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Buying a boat in lockdown


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15 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I would say the best

I'll take your word for it. I've hardly moved in cold weather, well I've hardly moved at all, but I have bought a pair of cashmere socks and a pair of merino socks to pair up with my winter boots, plus a coat from Mountain Warehouse, I went out walking yesterday in pretty cold wet conditions, snow goggles weather, it was fine, not sure if my feet will keep warm enough standing at the steering position. 

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14 hours ago, LadyG said:

I'll take your word for it. I've hardly moved in cold weather, well I've hardly moved at all, but I have bought a pair of cashmere socks and a pair of merino socks to pair up with my winter boots, plus a coat from Mountain Warehouse, I went out walking yesterday in pretty cold wet conditions, snow goggles weather, it was fine, not sure if my feet will keep warm enough standing at the steering position. 

That’s where a trad stern is great. We have a hot air blower at the step. Jeff complains his feet get too hot in the depths of winter, he has to turn it off!

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45 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

That’s where a trad stern is great. We have a hot air blower at the step. Jeff complains his feet get too hot in the depths of winter, he has to turn it off!

The secret with a trad stern is to stand inside the stern  doors and close them behind you. You then get all that nice heat from the engine keeping you warm. To make it even warmer, you can pull the hatch partly closed so that only the top half of your body is exposed to the weather. 

 

haggis

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22 minutes ago, haggis said:

The secret with a trad stern is to stand inside the stern  doors and close them behind you. You then get all that nice heat from the engine keeping you warm. To make it even warmer, you can pull the hatch partly closed so that only the top half of your body is exposed to the weather. 

 

haggis

I made up a 'canoe-skirt' for ours - elastic around the edges to hook over the hatch and doors.

Back doors closed, hatch lid pulled up to 'stomach', skirt applied.

Watertight and warm.

 

 

Heytur Adjustable Kayak Canoe Boat Cockpit Spray Skirt Deck Cover for  Flatable Fishing Boat Dinghy Accessories|Rowing Boats| - AliExpress

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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30 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I made up a 'canoe-skirt' for ours - elastic around the edges to hook over the hatch and doors.

Back doors closed, hatch lid pulled up to 'stomach', skirt applied.

Watertight and warm.

 

 

Heytur Adjustable Kayak Canoe Boat Cockpit Spray Skirt Deck Cover for  Flatable Fishing Boat Dinghy Accessories|Rowing Boats| - AliExpress

Not much good on the Hatton Flight..

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1 hour ago, haggis said:

The secret with a trad stern is to stand inside the stern  doors and close them behind you. You then get all that nice heat from the engine keeping you warm. To make it even warmer, you can pull the hatch partly closed so that only the top half of your body is exposed to the weather. 

 

haggis

That is the theory, but I can't see over the bow,, will need to investigate. I remember having a hot air pipe directed up my oilskins on a salty water boat, we had one pipe, it was great for the helmsman, but the crew below kept whinging, southern softies..

 

Edited by LadyG
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1 hour ago, LadyG said:

That is the theory, but I can't see over the bow,, will need to investigate. I remember having a hot air pipe directed up my oilskins on a salty water boat, we had one pipe, it was great for the helmsman, but the crew below kept whinging, southern softies..

 

I am a wee bit puzzled by this :-). I am only 5 foot 3 and I can see over the roof no problem - I can't see the actual bow but I think there must be very few narrow boats where you can! You soon become able to judge where the actual bow is from reading what you can see - like the front corners of the roof. On any trads I have been on, the step inside the stern doors is at about the same level as the bit outside the doors (give or take an inch)  so your view would be about the same from both places. Does your boat ( I think it is a trad) not have something to stand on inside? 

 

Haggis

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On 15/01/2021 at 01:01, enigmatic said:

I actually looked round two of these in the summer. Both have come down in price. 

 

- Apache's decor wasn't to my taste and all the furniture is fixed. The kitchen is basically a corridor lined with cupboards and dated white tiles and so your workspaces are the sofa or the bed! Condition was OK

- Ben feels small and dark inside (those hatches and doors won't be open in winter) and is really for someone that wants a very traditional boat. It's well looked after, but not exactly young

 

Didn't see Craigdhu but really like the look of it and with that spec, age, apparent condition and broker I'm surprised they're not asking for more

I'd also check Laura James and Lyra are still there as those boat brokers leave a lot of old boat listings up...

This is brilliant, thanks so much!!

 

Ben's lighting was quite a concern of ours as it happens, so much appeared from the video to come from the side hatch and a glass door. That said, we actually dug the old timey feel of it, the paneling and lamps etc

 

And ugh, too many brokers/sellers do seem to be a bit slow updating about the sold/under offer status of boats. I mean this market does move quickly but still! :P

 

Thanks again!! :)

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On 15/01/2021 at 17:39, David Mack said:

 

An under bed space may be occupied (or partly occupied) by a poo tank, especially if it is located a bulkhead away from the loo. So check for this before thinking about removing the bunk.

 

On 15/01/2021 at 17:44, Alan de Enfield said:

 

And possibly an Inveter and Cauliflower.

 

We had a cross-bed & the underbed storage was just 'half' of the bed depth due to all the 'stuff' behind it, so the drawers under the bed were only about 18" deep (front to back)

 

 

This will really help narrow down our questions, thanks so much!!

 

So a bit of background info for what we're looking for:

 

Basically, we're in a similar situation as the lovely Chugging Along couple. One of us will work full-time remotely (with lots of random virtual meetings), the other probably just part-time (and we really want to make sure we're not giving the other background noise). We were surprised at how easily they've managed two work spaces on their 51' boat, and it's clearly because they've got enough space at the end of their bed for a tiny table (and two internal doors which means they don't have to worry about noise / talking over one another!)

 

Four years of working abroad has taught us to be very very flexible minimalists. Not even being able to fit a proper table at the end of the bed wouldn't be a deal breaker, or even that much of an inconvenience since setting up a temporary standup desk wouldn't be a bother to us.

 

That said, a spare room / proper office might is not the worst thing in the world. So we've made a table of potential boats we're currently looking at, here are the highlights (starting with the 'spare room' boats as we've come to call them):

 

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/walsall-boats-60-traditional-for-sale/618589

Amelia

Pros: second bed can potentially be removed (we've emailed them about this). We prefer Amelia over the previously mentioned Laura James for creating an office because for Amelia, we'd be working at opposite ends of the boat (so quieter / more out of the way etc). Boat is bright and looks very nice.

 

Cons: for us, the pump out, though replacing that is possible ofc. She's also slightly older, so will require full regular surveys for insurance, but that's not a huge consideration for us.

 

Out n About

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/narrow-boats-cruiser-stern-for-sale/654042

Pros: also a potential office in the middle, between the two bathrooms. Cruiser stern also looks quite nice

 

Cons: two bathrooms! (obviously important for hire boats / families but for us we just see it as wasted space / extra work if we wanted to refit it...anything we buy will need work to customize it as we like, we're just trying to be aware of how big a project we're taking on). 

 

Lyra:

https://www.greathaywoodboatsales.co.uk/shop/lyra/

Pros: same layout as Chugging Along, so despite the small size weirdly seems quite good for two workspaces (very few boats actually have space at the end of the bed we've noticed!) Seems to be a good basic NB.

 

Cons: ...our nickname for this boat is actually 'ashtray boat'. Haven't seen it yet so no idea if there's any lingering smells...! :( And naturally we do wonder if we wouldn't eventually prefer something larger (though we've seen a few adverts from couples who've lived for 4-5 years on boats 45-47' and are only now looking for something bigger, so we could potentially do the same).

 

Craigdhu:

https://newandusedboat.co.uk/used-boats-for-sale/1537

Pros: very classy lovely boat from the pictures. Also 57' though we're not adverse to 60'+

 

Cons: no room for a proper-ish office.

 

Dorothy John

https://www.alvecotemarina.co.uk/boats-for-sale/brokerage/dorothy-john/

Pros: like the look of it, even the kind of old train car-type dinette :)

 

Cons: slightly older. And 60' but no room for a proper-ish office.

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8 hours ago, haggis said:

The secret with a trad stern is to stand inside the stern  doors and close them behind you. You then get all that nice heat from the engine keeping you warm.

 

7 hours ago, LadyG said:

That is the theory, but I can't see over the bow

 

So where do you stand so you can see over the bow?

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There are two boxes or steps, but neither are high enough, and look a bit unstable one on top of t'other. I have removed the tiller end thingy so I can manoevre myself within the tiller arc,  workd fine in summer. I jiggle from one side to t'other, so I can see ahead.

Edited by LadyG
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1 hour ago, LadyG said:

There are two boxes or steps, but neither are high enough, and look a bit unstable one on top of t'other. I have removed the tiller end thingy so I can manoevre myself within the tiller arc,  workd fine in summer. I jiggle from one side to t'other, so I can see ahead.

Then make a more stable step!!
You purport to being handy, so it can't be that difficult for you.

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Sounds like my Leggo soled shoe invention are needed. Soles that can be altered for height by plugging or unplugging bits of Leggo, choose your colours too. Very handy if you have one leg shorter than the other too. Especially useful for mountaineers and walkers for climbing or walking around hills and mountains to keep you on and even keel by shortening the inside sole or lengthening the outside one, alsorts of combinations possible. For cold feet at the tiller, remove shoes and lash two hot water bottles to your tootsies, filler necks forward at the toe end, this is to facilitate re-filling with hot water and by which to empty out cold water you remove stoppers and raise each leg behind you in turn to drain them, like a dog weeing up a lampost. To refill with hot water lay down on your back with the filler necks sticking upwards and get someone else to fill them, or do it yourself with an extra long spouted kettle that will reach.  All good excersize and nice warm feet. :closedeyes:

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On 16/01/2021 at 13:03, haggis said:

I am a wee bit puzzled by this :-). I am only 5 foot 3 and I can see over the roof no problem - I can't see the actual bow but I think there must be very few narrow boats where you can! You soon become able to judge where the actual bow is from reading what you can see - like the front corners of the roof. On any trads I have been on, the step inside the stern doors is at about the same level as the bit outside the doors (give or take an inch)  so your view would be about the same from both places. Does your boat ( I think it is a trad) not have something to stand on inside? 

 

Haggis

Not sure if I've answered this, what I do is bumble along and if I need to see things closer to the boat, eg going through a narrow bit, I look down the side, then down the other side and adjust the steering accordingly. I stay on the stern most of the time as tiller is quite short, and it's even shorter 'cos I took off the wooden handle so that the tiller passes behind my back. 

As a single hander, I might have to get off and on the boat, and I am handling the boat with ropes, so I don't want a long tiller which might catch on the sides when I am onshore.

On a very long journey with no obstacles, I could try the two box steps inside the boat, one on top of the other, but I suspect a proper board at exactly the right height and locked in place might be a better idea.

The problem with any sort of trestle is that it needs two hands to remove if I need to move from stern to engine room quickly, that means letting the tiller go, and I can't do that unless aready at rest. 

The box step inside is lower than the stern deck. I have not worked out why there are two moveable  box steps, I think there has been some design iterations. It will all be re_designed this year, but it's not obvious exactly what is required, 

Edited by LadyG
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12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Not sure if I've answered this, what I do is bumble along and if I need to see things closer to the boat, eg going through a narrow bit, I look down the side, then down the other side and adjust the steering accordingly. I stay on the stern most of the time as tiller is quite short, and it's even shorter 'cos I took of the wooden handle so that the tiller passes behind my back. So 

As a single hander, I might have to get off and on the boat, I am handling the boat with ropes, so I don't want a long tiller which might catch on the sides.

On a very long journey with no obstacles, I could try the two box steps inside the boat, one on top of the other, but I suspect a proper board at exactly the right height and locked in place might be a better idea.

The problem with any sort of trestle is that it needs two hands to remove if I need to move from stern to engine room quickly, that means letting the tiller go, and I can't do that unless aready at rest. 

I would be careful putting one box on top of the other (unless fixed together) in case one slides off especially if you have to make a quick movement.  I understand what you mean by feeling you have to look down the side of the boat but again, this is something which improves as your confidence grows. When you say the tiller might catch on the sides, do you mean the sides of the hatch? The tiller shouldn't be low enough to catch there although ours was till Iain adjusted it so that it slopes up slightly and clears both sides. Would a hinged tiller  help at all? Then if you need to get on or off the boat quickly you just flick it up out of the way. 

I must admit that my usual steering position is sitting on the roof beside the hatch where I can easily reach the tiller and if I need to change speed etc, I can do it with my foot. When not on the roof, I stand in the hatch,

 

haggis

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32 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Not sure if I've answered this, what I do is bumble along and if I need to see things closer to the boat, eg going through a narrow bit, I look down the side, then down the other side and adjust the steering accordingly. I stay on the stern most of the time as tiller is quite short, and it's even shorter 'cos I took off the wooden handle so that the tiller passes behind my back. 

As a single hander, I might have to get off and on the boat, and I am handling the boat with ropes, so I don't want a long tiller which might catch on the sides when I am onshore.

On a very long journey with no obstacles, I could try the two box steps inside the boat, one on top of the other, but I suspect a proper board at exactly the right height and locked in place might be a better idea.

The problem with any sort of trestle is that it needs two hands to remove if I need to move from stern to engine room quickly, that means letting the tiller go, and I can't do that unless aready at rest. 

The box step inside is lower than the stern deck. I have not worked out why there are two moveable  box steps, I think there has been some design iterations. It will all be re_designed this year, but it's not obvious exactly what is required, 

 

I know you have previously said that you don't want to have a boat or, be a boater, and are only doing it to get away from people and out into the peace and quiet of the countryside, but, now having almost 2 years of non-stop perceived problems and real problems, have you given serious consideration to maybe selling up and buying a big camper van ?

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