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We saw Larch yesterday up on the Bridgewater - she was looking great.

That was me.......hope i wasnt speeding. We headed up to lymm and back to middlewich this afternoon

 

Saw you on Saturday, we passed you as we were heading to Stockton Heath on the delivery run.

 

If I had to be critical about Larch I'd suggest that above the top guard should be painted in bitumen/blacking and not red oxide. I'd also like to see the top bends being painted up in the traditional manner rather than again, red oxide.

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All eyes are on your boats now Chuggy. Look out I guess there may well be a Middlewich Narrowboat spotter thread on here at some time. :D

Good on you for taking the time to ask what others think of your boats, I wish you well.

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Saw you on Saturday, we passed you as we were heading to Stockton Heath on the delivery run.

 

If I had to be critical about Larch I'd suggest that above the top guard should be painted in bitumen/blacking and not red oxide. I'd also like to see the top bends being painted up in the traditional manner rather than again, red oxide.

 

 

Hi Liam yes i saw you but was a little embarrsed as i had came around that bend on the left hand side as had a near miss with a load of drunks on board the day boat from thorn marine shouting abuse!

 

I did walk along the moorings at liam to introducevmyself but you seemedpretty busy

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Ah I wasn't going to mention you being on the wrong side coming round that bend ;) but no harm done.

 

I saw you on the bank when I let on (didn't realise it was you then) but I'd just tied up and was in the process of getting myself washed and changed to go off for a few well deserved pints!

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It was that day boat speeding a long was the reason I was on the wrong side haha. Have passed aerial a few times moored up at Sale but looks great now you have had her painted etc... Well done.

 

You must of left Lymm pretty early then on Sun morning.

I was just getting ready to cast off at Lymm to head to the winding hole and swing Larch round when I saw a boat approaching. The man onboard said I wouldn't bother yet I'd have your lunch & try again didn't really understand wot he meant till I I saw boats followed by more boats behind all covered it bunting. I ask on couple wot is was and it turned out to be Lymms C Clubs first outing to Grappenhall!

 

Was a sight to see then all passing the they looked great all 70 odd moored at grappenhall as I passed later on!

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Not too early, set off at about 8.30AM as we had planned to pick up Kerry's Stratford range and also wanted to get out of the way of the Lymm crowd, as had the pair breasted up.

 

Next time you pass and we're tied up, stop for a chat and a brew :)

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I'm coming into this a bit late: sorry if what I say has already been said.

 

It is a dangerous trap to offer what everyone else is offering, and hire boat companies come and go, Middlewich Narrow Boats have been trading for years (originally as Willow Wren Kearns I think) and have seen off Kings Lock cruisers and from memory at least one other (Simolda?), but there is still fierce competition from the ABC at Anderton and others in a slightly overcrowded market.

 

Do you remember when Coca-Cola changed the flavour of their drink? At a stroke they lost the market that enjoyed the taste of coke and didn't gain any of those who liked the taste of Pepsi. With your fleet you are getting customers that you would not get with a more normal fleet.

 

Might it be better to change some things about the boats? Surely at least for the larger boats a fixed double is do-able? 8 berths aren't that popular anyway these days, knock two out and make a fixed double? Narrow boat design has evolved. I once had a boat with five bunks in it, but even twenty years ago ABC had worked out how to split cabins so they were only doubles: Tawny Owl, RWLP's boat, is a good example of this.

 

For me and Val, you could offer a 60 foot two berth with a single cylinder Bolinder and we'd go for it, even though we own our own boat. An optional third berth would be nice, but not compulsory. Wanting a trad stern and vintage engine doesn't necessarily mean wanting a lot of berths per foot.

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I'm coming into this a bit late: sorry if what I say has already been said.

 

It is a dangerous trap to offer what everyone else is offering, and hire boat companies come and go, Middlewich Narrow Boats have been trading for years (originally as Willow Wren Kearns I think) and have seen off Kings Lock cruisers and from memory at least one other (Simolda?), but there is still fierce competition from the ABC at Anderton and others in a slightly overcrowded market.

 

Do you remember when Coca-Cola changed the flavour of their drink? At a stroke they lost the market that enjoyed the taste of coke and didn't gain any of those who liked the taste of Pepsi. With your fleet you are getting customers that you would not get with a more normal fleet.

 

Might it be better to change some things about the boats? Surely at least for the larger boats a fixed double is do-able? 8 berths aren't that popular anyway these days, knock two out and make a fixed double? Narrow boat design has evolved. I once had a boat with five bunks in it, but even twenty years ago ABC had worked out how to split cabins so they were only doubles: Tawny Owl, RWLP's boat, is a good example of this.

 

For me and Val, you could offer a 60 foot two berth with a single cylinder Bolinder and we'd go for it, even though we own our own boat. An optional third berth would be nice, but not compulsory. Wanting a trad stern and vintage engine doesn't necessarily mean wanting a lot of berths per foot.

Agree

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Agree

 

Me too. When we hired 'Larch' there were two of us for the week, a third crew member joining us mid week for a couple of days.

 

It's rather stating the obvious but you will manage to hire a 6/8 berth boat to two people but will never manage the opposite with Holly...

Edited by Hairy-Neil
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  • 2 weeks later...

Tee hee, we paid for a pump out too, we thought it hadn't been done before we left base, not because of the list, it was extra stinky :sick:

 

lol, yeah know exactly what you mean the loo stank of sage & onion stuffing, but apart from that loved the boat...

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  • 1 month later...

Lots of excellent comments have been made already, including those suggesting some sort of buy-in by interested people.  The comparison with heritage railways is a good one.

 

To answer your original question - which boats to keep and which not - is very difficult.  I saw a couple of them on the Shroppie earlier this year, but both looked very run down.  The website gives no help - it's looking old fashioned and there are no clear pictures to look at.  And yet - having fallen in love with a Lister JP3 and trad controls during a training weekend on an old working boat last October, I'd be a regular customer of any company that could hire me a trad boat which gave the rest of my family the modern conveniencies they've got used to in the best quality hire boats.

 

Why don't you start by thinking about what you want to end up with, and then keep the boats which can be made to fit the requirements.  For me - I'd love the tug- style because it's different, so Larch needs to stay.  I'm guessing your clientelle for these boats would be people who are already enthusiasts, so don't worry about keeping a short one for beginners - keep the boats that are large enough to offer top quality spacious accommodation. I'm sure you're more than capable of designing good quality interiors - but four things would be top of my list - a fixed double bed, a dining table you can walk past when it's in use, plenty of charging sockets for phones, cameras and ipods, and ... on a heritage boat - the trad controls are essential.

 

Several people have already mentioned promoting your heritage boats, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd beat a path to your door for a smart well-maintained heritage boat. But I wonder how many people know about them? How about a Facebook page? Easy and free to set up, you could upload pictures of the refurbished boats and post up news about how work on other boats were going. Anybody who 'liked' the page would see on their wall whenever you posted something new - and you could promote the Facebook page on the website and in any adverts. Have a look at the Facebook page for the Talyllyn Railway if you want to see how it works - a brilliant AND FREE way to keep interested people up to date with what's going on.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Website is on the "to do list", boats are the priority. Unfortunately the current site is cumbersome and difficult to change but it is being done piece by piece ahead of a new site in the future.

Thanks

Greg

 

 

Hi Greg,

 

This is a punters reply as we are looking for a weeks hire in september.

 

I have to say that the current website is terrible and you should make this a priority, it certainly didn't encourage us to consider booking with you. In fact it made us discount you almost immediately. Small poor quality dull interior photos and not enough exterior shots of the (shiny freshly painted)boats.

 

Also I agree that make up beds will put us off straight away, a fixed double is a must even on a small boat. Also I dont particularly care about the boats age but it must be clean with everything working.

 

Obviously the boats must be right too, but most prospective customers buy with their eyes and first impressions count. For most of your prospective customers their first impression will be formed by the website and then by the detail / pricing etc.

 

I have to say though that I do admire your approach of asking opinions on an open forum and wish you luck with the company. Go on, convince me why I should choose middlewich narrowboats for our holiday.

 

Cheers

 

Waterdog. (serial hirer)

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Thanks for your kind words Waterdog.

You're right about the damn website but I'm stuck with it for now because I've had to spend so much getting the boats right.

As for persuading you to book...I decided on my first few visits here that it felt wrong to use this forum as a marketing tool. I dont want to alienate anyone else who uses the forum or over annoy any of my competitors some of whom have been really generous with their help and advice and may even be members of this forum. So I won't try to persuade you here if that's ok.

For information about how things are shaping up at MN keep an eye on our Facebook page:- http://www.facebook.com/Middlewichboats#!/Middlewichboats

Many thanks once again for your support everyone. See you when you pass by.

Chuggy

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I think it's admirable that you are seeking advice and wish you the bet of luck. I agree the web site has to he the top priority thats what the hirer looks at first, and may not look at again. These days you don't have to spend a fortune for fairly professional web site. Waterdog makes some really good points.

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Greg

Your website is different to large commercial organisations and this works in your favour. If people are going to rent, they are going to do research...so as long as the site has plenty of information and its accurate that is key.

 

Glossy "piano black" graphics, fancy javascript dynamics, customer reviews, social media links may help but what you have (good detailed, honest information) is best.

 

If you can make it easy for people to make a decision without crowding out that is best.

 

If you can get ALL the information on ONE long scrolling page that would be superb - you can have pages linked off - i.e. if someone wants to print off a boat spec or route map.

 

If it works on BOTH mobile and desktop (i.e. your designer uses a fluid grid) then you don't have to worry who's using it.

 

When we were renting for our first time this year, we did this:

 

[a] Searched on location in Google (e.g. "shropshire canal hire", "llangollen canal")

 

Looked at non-sponsored links first, ignored the large commercial brokers and sponsored links

 

[c] Looked in priority (i) berths + layout (doubles/singles), (ii) toilet/shower/bath (iii) general spaciousness

 

[d] Checked availability (i.e. on around +/- 3/4 days) when we wanted to start

 

[e] Double check all details of boats available

 

[f] Selected

 

[g] Booked

 

Voila.

 

So I would say if you can get the key points one one long web page:

 

[1] Routes/options from our base - map plus one week and two week route options

 

[2] Boats - with at least one decent picture of boat, plus room layout, berths, features

 

[3] Quick availability lookup matrix (i.e. dates on left, boats across top) and price

 

[4] Booking bullet points

 

[5] Minimal booking form to initiate process

 

Hope that helps.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi,

 

We are regular hirers, we last hired on 1st Sept this year for a week on a 62 foot "4 star" luxury narrowboat (Foxhangers, Devizes) and very nice their 4 star fleet and customer service is too.

 

However we just booked a short break on Willow for 18th Oct 2012 on the basis that we really want to try a vintage type engine, old controls, back cabin, stove, engine room etc. Also I could see that there is someone trying to improve this fleet.

 

We dont need or expect luxury - just something a bit different - will report back afterwards. ;)

 

Mark

Edited by mark99
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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

 

We are regular hirers, we last hired on 1st Sept this year for a week on a 62 foot "4 star" luxury narrowboat (Foxhangers, Devizes) and very nice their 4 star fleet and customer service is too.

 

However we just booked a short break on Willow for 18th Oct 2012 on the basis that we really want to try a vintage type engine, old controls, back cabin, stove, engine room etc. Also I could see that there is someone trying to improve this fleet.

 

We dont need or expect luxury - just something a bit different - will report back afterwards. ;)

 

Mark

I've taken a bit of a gamble (well act of faith really!) and booked Willow during May 2013 for the same reasons - vintage engine, old controls, back cabin, stove, engine room etc.

Just part of my homework prior to hopefully buying something similar when I attempt to go part time at work in a few years time.

I'm obviously hoping that by next season Willow will have received the sort of care that she may have been deprived of in the past.

A clean, dry and reliable boat would be great - I realy appreciate the chance to try out a vintage engine with its controls.

Bookings on Willow don't seem to be too bad at all next year, so hopefully this will give Chuggy the confidence to spend his no doubt hard earned cash on bringing his boats up to standard where required.

An update from Mark99 on his recent experience on Willow would be very much appreciated.

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GBClive,

 

Willow is old and shabby but she is presented clean and tidy where it matters (sheets, curtains, toilet etc). She certainly has a lot of character and is lovely to steer. An old aircooled lister engine that looks like it will break down anytime but in reality, for us, never missed a beat, strange electrics but again, never let us down. We used the little solid fuel range at the rear BC virtually continously as it was a little cold when we were about.

 

I really enjoyed our outing and the Middlewich crew are a friendly bunch. They have a really nice looking SM Hudson tug for hire which I am very tempted to go back and hire out from them. All told - recommended.

 

NB on your way back to hire base, you cannot wind Willow in the first lock below the hire base, even though it looks like you can - Willow is about 1" too long. :)

 

One thing, I was impressed by the Cheshire countryside and will have to come back for a longer time cruising. One day we saw virtually no-one else going our way - that was perhaps because we were travelling back towards the breach and a dead end.

Edited by mark99
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GBClive,

 

NB on your way back to hire base, you cannot wind Willow in the first lock below the hire base, even though it looks like you can - Willow is about 1" too long. :)

 

 

Doubt if you can wind many boats in any lock :P

 

I take it you mean the pound on the bend, where the dry dock is?

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