The first day of looking at boats after three months of looking on the interweb. Wilton and Rugby boats.

[ditchcrawler]

36 minutes ago, M_JG said:

Whilton definitely own boats.

 

They offered to buy ours, not broker it, buy it.

They bought a friend of mine's boat following his sudden death

[enigmatic]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

Certainly true in my own personal experience. Down to the salesman making a suspected fictitious call to the suspected fictitious owner of a boat supposedly 'on brokerage' in my presence to see if they might accept my very reasonable offer. They didn't, in about five seconds flat, apparently and weirdly, given it had been on sale at Wilton for months on end.

 

I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation.

 

tbf, when I bought my boat from their sister marina, Zoe instantly told me it was their boat when I asked "how long will it take to get an answer from the owner?" but still had to run my offer past someone else and call back before settling on a price.

 

Would have thought if the boat you offered on was actually theirs they'd be even more keen to move it on quickly since any reasonable offer is going to be quite a bit more than they paid for it, and their return on their own capital doesn't come from having their money tied up in boats that are hard to shift.

 

Surprised people find their boats dirty (as opposed to a bit tired) inside since they were one of the few brokers that had clearly made a bit of an effort with hoovers and binbags and fresh mattresses on all their boats when I looked round, but maybe that was just an early COVID thing like the ABNB staff member who followed me round with disinfectant for the surfaces I touched!

Edited March 12, 2023 by enigmatic

[Alan de Enfield]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Certainly true in my own personal experience. Down to the salesman making a suspected fictitious call to the suspected fictitious owner of a boat supposedly 'on brokerage' in my presence to see if they might accept my very reasonable offer. They didn't, in about five seconds flat, apparently and weirdly, given it had been on sale at Wilton for months on end.

 

I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation.

 

That is exactly my experience apart from he really did call, and the phone in the next office rung, and, being sat by the wall could hear both sides of the conversation.

Shysters - should have been closed down years ago.

 

 

shy·ster

[ˈʃʌɪstə]

 

NOUN

shysters (plural noun)

1. a person, especially a lawyer, who uses unscrupulous, fraudulent, or deceptive methods in business:

 

 

 

 

[robtheplod]

13 hours ago, Athy said:

In aesthetic terms, there's merit in what you say.

On the other hand, the windows do let more light in than portholes do.

The boatbuilder is of good repute, the engine builder even more so!

I have to say, we tend to notice those with bigger windows tend to draw the curtains on the towpath to stop 'peekers' thus removing the benefit? i am biased though!

[Ray T]

13 hours ago, Adam said:

I viewed a rake of boats from all the brokerages around there. All the boats at Whilton appeared not prepared for sale at all and almost dirty inside.

 

When we were looking for a boat we visited Whilton Marina several times. I my experience Whilton do not prepare any boat for sale, it is as the previous owner left it. A couple of boats we looked at were awful, one had rotting food in the fridge, another we didn't get past the doors because of the smell.

 

One advantage of Whilton is that the staff don't hassle you.

 

Photo's taken in 2010 of one boat we looked at.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Ray T

[Bee]

Maintenance of boats is a tricky thing, I expect many of us have known nice boats that look good, are nice inside and have careful owners who keep on top of wear and tear as it happens but who have a blind spot when it comes to taking it out of the water or crawling underneath it and painting under the base plate, out of sight, out of mind but much more important than keeping the inside neat and tidy.

[cuthound]

14 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I never understand this obsession with light inside the boat having to come from large side windows.

 

Every boat I've ever owned has been portholes-only, with masses of light inside from the roof lights. 

 

 

 

But if you like the idea of eating breakfast inside the boat with all the towpath pedestrians staring in at you through your picture windows, go for it! I prefer a good degree of privacy in my boats  

 

 

 

Whilst I prefer the "look" of an all porthole boat, venetian blinds are very effective at maintaining privacy on a boat with large windows.

[noddyboater]

5 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Whilst I prefer the "look" of an all porthole boat, venetian blinds are very effective at maintaining privacy on a boat with large windows.

Until some scrote puts a hammer through one..

[churchward]

2 hours ago, robtheplod said:

I have to say, we tend to notice those with bigger windows tend to draw the curtains on the towpath to stop 'peekers' thus removing the benefit? i am biased though!

Not entirely I expect they have them all open on the water side.

[Jon57]

15 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I never understand this obsession with light inside the boat having to come from large side windows.

 

Every boat I've ever owned has been portholes-only, with masses of light inside from the roof lights. 

 

 

 

But if you like the idea of eating breakfast inside the boat with all the towpath pedestrians staring in at you through your picture windows, go for it! I prefer a good degree of privacy in my boats  

 

 

Agree. Plus 4 side hatches with perspex infills. Some with car tint /mirror film on so you can see out . Or just leave them open so the passing gongoozllers can see all your dirty washing up 😜

[MtB]

35 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

Agree. Plus 4 side hatches with perspex infills. Some with car tint /mirror film on so you can see out . Or just leave them open so the passing gongoozllers can see all your dirty washing up 😜

 

Hey, have you been looking in my side hatches??!!

 

 

[Athy]

2 hours ago, Ray T said:

 

When we were looking for a boat we visited Whilton Marina several times. I my experience Whilton do not prepare any boat for sale, it is as the previous owner left it.

 

 

 

 

This is surely standard practice? We have sold two boats through brokers, neither of which was Whilton, and in both cases it was up to us to tidy them up for sale. You wouldn't expect an estate agent to come and clean your house before sending people round to view it, would you?

[Hudds Lad]

We're all portholes and have no problem at all with lack of light, apart from at night with the bungs in and then you literally can't see your hand in front of your face

[enigmatic]

13 minutes ago, Athy said:

This is surely standard practice? We have sold two boats through brokers, neither of which was Whilton, and in both cases it was up to us to tidy them up for sale. You wouldn't expect an estate agent to come and clean your house before sending people round to view it, would you?

 

Think it varies, probably depending on brokerage rates or whether owners agree to pay extra for a proper clean. A lot of boats go on brokerage because the owner physically can't look after them any more, after all. One broker that advertises low brokerage fees gave me the keys to a boat they were just about to take on brokerage and said "apologies for the mess, we haven't had chance to clean it yet" (it really was bad!). It'd be mad of Whilton and anyone else doing trade ins not to clean their own boats too.

 

To take an extreme example, I saw what was probably a decent 2006 boat available at a competitive price which probably just needed the moss scraping off the window surrounds, the falling apart pram hood (on a trad that really didn't need it!) chucking in the bin and the toilet lid putting down to hide the stains, but those minor details drew attention to the overdue blacking and gave off a "probably has lots of other issues" vibe which the immaculate engine bay and competent owner fitout didn't. Was still on brokerage 8 months after I looked at it, in the hottest of hot markets...

Edited March 13, 2023 by enigmatic

[David Mack]

10 minutes ago, Athy said:

You wouldn't expect an estate agent to come and clean your house before sending people round to view it, would you?

When my son's US in-laws moved house a couple of years ago they were expected to put most of their furniture into storage and to rent some attractive furniture to show the house off at its best. They also had to paint the ageing but good quality polished dark wood kitchen units to bring them on trend. When we expressed surprise they said it is normal in America!

[PaulJ]

37 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

 

Think it varies, probably depending on brokerage rates or whether owners agree to pay extra for a proper clean. A lot of boats go on brokerage because the owner physically can't look after them any more, after all. One broker that advertises low brokerage fees gave me the keys to a boat they were just about to take on brokerage and said "apologies for the mess, we haven't had chance to clean it yet" (it really was bad!). It'd be mad of Whilton and anyone else doing trade ins not to clean their own boats too.

 

Exactly that. I collect alot that the owners are sadly having to give up because of health, age etc issues and the ultimate reason-death.

Of course some are just plain rank and owned by people who just dont do clean.Or at least have a very different concept of it..If you think looking at them is bad you want to try sleeping on some.

 

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, PaulJ said:

Exactly that. I collect alot that the owners are sadly having to give up because of health, age etc issues and the ultimate reason-death.

Of course some are just plain rank and owned by people who just dont do clean.Or at least have a very different concept of it..If you think looking at them is bad you want to try sleeping on some.

 

Can you get a hazmat sleeping bag?

[Nightwatch]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

This is surely standard practice? We have sold two boats through brokers, neither of which was Whilton, and in both cases it was up to us to tidy them up for sale. You wouldn't expect an estate agent to come and clean your house before sending people round to view it, would you?

I’m sure an Estate agent would be happy to get a cleaning team in, at your cost if requested. Never had the need personally.

[Athy]

44 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

I’m sure an Estate agent would be happy to get a cleaning team in, at your cost

Precisely.

[Ray T]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

This is surely standard practice? We have sold two boats through brokers, neither of which was Whilton, and in both cases it was up to us to tidy them up for sale. You wouldn't expect an estate agent to come and clean your house before sending people round to view it, would you?

No, but garages I am aware of valet the cars they want to see rather than those for auction.

[ditchcrawler]

50 minutes ago, Ray T said:

No, but garages I am aware of valet the cars they want to see rather than those for auction.

They own the cars so its in their interest to present them well

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

They own the cars so its in their interest to present them well

 

As do Whilton (boats not cars) but they vehemently deny it.

[Athy]

1 hour ago, Ray T said:

No, but garages I am aware of valet the cars they want to see rather than those for auction.

Yes, that's why I didn't mention cars but, as DC points out, few garages do brokerage.

[Tonka]

5 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

We're all portholes and have no problem at all with lack of light, apart from at night with the bungs in and then you literally can't see your hand in front of your face

That is why they invented lights. You need to get some

[matty40s]

4 minutes ago, Tonka said:

That is why they invented lights. You need to get some

So over-rated....