit, and see what crops up.

 

I probably wouldn't buy an overplated boat unless it had been done by Martin kedian, (although there will be others with just as good a reputation). I definitely wouldn't buy a wooden topped boat. I would definitely have a survey.

 

I think I got a bit lucky with our purchase. my budget was ideally £25k or so, but I could have gone up to £30k for the right boat. However, a desperate seller had just dropped the price to £18k, I saw it 2 days later and offered the price - no attempt at negotiation, I would have paid £25,000 if that had been the asking price.

 

You might be able to get away with a leisure mooring for a while, provided you take the boat out of the marina/off the mooring often enough for you not to be seen to be living aboard at the mooring. There would be nothing wrong with asking what the leisure mooring conditions are in this respect, and then do what is necessary to comply. You can moor a couple of miles down the canal, walk back for your car, and park it near your boat, and carry on living and driving to work, or wherever. You could do this in any one place for a couple of weeks at a time if necessary. Once sorted with this, it might suit you, or you can keep an eye out for a true liveaboard mooring.

 

I'd say don't let anything here put you off - most things are surmountable and can be worked around.

 

 

 

 

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On 27/08/2019 at 11:36, Clodi said:

It's not on a lot of NB owners list either. Not everyone has a ' Shiny Boat', lots of people get by with slapping on a couple of coats of B&Q's finest exterior :)

I usually "slap on" either Craftmaster or International. Not cheap, but with professional boat painting it's the labour that cost the big money.

  • Greenie 1
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9 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I usually "slap on" either Craftmaster or International. Not cheap, but with professional boat painting it's the labour that cost the big money.

I've just been quoted £6k plus to paint my 35ft boat.

I'm going to B&Q today.

:)

Pictures to follow.

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9 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I usually "slap on" either Craftmaster or International. Not cheap, but with professional boat painting it's the labour that cost the big money.

Exactly this....

 

If a professional painter is charging anywhere between say £5K and £12K for a full strip down and repaint, (depending on size of boat and scale of task), how much of that cost is actually the paint?

 

Whilst retail costs of up to say £30 a litre for paints like Craftmaster or Epifanes may seem huge compared to Wilko's best gloss, they are not what makes a professional paint job so very expensive.

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11 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I usually "slap on" either Craftmaster or International. Not cheap, but with professional boat painting it's the labour that cost the big money.

 

1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

Exactly this....

 

If a professional painter is charging anywhere between say £5K and £12K for a full strip down and repaint, (depending on size of boat and scale of task), how much of that cost is actually the paint?

 

Whilst retail costs of up to say £30 a litre for paints like Craftmaster or Epifanes may seem huge compared to Wilko's best gloss, they are not what makes a professional paint job so very expensive.

 

On the other hand, if you really are going to "slap it on", rather than carefully preparing the surface and repainting, then you have to ask yourself whether there is any benefit from more expensive paint.

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18 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

 

On the other hand, if you really are going to "slap it on", rather than carefully preparing the surface and repainting, then you have to ask yourself whether there is any benefit from more expensive paint.

You take me too literally, given that I have already referred to the John Barnard painting videos, which you may have missed.

 

My use of the phrase was not meant to be taken literally, (in my case). I was actually quoting the previous posters reference to "B & Q" and "slapping it on". :) 

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12 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

On most boats, I think Alan's five grand a year maintenance is a bit high,

 

Its important not to do what often happens, confuse annual maintenance costs with annual cost of ownership.

 

My 68ft boat for example, costs £3,400 a year mooring, £1,200-ish licence and £200-ish insurance per year so that's almost £5k a year it costs before I've even put any diesel in it.

 

 

 

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Good morning, Labor Day here in the US, so I will be laboring. Reading the topic on boat painting, I can relate somewhat. Painting,is all about the labor. As a remodeler / handyman, I'm off to paint my neighbors house today, spraying it with a good quality paint. What I will say is that myself, my son and another worker have spent a week or so PREPING the house. Power wash, scraping where needed, reglazing some 23 double hung ,12 panel windows, and sanding where needed. 

Putting the paint on will be a faction of the time. Prep work is the important part, and that means labor. And labor costs.

I dont mean to put anyone off, and I would defiantly paint my own boat, but remember, it's in my wheelhouse. 

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20 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

On most boats, I think Alan's five grand a year maintenance is a bit high, but the thing is that what happens with boats is that the bills, when they come, are big. Mine cost peanuts in maintenence for years, till the gearbox broke twice at £1600 a go and the boat needed rebottoming at nine grand. And now I've a two grand bill for engine repair. So these things come in lumps and if the money isn't there you're stuffed, especially if it's your home. 

It's a lovely way of life, but it aint cheap. Less than a house, almost certainly, but not cheap. 

Did you miss post #27 ?

Which was an answer to someone else who reads but does not comprehend.

 

Did you actually read what I wrote, rather than what you wanted to read ?

 

Post #6

 

"You should really budget £5000 per annum for running and maintenance costs".

 

If you are going to quote 'facts' then at least get them correct. 

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4 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

I comprehend quite well and that comment is out of order Alan. Are you having a bad day?

I'm sure you do.

The comment was originally in response to the racing cyclist, and secondly to Arthur Marshall

 

Why would you think it was aimed at you ?

 

The comment was totally 'in order' and simply points out that folks should read and understand what is posted before cherry picking a few words at random to make a point that my figure were incorrect.

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26 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Coo, you are having a bad day. Cheer up, some of us speed read most of the crap on this forum, errors will creep in.

Actually its been a great day.

Fitted two new whores hawse-holes and cracked on with the paint scraping. Should be ready to start putting some back on next week.

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Another reference to the getting on the ladder, that term applies to houses as they tend to go up on value over the years. Unfortunately boats go down in value over the years and can go down in value very quickly if you don't know what you need to do. It is occasionally possible to buy a cheaper boat with a good hull and very poor interior, do it up and make a profit, doesn't happen much.

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