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Ducgas

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I’ve been looking for a good while now for a quality narrowboat to enjoy my retirement and find myself trawling through the various sites on a daily basis looking for something that lights my fire and more importantly my wife’s….. Is it just me or don’t people look at their photos before posting and think maybe I should do something to make things look more attractive to a potential buyer, some of the ads are dire, can’t people empty their sinks of dirty cutlery or make the beds properly or clear the mess in the bathroom?  Eg- This is up for £56000 and in excellent condition apparently, come on is it just me?

 

image.jpeg.637d6a892d33a63eed651959f8f70ab1.jpeg

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Don't buy it! Those square section deck drain tubes rust through and the boat sinks. The skin tank is on the base plate, never seem to cool properly and are a devil to get all the air out.

Seen Far Far worse than that. I went to fix an LPW4 for a guy. Every inch of the space around the engine was full of stuff and junk, all in 3" of water and oil.

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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As engine rooms go, that is possibly in the top quartile for condition! Above average certainly.

 

TBH our engine bay looked pretty rough and in a very similar condition when we sold our boat. 

 

The wiring was a lot tidier though and the engine a tad cleaner.

 

Edit - Id be more worried by what looks like overheating with coolant stains from the coolant filler cap.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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15 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As engine rooms go, that is possibly in the top quartile for condition! Above average certainly.

You’re probably right , but I was really trying to be kind and not show some of the photos posted of the insides of some of these boats…. Think I’d rather live in this engine room than some of the rooms posted of the insides…. Is it just me or am I being too fussy??

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3 minutes ago, Ducgas said:

You’re probably right , but I was really trying to be kind and not show some of the photos posted of the insides of some of these boats…. Think I’d rather live in this engine room than some of the rooms posted of the insides…. Is it just me or am I being too fussy??

 

No some insides are indeed manky when put on sale.

 

Some people are lazy, some die and cannot do anything with the boat and the rellies just want shot ASAP. 

 

There can be a variety of reasons.

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1 hour ago, Ducgas said:

I’ve been looking for a good while now for a quality narrowboat to enjoy my retirement and find myself trawling through the various sites on a daily basis looking for something that lights my fire and more importantly my wife’s….. Is it just me or don’t people look at their photos before posting and think maybe I should do something to make things look more attractive to a potential buyer, some of the ads are dire, can’t people empty their sinks of dirty cutlery or make the beds properly or clear the mess in the bathroom?  Eg- This is up for £56000 and in excellent condition apparently, come on is it just me?

 

image.jpeg.637d6a892d33a63eed651959f8f70ab1.jpeg

That's not uncommon for an engine space, whether the boat is for sale or not.

But I agree that cabin photos in adverts are sometimes just as untidy.

But at least that photo is in focus and correctly orientated. I am amazed at some of the blurry and upside down shots that some people include in their ads. No excuse for such bad photos these days when (almost) everyone carries a reasonable quality camera in their pocket, and if one one shot doesn't come out there is no cost in taking another. The ad is your shop window for goodness sake!

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I keep looking at that engine and can’t but help thinking that a can of wd40 and a few rags would add a grand to the asking price of the boat, but by the looks of it the price has been added on irrespective … I’ve turned into Victor Meldrew I’m sure of it, damn 😂

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3 minutes ago, Ducgas said:

I keep looking at that engine and can’t but help thinking that a can of wd40 and a few rags would add a grand to the asking price of the boat, but by the looks of it the price has been added on irrespective … I’ve turned into Victor Meldrew I’m sure of it, damn 😂

 

I have a boat for sale in a superficially scruffy condition. I could probably get another £10k for it if I put in a load of effort to tidy it up and present it well. But as it happens I have better things to do with my time and for someone who can see past the paint that needs a polish and the washing up in the sink, it represents quite a bargain I reckon. 

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1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

I have a boat for sale in a superficially scruffy condition. I could probably get another £10k for it if I put in a load of effort to tidy it up and present it well. But as it happens I have better things to do with my time and for someone who can see past the paint that needs a polish and the washing up in the sink, it represents quite a bargain I reckon. 

So if I offer my services up for a few hours we could both be on a win win situation £5000 each?I can bring the can of Wd40/ and I’ll even bring a few cleaning cloth👍😁. But in all seriousness my point is some people are asking serious money from punters who think what they are presenting in their photos is good value? Personally it puts me  off 😳

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4 minutes ago, Ducgas said:

So if I offer my services up for a few hours we could both be on a win win situation £5000 each?I can bring the can of Wd40/ and I’ll even bring a few cleaning cloth👍😁. But in all seriousness my point is some people are asking serious money from punters who think what they are presenting in their photos is good value? Personally it puts me  off 😳

 

Better still, you give me my asking price of £45k. Then you tidy it all up and sell it for £55k and keep the whole uplift! 

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At least they took a photo of the engine...

 

What annoys me constantly about narrowboat ads, and the major brokers are no exception to this, is that you rarely get a shot of the engine bay, unless it's a boatmans cabin style boat.

 

I suppose it's the last thing most narrowboat buyers think about, especially these days, but I just think why take several pictures of the galley and not one of the engine bay?  And even when they do, it's often badly lit so you can't really see any detail, or they cut off the final drive, etc. 

 

To me the state of the engine bay says a lot about how well the boat has been looked after.  Not too long ago £56k would have bought you a boat in tip top condition, with everything working and no faults.  The fact that someone thinks a boat with an engine bay like that is worth the asking price just says everything about the market at the moment.  TBH no-one in their right mind would buy a narrowboat just now, the market is being stoked by people with absolutely no idea what they are doing.  

 

 

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3 hours ago, Neil2 said:

At least they took a photo of the engine...

 

What annoys me constantly about narrowboat ads, and the major brokers are no exception to this, is that you rarely get a shot of the engine bay, unless it's a boatmans cabin style boat.

 

I suppose it's the last thing most narrowboat buyers think about, especially these days, but I just think why take several pictures of the galley and not one of the engine bay?  And even when they do, it's often badly lit so you can't really see any detail, or they cut off the final drive, etc. 

 

To me the state of the engine bay says a lot about how well the boat has been looked after.  Not too long ago £56k would have bought you a boat in tip top condition, with everything working and no faults.  The fact that someone thinks a boat with an engine bay like that is worth the asking price just says everything about the market at the moment.  TBH no-one in their right mind would buy a narrowboat just now, the market is being stoked by people with absolutely no idea what they are doing.  

 

 

 

Rugby boats currently always include seem to include the engine bay in their sales videos.

 

He fades from a shot of the engine covers to the engine bay and back to the engine covers again.

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51 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Rugby boats currently always include seem to include the engine bay in their sales videos.

 

He fades from a shot of the engine covers to the engine bay and back to the engine covers again.

 

Yes that's a slick way of doing it.  What they don't do though and again almost every boat ad is guilty of it, is show you where the weed hatch is and how easy/difficult it is to get at.  Yet it's the first thing I look for on a narrowboat.  

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8 hours ago, Neil2 said:

At least they took a photo of the engine...

 

What annoys me constantly about narrowboat ads, and the major brokers are no exception to this, is that you rarely get a shot of the engine bay, unless it's a boatmans cabin style boat.

 

I suppose it's the last thing most narrowboat buyers think about, especially these days, but I just think why take several pictures of the galley and not one of the engine bay?  And even when they do, it's often badly lit so you can't really see any detail, or they cut off the final drive, etc. 

 

To me the state of the engine bay says a lot about how well the boat has been looked after.  Not too long ago £56k would have bought you a boat in tip top condition, with everything working and no faults.  The fact that someone thinks a boat with an engine bay like that is worth the asking price just says everything about the market at the moment.  TBH no-one in their right mind would buy a narrowboat just now, the market is being stoked by people with absolutely no idea what they are doing.  

 

 

Neil, you seem to be on the same wavelength  as me, I can’t be the only one going daft 😂I know there’s been some negative reviews on the “ foxes afloat boat”but at least it’s been presented well 👍 pity that their value is WAY WAY more than my reality of it’s actual worth… ps just one example of my perception of the madness going on… how long do you think we should wait until reality kicks in?

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I think the boat sales market will remain buoyant for a good while yet. Over the years most of us have had towpath walkers and gongoozlers telling us that they've always fancied the boating life but have never got round to it. But because of current travelling abroad restrictions and more people walking the towpaths, many of those people are now trying it. I've spoken to a lot of hire boaters this summer and far more than usual are 'first timers' and well over 50% have said they will definitely do it again. A good proportion of those will sooner or later become boat owners.

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Our last trip out whilst going down the Atherstone locks, and chatting to folk lockside, we met a total of six private boats that were all on their first ever trip after being bought and only one had ever done locks before. We also met a couple at Hawkesbury Junction/Sutton Stop on a brand spanking new boat doing its shakedown cruise who seemed petrified of the whole experience but i guess having spent so much cash were putting a brave face on it.

 

As a sort of straw poll it shows that lots are taking up boating

 

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Similar here. I encountered a brand new boat stuck in a lock on the Atherton flight. I walked up to see what was happening and they said they couldn't get either paddle open. They'd just picked up the boat, this was their second lock and they were trying to wind the windlass the wrong way. 

 

Easy fix!  

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

Similar here. I encountered a brand new boat stuck in a lock on the Atherton flight. I walked up to see what was happening and they said they couldn't get either paddle open. They'd just picked up the boat, this was their second lock and they were trying to wind the windlass the wrong way. 

 

Easy fix!  

A brand new boat turned up at Glascote top lock a couple of days ago, and they could go no further as they didn't have a single windlass on board!

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10 hours ago, Ducgas said:

Neil, you seem to be on the same wavelength  as me, I can’t be the only one going daft 😂I know there’s been some negative reviews on the “ foxes afloat boat”but at least it’s been presented well 👍 pity that their value is WAY WAY more than my reality of it’s actual worth… ps just one example of my perception of the madness going on… how long do you think we should wait until reality kicks in?

 

I think the narrowboat market has always been like this, it's just that at the moment the effect is exaggerated because there is a disproportionate number of newcomers, many of which have just got caught up in the sense of escapism canal life conjures up.  How long it will take for reality to kick in I couldn't say, but as usual, when the days start to shorten and the weather starts to get colder and wetter, the reality of boating becomes a bit clearer and I think the market will harden up quite a bit.  What I mean is that the number of potential buyers will be whittled down, but at the same time it's entirely possible that a lot of sellers will decide to hold out until next year in the hope that this madness returns.

 

I think the worry for a potential buyer is that the current situation is unprecedented and therefore unlike the housing market, which we all know has its ups and downs, no-one can say ah well we've seen this before, things will soon return to normal.

 

I used to say years ago I can't understand why the entire country doesn't want to go canal boating - well it seems that now they do...    

FWIW I don't think we are anywhere near the end of it. But I would still wait until say October.  And bear in mind that finding the right boat has always required quite a bit of legwork and a high disappointment threshold, in that respect it's no different now to how it's always been.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, David Mack said:

A brand new boat turned up at Glascote top lock a couple of days ago, and they could go no further as they didn't have a single windlass on board!

 

That's another good reason to buy a secondhand boat. Ours had at least nine windlasses in the kit locker when we bought it.

 

I'd hope that nobody would buy a boat without looking at it first.

 

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Frankly I am a bit surprised new boats dont come with a pair of windlasses, surely that cant be the norm?

 

I'd be mightily pi$$ed off if I spent getting on for a 100k or more and the builder didnt throw in a couple of windlasses.

 

Edit - just checked Bickerstaffe boat's web site and they supply one. Not exact over generous but better than none I guess.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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4 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Frankly I am a bit surprised new boats dont come with a pair of windlasses, surely that cant be the norm?

 

Perhaps it’s in the extras as the “Mooring Pack” for a few extra hundred?

 

Like when my better half was speccing one of her company cars years ago, to get a 12v accessory socket she had to choose the “Smokers Pack”

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