Jump to content

NB lifespan?


Jason G

Featured Posts

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking?

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.

 

Thanks,

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking?

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.

 

Thanks,

Jason

 

 

Lifespan.............. anything will last a lifetime if it's looked after well.

 

Good luck in your search I hope one day to be in your position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jason.

 

The simple advice is have it surveyed before you jump. If you like everything otherwise then a good hull from the seventies or eighties is a better bet than a thin later one. Unlike cars, bear in mind that the engine is a smaller proportionate part of the overall price and if you find a boat you really like, subject to negotiation on price it is worth factoring in a new engine or a rebuild.

 

Mike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?

No, there are many really old boats about, it comes down to maintenance.

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?

As you say wear and tear and again lack of maintenance, the steel started out thinner but this is not a problem if well maintained.

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?

Diesel engines will go on forever but again the maintenance.

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking?

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.

 

Thanks,

Jason

 

 

You will no doubt start to get a feel for boats and, as when picking a pet, you will know the one that is right.

 

Then turn off the heart and engage brain. :lol:

 

Always get a survey.

 

Good luck and enjoy the hunt.

Edited by bottle
Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you look at my pages

i saw a boat built in 56, good as new

I would expect my alloy designs to last 500 years, andI joke not, if you respect the material, and dont mix your metals

I once dived on a sunk Catalina flying boat, sunk in 46, at 200 feet, , no corrosion at all, feel free email I am looking for agents for my boats in Eu

 

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking?

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.

 

Thanks,

Jason

and I give 10 years warranty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?not that you can forecast, some of the first purpose built narrow boats and cruisers are still going. Chnage in design means ones that are now new will last even longer

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?less satisfactory design is likely to be more of an issue than age per se: GRP or wooden cabins will need more attention: steel thickness may well have been less to start off with, and weld quality not as good

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?Mine has done an estimated 7000 hours and smokes a bit, could do with some TLC but is by no means life expired

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking? get a surveyor and ask him to look at everything: mine picked up on a thrust bearing that was close to failure

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.good luck

 

Thanks,

Jason

 

edited because a thurst bearing is the route to the pub

Edited by magpie patrick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?"

 

Surprised this hasn't been answered yet - a steel boat sitting in an electrolyte solution (water) will slowly loose molecules - that is the steel will get progressively thinner. I would not want to say how long this process will take to totally dissolve the boat but eventually it will. Blacking is designed to reduce this effect. Many 20 or 30 year old boats are very thin, down to 2 or 3mm from the 6mm that they started at. More modern boats tend to be built of 10mm steel so the expected lifespan will be longer. Very thin steel can be over-plated to cover over a very thin area but in relation to your original question; is this still the same boat? Trigger had that same sweeping brush for 20 years remember!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?"

 

Surprised this hasn't been answered yet - a steel boat sitting in an electrolyte solution (water) will slowly loose molecules - that is the steel will get progressively thinner.

So don't buy a steel boat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The question was a general one, how long do narrowboats last? So I answered in a general way, referring to the 90% plus and ignoring the tiny percentage of aluminium and wooden boats, oh and concrete ones too. There is a concrete narrowboat moored just above Teddington. It has been decked over to make a floating pontoon but is is definitely a narrowboat. Anyone know it's history?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys and Gals,

 

Going to a couple of marinas at the weekend and pondering a few questions, any help to any or all.

 

1 - Do NBs have a finite life span?

2 - Older boats (70's/80's) are much cheaper - what are the pitfalls to be aware of besides ware and tear?

3 - WRT engines, how many hours is too many? assuming most people will say it has been serviced regularly?

4 - What other pertinent questions should I be asking?

 

We are not in a rush and only just starting to look.

 

Thanks,

Jason

My boat was built in 1884 and the engine in 1939 and they both show little signs of wearing out. It seems, strangely, that the more modern a boat is, the more quickly it deteriorates, certainly up to the late 80's anyway.

 

It seems to me (based on my customers experiences) that between 1970 and 1990, the condition of boats is very much related to how they have been cared for. If you purchase an older boat then do allow for increased maintenance costs and also for upgrading some systems to current standards (or expectations).

 

Hope this helps,

 

Regards

 

Arnot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically,

if its an ex hire boat, dont bother as it will have been ground up and down the llangollen for years and you'll struggle to get a reading off an ultrasonic detector!!!

If its a private boat, and its been looked after, should be ok, have it surveyed, but my old boat 'Anne' was built for BW by EC Jones of brentford in the 1960's and the steelwork was still much as built in 1980 when I got hold of it. It had been painted outside with ( I think ) micateous oxide otherwise known as pylon paint !!

martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for replies so far. The survey is a certainty but would be the final thing done before handing over any cash - look with the heart, decide with my head!!!!

 

Would it be safe to say that a post 1990 boat is a better bet unless it has obviously been looked at?

 

There seems to be two schools of thought on ex-hire NBs and so I think I'll look at them but be cautious about about getting too excited.

 

I know deisel engines are generally bullet proof and a NB (presumably) doesn't load an engine but friends who own a boat have spent thousands on replacing an engine that broke a rod.

 

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There seems to be two schools of thought on ex-hire NBs and so I think I'll look at them but be cautious about about getting too excited.

 

Jason

 

Hi Jason, we have an ex-hire boat which we bought because of it's layout and price. They are dead easy to maintain (downtime on a hireboat costs money) and use reliable simple equipment. Downside is that it has suffered hull wear as it has been out and cruising instead of sitting rusting in a marina. Like any boat go and see what you like then get a survey.

 

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw this on Apollo Duck, http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/displa...tml?aid=97369.I know alot of people shun Springers but if this 35 year old example is anything to go by then most have plenty of life in them.Its only lost 1.9mm in that time at the most.It'll be a pensioner before it needs overplating!

 

Link isn't working,try searching for Chinook.I knew I was being too clever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw this on Apollo Duck, http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/displa...tml?aid=97369.I know alot of people shun Springers but if this 35 year old example is anything to go by then most have plenty of life in them.Its only lost 1.9mm in that time at the most.It'll be a pensioner before it needs overplating!

That link has got slightly corrupted with some of your text.

 

Correct one here....

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/display.phtml?aid=97369

 

Long time since I have seen one of those early Springers with that long forward overhang on the roof.

 

I am however surprised that an 1973 springer was supposed to have been made from (presumably) 6mm or 1/4" plate.

 

I thought they were 3/16" maximum back then, (about 4.8mm), but if this one was, it actually seems to have added steel, not lost it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RLWP makes a good point: ex-hire boats will have been regularly maintained during their commercial lives. They won't generally be exciting, but they should do the job reliably.

Jason, there has been some right old (or perhaps right new) crap churned out in the narrowboat world since 1990. At the marina where we last moored, a lady boater took delivery of a brand new boat which looked pretty good from the outside - but it failed its BSC examination for such faults as a dangerous gas system, and even a toilet holding tank which was not sealed! That was about 2003. I see from the boatimags that the gentlemen responsible have just had a court ruling against them. An older boat from a reputable maker (Hancock & Lane, Colecraft, Mindon) will perhaps be worth a look.

Edit: I should have included Harborough Marine in that list. There are still plenty of their "banana boats", with their distinctive long curved prows, around, and they often have Lister engines which, so I'm told, are very long-lasting.

Edited by Athy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The question was a general one, how long do narrowboats last? So I answered in a general way, referring to the 90% plus and ignoring the tiny percentage of aluminium and wooden boats, oh and concrete ones too.

 

Believe it or not there were some narrowboats built of glass fibre too. I saw a 45 - 50 foot one on the Bridgewater Canal a couple of weeks ago, on one of the cruising club's moorings....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even by-passing the link I could not find any technical bits.. But if the vendor gets £15 K for that boat he will have trebled his money in 30 years, better than a Building Society.

Kind of cheap compared to this one though, which as already had several thousand shaved off a very optimistic pricing....

 

http://www.cowroastmarina.co.uk/tring/boat...many/index.html

 

OK, nothing like as old, and looks well turned out. (I'm not sure about the "exposed" BMC at the back though - unless it's a lot quiter than ours, I'd want some serious sound deadening around it.)

 

When was the last genuine Springer actually built, I wonder. This one has the "angled" back end I associate with earlier ones, rather than the rounded stern later ones tended to have. It does make me highly dubious of the claim that it's 1989, but I'll admit I'm no Springer expert.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alan, I beleive that Springers ceased production in either 1994 or 1993, though not in that order! You say "genuine" Springers; were there some later copies or revivals built?

I too associate the transom sterm (my way of describing the one which you call angled) with earlier Springers; but the pointy end looks a bit more shapely than the early ones, many of which had a flat front deck, i.e. no well deck, so no upsweep to the bow.

It's remarkable that these boats, which were to the inland waterways what the £100 Ford was to the UK's roads, seem under-documented. If there is a book, or even a substantial magazine article, about them and their founder Sam Springer, I am unaware of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for info and links. Probably about to open a big can of worms but..............I was warned away from springer built NB also from brand new boats! At this rate I'll be procatinating for years to come!!! It looks like I should give all boats that fit my remit a fair unbiased look regaredless. It has to be said though that the more NBs I view the higher my budget seems to go!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.