Today, I'll buy a boat

[MtB]

Dudes, have none of you guys brought a boat on impulse?!

Yep. All of 'em.

 

Also the survey sounds like a must, I was hoping to make acquaintance with a local expert before purchase anyway but where would I go about getting a survey?

 

Hang on, no it doesn't! A survey will cost you £600 or so. If a cheap boat is floating, what more do you wnt to know?

 

I've never had a boat sink on me.....

 

 

Mike

 

P.S. Saw you come into chat tonight, you disappeared before I got to say 'hi'!

[Tee]

B man, it seemed a must before I found out price I was browsing then left, brain over matter, long day, early start, need sleep. Plus I need to choose my dream for tonight. I see an interface in my head, it allows me to choose dream genre.

[MtB]

Lol dreams of flying are best, closely followed by dreams of diesel-free boating......

[Tee]

Diesel free anything would be good, but key word being dream! You'd think all these illegal wars to extract oil would lessen the price, but obviously not. Talking of which, how thirsty are most boats. Say for example a 5 mile trip in the boat I mentioned above, how much would I be looking...?

[MtB]

Mileage is not a good measure when boating. A really big flight of locks can take you a day and you'll only cover a couple of miles, yet use the same amount of fuel as a 20 mile lock-free cruise.

 

Think about fuel consumption in terms of litres per hour. Roughly one litre per hour while the engine is running.

 

Mike

[Tee]

Ok that helps thanks. I've found local mooring at £180 a quarter but ideally I'm looking for a trailer now as it doesn't limit my waterway options. I just need a boat now!

[Alan de Enfield]

The trailer will need to 'fit' the boat - if you buy a trailer first then you will end up looking for a boat to suit.

[Tee]

Yep the more I look the more I realise that which is why I'm looking for boat/trailer package. Another quicky; can sailing yachts use same slipway as a cabin cruiser? I've seem a yacht but it's got no trailer and it's far

[twbm]

Yep the more I look the more I realise that which is why I'm looking for boat/trailer package. Another quicky; can sailing yachts use same slipway as a cabin cruiser? I've seem a yacht but it's got no trailer and it's far

 

The slipway is just a slope - it's the water that it leads into, relative to the dimensions of the boat, that matters. Sailing boats can and do use canals, but they tend to have deep keels, so water draft can be a problem and their rounded shape makes them slightly more difficult to handle against straight lock walls etc. Not impossible, but a lot more use of fenders etc.

[Tee]

Went to see a boat today and there was a little water constantly trickling out of the outboarder from the top into the water, is this normal? He told me its essential it does this and it's sign of good engine. Also there was quite a lot of play on the steering wheel where it was attached and the actual steering wasn't that sharp, took a while before it actually turned. Me not having steered many boats meant I didn't know whether this was normal or not....

[RLWP]

Steep learning curve, isn't it

 

The tell-tail water outlet confirms that the cooling water pump is working, and the engine isn't going to overheat

 

Wheel steering can be a bit imprecise because of the linkage from the wheel to the rudder.

 

Richard

[GoodGurl]

Went to see a boat today and there was a little water constantly trickling out of the outboarder from the top into the water, is this normal? He told me its essential it does this and it's sign of good engine. Also there was quite a lot of play on the steering wheel where it was attached and the actual steering wasn't that sharp, took a while before it actually turned. Me not having steered many boats meant I didn't know whether this was normal or not....

what engine is it?

whilst engine is running there will be water coming out of it as it's water cooled, steering could be down to lack of use and could need oiling.

[boathunter]

I advise you don't buy a sailing yacht to use on a river if you know nothing about sailing.

I know nothing about narrowboats, but on a whim I'm going to live on one so I like the cut of your jib.

I do know about sailing though, and it's more complicated than motorboating - particularly on a confined river. The rule that motor gives way to power requires more than a little give and take - you can't blunder about out of control and expect everyone to get out of your way. Not that you would I'm sure.

 

On marriage - buy the boat before you get married, if she causes a fuss, don't marry her.