72 ft boat

[Antonio13]

Hi everyone!,


I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the summer days.
 

I just wanted to briefly share a situation that unfortunately, we are currently going through, as it may potentially affect others in the community.
 

We purchased a boat, signed a valid contract, paid in full, and secured ownership. However, the marina has refused to hand over possession of the vessel. Even more concerning, and the reason I’m posting here,  the marina is still advertising and attempting to sell this same boat, despite our existing legal ownership.
 

We have already initiated legal proceedings, but as you can imagine, the legal process takes time.
 

The boat is 72ft, and I can't share more as the previous post was deleted. DM and I will help you with more inf.
 

I am purely posting this to raise awareness and help avoid further complications for anyone who might unknowingly enter into a purchase involving this vessel, as we are involved in a legal process.

I am doing what I would like others in the community to do for me.
 

Thank you very much for reading.
 

Best wishes,
Antonio
 

[junior]

What's the reason they won't hand over the boat?

[Mike Coombes]

8 minutes ago, Antonio13 said:

Hi everyone!,


I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the summer days.
 

I just wanted to briefly share a situation that unfortunately, we are currently going through, as it may potentially affect others in the community.
 

We purchased a boat, signed a valid contract, paid in full, and secured ownership. However, the marina has refused to hand over possession of the vessel. Even more concerning, and the reason I’m posting here,  the marina is still advertising and attempting to sell this same boat, despite our existing legal ownership.
 

We have already initiated legal proceedings, but as you can imagine, the legal process takes time.
 

The boat is 72ft, and I can't share more as the previous post was deleted. DM and I will help you with more inf.
 

I am purely posting this to raise awareness and help avoid further complications for anyone who might unknowingly enter into a purchase involving this vessel, as we are involved in a legal process.

I am doing what I would like others in the community to do for me.
 

Thank you very much for reading.
 

Best wishes,
Antonio
 

The contract should protect you, as well as the seller.

 

Without more information, this forum might struggle to help.

[Antonio13]

9 minutes ago, junior said:

What's the reason they won't hand over the boat?

Their reasons have been vague and inconsistent, at one point, they claimed the boat wasn't ready, but then they relisted it for sale. It seems like they may be trying to sell it again for a higher price, which is why we're taking legal action.

Thanks for asking.

Best wishes,
Antonio

9 minutes ago, Mike Coombes said:

The contract should protect you, as well as the seller.

 

Without more information, this forum might struggle to help.

I really appreciate your goodwill.

I'm mainly posting to help prevent others from getting caught in the middle of our ongoing legal situation.
 

That said, I can’t share too many details publicly, even though the boat is legally ours, as a previous post was removed. If anyone happens to be considering the purchase of a 72ft narrowboat and has concerns, feel free to DM me and I’ll gladly share a bit more info privately.

Best Wishes,
Antonio.

[MtB]

All a bit puzzling. If your original post giving more details was removed, I think the moderators will have told you why.

 

What reason did they give for deleting your post? It must have breached one of the posting rules you signed up to when you joined. 

 

 

[Antonio13]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

All a bit puzzling. If your original post giving more details was removed, I think the moderators will have told you why.

 

What reason did they give for deleting your post? It must have breached one of the posting rules you signed up to when you joined. 

 

Hi MtB,
 

No, they(moderators) didn’t give a reason or say anything. I’ve read the forum rules and followed them. I didn’t mention any other parties or individuals, only details about my own property.
 

My only purpose was to warn others so they don’t unknowingly try to buy a boat that’s currently involved in a legal dispute. If that happens, their money could be badly affected until the situation is resolved, and it would be a real shame if more people ended up being hurt by this kind of nasty business.

Cheers

Edited June 19, 2025 by Antonio13
Wrong mention name + wrong farewell

[MtB]

33 minutes ago, Antonio13 said:

No, they(moderators) didn’t give a reason or say anything. I’ve read the forum rules and followed them. I didn’t mention any other parties or individuals, only details about my own property.

 

Well that's disappointing. I feel there is more to this than is apparent from the thread, but it would be nice if a mod could perhaps comment adding their POV. 

 

Once you have 10 posts I think you can use the PM system. So keep going!! 

[David Mack]

Two points:

1. This forum is read by only a very small proportion of the people who might be buying a boat, so your message is unlikely to reach its target.

2. Without identifying either the boat or the marina selling it, how would any prospective buyer who has seen your warning know they were dealing with 'your' boat?

[Phoenix_V]

A search on the duck for 72' narrowboats only came up with 3

 

[junior]

If the OP named the boat in his original post, then it would take the brains of an archbishop to then know who the seller/broker was. To be honest I don't know the rules of the forum, but if there is a rule about naming individuals or businesses when you may be in dispute with them, then naming the boat involved in indirectly breach the rule. 

 

Either way, as we know there's always two sides to a story and we usually only get one side on the forum. I don't think the moderators need to explain their decision publicly, it's probably just common sense that the post was removed. 

 

On a side note, I do think it's a good idea that when a post or thread is removed, the moderators should inform the person responsible as to why, out of common courtesy, but also to ensure no repeats, assuming it was a mistake on the posters fault. Of course this may have happened already. 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, junior said:

On a side note, I do think it's a good idea that when a post or thread is removed, the moderators should inform the person responsible as to why, out of common courtesy, but also to ensure no repeats, assuming it was a mistake on the posters fault. Of course this may have happened already.

 

I very much agree it is common courtesy when deleting someone's post for them to be told why, which I know happens sometimes but not in this case, according to the OP. 

 

I wasn't clear earlier. I was not calling for Team Mod to explain why they had deleted the post, but rather asking for Team Mod to confirm they have indeed told the OP why their post was deleted.

 

Leaving a new member hanging like that with a post deleted and (apparently) no explanation is not good modding in my opinion. 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2025 by MtB

[robtheplod]

Based on info in this thread, nobody could know for sure if they are buying the boat that has this situation with it, so although nice to be warned its too vague to be of use?

[Tony Brooks]

I wonder if the marina has a valid lien on the boat, and will not release it until the lien has been discharged. If so, then it looks to me as if the sale may have been fraudulent. But although that may explain why the marina won't release the boat, it does not explain why they have not explained it to the OP, because doing so may have got the situation resolved more quickly.

[David Mack]

7 hours ago, Phoenix_V said:

A search on the duck for 72' narrowboats only came up with 3

 

I've only found one (plus one that claims to be 74ft).

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I've only found one (plus one that claims to be 74ft).

 

Which it may well turn out to be. 

 

I had a long chat a few weeks ago with the next door moorer about this boat. He reckons it was built by a shipbuilder who knew nothing about narrowboats and got the length wrong so it is probably only really useable as a houseboat. Also told me it was built wholly from 6mm plate - baseplate, hull, cabin, the lot. Its a cracking bit of engineering all around apparently!

[Cheese]

54 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I've only found one (plus one that claims to be 74ft).

3 72ft boats: widebeam, narrowboat and a butty.  OP didn't specify it is a narrowboat.

[Mike Coombes]

3 hours ago, Cheese said:

3 72ft boats: widebeam, narrowboat and a butty.  OP didn't specify it is a narrowboat.

 

I've read about this 74 foot boat. Sounds iffy if you want to move it around.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Mike Coombes said:

 

I've read about this 74 foot boat. Sounds iffy if you want to move it around.

 

it probably fits diagonally in the wide locks on the K&A. Well it must do given where it is! 

[alan_fincher]

A 74 foot boat will easily fit all Grand Union locks from London to Knowle (on the way to Birmingham)

That's not typical of other canals, but it could be boated over an area massively larger than many other live aboard boats on the GU!

 

Our FLAMINGO is reputedly gauged at 71' 8", And we have yet to find a "full length" lock that it will not fit into.

[1st ade]

On 19/06/2025 at 23:16, Antonio13 said:

Hi MtB,
 

No, they(moderators) didn’t give a reason or say anything. I’ve read the forum rules and followed them. I didn’t mention any other parties or individuals, only details about my own property.
 

My only purpose was to warn others so they don’t unknowingly try to buy a boat that’s currently involved in a legal dispute. If that happens, their money could be badly affected until the situation is resolved, and it would be a real shame if more people ended up being hurt by this kind of nasty business.

Cheers

Being pedantic, we (The Mods) didn't block your first post.

 

Every new member of the forum automatically has their first few posts placed in a queue requiring approval, once you've posted a few times the situation reverses - posts are posted and require hiding (if appropriate) if they have been reported to us.

 

Usually, first posts are approved pretty quickly, but there are some instances where The Mods confer behind the scenes whether to approve or not. Your first post was one.

 

There are not that many Mods, we are unpaid volunteers who squeeze moderating around Day Jobs, family, sleeping, eating etc. Sometimes it takes longer than we would like to reach a consensus decision.

 

We do the best we can, honest!

 

Best Wishes (on behalf of the Moderation Team)

[stagedamager]

10 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

A 74 foot boat will easily fit all Grand Union locks from London to Knowle (on the way to Birmingham)

That's not typical of other canals, but it could be boated over an area massively larger than many other live aboard boats on the GU!

 

Our FLAMINGO is reputedly gauged at 71' 8", And we have yet to find a "full length" lock that it will not fit into.

People have been coming to look at Norway, and the first comment is "Oh she's long"...... it gives a somewhat large amount of Paranoia in that i keep measuring her with multiple measuring tapes and other devices to double check.... i know she's fine but even so........ good to know i'll be fine on the GU!!

[Tim Lewis]

14 hours ago, MtB said:

 

it probably fits diagonally in the wide locks on the K&A. Well it must do given where it is! 

 

Fulbourne is 71'6" and we cannot open many of the bottom gate on the side that the boat is on  when descending without first pulling the bow across to the other side, opening the gate then puling the bow back across For this reason I somewhat doubt if yo can get a 74' boat through many K & A locks

[Tam & Di]

14 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

A 74 foot boat will easily fit all Grand Union locks from London to Knowle (on the way to Birmingham)

That's not typical of other canals, but it could be boated over an area massively larger than many other live aboard boats on the GU!

 

Our FLAMINGO is reputedly gauged at 71' 8", And we have yet to find a "full length" lock that it will not fit into.

 

As many will know we owned the wooden wideboat Progress which is 74' x 12' 6", and took it to Camp Hill in the early '60s. I swung there and backed to the narrow lock so we appeared to have just left a lock we could not have gotten to from the other direction. I should have a photo somewhere, but there far too many for me to do a serious search.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

Fulbourne is 71'6" and we cannot open many of the bottom gate on the side that the boat is on  when descending without first pulling the bow across to the other side, opening the gate then puling the bow back across For this reason I somewhat doubt if yo can get a 74' boat through many K & A locks

 

Well it certainly fits through some of the locks as it is in a pound with no crane pad or any other opportunity to lift it in. 

 

Either that or it isn't 74ft at all!

 

My money is on the latter...

 

 

[magpie patrick]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Well it certainly fits through some of the locks as it is in a pound with no crane pad or any other opportunity to lift it in. 

 

Either that or it isn't 74ft at all!

 

My money is on the latter...

 

 

 

Whereabouts on the K&A?

 

The bit built by the K&A company had locks built for boats 69 feet long by 13 feet 8 inches wide. The locks are, for obvious reasons, slightly bigger than this, but that's why Baldock needed to open the gate on the opposite side when going down. It's also why Juno pinches in some locks if using only one gate. Lutine Bell was only about 6 foot 8 and the difference when using one gate was very noticeable.

 

The original Kennet locks were 'uge and some still are.