looking for a boat

[Stroudwater1]

I really wouldn’t narrow it down to just those builders. I’ve seen some decent Hancock and Lane boats though hull wise often not good as they used what most used then on the baseplate .  
 

Traditional engine roomed  boats are usually made by decent builders. There’s a fair few missed off these builders above, and they don’t suit everyone hence the popularity still of Springers. 
 

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

2 hours ago, sparkybob said:

Totally understand the egg whisk theory. Current boat has engain under my feet and im fed up with it..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what is your current boat? Length?

Edited June 3, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Captain Pegg]

8 hours ago, agg221 said:

It can be done. We have all the above with the exception of a fixed double, in 38' including a tug deck which is about the equivalent length of a well deck. Because Oates is narrow the back cabin is extra long, as is the engine room. With a more conventional shaped boat I think you could get all those requirements in to a 45' boat if you really needed to. More length would of course make it considerably easier.

 

Given that the OP is up to taking on a reasonable amount of work, wonder whether buying something longer and having it shortened would be an option. The points against this would be the cost of the work and making good but if you found a layout which otherwise works but has a length that can be shortened (say a long saloon) and can take on the stripping back and making good then it may open up more options?

 

Alec

 

There's always an exception but there are a number of traditional engine roomed boats with a fixed double in the main cabin currently for sale but every one of them is longer than 62'.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

There's always an exception but there are a number of traditional engine roomed boats with a fixed double in the main cabin currently for sale but every one of them is longer than 62'.

 

Yes I sold one about a year ago now. Engine room, back cabin, fixed double bed in generous walk-through cabin, large galley, large saloon, large well deck, 68ft. Could easily have been built with galley, saloon and well-deck each 2ft shorter to be a 62ft boat.

 

 

 

 

[Francis Herne]

Tug deck, but otherwise fits the bill with double bed in back cabin:

 

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/black-country-58-traditional-for-sale/715139

 

This one came up in the Historic Boats for Sale thread a while ago; I rather like the look of it. Old iron hull has its own potential headaches though.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Clanky]

https://www.abnb.co.uk/boat?BoatID=3898
 

 

[Tonka]

24 minutes ago, Clanky said:

https://www.abnb.co.uk/boat?BoatID=3898
 

 

Was in the water spring Bank Holiday as we went past it

[stagedamager]

There's a nice Les Allen about to he listed at New and Used. Slightly shorter but fits most of your criteria

NB Thornbury.

[Barneyp]

While it useful to have a list of possible builders be careful about limiting your search to just those builders. Not only is it a cottage industry with some people only making a handful of boats, meaning they will never get on to a list of desired builders, there are a lot of boats where the builder is "unknown" or missidentified - and it not just 30 and 40 year old boats where this can happen, it's not like cars with a make and model displayed on the boot so a lot of people are completely unaware of different builders.

[GUMPY]

4 minutes ago, Barneyp said:

so a lot of people are completely unaware of different builders.

Indeed.

Malcolm Pearson to name but one.

I had not heard of him before I bought my last boat. His steelwork is up there with the best.

 

https://www.malcolmpearson.co.uk/

[Jon57]

5 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

Indeed.

Malcolm Pearson to name but one.

I had not heard of him before I bought my last boat. His steelwork is up there with the best.

 

https://www.malcolmpearson.co.uk/

 

[MtB]

3 hours ago, Clanky said:

https://www.abnb.co.uk/boat?BoatID=3898
 

 

 

 

This appears to be the first boat to be suggested that ticks all the OP's boxes with no compromises!

 

 

 

 

[agg221]

14 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

 

There's always an exception but there are a number of traditional engine roomed boats with a fixed double in the main cabin currently for sale but every one of them is longer than 62'.

The engine room and back cabin do seem to be viewed as 'like to have' rather than 'must have' features on modern boats and hence generally added to longer ones.

 

My point was that it can physically be done. There is a question I generally end up asking myself, about how much of what I am paying for is a feature, how much is a benefit and how long am I prepared to wait until something is how I want it. Essentially, if I wanted a 60ft boat with certain features, I could wait until one turns up, buy a 60ft boat and do a partial refit to get it how I wanted it, buy a shorter boat and add in the section to make it how I wanted it (and then fit that out) or buy a longer boat and chop out the section(s) I didn't want. Or I could compromise, on time, money or specification. All of these are quite flexible options with the budget and skills the OP has available which changes the equation somewhat over the more usual question that crops up on here of buying a rotted out project boat and naively hoping the hull will hold itself together.

 

Alec 

Edited June 4, 2023 by agg221

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

50 minutes ago, agg221 said:

The engine room and back cabin do seem to be viewed as 'like to have' rather than 'must have' features on modern boats and hence generally added to longer ones.

What do you call a modern boat?

I imagine there has been a very low percentage of completed boats being built to order in the last couple of years with a vintage engine room and back cabin. I have seen two both self fit outs and both weren’t as easy as the owners thought.

  Most new boat buyers don’t want them even though they can afford them, just not practical for the lifestyle and layout they want, which seams to be mainly a reverse layout.

Edited June 4, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[agg221]

26 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

What do you call a modern boat?

I imagine there has been a very low percentage of completed boats being built to order in the last couple of years with a vintage engine room and back cabin. I have seen two both self fit outs and both weren’t as easy as the owners thought.

  Most new boat buyers don’t want them even though they can afford them, just not practical for the lifestyle and layout they want, which seams to be mainly a reverse layout.

I was using 'modern' to mean purpose built for leisure so the choice was open on a blank canvas when the shell was built, rather than a converted working boat where the back cabin and engine room would be there already* and removing them would require effort. I recognise that now spans over 50yrs though.

Alec

 

*Except on a Severner

Edited June 4, 2023 by agg221

[IanD]

41 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

What do you call a modern boat?

I imagine there has been a very low percentage of completed boats being built to order in the last couple of years with a vintage engine room and back cabin. I have seen two both self fit outs and both weren’t as easy as the owners thought.

  Most new boat buyers don’t want them even though they can afford them, just not practical for the lifestyle and layout they want, which seams to be mainly a reverse layout.

I suspect that's because most buyers of new boats don't have the sentimental/historic attachment to engine rooms and back cabins that some "trad-style" fans have. A reverse layout does have advantages if you want a big comfortable bed in the bows, and is more sociable for the steerer when cruising -- especially with more people on board -- because the galley and living area are at the stern.

 

But some people still prefer the "traditional" (non-reverse) layout -- which remember isn't really traditional, it was invented in the middle of the 20th century -- which has other advantages, especially if you want to sit in the bows or forward saloon while cruising to be a long way from the noisy engine... 😉

 

I can admire boats with an engine room and lots of polished brass and a boatman's cabin (and have been on them), but I wouldn't want one. And I'm sure most boaters who have them wouldn't be seen dead on a modern reverse-layout electric/hybrid like mine. Boating would be boring if everyone had the same needs and wanted the same thing... 🙂

Edited June 4, 2023 by IanD

[Tonka]

1 hour ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

What do you call a modern boat?

I imagine there has been a very low percentage of completed boats being built to order in the last couple of years with a vintage engine room and back cabin. I have seen two both self fit outs and both weren’t as easy as the owners thought.

  Most new boat buyers don’t want them even though they can afford them, just not practical for the lifestyle and layout they want, which seams to be mainly a reverse layout.

We had a reverse layout on our first narrowboat. The engine was in the boatman's cabin area and the kitchen was in the engine room area with no way through. It was built as a self steer camping boat with the beds in the hold which is why the kitchen was in the place it was

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

3 hours ago, IanD said:

I can admire boats with an engine room and lots of polished brass and a boatman's cabin (and have been on them), but I wouldn't want one. And I'm sure most boaters who have them wouldn't be seen dead on a modern reverse-layout electric/hybrid like mine. Boating would be boring if everyone had the same needs and wanted the same thing... 🙂

 There’s a modern boat like yours with a boatmans cabin ready to go, however it hasn’t lost 10ft of internal space with an engine room with it being electric, IMO I think it’s the nicest boat TT & Finesse have produced so far, it was at the side of yours, but as you say it’s horses for courses as their lifestyle requirements were different from yours.

 As you say scumbled boatmans and nice thumping engines in their own space are nice, but most people’s boating lifestyle doesn’t suit that setup, especially with wife and family.

  

  

Edited June 4, 2023 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[MtB]

22 hours ago, sparkybob said:

Totally understand the egg whisk theory. Current boat has engain under my feet and im fed up with it..

 

 

 

My first and second narrowboats had the same. The noise and vibration drove me demented and WHAT a relief it was to get my first boat with a proper engine room ten feet away from the helm, and a door I could close. Chalk and cheese. 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

 

My first and second narrowboats had the same. The noise and vibration drove me demented and WHAT a relief it was to get my first boat with a proper engine room ten feet away from the helm, and a door I could close. Chalk and cheese. 

  We don’t know what “egg whisk” boat he has, it may be a noisy air cooled lister or it may have no noise deadening insulation. Not every trad is noisy or vibrating. I have asked him what boat he has and length. I don’t mind standing on my engine, but it is well cocooned with noise panels.

[GUMPY]

21 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

  We don’t know what “egg whisk” boat he has, it may be a noisy air cooled lister or it may have no noise deadening insulation. Not every trad is noisy or vibrating. I have asked him what boat he has and length. I don’t mind standing on my engine, but it is well cocooned with noise panels.

Loddon is also well silenced and has a wet exhaust making it even quieter.

The only real noise is the sloshing of the water behind from the prop.

[MtB]

43 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

  We don’t know what “egg whisk” boat he has, it may be a noisy air cooled lister or it may have no noise deadening insulation. Not every trad is noisy or vibrating. I have asked him what boat he has and length. I don’t mind standing on my engine, but it is well cocooned with noise panels.

 

Hmmm.  "Noise panels" sound as though they would be to increase the noise, rather than reduce it. 

 

 

[Tonka]

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Hmmm.  "Noise panels" sound as though they would be to increase the noise, rather than reduce it. 

 

 

"Noise" means unwanted sound

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Tonka said:

"Noise" means unwanted sound

 

I see what you did there......🤣🤣🤣

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

27 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

Loddon is also well silenced and has a wet exhaust making it even quieter.

The only real noise is the sloshing of the water behind from the prop.

  I looked at the details and if I was looking for a boat I would seriously consider it, as it’s a well made and maintained boat that is not stupidly overpriced, If I was the OP and never had what seams a fixed “want list” in his head I would definitely view. Hopefully it will sell quick and the new owners will realise how good it is once out on the canals. Good luck.

12 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Hmmm.  "Noise panels" sound as though they would be to increase the noise, rather than reduce it. 

 

 

You know what I mean like everyone else. Or do you want me to say “Noise deadening panels”????