Today, I'll buy a boat

[alan_fincher]

Firstly several people who's opinions I respect have "slapped me down" for my comment earlier.

 

So I apologise, and withdraw it, and will treat the question now as genuine.

 

Sorry!

 

I think the OP could have oodles of fun with a cheap grp cruiser like a Birchwood 25 ( do they get 'paper thin' and need '£10,000' of work?) without getting all serious and looking at it as a 'hobby' which needs must consume £7,000 a year.

 

The main issue will be somewhere to leave it, I don't know that area but a cheap mooring is usually possible on a river.

 

I personally think the canals would benefit hugely by a return to this kind of boating which has sadly died out over the last 20 years.

 

Actually the further North you go, the more GRP boats you start seeing, and there have been points up on our trip through Manchester, where nearly 50% of the boats we were passing were GRP not steel. Also long lines of tied up boats where nearly all were GRP.

 

I actually agree wholeheartedly with Chris - it is very sad that boating has often gone too upmarket and expensive, and I genuinely believe that many owners of (say) £5K GRP cabin cruisers extract as much fun out of them as those with £100K plus "Washer Joshers". In fact seeing the miserable looks on the faces of the owners of a few clearly very expensive boats, I suspect many of the more humble boats actually give more pleasure. (As an aside, one of the most fed up women I have seen on a boat in recent months was on a boat called "Oh! Be Joyful!"......)

 

All that said, it appears that a "Birchwood 25" is of sufficient beam that it will only be able to be used on canals and rivers not restricted to 7 foot width.

 

As MTB says, you are not going to find a boat that will both allow you full access to the narrow canals, but which is also suitable for going to sea. (Well not unless you are very brave!....)

Edited August 18, 2012 by alan_fincher

[steven wilkinson]

I quite like the OPs sense of adventure! Not my own style of doing things, but good luck to him!

[Chertsey]

We started with a 4k GRP cabin cruiser... Just about ten years ago now. You don't learn anything until you actually get out there and do it.

[GoodGurl]

I think the OP could have oodles of fun with a cheap grp cruiser like a Birchwood 25 ( do they get 'paper thin' and need '£10,000' of work?) without getting all serious and looking at it as a 'hobby' which needs must consume £7,000 a year.

 

The main issue will be somewhere to leave it, I don't know that area but a cheap mooring is usually possible on a river.

 

I personally think the canals would benefit hugely by a return to this kind of boating which has sadly died out over the last 20 years.

indeed chris, we bought our first boat 20 years ago and it was a 20 foot birchwood 6'10" cost us £1,000 we knew nothing about boating and spent time in holme pierpoint lock going round in circles to get to the side, now we liveaboard a 65' NB and love it.

[Guest]

indeed chris, we bought our first boat 20 years ago and it was a 20 foot birchwood 6'10" cost us £1,000 we knew nothing about boating and spent time in holme pierpoint lock going round in circles to get to the side, now we liveaboard a 65' NB and love it.

 

So they do narrowbeam GRP boats too....

[GUMPY]

Freeman 22 narrow beam are excellent for both canals and rivers and really can go anywhere

Lovely wooden interior excellent starter boat

 

Even better as a second boat for when you just want to havefun

[GoodGurl]

So they do narrowbeam GRP boats too....

indeed they do we had it for 18 months.

[Gibbo]

Reading through this thread I'd guess OP is a bit of an "oh f*^k it" type person. He wants a boat. He's having one. A cheap one. As soon as possible. If he loses a few grand he doesn't seem to care. Not everyone plans every last penny and wastes half their life trying and planning out how to save a few quid or so. Some people really aren't so anal about money.

 

I reckon OP is totally genuine.

[Phil Ambrose]

Reading through this thread I'd guess OP is a bit of an "oh f*^k it" type person. He wants a boat. He's having one. A cheap one. As soon as possible. If he loses a few grand he doesn't seem to care. Not everyone plans every last penny and wastes half their life trying and planning out how to save a few quid or so. Some people really aren't so anal about money.

 

I reckon OP is totally genuine.

 

I agree with Gibbo, that's exactly what I thought so Go For It!!!

 

Phil

[Tee]

Thanks Gibbo, don't know about losing money though but rest of it your right! So anyway during my convos today with boat sellers, not many have got a river license or safety cert, and they seemed oblivious to needing one :/ Insurance seems cheap enough but mooring in some places is £250 a quarter, so me thinks get a 6 month river license and anchor up on side. Is that do-able? probably will go for a cheap grp cruiser so will keep you updated. I do have a feeling though that this will sprout into a long love affair!

[Ally]

you can moor in one spot for 14 days unless there are other restrictions applied, but with no 'home mooring' or if you are not trailering it out of the water to take home, then you need to 'make progress' on the system.

You won't have any width issues on the Soar or Trent, only if you want to go south of Foxton. or the Trent and Mersey past Burton.

[bramley]

i saw a fairly decent buckingham 25 in Redhill marina a few weeks ago. 6"10.

 

whats your budget again?

[Tee]

Budget wise it depends if it's cash I don't want to spend a huge amount, I've got lot of money in cars atm so if anyone wanted a Px with my Jeep thats worth about £5k I could do that. Failing that I want to spend as less as possible without ending up buying something that'll sink after a fortnight. plus I'm getting married end of this year and I've told my missus to hold off expensive houses so she'll go ape sh*t when she finds out!

 

Anyone got a sailing yacht? I've noticed these are pretty cheapi...

[Paul C]

I admire Tee for his enthusiasm, and also luckily he has posted (albeit a very 'green' post) BEFORE he's bought a boat, not after. There's been a few horror stories where someone's bought a cheap boat, only to discover it is sinking (mainly steel boats though, but almost any boat is capable of sinking if mistreated or neglected. But I would also advise caution. If money is tight, then you're at a real disadvantage because a (for example) £2000 boat is much more likely to need repairs or renovation of some kind, and even if it doesn't then its going to be a very basic boat. Spend £10000 on a GRP, and the boat will be very nice, luxurious and probably 10x more reliable.

 

I'd advise get a trailable boat (so, something up to around 17' or so) which takes away the worry of finding a mooring, and also means you can explore further parts of the system easier by launching and retrieving it at different points of the network.

[bottle]

plus I'm getting married end of this year

 

The polite reply:

 

I think you have your priorities wrong.

[steven wilkinson]

 

I'm getting married end of this year

 

 

Hahaha - this puts an entirely different light on things! I would love to hear her view on your boat idea!

 

[Mac of Cygnet]

The polite reply:

 

I think you have your priorities wrong.

 

Completely disagree*. Judging by the OP's attitude and tone, she should know very well what she's taking on, and if she doesn't - well, he's got his priorities right in spades.

 

* mods feel free to move this to a different thread.

[Chertsey]

Thanks Gibbo, don't know about losing money though but rest of it your right! So anyway during my convos today with boat sellers, not many have got a river license or safety cert, and they seemed oblivious to needing one :/ Insurance seems cheap enough but mooring in some places is £250 a quarter, so me thinks get a 6 month river license and anchor up on side. Is that do-able? probably will go for a cheap grp cruiser so will keep you updated. I do have a feeling though that this will sprout into a long love affair!

I'm not sure you can get a six month licence any more, at least not economically. By a river licence, do you mean a BW/CRT Rivers Only licence? i.e. one that allows you to use BW rivers but not canals, and not EA rivers? I presume that would cover the Soar/Trent, including the Beeston Cut, but you had better check with someone who has more local knowledge. You wouldn't be able to do the Erewash on that though, if you wanted to venture a bit further, or the bottom end of the Chesterfield (before it gets narrow).

 

Completely disagree*. Judging by the OP's attitude and tone, she should know very well what she's taking on, and if she doesn't - well, he's got his priorities right in spades.

Couldn't agree more. Any relationship based on the denial of either participant's interests and passions is doomed to end in failure and misery.

[Graham Davis]

Couldn't agree more. Any relationship based on the denial of either participant's interests and passions is doomed to end in failure, EXPENSE and misery.

Editted for accuracy!

[Guest]

I'm not sure you can get a six month licence any more, at least not economically.

 

You can still get them (and 3 months too) but yes a disproportionate price hike when compared to how much they raised the price of a 12 month one last time around means you should only consider a 3 or 6 month one if your boat really is only going to be on the system for three or six moths and out the water for the remaining part of the year.

 

 

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/1192.pdf

 

 

A 3 month one on average seems to cost just shy of 50% of a 12 month one now....

Edited August 19, 2012 by The Dog House

[Tee]

Bottle, thanks for marriage advice, but your spouse was lying to you when he/she said marriage is about you sacrificing everything for them and nothing for yourself. My missus is wearing a rock on her finger the size of jordans left breast so a little spent on myself won't hurt. Plus I dont know where you live but our housing conditions won't sink below the poverty line if I'm short £2k that I spent on a boat.

 

Spot on suggestion Paul C about a trailerable boat it is something I'm considering, however don't know if this is common but seen a cruiser that read in ad 'no slipstream nearby so must be sailed away'. From your experience is it a 'hindrance' finding slipstreams as opposed to mooring.

 

Oh and lastly is the hull condition not checked at all during a safety check when issuing certificate? I noticed gas, engine, fuel lines, electrics etc but not mention of the body. What I'm asking is if a boat has a safety cert for another year how much peace of mind is this..

[Guest]

Oh and lastly is the hull condition not checked at all during a safety check when issuing certificate? I noticed gas, engine, fuel lines, electrics etc but not mention of the body. What I'm asking is if a boat has a safety cert for another year how much peace of mind is this..

 

Not normally no - to do it correctly the boat would need to be out of the water and the BSS examination does not usually require a boat to be taken out of the water. The primary focus of a BSS examination is the systems and installations on the boat, gas electrics etc and compliance with regulations such as fire.

 

If you are interested you can have a skeggy here -

 

http://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/boat-certification/private-boats

Edited August 20, 2012 by The Dog House

[FadeToScarlet]

Basically, a Boat Safety certificate says that, at the time of inspection, the boat's very unlikely to blow up and hurt other people.

 

It doesn't mean that it's 100% safe for you, just others around you.

[Barnfather]

When we bought our first boat it was pretty much on impulse, however given that we knew nothing about boating we did go about it via a boat dealer which yes, cost us a bit more probably, but also allowed us to buy with confidence and ask a myriad of questions. We bought from David Mawby, who has a yard based at Castle Marina in Nottingham. He is an expert on cruisers and local waters also, and often gets cheaper part-exchange boats in that may be perfect (and all come with full safety certificate).

 

So my first piece of advice to the OP would be to pay David a visit and chat about what you want to get out of boating. I believe there can also be preferential rates at Castle Marina too, but don't know how much this would be.

 

Whilst I think Birchwood 25's are great boats, I would recommend starting with something a little smaller and most importantly narrow-beam (up to 6'10"). This would be the most 'portable' solution, would allow you to potentially sample the canals as well as rivers and also will come in a little cheaper which may suit your financial situation. You can always upgrade to a bigger boat once you know its for you. You may find you much prefer the rivers and eventually upgrade to a bigger cruiser, or prefer the canals and start looking at narrowboats. Either way, you can do this without spending a fortune.

 

Given your location preferences, I would probably get a boat and either moor at Castle Marina (centre of Nottm), Beeston Marina (on the outskirts of Nottingham) or Colwick Park Marina (just outside Nottm). The latter two will be cheaper. Any of them will allow a gentle cruise to Trent Bridge when needed. There is mooring at Trent Bridge either on the visitor pontoon or outside County Hall on the embankment. Mooring nearer to home will be easier for you to drive to, but will take a couple of days to get to Trent Bridge. Our boat is moored 1hr away from home, despite us being much closer to Newark which has marinas - simply because of the waterways we want to cruise on.

 

So, in a nutshell my advice (which you can freely ignore any aspect of!) is :

 

- Discuss with a local boat dealer and consider getting a cheap boat that way (including BSS)

- Consider a narrow-beam cruiser, in order to try canals out (if you want to)

- Base your boat in or near Nottingham in order to meet with friends, cruise to Trent Bridge.

[Tee]

Thanks a bunch, seems valid advice. I understand about width but to begin with its really whatever pops up for sale at good price. Got my first viewing on Wednesday - 23ft 1976 Cleopatra 700, 2 litre Volvo engine recently serviced, years safety cert and bsc 2015. It is nearly 9ft wide but very local and may get deal with 1 of my cars. I'll keep you updated!