No interest in my boat for sale.

[Wiltshire Moonraker]

Hi Bon

 

I am actually looking for a boat to live-aboard and if only we had a buyer for our house we would be coming to look at yours!

 

Following on from Steamerpoint's offer of photography it so happens that I'm working on a website design and management service that I can offer to Boat Brokers.

 

If you would like to act as a 'guinea pig' in it's development I would be happy to upload your boat's details & photos to your webspace or mine, if you are interested in seeing what the design is like I will PM the url to you, I don't want to make it public just yet as it features pictures of a boat we would have loved to had, but is now sold.

 

As someone who is regularly searching the web for a boat I would agree with much that has been said, the more detail & good quality photos that are available the more likely I am to spend time looking at the advertisement. I have to say that some of the sites are dire (nobody we know on here, of course!) and really don't encourage me to trawl through them, hence my design project.

 

Who knows it might sell your boat and get me a new job!

 

Send me a PM if you're interested.. or any brokers out there can too for that matter!

 

Regards

 

Chris

[barroca grande]

Bon I think your boat is lovely. If I wasn't halfway through building my own it is one I would consider. The bathroom looks brilliant - not run of the mill. I like the idea of the bunk beds being converted to a study.

 

I am quite happy handling 58feet of boat on my own so I would suggest taking a course to get your confidence up and keep it.

 

If you have to do some stints stacking shelves to pad out your income to pay for it then that's the way I would go. A smaller boat might be easier to handle but won't be what you are used to.

 

I say sell the bike!

 

 

 

Ducks and runs for coat ...

 

Kath aka nb.bobcat

[Sandra F]

We took the same advice to add more pictures to our Apollo Duck advert and we sold our boat in no time. Good luck!

[Bon]

Bon, there is a free boat planner available on the Waterways World website:

 

http://www.waterwaysworld.com/design/

 

I haven't tried it myself but should be well worth your while checking it out.

 

I agree with those who like to see a plan of a boat!

 

And good luck with the boat sale.

 

Stewey

 

Oh thanks, i'll have a play when i get a second.....may be some time, life seems to be getting hectic!

 

Sorry to be blunt but this seems to me a little like 'act in haste, repent at leisure'. Could you not try and find a way of hanging on to it till you can sort yourself out as it is a v. nice boat - rent it out for a while or find a decent bloke to share it with(................................. oh no they are all spoken for) as you come across as such a nice person it won't be hard

 

I have had sleepless nights to come to this decision. I think it's the right one. I need an adventure to get to know myself again. One of the main reasons i thought a boat life would be ideal for me is the fact i get bored of anything after a while. The longest i ever lived in a house was 3 years! I'm not prepared to give up my marina yet though, i have too many good friends that are a brilliant support through all this....so the boat has to go.

 

So, you must be patient. If your boat is worth that, and it looks like it at first glance, then resist the impulse to sell it cheap - you'll only get one chance to sell it. There will quite a few predatory buyers out there who will look for the weakness of 'must sell' and pressure you to take a lot less.

.

but but but.... I WANT IT NOW!!!!! heehee, i'm not a patient person

 

I am over your way in a couple of weeks, well Braunston actually, but I take photos professionally and would be willing to bring my gear (Tripod etc.) over and take some photos of your boat for you if you wish. It'll cost you a coffee, but the offers there. Of course the photo you have already taken inside the boat suggests that you can take good photos if you want to, so maybe you are okay anyway.

Regards Chris.

 

Wow, that is such a lovely offer! Braunston isn't actually that close tho, about 40 mins drive? The kettle will be on if your still willing though, maybe even a cold one in the fridge......erm beer, not coffee

 

The pics i've taken are just using my phone tbh, N96...only good thing about it is the camera. Must say though, i was quite happy with the results.

 

Hi Bon

 

I am actually looking for a boat to live-aboard and if only we had a buyer for our house we would be coming to look at yours!

 

Following on from Steamerpoint's offer of photography it so happens that I'm working on a website design and management service that I can offer to Boat Brokers.

 

If you would like to act as a 'guinea pig' in it's development I would be happy to upload your boat's details & photos to your webspace or mine, if you are interested in seeing what the design is like I will PM the url to you, I don't want to make it public just yet as it features pictures of a boat we would have loved to had, but is now sold.

 

As someone who is regularly searching the web for a boat I would agree with much that has been said, the more detail & good quality photos that are available the more likely I am to spend time looking at the advertisement. I have to say that some of the sites are dire (nobody we know on here, of course!) and really don't encourage me to trawl through them, hence my design project.

 

Who knows it might sell your boat and get me a new job!

 

Send me a PM if you're interested.. or any brokers out there can too for that matter!

 

Regards

 

Chris

 

I so love this forum, i know i don't post much, but i do read it everyday. You are all (well mostly ) so nice! After being treated badly by a customer of mine recently, i'd almost given up on people......how can i now???

I'm willing for my boat to go up for sale in as many places as possible, so if you'd like to use it as a guinne pig feel free. I have it on my website already tho i doubt it'll get found easily with a websearch.

 

Bon I think your boat is lovely. If I wasn't halfway through building my own it is one I would consider. The bathroom looks brilliant - not run of the mill. I like the idea of the bunk beds being converted to a study.

 

I am quite happy handling 58feet of boat on my own so I would suggest taking a course to get your confidence up and keep it.

 

If you have to do some stints stacking shelves to pad out your income to pay for it then that's the way I would go. A smaller boat might be easier to handle but won't be what you are used to.

 

I say sell the bike!

 

 

 

Ducks and runs for coat ...

 

Kath aka nb.bobcat

 

Heehee Kath, your glass is far prettier than mine! (you know what its like....you never make anything for yourself!)

If i get another boat, i'm going to flutter my eyelashes at Denboy for a few lessons. I know i keep saying i'm going for a smaller boat, but i'm not going to restrict myself if the "right boat" comes along thats a 60+ footer. Plus i'm still considering a smaller boaty and a butty workshop!

Shelf stacking is rapidly becoming my only option....but even that isn't an easy job to get anymore so my neighbour who works at tescos tells me!

 

And lady, back off the bike! (though fingers crossed for me, he's just gone in for his MOT!)

 

 

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to offer suggestions and help. I'll start sorting more piccies out next week and upgrade my apollo duck add as a starter. This weekend is probably going to mostly polishing! (i also want a crap paint job on my next boat so i don't have to bother in the future!)

 

Bon

[bag 'o' bones]

Hi,

 

Had my boat up for sale for a few weeks now but have had no interest whatsoever. Only got her on Apollo duck atm as funds are incredibly tight.

I'd rather not take her to a broker as that would entail going to live with my Mom *shudder*. I'm also trying to keep hold of my mooring so she doesn't get seen out on the cut very often. (another reason i'm selling her, i want something a bit smaller so i'll be more confident solo.)

 

My apollo duck add

 

Oh, also have her on my own website, click on my sig.

 

Any suggestions? Is she just too expensive? Should i just splash out on ebay? Or is there anything better out there i don't know about?

 

Thanks

 

Bon

 

What are you doing wrong? Everything really to put it bluntly.

 

'Eye level buy level' your potential customer probably won't be viewing your boat from the tow path then pictures are the way forward and LOTS of them. Open up a photo bucket site and upload lots of pics which can accessed from your main advert. Each photo will have a caption box so use them - list sizes, materials anything useful really. If your boat has attractive features such as a brand new set of batteries shout about them! Also when taking pics don't forget the nitty gritty stuff such as the inside of the electric cupboard. If you have paperwork showing work completed to the boat take pics of those too. But do make sure you hide any personal info.

Time spent on the advert will pay dividends in the long run. Also make sure you price your boat to sell Generally customers don't like all this 'make an offer' nonsense. Ask your price and stick to it.

Think like this when planning you ad. If I was looking at my boat for the first time would I be seriously interested?

[Theo]

If you are selling just to get a smaller boat perhaps you could keep this one, get a little 'on boat' training and that should help boost your confidence alot, i've not found smaller boats that much easier to handle, if anything, smaller lighter boats need more concentration.

 

I would endorse this. You would find that the money you spent on "On boat" training was much less than the money that you are going to give to brokers and people.

 

Nick

[Steamerpoint]

Wow, that is such a lovely offer! Braunston isn't actually that close tho, about 40 mins drive? The kettle will be on if your still willing though, maybe even a cold one in the fridge......erm beer, not coffee

 

The pics i've taken are just using my phone tbh, N96...only good thing about it is the camera. Must say though, i was quite happy with the results.

Next Friday I will be in Braunston having crewed Dorado with Steve from Stockton. The idea is to leave my car at Braunston for my return trip to Peterborough late on Saturday morning, but I could jump in it for a trip up to yours for a couple of hours on Friday sometime.

See how you get on with taking some photos yourself as the lens and image quality from your phone is reasonable and I may not need to visit you, but if not, PM me with your contact details and I'll pop over.

 

Another option is to email me the photos you take and I'll improve them for you. Again PM me and I'll give you my email address.

If you can't get your whole boat in the shot because your lens isn't wide enough, take a few photos of it making sure you overlap each photo and I'll stitch them all together for you and email the finished photos back.

You'll need to stand in the same spot when you take them and they would be better if you turned the camera over on it's side when you do this, otherwise the finished photo will be very long and thin!

 

Between us all, will get something nice to show off your boat.

Chris.

Edited June 19, 2009 by Steamerpoint

[deletedaccount]

As someone who's looking to buy a boat in the near future, I'll echo what people have already said.

 

You need more photos. You can link to a photo album (a la flikr) from appolo duck without paying extra. Just stick it in the decriptive text.

 

Secondly, a floorplan is always handy. I've emailed loads of vendors asking for this and only about 1/2 have bothered to put anything together. I'm new to boats and witrhout a floorplan I'm not really able to put it together in my head. I'm certainly not going to travel halfway across the country to see a boat that I might not be able to live in. Your boat is very unusual in not having a master bed(room), this may well be putting people off. I'm going to have a child on my boat, but I don't really like the idea of sleeping in the saloon to make room.

 

Lastly, I'll add that many boats have been on the market for months. Some I was initially interested in have been on for 6 months or more. You may have to lower your expectations or big up the features of your boat. Think of it this way, many people looking at nice boats like yours are probably also looking at new boats and thinking "for 10k more...", Imagine you were selling it to someone who's never lived on a boat before. Point out every reason your boat is better than a bog standard new build. I realise people like me aren't the only one's buying boats, but I'm just trying to explain the mindset of people who are new to boating (like me).

 

It does look like a very nice boat tho.

Edited June 26, 2009 by deletedaccount

[Athy]

Generally customers don't like all this 'make an offer' nonsense. Ask your price and stick to it.

 

Eh??? You must have customers of a very different type from the ones I know. I shall be selling goods tomorrow at a trade fair and I can guarantee that some customers will make me offers on my higher-priced items, and that in most cases we shall come to an agreement somewhere between the marked price and their offer. People LOVE a bargain, so give them the impression that they're getting one.

If we had not "made an offer" we couldn't have afforded our first n/b; we negotiated a price reduction of £2,500 which meant that could buy her without having to borrow anything from the bank. But you can negociate only downwards from the advertised price: upwards does not work!

[wrigglefingers]

I'd just like to add that I'm having a few problems with the lots and lots of photos business at the moment. I'm trying to sell Surprise but I live on her. I really, really don't want my home life laid bare for everybody with a few minutes to spare to view, it compromises my safety and that of my daughter too. One of the problems of selling via the internet is one of security - I've been asked for my telephone number, my mooring address and where I plan to live next in the last few weeks. Also I feel that it's like jumping through a set of hoops all the time - if you don't do exactly the what the prospective buyer wants that's wrong too. It's all very well asking for more and more detail and I appreciate that nobody wants a wasted journey but I have no idea who people are before they visit my home. I don't want to be combative about this but where sellers are liveaboards there should be more consideration of privacy. At least until I move off the boat! It might be another asset to you but it's my home, at least until I sell her.

 

deletedaccount -- As you contacted me this morning I did think about giving you my telephone number and address as well as more fulsome details about my boat but then I have no idea who 'deletedaccount' might be and your username frankly, isn't filling me with confidence, but that's an old issue. If you wanted more detail from me you could contact again and request it, I do have a floorplan and more details if you would like them, but I can't get them uploaded until Monday due to restrictions on my dongle connections at home.

 

Jill

Edited June 26, 2009 by wrigglefingers

[Natalie Graham]

Hello Bon,

 

I would say you definitely need a photo of the outside of the boat on there. That is coming from someone who was seriously looking through Apolloduck this morning and saw your advert, without being aware of whose boat it was. The interior photo interested me enough to click on your ad but then I just thought, "Oh there's no picture of the outside. I wonder what's wrong with it that they don't want me to see" and moved on. I would imagine I am not the only one who is suspicious of an ad which only shows the inside. I'm not sure why the cat post should be a turn-off though. The cat door in the front was a plus for me, or at least it would be for the cat

 

Natalie.

[deletedaccount]

I'd just like to add that I'm having a few problems with the lots and lots of photos business at the moment. I'm trying to sell Surprise but I live on her. I really, really don't want my home life laid bare for everybody with a few minutes to spare to view, it compromises my safety and that of my daughter too. One of the problems of selling via the internet is one of security - I've been asked for my telephone number, my mooring address and where I plan to live next in the last few weeks. Also I feel that it's like jumping through a set of hoops all the time - if you don't do exactly the what the prospective buyer wants that's wrong too. It's all very well asking for more and more detail and I appreciate that nobody wants a wasted journey but I have no idea who people are before they visit my home. I don't want to be combative about this but where sellers are liveaboards there should be more consideration of privacy. At least until I move off the boat! It might be another asset to you but it's my home, at least until I sell her.

 

deletedaccount -- As you contacted me this morning I did think about giving you my telephone number and address as well as more fulsome details about my boat but then I have no idea who 'deletedaccount' might be and your username frankly, isn't filling me with confidence, but that's an old issue. If you wanted more detail from me you could contact again and request it, I do have a floorplan and more details if you would like them, but I can't get them uploaded until Monday due to restrictions on my dongle connections at home.

 

Jill

 

I can understand where you're coming from, really I do. But I guess it's a bit like selling a house. You have to put up with strangers trudging through and looking at things.

 

Regarding my name, I realise it's a bit of a bad choice for a forum like this. I'm a computer programmer and it's a kind of nerdy injoke that's not exactly going to be understood on a canal forum. The last thing I want to do is make you uneasy

 

I've got a couple more questions about the boat. I'll send them via PM. I'm in bath btw, which is the main reason I'm interested in your boat.

[matty40s]

I'm in bath btw, which is the main reason I'm interested in your boat.

 

 

Hope you've got a good RCD fitted if you're using yourlaptop in the bath

[Wiltshire Moonraker]

I'm in the midst of putting together a webpage for Bon to show off her boat, clicky, there are more photos there than Apollo Duck and she is trying to get some more taken, but for now it's better than nowt!

 

This is part of a project I'm working on, it's a design service for boat brokers.

 

Bon has kindly agreed to be a guinea pig for me so comments as to it's effectiveness will be welcome.

 

Cheers

Chris

[niloc]

Havent followed this thread, so apologies if i blunder in. Yup looks and age are good........... but its price , price ,price , that really sells a boat. Want a quick sale knock off £10k , otherwise its a waiting game.

[deletedaccount]

I'm in the midst of putting together a webpage for Bon to show off her boat, clicky, there are more photos there than Apollo Duck and she is trying to get some more taken, but for now it's better than nowt!

 

This is part of a project I'm working on, it's a design service for boat brokers.

 

Bon has kindly agreed to be a guinea pig for me so comments as to it's effectiveness will be welcome.

 

Cheers

Chris

 

Like the general layout. The long external shot at the top, text, pics at the bottom works very well.

 

Linking the location in the sidebar to maps.google.co.uk isn't too tricky and would be pretty cool.

Grey font is a little too low contrast imo.

A "strapline" type of thing as a subtitle for each boat might also help. The elevator pitch if you see what I mean.

 

Oh, and there needs to be some way of contacting the seller!

[Kate and James]

I'm in the midst of putting together a webpage for Bon to show off her boat, clicky, there are more photos there than Apollo Duck and she is trying to get some more taken, but for now it's better than nowt!

 

This is part of a project I'm working on, it's a design service for boat brokers.

 

Bon has kindly agreed to be a guinea pig for me so comments as to it's effectiveness will be welcome.

 

Cheers

Chris

 

Just looked at the link, I was really impressed with your layout and al the info you give, having trawled through countless adverts over the last 9 months it's great to see a truly comprehensive one! All the info, good layout, lots of info about the layout etcc. I hope you do set up a good brokerage site! (If you wouldn't mind nipping over to Holland for me and sourcing a dutch barge I'd be much obliged lol! Bable doesn't translate Dutch very well and the information can be somewhat random!)

Kate

[Wiltshire Moonraker]

Thanks for your comments & suggestions, it's a work in progress but I've darkened the paragraph font and I'll look into the google maps idea, done it before.

 

Could probably do a strapline comment with a tooltip

 

There is a contact link back to me bearing in mind this is designed for a broker, but it could be modified for private sales.

I don't want to put Bon's contact details on without her permission but there's always the PM for now.

 

Thanks a lot for your input

 

Chris

 

Like the general layout. The long external shot at the top, text, pics at the bottom works very well.

 

Linking the location in the sidebar to maps.google.co.uk isn't too tricky and would be pretty cool.

Grey font is a little too low contrast imo.

A "strapline" type of thing as a subtitle for each boat might also help. The elevator pitch if you see what I mean.

 

Oh, and there needs to be some way of contacting the seller!

 

Thanks for your kind comments, sorry don't speak Dutch... but my brother does!!!!

 

tot ziens

 

Chris

 

Just looked at the link, I was really impressed with your layout and al the info you give, having trawled through countless adverts over the last 9 months it's great to see a truly comprehensive one! All the info, good layout, lots of info about the layout etcc. I hope you do set up a good brokerage site! (If you wouldn't mind nipping over to Holland for me and sourcing a dutch barge I'd be much obliged lol! Bable doesn't translate Dutch very well and the information can be somewhat random!)

Kate

[Steamerpoint]

Just looked at the link, I was really impressed with your layout and al the info you give, having trawled through countless adverts over the last 9 months it's great to see a truly comprehensive one! All the info, good layout, lots of info about the layout etcc. I hope you do set up a good brokerage site! (If you wouldn't mind nipping over to Holland for me and sourcing a dutch barge I'd be much obliged lol! Bable doesn't translate Dutch very well and the information can be somewhat random!)

Kate

Google translates Dutch, fairly badly, but you will get the gist of what is written.