christmas boat hire

[Gillie]

Has anyone hired over christmas?

 

We are thinking of it but have only found 2 or 3 hire companies that hire during the festive time....

does anyone have any suggestions as to companies??

 

OH..how I want my own boat!!!

[steveh]

Has anyone hired over christmas?

 

We are thinking of it but have only found 2 or 3 hire companies that hire during the festive time....

does anyone have any suggestions as to companies??

 

OH..how I want my own boat!!!

 

 

Where abouts are you looking to hire from?

[Christine]

I think Middlewich Boat Hire are out over Christmas/New Year - they were certainly out last year when I called by. Several of their boats had been iced in so if you are thinking of Christmas I would keep your return date flexible.

[adam1uk]

Kate Boats in Warwick hire over Christmas and New Year, and even have a special web page with the details.

 

http://www.kateboats.co.uk/christmas.htm

[dor]

Try Chas Hardern at Beeston - he hires all winter.

[DHutch]

Try Chas Hardern at Beeston - he hires all winter.

Yeah, he's a good bloke, im sure he would be happy to sort somthing nice for you!

[Philskey]

Has anyone hired over christmas?

 

We are thinking of it but have only found 2 or 3 hire companies that hire during the festive time....

does anyone have any suggestions as to companies??

 

OH..how I want my own boat!!!

Why not take a look at Ownerships? Cheaper than your own boat, and hiring. www.ownerships.co.uk

[Graham and Jo]

Has anyone hired over christmas?

 

We are thinking of it but have only found 2 or 3 hire companies that hire during the festive time....

does anyone have any suggestions as to companies??

 

OH..how I want my own boat!!!

 

Viking afloat have three available (as of 8/11) from Rugby. Canal Junction have a list of firms offering winter breaks although some I tried didn't seem to be and a lot don't have availablity search. ( I have a personal hate of web sites without availability information!) Canal Junctions list is at http://www.canaljunction.com/narrowboat/winter.htm

[Canal Shop Man]

Why not take a look at Ownerships? Cheaper than your own boat, and hiring. www.ownerships.co.uk

You obviously haven't worked out the cost of an Ownership share. . . . Try speaking to some ex-Ownerships owners (those still owning a share are still blinkered/brainwashed)

[John Orentas]

Shire Cruisers of Sowerby Bridge is another possibility, they seem to keep a few boats going throughout the winter.

[Gillie]

Why not take a look at Ownerships? Cheaper than your own boat, and hiring. www.ownerships.co.uk

 

 

We are getting our own boat..

ordering when my house is sold which I have been assured by the solicitors is imminent..mind you it has been imminent for about 4 months now..but I live in hope..

so untill the happy day we step aboard our own boat we will have to hire whenever possible..

[Bones]

if you want to float between two locks on a fericious thames I can suggest charterline - I think that is what they are called.

[Philskey]

You obviously haven't worked out the cost of an Ownership share. . . . Try speaking to some ex-Ownerships owners (those still owning a share are still blinkered/brainwashed)

I do not consider myself to be either blinkered or brainwashed. I have owned a share in NB Cookley since she was built in 2003 and not regretted a penny. Prior to that I had hired from Viking Afloat and a weeks rental in July 2002 cost me more than my annual "sink fund" contribution for three weeks use of Cookley with Ownerships. I would say Viking Afloat provided me with a very comfortable 60ft cruiser which I believe at the time was less than a year old but it still did not compare to the comfort and level of fit out to a similar Ownerships boat. Of course shared ownership does not compare with a boat of your own but with only five weeks annual leave a year would I get full use from a boat of my own? I think not! In fact it is only the work ethic that stops me taking advantage of much more time afloat than the three pre booked weeks plus any extras that come ones way. There is then the rest of the family to consider who do not wish to take all of their holiday on the canal, so at the moment Ownerships just suits me fine!

[Stephen Sugg]

i'm sure College Cruisers in Oxford would, nice boats too.....

[howardang]

You obviously haven't worked out the cost of an Ownership share. . . . Try speaking to some ex-Ownerships owners (those still owning a share are still blinkered/brainwashed)

Now I know which canal shop to avoid!

 

Howard Anguish, a member of the brainwashed fraternity.

[davem399]

You obviously haven't worked out the cost of an Ownership share. . . . Try speaking to some ex-Ownerships owners (those still owning a share are still blinkered/brainwashed)

 

Next time I pass by this shop, I guess I won't see it unless I remove my blinkers! Perhaps I'll spend the money the scheme saves me in other places.

 

Dave

[Eastern]

You obviously haven't worked out the cost of an Ownership share. . . . Try speaking to some ex-Ownerships owners (those still owning a share are still blinkered/brainwashed)

 

Perhaps Mr Canal Shop Man can enlighten us with the true cost of shared ownership compared with owning an equivalvent boat. It would seem to me that it depends on how often you were going to use it. In any commercial scheme then you have pay to have the boat admin. Its about £4000 per boat per year with Challenger and Ownerships. With a 12th ownership thats about £333.00 per annum.

 

Over to you

[Canal Shop Man]

Perhaps Mr Canal Shop Man can enlighten us with the true cost of shared ownership compared with owning an equivalvent boat. It would seem to me that it depends on how often you were going to use it. In any commercial scheme then you have pay to have the boat admin. Its about £4000 per boat per year with Challenger and Ownerships. With a 12th ownership thats about £333.00 per annum.

 

Over to you

I seem to have upset a few Ownerships owners here!!

 

I have just been told today by a passing one that he expects to pay about £1000 a year for a 12th share - that makes £12000 a year to maintain a boat . . .

Also there is the lost interest on the money you have tied up in the boat (or the interest on money you've borrowed if you didn't have the cash in your bank.

Then there is the cost of pumpouts, diesel, etc used on trips (OK these costs are small)

 

I'm not saying that shared ownership isn't worth having - it's just not as good as some companies seem to make out (especially those which CLAIM to be 'non-profit making')

[anhar]

I seem to have upset a few Ownerships owners here!!

 

I have just been told today by a passing one that he expects to pay about £1000 a year for a 12th share - that makes £12000 a year to maintain a boat . . .

Also there is the lost interest on the money you have tied up in the boat (or the interest on money you've borrowed if you didn't have the cash in your bank.

Then there is the cost of pumpouts, diesel, etc used on trips (OK these costs are small)

 

I'm not saying that shared ownership isn't worth having - it's just not as good as some companies seem to make out (especially those which CLAIM to be 'non-profit making')

I'm with CS Man.

 

Shared ownerships are generally a dumb idea. Buy your own boat or hire if you can't afford it or don't want to buy. SO's are the worst of both worlds. You're tied into paying your share of the boat yet can't use it when and where you want. Why pay to be trapped in this way? Compared with that, hiring delivers complete freedom to go when you want and where you want with no commitment. Might cost a bit more depending how often you do it but the freedom aspect is a more than satisfactory trade off.

 

I fail to understand the attractions of SO.

 

regards

Steve

Edited November 15, 2006 by anhar

[dor]

I also am not sure about shares, unless you are retired in whcih case I can see the point.

 

If you are one of hte country's working drudges, then you get 4 or 5 weeks holiday a year. With a twelvth share, you are pretty well committed to taking all you holidays boating. Now I know there are some who will say "what's wrong with that", but it means that you don't get a chance to do anything else.

 

If you have the time, then it is probably a good way to have boating holidays, but for me boating is getting away on a Saturday night, the long weekends, the quick cruise on a nice summer evening, oh yes, and a couple of weeks holiday.

[davem399]

I seem to have upset a few Ownerships owners here!!

 

I have just been told today by a passing one that he expects to pay about £1000 a year for a 12th share - that makes £12000 a year to maintain a boat . . .

Also there is the lost interest on the money you have tied up in the boat (or the interest on money you've borrowed if you didn't have the cash in your bank.

Then there is the cost of pumpouts, diesel, etc used on trips (OK these costs are small)

 

I'm not saying that shared ownership isn't worth having - it's just not as good as some companies seem to make out (especially those which CLAIM to be 'non-profit making')

 

 

Although I cannot comment on the owner that CS Man spoke to, by way of a reply I would like to put my side of the arguement. My annual payment is also of the order of £1000 for the next year, but this does not equate to an annual cost of £12,000 as I am a special share holder which gives priority on booking weeks as I need to book for the school holidays. Most of my co-owners pay less than this, so the annual cost is considerably less than this figure. This figure is an all inclusive figure (except for diesel, gas, pumpouts, etc) and covers regular maintenance, mooring fees (can be over £2000 at some marinas!), BW licence, insurance, call outs, management fees, and winter maintenance works as well. And it includes £1000 contingency sum for those unexpected expenses.

 

Hence, taking 3 weeks on the boat each year works out at approx £350 per week plus running costs. I'm not sure of the exact costs of hiring at peak holiday times, but our last hire week cost almost £1100 back in 2001. Thus I can get 3 weeks shared boating for about the same as 1 weeks hire. Some of our owners take advantage of the "extra free" weeks available and have 4 weeks or more afloat, further reducing the weekly cost.

 

Another plus point for me is that the base for the boat is changed every couple of years allowing me to see other parts of the canal network.

 

Whilst the idea of owning my own boat eventually is a possible goal, (roll on retirement!) working full time and living in east Kent would currently make owning a boat a luxury I might find difficult to justify, as it would involve a lot of travelling around the M25 to get to any part of the network on a regular basis for long weekends etc.

 

I'm not too sure I follow CS Man's arguement about the lost interest on money tied up in the share. Surely anybody who has either a complete boat or just a fraction of a boat has money tied up in it? In fact, by having just a share, I have less money committed than the owner of an entire boat?

 

Sorry to ramble on, whilst it may not suit everybody, given my own circumstances, shared ownership is appropriate for me to allow me and the family to enjoy our canal system

 

Dave

 

PS my only regret? - I wish I started boating on the canals 25 years ago!

[DaveTa]

I'm with CS Man.

 

Shared ownerships are generally a dumb idea. Buy your own boat or hire if you can't afford it or don't want to buy. SO's are the worst of both worlds. You're tied into paying your share of the boat yet can't use it when and where you want. Why pay to be trapped in this way? Compared with that, hiring delivers complete freedom to go when you want and where you want with no commitment. Might cost a bit more depending how often you do it but the freedom aspect is a more than satisfactory trade off.

 

I fail to understand the attractions of SO.

 

regards

Steve

 

"Generally a dumb idea"? For some yes - generally no.

 

Shared certainly will not suit everyone, owning your own boat must be best but if you cannot afford to or cannot use it to its best advantage then shared has distinct advantages over hiring particularly concerning cost. If you have limited holidays and do not want to tie these to boating then shared will not suit, hiring the odd week will be the best option. But if you are not so limited on holidays then hiring is way off in the advantage stakes.

 

My share at around £1000 per year gives me a minimum of three weeks with extra usually available, last year I had five weeks for my money. Add on gas, fuel & pumpouts and depreciation of share value and compare this to typical weekly hire cost of £700-1400 depending on time of year then even this "dumb" share boater can work out that for me I am getting a good deal. Yes, there is compromise when choosing weeks or when voting on a move of base but I, and many, many others, do understand the attractions of shared boating.

 

Regards

DaveT

[anhar]

"Generally a dumb idea"? For some yes - generally no.

 

Shared certainly will not suit everyone, owning your own boat must be best but if you cannot afford to or cannot use it to its best advantage then shared has distinct advantages over hiring particularly concerning cost. If you have limited holidays and do not want to tie these to boating then shared will not suit, hiring the odd week will be the best option. But if you are not so limited on holidays then hiring is way off in the advantage stakes.

 

My share at around £1000 per year gives me a minimum of three weeks with extra usually available, last year I had five weeks for my money. Add on gas, fuel & pumpouts and depreciation of share value and compare this to typical weekly hire cost of £700-1400 depending on time of year then even this "dumb" share boater can work out that for me I am getting a good deal. Yes, there is compromise when choosing weeks or when voting on a move of base but I, and many, many others, do understand the attractions of shared boating.

 

Regards

DaveT

Hello Dave

 

I understand what you're saying, which is why I was careful to use the word "generally" meaning that some will find SO attractive as you say. If it suits you and some others then that's fine. Whatever floats your boat.

 

However I think that for a lot of people interested in narrowboating, probably the majority and hence it is fair to describe this as "generally", it is far too trapping and limiting compared with hiring for the reasons I and others have given. I wouldn't be surprised if many people have gone into an SO and then regretted it. Perhaps you'd let us know if this happens much, if you know, might be interesting to see.

 

regards

Steve

[alan_fincher]

I wouldn't be surprised if many people have gone into an SO and then regretted it. Perhaps you'd let us know if this happens much, if you know, might be interesting to see.

 

regards

Steve

Steve,

 

If that were the case, I'd expect there to be lots of shares in shared ownership boats up for sale at any time. I don't see that.

 

I'd also expect that where they were, the owners would have to take big losses, as there wouldn't be a steady flow of people wanting to get in to it. I don't see that either.

 

A friend I have who has a 1/12 share in a Challenger boat, (the very first one in fact), tells me that people don't get out of it very often, and when they do, the share usually sells on for a good price, and is soon snapped up.

 

And apart from that, there still seems to be an increasing demand, as now boats are coming on-line all the time, with the older ones largely staying in shared ownership.

 

For people who are able to organise their time such that they do, (and want to), use up most of their allotted weeks, the costs are doubtless very much lower than hiring. And they get a boat they know, that is generally well looked after by all those in the share, and which is far better equipped, and nothing like as tatty as an equivalently aged hire boat would be.

 

I know this is one of your frequent hobby-horses, and admit that you do at least now concede that they are right for some people. I really don't understand why you think this can only be a very small number of people ?

 

I'd suggest that FAR MORE people have gone in to being full time boat owners and regretted it. I'm thinking particularly of the large number of people apparently prepared to spend £100K plus on a new build to become liveaboards or continuous cruisers, who have never really tried it in the summer, let alone tried to cope with all the features of boat living in mid winter.

 

Everybody has a different angle to their boating.

[anhar]

...I'd suggest that FAR MORE people have gone in to being full time boat owners and regretted it. I'm thinking particularly of the large number of people apparently prepared to spend £100K plus on a new build to become liveaboards or continuous cruisers, who have never really tried it in the summer, let alone tried to cope with all the features of boat living in mid winter...

Hello Alan

 

Yes I agree with you there. When I was looking at second hand boats it was not uncommon to see very recently built examples for sale, sometimes no more than a year old and often top end models from eminent builders.

 

As I said, whatever floats your boat. If people are happy in SOs then that clearly suits them. I was wondering if many people go into these schemes and then regret being trapped in this way compared with the freedom of hiring, despite the latter's greater cost if done too often. Many won't admit it anyway. You may have heard of Shared Misery Syndrome where people stuck in something that in truth they find undesirable, refuse to admit it and may invite others in to share their wretchedness.

 

To me the whole thing is uncomfortably similar to property timesharing, another thing I wouldn't touch with my bargepole. But having said that many people do enter these arrangements and seem to appreciate it, but as I say I wonder how many are telling the truth.

 

Me, I advocate freedom. I hate being trapped financially into anything where it is avoidable.

 

regards

Steve

Edited November 16, 2006 by anhar