Me and my wife are after our First Boat, Just for long Journeys, Canal and River.

[deepspacedaz]

Can some of you fellow boaters help us out please, What would be best to start I learnt certain things already Ive seen water bugs But heard bad things, Is a river cruiser better not sure really. We do like standing room.

[deepspacedaz]

Also How do i change profile picture please.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

.....  Is a river cruiser better

 

That will depend on your budget.

 

A GRP Cruiser in good usable conditon will be around £10,000

A Steel Narrowboat in similar condition will probably be around £30,000 (depending on size)

 

You can pick up a steel narrowboat "needing £10,000 of welding" for about £15,000.

Having a pre-purchase survey will cost about £1000 (but could save you £10,000)

[deepspacedaz]

Ive seen a little bug for 15000 So it probably needs welding at that price then

[Tracy D'arth]

7 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

Can some of you fellow boaters help us out please, What would be best to start I learnt certain things already Ive seen water bugs But heard bad things, Is a river cruiser better not sure really. We do like standing room.

Punctuation would help. 😉 No standing room in a lot of river cruisers. Are you excessively tall?

[deepspacedaz]

No we are not tall, I think it will be a canal cruiser then, maybe around 20 FT,  6 Beam

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

Ive seen a little bug for 15000 So it probably needs welding at that price then

 

The water bugs were built with 3.75mm steel (from new). The general insurance requirements these days is to have a minimum of 4mm steel thickness, so you may find it difficult to insure 'comprehensive'.

 

You will certainly need a survey to insure a boat of that age (its probably - at the latest - a 1980s boat and 40+ years old)

 

On a small boat the plating costs will be lower than fpor a big boat as it is normally charged 'per-foot'.

[deepspacedaz]

So it could be quite costly then 

[Mike Hurley]

13 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

So it could be quite costly then 

Owning and running a boat is, cheap it aint.

[deepspacedaz]

Owning a classic car is Costly also especially 7 liter, Big American Road Yacht. I have do Hense why Im selling the one the other car is a lot bigger than the T bird its a 56 Lincoln Premier.

[Alan de Enfield]

27 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

So it could be quite costly then 

 

You can insure it 3rd party then you don't need to incur any costs of either a survey or welding / repairs - BUT obviously if it sinks, catches fire etc, then you lose it and have no insurance for it or its contents.

 

Either save up and buy a bigger, newer, better boat that has had the wok done (or doesn't need it), or, buy a GRP cruiser.

 

What are you planning to use it for ?
Will you be living aboard 24/7/365 or is it just a 'day boat' or used for holidays ?

Where will you keep it ? (moorings rentals  can vary in cost from £2000 to £15,000+ per year depending where abouts in the country you are)

Edited July 21, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[deepspacedaz]

I Will only be using it for weekends Holidays etc I Will moor it here In Midlands Marina

[howardang]

To try to cut to the chase and stop unnecessary chasing of rainbows, do you have an approximate idea of budget and what part of the UK system are you thinking of? Are you a newcomer to the waterways or do you have any prior knowledge of what is involved in owning and maintaining a boat on the waterways?  As you can imagine this site gets a number of such requests and peoples ideas of what is available and for what price varies enormously. It is always helpful if you could give an indication of what you hope to get out of boat ownership, i.e. extended cruising, weekending, living on board permanently etc.

 

Howard

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

I Will only be using it for weekends Holidays etc I Will moor it here In Midlands Marina

 

Just remember that just like with a car you will need, Insurance BSS (Boat Safety Scheme certificate, similar to a Car MOT), and a boat licence (same as  'Car Tax')

 

The general 'rule of thumb' for costs of running a boat is around £5000 per year (some years will be less, some more) and a typical Midlands marina will be £2500 - £3000 depending on boat length.

Our 36 foot crusier at Newark (Nottinghamshire) was £2800 a couple of years ago.

[Tracy D'arth]

There are very few 6ft beam narrowboats.  The old ones were built to 7ft, modern stuff is 6'10".

 

Use the forum search function, all the questions you need answers to have already been asked and answered.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Tracy D'arth

[deepspacedaz]

Thanks for the help everybody.

[LadyG]

Phone up Midlands Marina and find out how much your mooring will cost.

A cruiser, GRP will be smaller than a steel narrowboat and should be considered if this is fair weather casual cruising rather than liveaboard situation.

Have a look at Apollo duck and also ABNB boat sales, but also excellent narrative, click on information.

[deepspacedaz]

Thank you

[BilgePump]

54 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Just remember that just like with a car you will need, Insurance BSS (Boat Safety Scheme certificate, similar to a Car MOT), and a boat licence (same as  'Car Tax')

 

The general 'rule of thumb' for costs of running a boat is around £5000 per year (some years will be less, some more) and a typical Midlands marina will be £2500 - £3000 depending on boat length.

Our 36 foot crusier at Newark (Nottinghamshire) was £2800 a couple of years ago.

OP is looking for a smaller leisure boat Alan. My CaRT mooring on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border is about a thousand a year for the coming renewal for a boat up to 26' long.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

OP is looking for a smaller leisure boat Alan. My CaRT mooring on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border is about a thousand a year for the coming renewal for a boat up to 26' long.

 

 

Which is why I quoted my boat size.

Also, there will be a big diference between a 'farmers field mooring' with no facilities and a secure marina with gated access, water, electric, showers car park etc etc, so your example is good as it gives the OP ideas of differing prices.

[Morris]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The general insurance requirements these days is to have a minimum of 4mm steel thickness, so you may find it difficult to insure 'comprehensive'.

 

I've read this on here so many times, whether talking about original steel or depth of pitting. When we got insurance quotes at the end of last year not one insurer was bothered about steel thickness (we have a couple of deep pits) and none mentioned any 4mm minimum. Admittedly our boat is less than 25 years old but when talking to insurance companies the only thing they were bothered about were that the surveyors recommended work was carried out. Are there particular companies this applies to? 

[Barneyp]

As a guide for the OP, I have a GRP cruiser (to fit on narrow canals) that I keep in the Midlands, a good condition boat like mine would cost around £10,000.

 

Annual costs:

My marina  mooring cost just over a thousand per year, and is for a boat of up to 30feet (the smallest mooring size on their price scale).

Insurance is about £130

License fee is about £800, although this is expected to rise at above the rate of inflation for the foreseeable future.

Maintainable and Boat Safety Certificate, this is a bit of a how longs a piece of string question. I'd say on average about a thousand a year to maintain the boat in a good condition. Some years will only be a few hundred, other years may be a few thousand.

Boat Safety Certificate cost about £170 every 4 years.

[Mad Harold]

3 hours ago, deepspacedaz said:

Can some of you fellow boaters help us out please, What would be best to start I learnt certain things already Ive seen water bugs But heard bad things, Is a river cruiser better not sure really. We do like standing room.

The narrow beam (6'-10") grp cruisers don't usually have much headroom.5'-10" is usually all you get,but there are exceptions.

I went to look at an Eastwood 24 and there was a good six inches space above my head in the cabin.(I am 5'-9")

However the Eastwood is 8'-6" beam so cruising narrow canals is out. (If you can find one with working locks and enough water!)

 

[deepspacedaz]

6 minutes ago, Barneyp said:

As a guide for the OP, I have a GRP cruiser (to fit on narrow canals) that I keep in the Midlands, a good condition boat like mine would cost around £10,000.

 

Annual costs:

My marina  mooring cost just over a thousand per year, and is for a boat of up to 30feet (the smallest mooring size on their price scale).

Insurance is about £130

License fee is about £800, although this is expected to rise at above the rate of inflation for the foreseeable future.

Maintainable and Boat Safety Certificate, this is a bit of a how longs a piece of string question. I'd say on average about a thousand a year to maintain the boat in a good condition. Some years will only be a few hundred, other years may be a few thousand.

Boat Safety Certificate cost about £170 every 4 years.

So I can get a nice Boat for around 10,000, sounds OK then i get her surveyed etc.

[Alan de Enfield]

25 minutes ago, deepspacedaz said:

So I can get a nice Boat for around 10,000, sounds OK then i get her surveyed etc.

 

As I suggested many posts (and 4 hours) ago - 

 

 

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

A GRP Cruiser in good usable conditon will be around £10,000

A Steel Narrowboat in similar condition will probably be around £30,000 (depending on size)