Space / land - to fit out boats.

[David HK]

What is the options available  / ballpark costs of renting space to work on boats 1) In marinas, 2) industrial areas adjacent to waterways, 3) the ubiquitous farmers field adjacent to waterways. 

 

Using this info to build a plan to buy and externally renovate a boat  then liveaboard and cruise but buy a couple of projects as they appear in the year  and refurbish in the winter season to resell.

Retired Engineers never really retire do they!

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Bee]

That's more than a years work! You will be able to buy and externally tidy a boat, that will keep you busy for the year if you have to move, feed yourself, find materials, wait for weather and so on. To buy a winter project boat, find somewhere to put it, travel many miles and again, source materials, tools, actually get some work done on the cold, wet, dispiriting thing, pay for the storage and everything else and keep moving your liveaboard boat and at the end of it hope to at least break even is a very big ask. I have done a fair bit of work on boats and this much is true, that you can buy a boat for, say, £5000, you can spend say, £2500 on a partial refit, - this is without engine or gearbox repairs or any welding for which you will need a good power supply and then it will need all the Boat safety stuff and surveys doing and at the end of it you will be trying to sell an old boat with a partial refit...... Nothing is impossible but some things are damned hard work for sod all return, How do I know? Guess.

[Alan de Enfield]

24 minutes ago, David HK said:

What is the options available  / ballpark costs of renting space to work on boats 1) In marinas, 2) industrial areas adjacent to waterways, 3) the ubiquitous farmers field adjacent to waterways. 

 

Using this info to build a plan to buy and externally renovate a boat  then liveaboard and cruise but buy a couple of projects as they appear in the year  and refurbish in the winter season to resell.

Retired Engineers never really retire do they!

 

Thanks in advance. 

When looking at space to rent, just consider how you are going to get 20 tons of steel into a farmers field, and then back out and onto the water.

 

Being in Hong Kong you may not be aware of the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) which now covers 'major work' (not just building from new), so engines, refitting internally, gas, electrics and anything else that can alter the "safety" (ie stability) is covered.

 

If you are building a boat for yourself then there are exemptions, but if you are planning to re-furb and sell-on you become a commercial operation and ALL of the rules apply to you.

[Duck-n-Dive]

£30 a week in Chorley, I don't know if that's good, or how much in other parts of the UK.

Once you have worked out how long it is going to take you, write it down, then cross out the word "months" and replace it with "years" and you are probably about right.

[David HK]

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

When looking at space to rent, just consider how you are going to get 20 tons of steel into a farmers field, and then back out and onto the water.

 

Being in Hong Kong you may not be aware of the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) which now covers 'major work' (not just building from new), so engines, refitting internally, gas, electrics and anything else that can alter the "safety" (ie stability) is covered.

 

If you are building a boat for yourself then there are exemptions, but if you are planning to re-furb and sell-on you become a commercial operation and ALL of the rules apply to you.

Thanks Alan. been away 16 years now and that RCD smells very Euro to me. maybe Boris will have thrown it out with the rest of the rubbish come December. BUT ... in any case .....  all understood and your right, a business would have different rules.

[David HK]

10 minutes ago, Duck-n-Dive said:

£30 a week in Chorley, I don't know if that's good, or how much in other parts of the UK.

Once you have worked out how long it is going to take you, write it down, then cross out the word "months" and replace it with "years" and you are probably about right.

Noted with thanks and Chorley looks nice. When we come back from HK, although my roots are in the Southern Nancy protectorate of England we will come to anywhere in UK that gives us all the things we need.

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, David HK said:

Thanks Alan. been away 16 years now and that RCD smells very Euro to me. maybe Boris will have thrown it out with the rest of the rubbish come December. BUT ... in any case .....  all understood and your right, a business would have different rules.

I was (is) European, but we have agreed to continue with all EU legislation that has already passed in to UK law. Given time, and Political interest, some of the laws may be revoked / rescinded / removed, but I reckon they'll have enough on their plates for many years to come, without bothering about a few 'sewer-tube builders' on the canals.

The vast majority of the boat building industry in the UK builds for export so I doubt they would cease manufacturing to the RCD requirements even if there was no need to do so.

[David HK]

18 minutes ago, Bee said:

That's more than a years work! You will be able to buy and externally tidy a boat, that will keep you busy for the year if you have to move, feed yourself, find materials, wait for weather and so on. To buy a winter project boat, find somewhere to put it, travel many miles and again, source materials, tools, actually get some work done on the cold, wet, dispiriting thing, pay for the storage and everything else and keep moving your liveaboard boat and at the end of it hope to at least break even is a very big ask. I have done a fair bit of work on boats and this much is true, that you can buy a boat for, say, £5000, you can spend say, £2500 on a partial refit, - this is without engine or gearbox repairs or any welding for which you will need a good power supply and then it will need all the Boat safety stuff and surveys doing and at the end of it you will be trying to sell an old boat with a partial refit...... Nothing is impossible but some things are damned hard work for sod all return, How do I know? Guess.

Hi Bee. I refitted a Minesweeper back in the day in 12 weeks so a narrowboat in a year seems a little "slow". but, get your drift. Also had a dockyard to work on it, not myself !!  In our first year I would hope to spend half of it finding the boat and buying it, Suppliers are not much of a problem as i am a Marine Engineer so the stuff and its " uniqueness" are no mystery to me, apart from the fact that tech has moved on and products that used to be good are not now. They are being superseded  ( say for insulation ) by space blankets etc.  Also for a lot of the stuff I can easy ship from the US or HK as my business was supply to UK distributors from Chinese factories and I have access to all the channels.  Sometimes I look at the branded gear in the Chandlers and know the factory that make it, with many badges for the world.  Even stuff made in UK or Europe is, at the component level, sourced here.

 

So If I found a boat in the summer I could order all I need in advance and have it on hand. Even engines.

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I was (is) European, but we have agreed to continue with all EU legislation that has already passed in to UK law. Given time, and Political interest, some of the laws may be revoked / rescinded / removed, but I reckon they'll have enough on their plates for many years to come, without bothering about a few 'sewer-tube builders' on the canals.

The vast majority of the boat building industry in the UK builds for export so I doubt they would cease manufacturing to the RCD requirements even if there was no need to do so.

True enough.