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A cautionary You Tube post.


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Just seen a post on You Tube a young lass bought an elderly narrowboat,sensibly had it surveyed and although she had doubts,the surveyor said it was ok.

Bought the boat,spent a substantial amount on it,and when it came out for blacking later,it was condemned.

At the moment on hard standing at £250 per month and is in the process of suing the surveyor. I think Alan De Enfield has said he has experience of that,so I feel sorry for this girl and hope she has a good outcome.

I have said before that when buying a used boat you are swimming in shark infested waters,and need professional advice,but when that professional  advice is plainly wrong,what can you do?

 

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44 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

I think Alan De Enfield has said he has experience of that,

 

 

Indeed I did - even appointed a Marine Solicitior and was awaiting the court dates when the Solicitor said "are you sure you want to go ahead, you are going to lose, the surveyors small-print means the survey is absolutely worthless and has every escape clause known to mankind. You will end up paying all your costs and the Surveyors as well. Cut your losses now"

And, that was only 1 week after purchase - not 3 years.

 

It cost me over £25,000 to correct the problems the surveyor had 'missed'.

 

18 boats later and I have never had another survey.

 

When we purchased the Catamaran in Croatia I refused to have a survey, the broker said "you cannot refuse, it might have problems", I refused.

In the end he paid to have it sailed over to Italy (nowhere in Croatia could lift her as she was too big) and he paid for the survey himself, presumably taking it out of his commision.

 

Have a survey by all means, but do not expect it to find all (or even any) of the major / expensive problems, and do not expect to have any come-back on the surveyor if he gets it wrong.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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I feel so sorry for this poor young woman, I hope it works out for her. I guess the main hurdle will be proving that the boat was in this condition three years ago when the surveyor examined it. The problem with any kind of expert evidence in court is whatever one expert opinion says you can always find another to give a contrary view to fit your case.

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It's unlikely that the boat deteriorated that much in 3 years, and according to the video the current yard have said there is no evidence that the hull was ground off to get clean patches for ultrasound testing when it was surveyed. But proving that in a court of law is quite another matter. But at least it seems her insurance's legal cover is taking that aspect on, so she shouldn't end up more out of pocket for legal costs.

 

And meanwhile the surveyor's 'good name' is protected.

Edited by David Mack
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No different than having your car MOT a year ago and it passes, this year it fails on rust, who says it was not in that state a year ago? Remembering a thread on here some time back of someone whos hull went from 6mm to 2mm in 2 years?

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It is a pity that we weren't told (at least, I don't think we were) how to find her on-line shop. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that if she's selling interesting items I'd be happy to put a few quid in her pocket.

 

But she had three years' worth of trouble-free use out of the boat, so surely some extensive and expensive work must have been looming - as it would be, for example, with an elderly car.

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1 hour ago, Mike Hurley said:

Survey was done in August 2018, good luck getting anything from that surveyor.

Especially if it's not been blacked since she bought it and none of the work the surveyor mentions that should be carried out has actually been carried out.

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Sign of the modern times, Boo Hoo, im broke give me money because i cant afford my lifestyle. I worked for everything i got and proud of it, at least she has a roof over head at 250 a month for hard standing, cheaper than a flat and better than a park bench.

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5 minutes ago, nicknorman said:


it’s just a shame that the other 17 boats sunk!

 

I have no idea what happened to them (except the last 2 which I still have and were floating last time I saw them) all of them were sold on without a survey as well - many people with a modicum of experience seem to be happy to save the £1000 for a survey and buy without.

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48 minutes ago, matty40s said:

The online shop was clearly shown on the video, with links, I'm not sure how you missed it!!

 

It's also in the video description.

 

Thanks. That description did not appear on the video as posted by Michael, so I didn't see it.

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A good Vlog for new naive potential buyers.

  It would of been good to know if the original Surveyor was suggested by the owners or totally independent and chosen by the woman with no connection to the seller.

  A new naive boater has just arrived in my Marina. They purchased the boat £20k ish and then proceeded to spend £22K on overplating and engine work????

 When you walk on the boat it’s obvious that it has been flashed over, new carpets throughout and the smell of fresh paint, a quick look at the engine and batteries clearly indicates it will not pass it’s next BSS.

 The sad thing is there are unscrupulous sellers out there who are taken advantage of the young and the current high demand for boats.

  

 

 

Edited by PD1964
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1 hour ago, matty40s said:

£20K to overplate...someone doesnt want that job.

My initial reaction was that the boatyard doesn't want the job... or knows they have the poor girl over a barrel. That said I am told by the boatbuilder who is going to fit a new bottom to Belfast that steel plate has doubled in price since 2019, so that must have an impact on overplating prices.

Even so, she might be well advised to get a couple of other estimates, to see if the saving would be enough to more than cover the cost of being trucked to another yard.

2 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Last time I looked at Kedian's website,he was Quoting £200 per foot for overplating.

Don't think he's the cheapest by any means.

But his site now says price on application, presumably because of the fluctuations in steel price.

Edited by David Mack
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1 hour ago, Mike Hurley said:

Sign of the modern times, Boo Hoo, im broke give me money because i cant afford my lifestyle.

That's a little unfair. Several of the commenters on YouTube have asked, umptompted, how they can make a donation to her. And her funding page explains that she has set it up in response.  So not so much a case of "give me money", more a case of accepting donations freely offered.

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I think it is not just 'Fluck to Asians', the steel prices are variable across Europe and the USA  as well, so 'Fluck to Europe' and 'Fluck to USA'.

I think it must be 50 years since I first heard that one...😴

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