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It was late at night, it was on ebay so we bought it.


Alan de Enfield

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Simon and Gemma Robins with children Emilia and Mason and the ship they bought on ebay

 

 

A North Wales couple found a highly unusual way to pass the time during lockdown - the restoration of a historic boat which saw action in the Second World War.

Simon and Gemma Robins, of Wrexham, bought the 1943 ML1392 Sarinda after spotting it on eBay one bedtime.

It's a 72-foot long naval harbour defence launch, which saw action as a navigation leader in Operation Neptune, the 1944 D-Day Landings.

The 59-tonne vessel survived all its war exploits but is now facing a new battle of its own - against age and rust.

The couple - who have two children Mason, 12, and Emilia, nine - say they instantly fell in love with the boat, which is nearly 80 years old, and felt it simply must be preserved.

Some friends think they are mad and Gemma says perhaps they are, but they are determined to see it through.

 

The Sarinda was at one stage a cruise liner on the River Mersey and had been converted to a luxury yacht, but was damaged during a storm in Liverpool and has been badly neglected in recent years.

 

Inside the historic boat used in World War II - and now being restored by North Wales couple - North Wales Live (dailypost.co.uk)

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Unless there are two very similar boats and two very similar families, there was a quite long thread about this a couple of months ago, with links to a couple of video films which they made just after purchase.

 

They are to be applauded, but I wonder if it has yet dawned on them just how much work needs to be done.

 

EDIT: thanks for the confirmation, David. Our posts crossed.

Edited by Athy
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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But will it go through Camden lock ?

 

Yes of course it will.

Bloke down pub confirmed it, he also said being ex navy it was military registered and not affected by civil laws etc.  So you can live on it and stay anywhere, they can't stop you.

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14 minutes ago, Tonka said:

at least they do not have to pay VAT as it is a ship.

 

Taken from Tingdene marine boats for sale Wide Beam Narrowboat Reeves 58  WALHALLA - for sale (tingdeneboatsales.net)

 

"For HMRC purposes Walhalla is regarded as a ship and is therefore VAT exempt for major service, maintenance and repair bills"

 

 

Well that is certainly "something special"

 

(Maybe 'special needs')

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8 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Lack of Gunwales so the measuremenst are taken from the roof instead of the 'deck'. ?

And I seem to recall the official advice says that if there are no gunwales along the cabin side, you determine the deck level by drawing a line from the bow deck to the stern deck. So you end up with about the same hull depth anyway.

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17 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Wide Beam Narrowboat Reeves 58  WALHALLA  - offered for sale by Tingdene Boat Sales

 

but it has gunwales and can be clearly seen in the photo

 

Yes I can clearly see a strengthening curve where the gunwales might normally be, but of insufficient (?) size to be gunwales, therefore the height is taken from the top of the Bow coaming to the stern.

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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Yes I can clearly see a strengthening curve where the gunwales might normally be, but of insufficient (?) size to be gunwales, therefore the height is taken from the top of the Bow coaming to the stern.

 

For narrowboats and similar vessels, the measurement must be taken from the underside of the deck at the side of the vessel, (plus the full deck camber as in paragraph 2.10, rather than from the roof of the cabin). Even if the side decks are very narrow or angled such that they are not ‘walkable’, they nonetheless represent the highest point to which the hull is watertight, and therefore are still considered decks. Where there are no identifiable side decks, the measurement must be taken to a line between the exposed decks at the fore and aft of the vessel.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ships-aircraft-and-associated-services-notice-744c#ships-and-qualifying-ships

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7 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

For narrowboats and similar vessels, the measurement must be taken from the underside of the deck at the side of the vessel, (plus the full deck camber as in paragraph 2.10, rather than from the roof of the cabin). Even if the side decks are very narrow or angled such that they are not ‘walkable’, they nonetheless represent the highest point to which the hull is watertight, and therefore are still considered decks. Where there are no identifiable side decks, the measurement must be taken to a line between the exposed decks at the fore and aft of the vessel.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ships-aircraft-and-associated-services-notice-744c#ships-and-qualifying-ships

 

But does the bow coaming etc raises the 'water tight level' to that above the gunwales / doors ?

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23 minutes ago, Tonka said:

So do the front well deck run offs not let in water

 

 

Well, there is no way a 58 x 11 foot 'medium-wide beam' boat can be rated as 15+ tonnes and therfore cannot be VAT zero rated.

 

 

The HMRC formula for calculating gross tonnage for vessels of less than 24m in length is as follows.

L (m) x B (m) x D (m) x 0.16 (see below for HMRC definitions of L,B & D)

HMRC then go on to specifically define the D measurement for canal boats and this is measured from under the top of what we know as the gunwale to the base plate.

As an interesting example, take ‘Panache’ the widebeam boat featured on our build diary of a huge 69’ long (L) x 11″ beam (B) with a height of 46” (D).

Let’s work out the calculation by first converting the imperial measurements to metric so we have:

21.03m x 3.35m x 1.16m = 81.35 x 0.16 = 13.01 gross tons… Not a qualifying vessel.

So here’s the interesting part in order to get a boat even of this size to qualify the standard (D) measurement would need another 190mm adding giving a (D) measurement of 1.35m. See the revised calculation below:

(21.03m x 3.35m x 1.35) = 95.10 multiplied by 0.16 = 15.21 gross tons, a qualifying ship.

Calculations used by HMRC to establish if a canal boat can be sold VAT free
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