Anyone want to buy the most famous boat on the canals

[Machpoint005]

4 hours ago, dmr said:

 

This is very true, we purchased our boat secondhand without realising that it was a well known boat, especially on the K&A. For the first few years almost everyday somebody would say "oh thats R**** and V****'s boat" and a few would even add "I hope youre looking after it". We quite often had to give an update on what the previous owners were now doing.

After a few years our standard reply was "No its our boat, we have owned it for longer than R&V and done even more miles than they did". We did consider a repaint and rename but do rather like it the way it is.

The half life of getting a boat recognised from its previous owners can be several years, though the Fox boat is pretty typical of many posh modern boats so not too distincive.

 

Our first boat had belonged to a local celebrity on our home canal. We too used that sort of response to "Is that So-and so's boat?". "No, it's ours".

 

Regarding Silver Fox, I was surprised to see the vendor bragging about the IKEA sofa, comfortable though it may be. If we were selling up (we're not) I wouldn't be mentioning the ubiquitous IKEA Poang chairs.

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Maines NB Dover]

3 hours ago, dmr said:

 

That looks like the lovely drydock at Stone, how deep are you? I bet it was a bit of a struggle to get in??? I once saw Mrs CanalCruising reverse one of the hire fleet up to the drydock entrance and then do a huge blast of forward to squirt water into the dock to get a deep old working boat in.

We’re 3ft draft, and unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of filling the water tank just before we went in (my diesel tank was also pretty full) so it was a bit of a struggle. We had the prop wash from 3 hireboats helping. 

[Nightwatch]

I don’t think they will get anywhere near £140,000 for their boat, but it will sell. I wish them well with their new build and their future.

 

The price of the new build must have shot up as the price of steel has rocketed as has many more commodities.

 

I have said before, I have found their blogs informative and sometimes even entertaining. I guess they have made a living out of talking to and using various suppliers. I bet they have enjoyed Silver Fox.

[Hudds Lad]

12 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

The price of the new build must have shot up as the price of steel has rocketed as has many more commodities.

 

A builder we were talking to said it’s added about 10-12k on a 58ft narrowboat shell due to steel prices.

[PD1964]

3 hours ago, matty40s said:

Weren't they the ones who took 27 episodes just to leave the marina....

I don’t think they left the Marina, maybe just a trip to the diesel point. Looking at some of their later Vlogs they freely admit they are Marina dwellers and have no intention of going on the canals, on one he looks petrified at the thought of doing and being in a lock, the new breed of middle class boaters living the dream.

[frangar]

14 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I don’t think they left the Marina, maybe just a trip to the diesel point. Looking at some of their later Vlogs they freely admit they are Marina dwellers and have no intention of going on the canals, on one he looks petrified at the thought of doing and being in a lock, the new breed of middle class boaters living the dream.

I just can’t fathom having a boat and not travelling. We have the same sort of thing in our marina…sadly we’ve had to cut short out travels this year as work is picking up….if that wasn’t happening I’d still be many miles away. 

[Neil2]

10 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I don’t think they left the Marina, maybe just a trip to the diesel point. Looking at some of their later Vlogs they freely admit they are Marina dwellers and have no intention of going on the canals, on one he looks petrified at the thought of doing and being in a lock, the new breed of middle class boaters living the dream.

 

Yet again, it's the Tim and Pru effect.  By all accounts all they ever did was pootle up and down the K&A  but of course on TV they had a hidden army of helpers doing the hard work.   We met a newbie couple at the Harecastle tunnel back in July "gosh we didn't realise how long it takes to do these locks" they explained.  Well you haven't had the 40 years experience of Tim West, I counselled, they make it look so easy don't they.  

[PD1964]

2 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

 

The price of the new build must have shot up as the price of steel has rocketed as has many more commodities.

I know on one of their Vlogs last year they were talking about working with all the best builders and suppliers in the country and doing a full length Amazon series on the build.

  Maybe they were hoping for a lot of freebies from shell to toilet, engine to diesel stove and thought they wouldn’t have to pay for it😂 speaking to people in the trade most have absolutely no interest in them and wouldn’t let them near their works as they have enough work on, it will be interesting to see what shell and stuff they choose. I imagine a Shell from the Liverpool area and fit out the same. 
  Maybe Bickerstaffe are building this all new tech boat at trade price £140K???

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by PD1964

[Tony1]

1 hour ago, Nightwatch said:

I don’t think they will get anywhere near £140,000 for their boat, but it will sell. I wish them well with their new build and their future.

 

The price of the new build must have shot up as the price of steel has rocketed as has many more commodities.

 

I have said before, I have found their blogs informative and sometimes even entertaining. I guess they have made a living out of talking to and using various suppliers. I bet they have enjoyed Silver Fox.

 

I have only the vaguest notion of used boat prices, but I feel sure you are right- a brand new boat can be built for £140k (or less), so who is going to pay a brand new price for a two and half year old used boat with 1700 engine hours? £140k feels very, very optimistic indeed.

I guess its possible they are counting on their youtube fame adding to the boat's value, but I cant help thinking that most buyers are not going to pay 30-40k over the odds because of the boat's relative fame, surely?

I've no doubt it has some really nice features, and to be fair, they do seem to look after the boat very well, but at £140k you can have a boat built and fitted out exactly the way you want it, with some good quality fittings. 

Either way, good luck to them- the vlogs are informative with some interesting historical detail, and they put a great deal of effort into them. 

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

I've just been passed by a boat famous enough that I recognised it despite the fact it doesn't carry it's name and it's a very ordinary boat - Chalice.

 

Owning a well known boat is a privilege and I'm always delighted when someone recognises my boat or knew one or more of it's previous owners.

 

As for the Foxes good luck to them. Just makes me smile that I bought my boat for £23k.

 

 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I've just been passed by a boat famous enough that I recognised it despite the fact it doesn't carry it's name and it's a very ordinary boat - Chalice.

 

Owning a well known boat is a privilege and I'm always delighted when someone recognises my boat or knew one or more of it's previous owners.

 

As for the Foxes good luck to them. Just makes me smile that I bought my boat for £23k.

 

 

 

Chalice went on brokerage at Rugby boats at the same time as our boat, if we are talking the Fincher's boat?

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[nbfiresprite]

The only famous narrowboat called 'Silver Fox' that I known is a Foxes Hireboat (Also built by them) that two differnt hirers, two weeks in a row, managed to get stuck on the sandbank by Denver Sluice few years back.

 

https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/49214-opps-at-the-denver-sluice-this-morning/

 

Oak and other hardwoods has nearly triple in price, the oak stripwood that I used to make a kitchen worktop is now £30.24 per 46mm x 8mm x 2.4m length at Ridgeons Timber & Builders Merchants, few months ago the price was £6.99. I been looking for some 145mm x 25mm oak planks for some Shelfing £50 to £60 per meter. For any pro boat fitter life must be hell for them to quote a price for a job.

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, Tony1 said:

 

I have only the vaguest notion of used boat prices, but I feel sure you are right- a brand new boat can be built for £140k (or less), so who is going to pay a brand new price for a two and half year old used boat with 1700 engine hours? £140k feels very, very optimistic indeed.

I guess its possible they are counting on their youtube fame adding to the boat's value, but I cant help thinking that most buyers are not going to pay 30-40k over the odds because of the boat's relative fame, surely?

I've no doubt it has some really nice features, and to be fair, they do seem to look after the boat very well, but at £140k you can have a boat built and fitted out exactly the way you want it, with some good quality fittings. 

Either way, good luck to them- the vlogs are informative with some interesting historical detail, and they put a great deal of effort into them. 

 

 

I would say more like £60-£70K overpriced. Looking at the boat it’s just a standard off the peg Bickerstaffe boat as they say, I can’t see anything that stands out as a special feature or different, quite a basic boat to be honest. Far better boats for sale at half their asking price on Apolloduck if you look.

  

Edited August 28, 2021 by PD1964

[Big Bob W]

I think they will get the £140k. It will be a vlog follower who has never even hired before, let alone owned a boat. 

They will then discover boating is nothing like they expected. Sell when the current market bubble has burst and lose around £70K on the deal.

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, Big Bob W said:

I think they will get the £140k. It will be a vlog follower who has never even hired before, let alone owned a boat. 

They will then discover boating is nothing like they expected. Sell when the current market bubble has burst and lose around £70K on the deal.

And they will think that everyone is smiling at them because they have “The most famous boat on the Canals” and not because everyone thinks “suckers”👍

[dmr]

2 hours ago, Big Bob W said:

I think they will get the £140k. It will be a vlog follower who has never even hired before, let alone owned a boat. 

They will then discover boating is nothing like they expected. Sell when the current market bubble has burst and lose around £70K on the deal.

 

They might get a survey and this should include a comment on value, but buying such a new, smart and "famous" boat they might be persuaded that a survey is not required.

[PD1964]

6 hours ago, Big Bob W said:

 

They will then discover boating is nothing like they expected. Sell when the current market bubble has burst and lose around £70K on the deal.

It really is mind numbing if you just think the potential buyer could loose £70K in the space of a few month if they paid asking price and then decide to sell through brokerage and the broker gives the true market value. Maybe that’s why the “Foxes” have disabled the comments on the Vlog when announcing the boat was for for sale. 
 I just can’t imagine buying that boat for £140K to be told a by someone that the boat is only worth £70-£80K ish as it’s only a basic off the shelf boat. Imagine how you would feel, I can’t.

Edited August 29, 2021 by PD1964

[Woodwych]

With all the material cost increases how much is a new Bickerstaff boat at the moment - and what sort of waiting list is there ? 

[frangar]

36 minutes ago, Woodwych said:

With all the material cost increases how much is a new Bickerstaff boat at the moment - and what sort of waiting list is there ? 

Going from the pictures and the kit list on the existing one I’d be looking for a decent builder! 

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Woodwych said:

With all the material cost increases how much is a new Bickerstaff boat at the moment - and what sort of waiting list is there ? 

 

Last time I looked I think they started at around 90k. That was for a fairly standard/basic specd. 57ft.

 

They then had some options over and aove.

 

The guide prices seem to have gone from their web site now though.

[PD1964]

12 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Last time I looked I think they started at around 90k. That was for a fairly standard/basic specd. 57ft.

 

They then had some options over and aove.

 

The guide prices seem to have gone from their web site now though.

 I noticed that, the pricing has been removed, but what I remember when the Foxes were on “Million Pound Barges” their boat was around if not less then £130K new. So I don’t know who’s valued it now at £140K. If on brokerage it would not be valued anywhere near that and when sold in future it will sell for true market value.

  

  

Edited August 29, 2021 by PD1964

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, Woodwych said:

With all the material cost increases how much is a new Bickerstaff boat at the moment - and what sort of waiting list is there ? 

The Bickerstaffe reviewed in May 2019 Waterways World was £129k

[Captain Pegg]

2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

The Bickerstaffe reviewed in May 2019 Waterways World was £129k

 

Yes, but the optional extra 'e' comes at a price 😉

[Rob-M]

4 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

Yes, but the optional extra 'e' comes at a price 😉

I used the correct spelling for Bickerstaffe Boat Company.

[Guest]

When I did look at the price they did the usual thing of quoting for their most basic boat.

 

No chrome fittings, no pram hood or cratch cover, no router, no flush fitting windows etc etc  the list of options was comprehensive.