Sanity check

[TrickyWoo56]

Hi all,

 

I have a few hopefully not too dim questions about boat buying in the current market. My partner and I have done a fair bit of research however some of it has been influenced by the ‘cheap’ boat I bought 10 years ago at Twyning which turned out be a wanna-be submarine. Truly, when I finally managed to sell it and the purchaser said, ‘I can’t believe I’ve bought a boat – it just hasn’t sunk in yet’, the temptation to say ‘well, give it a week or so’ was almost overwhelming. (I had been totally honest about  the tribulations and the £4000 I’d spent on it was more than enough to compensate for future issues as it sold for something like £3000)

 

We live in Brighton, my better half knows many things aquatic about yachts and other such gin bearing vessels. I know…how to buy a submarine. We’re moving to Chipping Norton soon and would like to cruise all the canals initially then do some light sea travels later.

 

Current plan is:

 

Purchase budget for the boat between £5 and £12k i.e. v. flexible and ready to go now

Running costs / mooring / storage flexible and if it goes pop it’s on me to sort the fix

Ideally something which we can put on a trailer therefore:

 

Norman, Viking or Freeman (up to 23)  6’10” or max 7’ beam

4-stroke outboard for simplicity. We’re aware of restrictions re only carrying 5L spare fuel but we can use phones to find filling stations nearby as we pootle along. I got badly bitten by the inboard diesel engine in my boat at Twyning with things getting stuck and other issues plus having no weed hatch. With an outboard getting stuck I definitely like the simpler fix of dodgy swimming trunks, deep breath, under she goes and problem goes away. The item stuck to the propeller shaft I mean. 

Creature comforts not a limiting factor – loo, basin, 12DV job done.

 

Questions really are:

 

Is the above a reasonable plan? We’ll likely want to sell the boat after a year or so to get something bigger / different.

 

The state of the market – many boats not mentioning BSS for sale around £3k. This is a no-go for me. Too risks I think. However…presumably there’ve been no BSS inspections for a year anyway? Also, wouldn’t folks who’ve been restoring and maintaining their cherished craft be itching to get out onto the water once the open up and then sell in autumn? Essentially – why would someone sell now without a BSS unless there’s something fishy in the bilge. Literally.

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Richard and S.

 

PS I did mention a Shetland but that idea had…limited appeal

[pete.i]

I had a Shetland with a trailer a few years ago. Nothing wrong with it although it wouldn't be a boat to live on. It had a Yamaha 25 horse outboard. It wasn't a canal boat really and personally I don't think any plastic cruiser is an ideal canal boat. It was fairly light so was badly affected in wind. At 4 knots. the LEGAL limit on the inland waterways in this country although you wouldn't believe that especially on the Aire and Calder canal, it was a steering nightmare. The toilet was ultra small. Okay if your a midget but I could only just fit in there with a Thetford Porta Potty. Mine did have quite a nice canopy over the cockpit which did act as a quite efficient sail as long as you wanted to go where the wind was going. I only kept it a year and I went back to a steel narrowboat much better in the wind and much better at 4 knots.  

[PD1964]

You say trailer, are you going to be keeping the boat on land and moving it when you want to use it, or mooring in a Marina?

  If you go the trailer route you would save on mooring fee’s and be able to pick the area you want to explore far better then the hassle of planning the canal journey to get there, with fuel, secure moorings, stoppages etc. You could also do the Lakes and Lochs up North. A far better option to explore and have holidays.

  I would use most of my budget of 12K on getting a decent boat and not just spending £5K on a doer-upper. You don’t want to relive your past experiences.

  Also look for a more suited GRP/Trailer boat forum as you will find more info relevant to your boat on there then here. As the majority on here are Narrowboat owners who know canals but not so much on the GRP running side especially if you go down the trailable route.

Good luck.

  

  

Edited March 26, 2021 by PD1964

[Jerra]

26 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

You could also do the Lakes and Lochs up North. A far better option to explore and have holidays.

With Lakes being mentioned it might be best to put on record only 4 allow motorised boats:

 

Windermere

Ullswater

Coniston Water

Derwentwater

 

They have a blanket speed limit of 10mph no problem for anyone used to canals.

 

The Lake Districts only Lake i.e. Bassenthwaite Lake only allows electricity powered boats if using a powered boat kayaks sailboards rowing etc are OK there.

 

IIRC all the lakes require permits for motorised boats and again IIRC it is a separate permit for each lake.

[TrickyWoo56]

Thank you so much for your helpful replied. 

 

I'll look for a different forum and try there but we might be back here in a year for a narrowboat ?

 

Richard 

[Guest]

Deleted as I can't verify what I posted.

Edited March 26, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[Alan de Enfield]

We trailered our little boats all over the country from the South Coast, to the West Coast to Scotland.

They all had small cabins for 'overnighting' but we would usually stop on caravan or camping sites and explore using them as a base.

 

Interesting experience having had a couple of days circumnavigating Mull in the Bayliner, we pulled up to the caravan park slip way and as I went into reverse lost all propulsion - investigation showed the prop had fallen off.

Presumably we had lost the prop-nut sometime during the previous couple of days and that was the 1st time I'd engaged reverse.

 

 

 

[Mad Harold]

Plan and budget sounds reasonable.

You will need a suitable towing vehicle,preferably four wheel drive as launching ramps can be slippery.Need to read up on the law regarding towing weights.

Not all boats described as narrow beam are 6'-10".You mention Freeman and they made few 6'-10" boats,all the 22' ones are 7'-6".The 6'-10" ones are recognisable by rubbing strakes,a smaller prop and a weed hatch.

I think you can legally carry 30ltr of fuel.

The Norman Owners Forum and the Freeman Owners Club would be good for more info on grp boats.

Don't follow about the swimming trunks to clear an outboard prop.Simply tilt it up,get someone to hang on to your ankles and pull the weed/rope/tights/fertilizer sack off.

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We trailered our little boats all over the country from the South Coast, to the West Coast to Scotland.

They all had small cabins for 'overnighting' but we would usually stop on caravan or camping sites and explore using them as a base.

 

Interesting experience having had a couple of days circumnavigating Mull in the Bayliner, we pulled up to the caravan park slip way and as I went into reverse lost all propulsion - investigation showed the prop had fallen off.

Presumably we had lost the prop-nut sometime during the previous couple of days and that was the 1st time I'd engaged reverse.

 

I do rather like this one.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

24 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

I do rather like this one.

 

Thank you - a right little goer (had a built in underfloor petrol tank for extended use)

Cabin was 2-berth (tight fit) with a toilet.

 

 

[PD1964]

Have a look at this Vlog, one of the better canal Vloggers out there. Vlog number 235 talks about Trailer Wilderness boats and 236 talks about GRP’s on the canals.

 

https://youtube.com/c/CruisingTheCutUK

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2021 by PD1964

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Thank you - a right little goer (had a built in underfloor petrol tank for extended use)

Cabin was 2-berth (tight fit) with a toilet.

 

 

When we were looking for boats in 2008/9 and not sure exactly what type we wanted (lumpy water v muddy ditch) we did look at some lumpy water boats and viewed a few Beneteaus. Not that particular one though.  In the price range we were looking at they did seem to offer excellent value for money.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

When we were looking for boats in 2008/9 and not sure exactly what type we wanted (lumpy water v muddy ditch) we did look at some lumpy water boats and viewed a few Beneteaus. Not that particular one though.  In the price range we were looking at they did seem to offer excellent value for money.

 

New, With Hull, all accessories, 75hp engine and trailer that one came in at £17,523.30, very reasonable.

[TrickyWoo56]

Wow thank you for the replies and what lovely photos! The one really happy memory I have was a Friday night on board with my lad aged 10 in the front berth just laughing and eating fish and chips under the deck. Unforgettable. Sometimes submarines can be ok I guess ?

[TrickyWoo56]

We're now thinking that portability will give so many options that not having something 6'10" may not be the limitation we thought. Someone on a different (less active) forum shared this which we quite like:

 

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1995/shetland-4-2-3819657/?utm_source=newsnow&utm_medium=paid-feed&utm_campaign=rubrikk_group

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, TrickyWoo56 said:

We're now thinking that portability will give so many options that not having something 6'10" may not be the limitation we thought. Someone on a different (less active) forum shared this which we quite like:

 

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1995/shetland-4-2-3819657/?utm_source=newsnow&utm_medium=paid-feed&utm_campaign=rubrikk_group

 

 

 

A far better option, but you'll need a big car to tow it,

(Are you of the age that are allowed to tow ?)

[PD1964]

The Ad suggests they may want to get rid of this quickly with the mention of upholstery of the linings. So don’t be embarrassed about putting in low offers, you can always increase them.

 Please research the market for these  as  circumstances could change especially in the current scheme of things, so if you decide to sell earlier then anticipated you wouldn’t be out of pocket too much if any.

  As said above a better option to cover a more varied selection of waterways then just canals.

  

[TrickyWoo56]

35 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

A far better option, but you'll need a big car to tow it,

(Are you of the age that are allowed to tow ?)

 

Good excuse to buy a large 4x4  ? 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, TrickyWoo56 said:

 

Good excuse to buy a large 4x4  ? 

 

And do a trailer test depending on when you passed your test.

45 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

A far better option, but you'll need a big car to tow it,

(Are you of the age that are allowed to tow ?)

 

Pedant mode on.

 

Age is not relevant. What is relevant as you know is when you passed. Accepting of course the older you are the more likely it is that you passed with automatic entitlement to tow a large heavy trailer.

 

Pedant mode off.

 

Just sayin...??

Edited March 26, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[rasputin]

You can still tow 1.5 tons with a new licence with the right tow car.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, rasputin said:

You can still tow 1.5 tons with a new licence with the right tow car.

 

Indeed you can but it needs careful matching to ensure you stay within limits including the legal max the vehicle can tow.

 

I take it you know how much that boat/trailer combo. weighs?

[rasputin]

I'm reasonably sure I said nothing about that "boat/trailer combo. "

[Guest]

Just now, rasputin said:

I'm reasonably sure I said nothing about that "boat/trailer combo. "

 

I'm reasonably sure I didnt say you did.

 

I asked you if you did know as there was an implication in you post that the OP would be OK towing that boat without doing a trailer test if they passed after 1/01/97.

[rasputin]

No implication, Just a fact, that maybe useless or useful to somebody wanting to tow a boat with a car

[Guest]

Sanity check indeed.