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Historic Boats for sale online


alan_fincher

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On 25/03/2019 at 08:57, stagedamager said:

That's a lot for a boat which unfortunately has been very publicly shown on social media as sinking and bilge pumps constantly running.

"Built by the Walker Brothers" - before Scott & co.'s musical career took off, I suppose.

6 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Wooden boat, priced as though steel!!!

 

Maintenance nightmare, looking through the pics. Fine piece of workmanship though. 

You do get two Gardner 6LWs to play with, though. Ineded, if what you say is true, in a couple of years that's all you'll have.

Edited by Athy
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6 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

 

Almost beyond belief, surely?

 

This languished for sale for many months (years?) under its previous ownership, I think with a priced tag of about two thirds of what is now being attached to it.  Presumably Norbury acquired it for considerably less?

 

Whilst I can see t has had a full repaint, blacking, and the back cabin repainted, I'm really struggling to see approaching £30K added to its value since it was a private sale.

 

The Gardner is in my view a most inappropriate engine for this boat, and what really put us off looking at it when we were in the market for one.

I would have thought that for this kind of money Bison, which I think has remained unsold for a while, is a much better deal, but frankly converted working boats struggle to sell for anything like this much money these days, whatever their condition.

However, I accept that at the end of the day, it is buyers who will decide what the market will stand.

 

Don’t forget that “Dory” was bought at the same time as Acacia, I believe the big Gardner came in handy for towing it back to Norbury. Maybe the inflated price is to cover the cost of planned work on Dory. 

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21 hours ago, koukouvagia said:

The asking price for Row was £89.950.  

 

No matter how cheap an historic boat is to start with, if you want to bring it up to tip-top condition  it's going to cost a packet. If the steelwork, engine, fitout, paintjob etc. have all been restored  to a very high standard then I'd say you'd be looking at a price comparable with that of a high end modern boat.

It can easily take the best part of a year to restore a "cheap" historic boat.  Some people want to see the process from beginning to end and watch the transformation of a wreck; others need to spread the work over many years; others prefer to buy an historic boat when all the work has been done. However an historic boat is restored, it's going to be expensive.  

 

I honestly don't think 90K is an unreasonable starting point for a boat like Acacia.

Totally agree having gone through the process, but you don’t do it as an investment and accept that like any ‘new’ boat it will substantially depreciate. The price would be reasonable IMO with a different engine.

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On 03/04/2019 at 16:01, koukouvagia said:

The asking price for Row was £89.950.  

 

No matter how cheap an historic boat is to start with, if you want to bring it up to tip-top condition  it's going to cost a packet. If the steelwork, engine, fitout, paintjob etc. have all been restored  to a very high standard then I'd say you'd be looking at a price comparable with that of a high end modern boat.

It can easily take the best part of a year to restore a "cheap" historic boat.  Some people want to see the process from beginning to end and watch the transformation of a wreck; others need to spread the work over many years; others prefer to buy an historic boat when all the work has been done. However an historic boat is restored, it's going to be expensive.  

 

I honestly don't think 90K is an unreasonable starting point for a boat like Acacia.

 

What I'm failing to understand is that it remained unsold for (very!) many months with an asking price of (I think) £65K

I'm really struggling to understand if nobody bit then, what can possibly have been done to it that adds a further £30K to its value, however good the paintwork,lettering and back cabin rework.

 

Most people would surely want to change the engine, at which point it will have cost very well into 6 figures.

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3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 

 

 

Most people would surely want to change the engine, 

While I realise that Gardners were few and far between in original working boats, not everyone will turn their nose up at one!

That said, the 4LW is probably overpowered for a n/b.though I have seen at least one in such use (and also a 5L2, I think).

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21 minutes ago, Athy said:

While I realise that Gardners were few and far between in original working boats, not everyone will turn their nose up at one!

That said, the 4LW is probably overpowered for a n/b.though I have seen at least one in such use (and also a 5L2, I think).

If it were a 2LW or maybe even a 3LW I would agree with you.

I personally can't see many people spending £90K on this boat.

But I freely already said that ultimately it is worth what the market will stand - I could be wrong!

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44 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 

What I'm failing to understand is that it remained unsold for (very!) many months with an asking price of (I think) £65K

I'm really struggling to understand if nobody bit then, what can possibly have been done to it that adds a further £30K to its value, however good the paintwork,lettering and back cabin rework.

 

Most people would surely want to change the engine, at which point it will have cost very well into 6 figures.

I think I can explain the seemingly huge discrepancy in price.

At £65K the boat was aimed at a buyer who recognised that the boat was essentially a good one, but needed a fair amount of work doing. That price was, I admit, a bit steep for what was a rather tired-looking boat and I’m not surprised that no one wanted it.  

So a change of tack.  Appeal to a completely different market - to a person who might be thinking of buying, say, a Hudson or some other high end replica.  Such a person wants a boat that will not need any work doing (forget the engine, for the sake of the argument) and will be able to have a trouble free boat which looks great and which has, most importantly of all, a history.

Such a buyer may well be willing to pay a premium.

 

eta It reminds me of the property make-over programmes we see on television.  A property hangs fire for years. Along comes a clever architect/designer and hey presto the value shoots up and the property is sold.  The improvements have added more to the value of the house than the cost of the work.  

Edited by koukouvagia
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1 hour ago, springy said:

IIRC Ex FMC steamer Count was shortened and a 5L2 fitted to become the tug Enterprise - used to work with 6 "hampton" boats behind.

 

springy

There was a Water Travel tug called Enfield which had a 5 Cylinder Gardner. The prop apparently was directly driven.

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Video of it on YouTube. Hand start...

 

Voiceover by Jim MacDonald.

 

 

A good moral in this story. Always cover vertical exhaust stacks with something heavy which will NOT blow off... Otherwise you could easily screw a nice engine from rain damage..

Edited by magnetman
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There was a fairly ugly 57ft “budget” narrow boat by the Aintree Boat Company reviewed in Waterways World recently and that was over £100K.  I suspect to replicate a boat of Acacia’s quality and fit out would cost over £200K today.  In comparison, historic boats are cheap but I suppose it comes down to supply and demand as many modern boaters would be scared of owning one!

 

Paul

Edited by Paul H
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21 minutes ago, Paul H said:

There was a fairly ugly 57ft “budget” narrow boat by the Aintree Boat Company reviewed in Waterways World recently and that was over £100K.  I suspect to replicate a boat of Acacia’s quality and fit out would cost over £200K today.  In comparison, historic boats are cheap but I suppose it comes down to supply and demand as many modern boaters would be scared of owning one!

 

Paul

It’s actually surprising how reasonable a proper shell is from a reputable builder, compared to some of the tat that’s been appearing over the last few years at ridiculous prices. I recently enquired with one, if not the best replica builder for a steelwork alone price and to be honest thought it was too cheap! 

I’d used the same builder some years ago when his price for a one off, made to measure shell was only a couple of grand more than Mr Wilson wanted for one of his “you can have any size you want as long as it’s 57 foot” specials.

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17 hours ago, David Mack said:

beech is slowly coming back down

 

was at 15k then with no work went to 25k then 20k now st 17.5k I offered 5-8k about 3 months before buying towy that was 4 years ago and beech hasn't had work done. need I say more. but the owner is very nice.

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3 hours ago, billybobbooth said:

beech is slowly coming back down

 

was at 15k then with no work went to 25k then 20k now st 17.5k I offered 5-8k about 3 months before buying towy that was 4 years ago and beech hasn't had work done. need I say more. but the owner is very nice.

 

And I'm reasonably sure Beech has been for sale a lot longer than that. ISTR considering buying it before buying Reginald, seven or eight years ago. Or maybe that was when the current seller bought it. 

 

Some boats seem to be permanently for sale at unrealistic prices. Wooden boats especially. 

 

 

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15 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 Or maybe that was when the current seller bought it. 

 

 

No the current owner has had it for at least the 20 odd years I've known her. 

When you've put that much of your life into something then it is difficult to accept a realistic valuation without sentiment being involved. 

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2 hours ago, carlt said:

No the current owner has had it for at least the 20 odd years I've known her. 

When you've put that much of your life into something then it is difficult to accept a realistic valuation without sentiment being involved. 

yes she's had it sence Ken died, when Ken died it went to a person, the bolly (that my dad sold ken specifically for beech) was removed and bost sold to her

the rest as they say is history

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