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Recommissioning a boat

lesrollins

By lesrollins
in New to Boating?

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lesrollins Proficient

lesrollins

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Getting ready to get the new/secondhand boat on Friday just asked the brokers if there will be anyone around to show us around the boat to see how things work inverter, pumps etc as this is the first time we have owned a boat. But they said that they don,t show people the workings of a secondhand boat and there are manuals on board. Any advice about how things work

will I need to put anything into the radiator system when filling it back up will it be a sealed unit, does the system fill up when filling the main water tank or does it need filling seperate.

Will the pumps to the sink shower etc work automatic or will they need to be used by a seperate switch when emptying

Will the invertor need to be switched over from batteries to mains when running the engine

Anything else I might need to know. :unsure:

Cheers

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allybsc Rising Star

allybsc

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Getting ready to get the new/secondhand boat on Friday just asked the brokers if there will be anyone around to show us around the boat to see how things work inverter, pumps etc as this is the first time we have owned a boat. But they said that they don,t show people the workings of a secondhand boat and there are manuals on board. Any advice about how things work

will I need to put anything into the radiator system when filling it back up will it be a sealed unit, does the system fill up when filling the main water tank or does it need filling seperate.

Will the pumps to the sink shower etc work automatic or will they need to be used by a seperate switch when emptying

Will the invertor need to be switched over from batteries to mains when running the engine

Anything else I might need to know. :unsure:

Cheers

 

Eek...every boat is different, I'm quite sure you will be able to work most things out by just poking around a bit. I think it's a bit mean of the broker not to even try to help!

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Ray T Veteran II

Ray TDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)
Getting ready to get the new/secondhand boat on Friday just asked the brokers if there will be anyone around to show us around the boat to see how things work inverter, pumps etc as this is the first time we have owned a boat. But they said that they don,t show people the workings of a secondhand boat and there are manuals on board. Any advice about how things work will I need to put anything into the radiator system when filling it back up will it be a sealed unit, does the system fill up when filling the main water tank or does it need filling seperate. Will the pumps to the sink shower etc work automatic or will they need to be used by a seperate switch when emptying Will the invertor need to be switched over from batteries to mains when running the engine Anything else I might need to know. :unsure:

 

Cheers

 

I would strongly suggest you do a few courses or at least study Tony Brooks web site http://www.tb-training.co.uk before you touching anything.

 

Or get a "seasoned boaty" to help out.

Edited by Ray T
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Titus Collaborator

Titus

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Posted

Getting ready to get the new/secondhand boat on Friday just asked the brokers if there will be anyone around to show us around the boat to see how things work inverter, pumps etc as this is the first time we have owned a boat. But they said that they don,t show people the workings of a secondhand boat and there are manuals on board. Any advice about how things work

will I need to put anything into the radiator system when filling it back up will it be a sealed unit, does the system fill up when filling the main water tank or does it need filling seperate.

Will the pumps to the sink shower etc work automatic or will they need to be used by a seperate switch when emptying

Will the invertor need to be switched over from batteries to mains when running the engine

Anything else I might need to know. :unsure:

Cheers

 

 

I had exactly the same problem when I purchased our new boat, luckily I had a full survey and the surveyor was great, he told me that if I went to the boat for the survey he would show me what he could and I'm glad I did, even if it was a 200 miles round trip, yes I was disappointed with the brokers who basically just gave me the keys and said it's all yours,

I wonder if we bought boats from the same broker ???

 

Dave

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bottle Veteran II

bottle

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Les

 

If you say where the boat is, then someone from the forum maybe in the area and be willing to meet you at the boat.

 

If you want to move the boat, then check oil and water in the engine.

 

oil dipstick will be somewhere on the side of the engine and the water filler will be at the top of the engine (depends on engine) but the cap will look like those on a car (there will not be a radiator. ;)

 

The rest will be suck it and see as all boats are different.

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jelunga Influencer

jelunga

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As best I remember, when we bought our boat from ABNB they did spend time with us showing how things worked if they knew. There were a few unlabelled switches that they did not know what the function was but generally I felt had been told as much as was possible.

 

Unfortunately, we only managed to talk to the previous owner a couple of times on the phone before he died, sadly.

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Boat&Bikes Experienced

Boat&Bikes

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Im suprised at the brokers attitude.We brought our first boat almost a year ago and the broker spent as long as we needed with us.As we were completely new to boating it was much needed info.Id strongly suggest that if your newish to boating in general that you find a friendly face to show you the basics,its easy to do some damage if your unsure.Where are you in the country?

 

 

Ian.

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Burgiesburnin Rising Star

Burgiesburnin

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Getting ready to get the new/secondhand boat on Friday just asked the brokers if there will be anyone around to show us around the boat to see how things work inverter, pumps etc as this is the first time we have owned a boat. But they said that they don,t show people the workings of a secondhand boat and there are manuals on board. Any advice about how things work

will I need to put anything into the radiator system when filling it back up will it be a sealed unit, does the system fill up when filling the main water tank or does it need filling seperate.

Will the pumps to the sink shower etc work automatic or will they need to be used by a seperate switch when emptying

Will the invertor need to be switched over from batteries to mains when running the engine

Anything else I might need to know. :unsure:

Cheers

 

Try stopping the cheque. It's amazing how attentive and helpfull people can become in that situation. I for one would really like to know who the broker is, what a crap attitude!

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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
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Try stopping the cheque. It's amazing how attentive and helpfull people can become in that situation. I for one would really like to know who the broker is, what a crap attitude!

Maybe he is frightened about getting sued, there was a thread about it a couple of weeks ago.

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lesrollins Proficient

lesrollins

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Hi Les

 

Two colours? Have got the Middle Green, what was the other colour?

 

We don’t necessarily show customers actual workings on second hand boats as such. It depends how far you want to go with this, there is a hand book for all equipment and obviously you can take your time to go through everything on Friday so as not to rush.

 

Well thanks for your help and here is a copy of the email I will name and shame them after Friday if I do not get a little bit of advice.

I,m not totaly green as regards engines, electrics and I have managed to do most jobs around the house but I thought it would of been nice to be shown how things work on the boat as it is the first time we have had one. If we didn,t both like the boat so much we would of give up on it. But the keys to the house are being handed in and a deposit as already gone down on the boat and the rest of the boat will be paid on Friday. Its a shame that the brokers have such an atitude towards there customers even thou they are selling the boat for someone else. Boating is new to us nothing like jumping in feet first.

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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

Posted
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Hi Les

 

Two colours? Have got the Middle Green, what was the other colour?

 

We don’t necessarily show customers actual workings on second hand boats as such. It depends how far you want to go with this, there is a hand book for all equipment and obviously you can take your time to go through everything on Friday so as not to rush.

 

Well thanks for your help and here is a copy of the email I will name and shame them after Friday if I do not get a little bit of advice.

I,m not totaly green as regards engines, electrics and I have managed to do most jobs around the house but I thought it would of been nice to be shown how things work on the boat as it is the first time we have had one. If we didn,t both like the boat so much we would of give up on it. But the keys to the house are being handed in and a deposit as already gone down on the boat and the rest of the boat will be paid on Friday. Its a shame that the brokers have such an atitude towards there customers even thou they are selling the boat for someone else. Boating is new to us nothing like jumping in feet first.

Can your surveyor help?

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lesrollins Proficient

lesrollins

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Never had a survey the boat is 2005 so its nealy 7yrs old. Its been out of the water since sept 2010 so about 15 months and the engine as done about 600 hrs. So its spent about 5 1/2 years in use. It was already blacked I couldn,t see any pitting, it didn,t show any signs on the hull of scrapping or bumping. Its a good straight clean hull showing no signs of abuse. It just makes me wonder if they have carried out the full engine service I have asked them to do.

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jelunga Influencer

jelunga

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Possibly to allow the Mik to heat the domestic hot water separately from the central heating?

On our Eberspacher system (similar to mikuni) i have a valve to open and close manually to either heat only domestic hot water or open to heat the radiators as well.

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i love my narrowboat Community Regular

i love my narrowboat

Posted
Posted

I think you should name the broker cos that sounds crap!!.....they should at least offer you a demo on what does what....I wouldnt be happy at all!!

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

 

 

Here here I think that is a dreadful way of treating a new boater, we bought ours privately and for weeks were texting the previous owners about the workings and they were more than happy to help...

 

Poor show from the broker...

 

Sorry Les you got that response...

 

 

Sue

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pipstu36 Gongoozler

pipstu36

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Hi there, we have just bought our first narrowboat from Longport brokerage. We saw your boat in the yard and by amazing co-incidence we saw you cruising down the Staffs and Worcs canal on your journey home. You went right past our house! She looked great in the yard and even better on the water.Hope you are having a good trip to Gloucester. Great place, I used to work there :)

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