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How do I find a good boat builder?


Lady Muck

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Well, everyone is going to have their own special favourite! But for quality, flexibility, and all-round nice team of blokes, you would have to travel a very long way to rival R W Davis of Saul Junction!

In the time they've built our boat, I've seen sea-going vessels (wood and steel), bespoke everything re inland waterways, notwithstanding their fit-outs, carried out to eye-watering standards!

You'll not find a glossy advert for this little corner of heritage boat-building in a magazine, they really don't need one!

I'm reporting here as a customer of their latest Northwich Trader, so no bias whatsoever, other than to say we're delighted with our boat, AND the relationship!

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Sort of Midlands...

Speak with Ally on here (see a couple of posts up). She runs Beacon Boats and what I've seen has been excellent. Many here can vouch for their customer service and attention to detail too.

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Sort of Midlands...

Speak with Ally on here (see a couple of posts up). She runs Beacon Boats and what I've seen has been excellent. Many here can vouch for their customer service and attention to detail too.

Thanks for the reply - much appreciated, i will see if i can track her down

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Sort of Midlands...

Speak with Ally on here (see a couple of posts up). She runs Beacon Boats and what I've seen has been excellent. Many here can vouch for their customer service and attention to detail too.

And she uses great steelwork by XRandD
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on that subject, she is having a re-union of most of her boats soon somewhere in the East Midlands, so you can go along and have a good gander to see the quality and speak to the owners too.

 

Have a look here to find out more about the gathering and for links to some craft (and owners) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beacon-Boats-Ltd/208063042540748?ref=br_rs

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Also in the Midlands is Mel Davis - and the aforementioned Ally has one of his boats ( as do I). I hope she's as pleased with hers as I am with mine. He is not far from Mansfield in the East midlands, builds his boats in an old stone farm barn. You will struggle to find a better craftsman or a more pleasant man to deal with.

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  • 3 months later...

We are just in the process of finding a boat builder, seen some very nice examples and some not so nice. We have decided to up the amount we are going to spend in order that we get what we want. currently like Top Notch, Milburns & Elton Moss, we are now arranging to meet Beacon Boats as they seem to have some good reviews. We will not be arranging for a build spot before house is sold but need to do a lot of leg work now.

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  • 1 month later...

Keep off Bluewater boats ltd (Warwickshire)!! I had a horrible experience having a boat built by such cowboys. I am happy to respond to any questions. I have also created a more detailed post to warn those innocent honest buyers! Best luck

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=62452

 

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?381016-Bluewater-Boats-Ltd

 

You are not exactly getting wholehearted support on those threads though.

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  • 2 months later...

I probably fall into the category of "not knowing enough" however I did do my research after helping my ex partner re-fit his boat.Having sold my house I wanted to live on a boat as I had fallen in love with the way of life. I looked around and spoke to boat builders and owners and then researched the web. I will admit to not knowing anything about engines/wiring/plumbing but I knew this was what I wanted and luckily I found a builder who helped me understand certain things (others I found didn't take me too seriously) and who can up with solutions to the issues I had. As a result my lovely home will be going into the water on the 27th.

 

I have seen her being built, turned up unannounced, changed my mind on somethings, requested that certain things be fitted so that when I can afford them later they can easily be put in. My builder has happily accomodated my requests plus added things that I thought would be out of my price bracket. I also only put £1000 deposit down and will pay the rest on completion.

 

Never have I felt that any question I asked would be stupid, when I was unsure they gave me alternative solutions. I have found all the staff to be helpful from answering emails really quickly, changing the spec of things (when I changed my mind) and by explaining things when I went to see the build. They were also very helpful with questions I had that had nothing to do with the build ie Marinas/ insurance / satellite tv and mobile communications etc

 

I would recommend Alan and his team from Collingwood Boats who have been a dream to work with and I can't wait till she's in the water biggrin.gif

 

Also had a boat build by Alan, oddly enough it seems it was completed around the same time as yours! An ok experience with Colingwood. They addressed all the warranty issues that we had, although on few occasions it took quite a bit of time and effort to make them react. I spoke/visited quite a few builders before I ordered (some reputable ones too, some of them mention on this forum) and it's quite interesting how many of them were slagging Colingwood off when we spoke. I think in the end Colingwood is on the budget spectrum of the boat builders and they build & sell a lot of boats so bit of jealousy I suppose?

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Keep off Bluewater boats ltd (Warwickshire)!! I had a horrible experience having a boat built by such cowboys. I am happy to respond to any questions. I have also created a more detailed post to warn those innocent honest buyers! Best luck

 

There you go again.

 

Do you care to respond to the comments made elsewhere (on the yotties forum) that your problems with that builder stemmed from you making changes to the spec. of your boat......

 

You really do need to be careful making potentially libelous comments on the internet, they can come after you now not the forum owner....

 

This is what the builders posted on their Facebook page -

 

"...what they fail to say on their forum is they continually added upgrades and extras to the build, their finished spec was nothing like they originally requested as they seen our other boats in build and decided to pinch ideas off other boats onto theirs. Are we supposed to add all the extras and upgrades that customers chose throughout the build for free?? I don't think so. Unfortunately their boat cost more than they wanted to pay and are now upset by this fact. Before booking the boat with us they knew we didn't have on site craning facilities, neither do Colecraft, we use the same crane company, so not sure why it was a shock when they needed to pay for it. If you look at all the lovely boats we have built I am sure you will see this is only one customer that is not happy, due to their requests during the build, simply nothing else!"

 

Care to comment??

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There you go again.

 

Do you care to respond to the comments made elsewhere (on the yotties forum) that your problems with that builder stemmed from you making changes to the spec. of your boat......

 

You really do need to be careful making potentially libelous comments on the internet, they can come after you now not the forum owner....

 

This is what the builders posted on their Facebook page -

 

"...what they fail to say on their forum is they continually added upgrades and extras to the build, their finished spec was nothing like they originally requested as they seen our other boats in build and decided to pinch ideas off other boats onto theirs. Are we supposed to add all the extras and upgrades that customers chose throughout the build for free?? I don't think so. Unfortunately their boat cost more than they wanted to pay and are now upset by this fact. Before booking the boat with us they knew we didn't have on site craning facilities, neither do Colecraft, we use the same crane company, so not sure why it was a shock when they needed to pay for it. If you look at all the lovely boats we have built I am sure you will see this is only one customer that is not happy, due to their requests during the build, simply nothing else!"

 

Care to comment??

This is an old post.

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This is an old post.

 

and? so what?

 

Of course it is - It is an old post because my understanding is that it goes back to when you had your built which was some time ago.

 

I don't understand why you are being so candid - if you have had problems and you can back it with fact then detail them here, if you can't back them up then stop running a business down without (apparent) justification.

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and? so what?

 

Of course it is - It is an old post because my understanding is that it goes back to when you had your built which was some time ago.

 

I don't understand why you are being so candid - if you have had problems and you can back it with fact then detail them here, if you can't back them up then stop running a business down without (apparent) justification.

 

This post has been put at the same time as the one in general boating and I'm not going to reply to it anymore. As I stated before, if there is someone considering a new build from BW and is genuinely interested in my case please PM. You obviously must have some sort of connection with Blue Water since you are so keen to defend them basing your judgement on a post on facebook that has been removed shortly after it's been put there. I'm also not afraid of "making potentially libelous comments on the internet" as I have hard evidence confirming everything I'm saying is true.

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This post has been put at the same time as the one in general boating and I'm not going to reply to it anymore. As I stated before, if there is someone considering a new build from BW and is genuinely interested in my case please PM. You obviously must have some sort of connection with Blue Water since you are so keen to defend them basing your judgement on a post on facebook that has been removed shortly after it's been put there. I'm also not afraid of "making potentially libelous comments on the internet" as I have hard evidence confirming everything I'm saying is true.

 

I have nothing what so ever to do with Blue Water. I am a retired NHS manager and I live in the North East and we moor our boat in Yorkshire. People on the forum who have met me can confirm this.

 

I couldn't even tell you where Bluewater are based without googling them.(Warwicshire it seems)

 

Your last sentence is clearly not true because if it were you would be happy to post them here.

 

I am happy to defend any canal related business that I believe is being possibly unfairly maligned - these are people's jobs and livelihoods at stake, it's not a game.

 

Too often we get folk coming on here spouting 'I had a poor experience with such and such a business' and then what is interesting is that we sometimes see the maligned company come on here and it transpires that there is two sides to the story, as it appears there is in your case (despite what you say about the FB message being removed).

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My boat is from Colecraft at Long Itchington.

Delivered on time.

Good looking (just like me).

Exactly what I asked for.

Sensible choices made for me where I indicated that I didn't know what was best.

Made very welcome by all the staft, right down to the tea boy, and free to visit any part of the works before, during, and well after sale and delivery.

Small deposit with balance on completion.

The company appears to have at least 5 boats in production at any time.

They have made over 1000 boats.

They were very reasonable over late requests for change.

As well as making complete boats (and sailaways) they manufacture hulls for other builders.

They are widely respected by boaters and criticism of them is hard to find.

Been in business many years.

Website? Not their strong point.

 

Value for money? I certainly think so.

 

Would I go there again? Certainly. When I tire of narrow (hopefully many years from now) and want to go widebeam then I shall be knocking on their door again. I like the sense of completeness that comes from buying a boat from new.

I'd recommend anyone thinking of buying a new boat to visit them, even if they do not expect to buy from them, just to establish a yardstick for others to measure up to.

 

Usual disclaimers, I have no financial interest in Colecraft's activities.

You were lucky, didnt work like that for me....

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