Buying and moving a boat, red tape questions

[Pablo Blanco]

Hi all,

  I am about to buy a boat that is moored in a marina On the River Weaver.

It has no waterways license.

  The owner tells me that hunts lock and Anderton  boat lift Will be shutting on November 1st for a few months so if I want it on the canal network for winter (Which I do for geographical/work reasons) then I need to move it pronto.

  I’m also told that I won’t get on the boat lift without a waterways license so I need to sort that first.

  Have got insurance quotes,ready to do that and it has a current bsc but my question is do I need to have the boat registered in my name before I can get the Waterways license? 

  I know this probably seems a silly question but ideally I would like to do the money transfer, get the keys, bill of sale and get it off the weaver this coming weekend.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Pablo Blanco said:

Have got insurance quotes,ready to do that and it has a current bsc but my question is do I need to have the boat registered in my name before I can get the Waterways license? 

 

Just fill the (notification of new owner') form in on line - no problem,

C&RT will take anyones money, they don't care if you are the owner or not.

 

Your licence will be backdated to 1st October and you will not get the early payment discount becuase you are 'paying late'.

 

You could always have it starting from 1st November (then you are paying for 12 months and getting 12 months) and no one will know that it is not just a 'carry over' from one expiring at the end of October - if you display your new licence (sent to you by email and you need to print it out) the lift staff will see a valid licence - no problems.

[doratheexplorer]

Set yourself up with an account on the CRT website.  Then you can buy the licence online as soon as your complete the sale.  Hunts Lock closes on 2nd Nov.  I can't see that the lift is due to close.  Where are you planning to get to?  There may be other stoppages.

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Just fill the (notification of new owner') form in on line - no problem,

C&RT will take anyones money, they don't care if you are the owner or not.

 

Your licence will be backdated to 1st October and you will not get the early payment discount becuase you are 'paying late'.

 

You could always have it starting from 1st November (then you are paying for 12 months and getting 12 months) and no one will know that it is not just a 'carry over' from one expiring at the end of October - if you display your new licence (sent to you by email and you need to print it out) the lift staff will see a valid licence - no problems.

Do you know that they don't check index numbers on a computer?  Seems like a risk I wouldn't want to take.  But if the lift isn't actually closing, the OP could wait until november to go through.

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Do you know that they don't check index numbers on a computer?  Seems like a risk I wouldn't want to take.  But if the lift isn't actually closing, the OP could wait until november to go through.

No I don't, but both the lift and the locks have only ever asked me when the licence expires.

 

They have never asked for the reg number to go and check on the computer - just register and go back to the boat and wait. Never having used the Weaver or the lift whilst un-licenced I don't know if they would come out and stop you entering if your licence didn't come into force until the following week.

 

When I bought a boat towards the end of September (from a non-NAA marina) I bought a 7 day licence to 'get me home' and planned to take a full licence starting October, unfortunately I was 'locked in' the floods at Sawley for 3 weeks. When we eventually headed for home none of the Trent lock keepers were the slightest bit interested that the 7-day licence had expired.

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

16 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Do you know that they don't check index numbers on a computer?  Seems like a risk I wouldn't want to take.

 

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No I don't, but both the lift and the locks have only ever asked me when the licence expires.

 

They have never asked for the reg number to go and check on the computer - just register and go back to the boat and wait. 

 

Bear in mind that currently the lift is booking only, so they will put your index number in the computer.

 

Mind you, they did anyway if you just turned up and took the next available slot.  You can see lift bookings in "My bookings" on your CRT account with a zero charge applied.

[Pablo Blanco]

22 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

I don’t actually have a destination sorted yet, need to get to a nearby marina.......will put that question in a different post I think ?    
 First priority is can I get it off the weaver this year? 

 

[doratheexplorer]

18 minutes ago, Pablo Blanco said:

 

What about the marina it's already in?

[Pablo Blanco]

3 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

What about the marina it's already in?

The marina it is in is too far from my place of work And too difficult to access to be ideal over the full winter.........Besides which it is quite, erm ......industrial........My reason for buying Is as a live aboard and I don’t want to wake up in the morning to look out on rusting cranes and very sad, dying boats! 

[Pablo Blanco]

Not sure if it’s just me but I find the sight of a rotting boat makes me feel kinda sad if you know what I mean? 

[haggis]

Any time we have been on the Anderton lift, they have definitely checked on line that the boat had a full licence and that goes back several years. When the IWA festival was at Preston Brook we trailered our Sea Otter, which was licenced with Scottish Canals,  down and when I booked to go on the lift, the computer showed the Scottish licence and we were allowed on the lift . I have never known the guys who actually operate the lift check anything as they work from the info given them by the office about who is due on the lift. 

Once you have bought the boat, go on line and licence it then you can book the lift.

 

Haggis

 

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

 

Do you know that they don't check index numbers on a computer?  Seems like a risk I wouldn't want to take.  But if the lift isn't actually closing, the OP could wait until november to go through.

Yes they do. They put your index number in when they do the booking and send you an email confirming the booking.

[dmr]

Anderton lift has always asked for our index number and they enter it into their computer system, it then appears on our "passage bookings" section on their website. We rarely book, we just turn up and take the next slot, but they still want the number.

 

Hunts lock will also ask for a boat name/number but I suspect this is for their own interest to prove that the lock keepers are doing a useful job (which they most certainly are).

 

............Dave