buying Ex hire

[Scott :P]

This what you were thinking about?

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=197827

 

yea the length is good i'd have to get rid of the bright yellow tho

 

Oxfordshire don't have shorter than 57', unless you're after one of their day boats.

 

There's no need to keep it short just because that's what you're used to. The locks are all 72' down here, and a longer boat is often easier to handle than a shorter one, which makes up for having a bit less room to manoeuvre sometimes.

 

I wouldn't be thinking in terms of ex-hire or not ex-hire though. If you like hire boat style fit-outs, then that's a good reason to fixate on an ex-hire boat, but otherwise you should just look at any boat in your size and price range. Ex-hires are usually pretty simple and easy to maintain, but they haven't been designed with living aboard in mind, so you might find the insulation isn't as good as it could be, or that some systems need upgrading, or that the layout just doesn't work for day-to-day living.

 

Personally, I wouldn't choose to live on a boat designed for hire without substantial changes inside - they're not really fit for purpose as a liveaboard. That's part of the deal with Oxfordshire anyway, so if you go that route, make sure you think about what you want to change before it's too late.

 

hey i have handled 70ft working boats in the past but find the economical benifits of cheaper mooring and liecence a bonus of a shorter boat

 

Email John @ Black Prince. 52 foot cruisers for £48000 for 5 birth 2005/6. full inventry including bedding, utensils etc. new blacking and paint and certificate. Check out their website under boat sales

 

i had a look and i've realised that black prince only have a 12v charging point. How much would a 240v ring cost to be installed?

 

thanks for all the replies, they have realled opened my eyes a little bit. Im not too fussed about having to do a bit of DIY on the interior i need a little hobby/project. i've had a look at an alvechurch boat on there website and i know they build there own boats what are there shells and quality of fit-out like?

[RichardH]

[quote name=Scott ' timestamp='1304878563' post='686654]

 

i had a look and i've realised that black prince only have a 12v charging point. How much would a 240v ring cost to be installed?

 

 

 

£1500 ish depending on the inverter you want

[bottle]

Long time since I hired from Alvechurch but the shells are built 'solid' fit-outs are very utilitarian.

 

Elegant they are not.

[RLWP]

[quote name=Scott ' timestamp='1304878563' post='686654]

<snip>

 

I've had a look at an alvechurch boat on there website and i know they build there own boats what are there shells and quality of fit-out like?

 

Let's take the fit-out in parts. Our boat is lined out in knotty pine, and is very firmly fitted. Our boat was apparently revarnished every year, and this is obvious from the lining.

 

The internal structure is in varnished ply and is assembled with screws. We have removed and moved several partitions with only a screwdriver. The boat is very cleverly laid out, but it is a hire boat. We have only modified sections as we wanted to.

 

The galley fit out on Tawny Owl is pretty basic, and it just works.

 

All the other hidden stuff - central heating, gas pipes, water pipes, showers and pumps - is cleverly hidden away but is very quickly accessible when you need to get at them.

 

Richard

[ymu]

Sorry Scott. Misinterpreted the reason for your length requirements. Wouldn't have reassured you ^^^thusly otherwise!

 

There's no shortage of great ideas for boat interiors, but the problem is, you can't have all of them. Everything about a boat in terms of liveability design, is a compromise. We ended up working out the things we hated, the things which were fair enough, the things we'd ideally want and the things that we wouldn't buy without unless the price was right to sort it.

 

And then fell in love with a boat that had very few of the vitals but a really good version of some wants and some minor irritants which are easily resolved.

 

I'd look at lots of boats of all plausible lengths (and learn how to piece the layout of a boat together from a poorly thought out Duck advert) and look at what you're getting for your money (inc mooring and licence costs) before fixing on the right length. After our first two rented-over-winter boats, I swore that nothing shorter than 69' was acceptable for rent or buy.

 

The next one we rented was a 62' boat with such a great liveaboard layout that we both fell in love from the pictures and were wowed by the reality. Two months later we hated it for all the inch-pinchingly silly ideas that had made it really difficult to live with.

 

After far, far too many months on what was a real waste of a beautiful hull and cabin, we found our boat. 65', 1981, and I expect to die on her before her hull dies on us, she's such a rock solid old girl. And 11 months on, we still haven't got any of the 'essential' changes done and she's perfect in every way.

 

Good luck! And bide your time if it's for living on!

[Scott :P]

Sorry Scott. Misinterpreted the reason for your length requirements. Wouldn't have reassured you ^^^thusly otherwise!

 

There's no shortage of great ideas for boat interiors, but the problem is, you can't have all of them. Everything about a boat in terms of liveability design, is a compromise. We ended up working out the things we hated, the things which were fair enough, the things we'd ideally want and the things that we wouldn't buy without unless the price was right to sort it.

 

And then fell in love with a boat that had very few of the vitals but a really good version of some wants and some minor irritants which are easily resolved.

 

I'd look at lots of boats of all plausible lengths (and learn how to piece the layout of a boat together from a poorly thought out Duck advert) and look at what you're getting for your money (inc mooring and licence costs) before fixing on the right length. After our first two rented-over-winter boats, I swore that nothing shorter than 69' was acceptable for rent or buy.

 

The next one we rented was a 62' boat with such a great liveaboard layout that we both fell in love from the pictures and were wowed by the reality. Two months later we hated it for all the inch-pinchingly silly ideas that had made it really difficult to live with.

 

After far, far too many months on what was a real waste of a beautiful hull and cabin, we found our boat. 65', 1981, and I expect to die on her before her hull dies on us, she's such a rock solid old girl. And 11 months on, we still haven't got any of the 'essential' changes done and she's perfect in every way.

 

Good luck! And bide your time if it's for living on!

 

 

thanks for the advice. i've booked tickets for a day at crick! to have a good chat with alot of builders and have a look around boats and take some pictures of what i really want and to see what sort of layout i think will work for me . im also thinking of increasing my budjet to stretch to a newer boat

[ymu]

There is no need to go newer! I never understand this. You get more boat if it's old, and if it's done depreciating you won't lose anything bar maintenance and the market.

 

Our gorgeously solid old gal has lost less than a mil since 1981. Her hull is going to see us out. Why anyone would spend £70k when they can spend £30k for the same amount of boat is beyond me. There's a lot of bad older boats out there - but there's a lot of bad new ones out there too. If it works for you and the surveyor says yes, and the price is as low as it will ever get for what you want (including shininess), buy it.

 

I love having a 5 digit licence plate. It confers the image of being actual proper boaters.

[Chertsey]

 

 

I love having a 5 digit licence plate. It confers the image of being actual proper boaters.

Me too - I fought a battle to keep Chertsey's - it hadn't been licenced since 1983 so of course there was no record of it on the system, but a very nice BW man did eventually arrange for it to be re-registered with its old number.

[FadeToScarlet]

I love having a 5 digit licence plate. It confers the image of being actual proper boaters.

 

Hadn't thought of it like that. 79063 on mine- G004220 most of the time though.

 

Incidentally my boat is almost exactly the same age as me!

[magpie patrick]

Hadn't thought of it like that. 79063 on mine- G004220 most of the time though.

 

Incidentally my boat is almost exactly the same age as me!

 

Juno's plate starts with a 4

 

If she'd been four feet shorter, it would have been an 8 or a 9 and self adhesive plates, my parents have a dinghy in their garage with a set of those...

[ymu]

Me too - I fought a battle to keep Chertsey's - it hadn't been licenced since 1983 so of course there was no record of it on the system, but a very nice BW man did eventually arrange for it to be re-registered with its old number.

Really?

 

Ours was off the BW system for at least fifteen years (history unknown before that). Jim Shead had no trace of her. I just put the numbers from the metal plate in the window on to the licence form and hey presto, cool licence number.

 

Been checked to death by wardens desperate for ice to clear. She's legal as far as BW is concerned.

[Scott :P]

I love having a 5 digit licence plate. It confers the image of being actual proper boaters.

 

[ymu]

[quote name=Scott ' timestamp='1305114730' post='687845]

 

You do an advice thread and then dictate what the people who take the time to try and help you are allowed to discuss, in about the rudest way you could.

 

Cheers for marking yourself out as a not worth wasting a frickin' expensive data allowance on sort of poster so clearly.

[Scott :P]

You do an advice thread and then dictate what the people who take the time to try and help you are allowed to discuss, in about the rudest way you could.

 

Cheers for marking yourself out as a not worth wasting a frickin' expensive data allowance on sort of poster so clearly.

 

i think you've miss understood i was on about them saying 5 digit registration plate boats are proper boaters and they weren't giving me any boat buying advice. They were just dishing out boat snobbery in my eyes which after going on hireboat holidays for the past 12 years its one thing i cannot stand