Fitting a Shower!?

[BlueStringPudding]

What's your budget, Wes? I'm sure we can point you in the direction of other boats to look at that are better kitted out for what you want to do and so will likely cost you less in the long run and be less likely to fail to meet the needs of the lifestyle you're trying to create.

 

The argument over CCing in London is a whole n'other issue which I won't go into as it'll take the whole thread off topic as always on this forum. But I do suggest you have a backup plan (eg. Have a think about how far and how much money are you prepared to spend on commuting to London from a range of other waterways should you struggle to CC in London)

Edited October 1, 2014 by BlueStringPudding

[weswally]

What's your budget, Wes? I'm sure we can point you in the direction of other boats to look at that are better kitted out for what you want to do and so will likely cost you less in the long run and be less likely to fail to meet the needs of the lifestyle you're trying to create.

 

The argument over CCing in London is a whole n'other issue which I won't go into as it'll take the whole thread off topic as always on this forum. But I do suggest you have a backup plan (eg. Have a think about how far and how much money are you prepared to spend on commuting to London from a range of other waterways should you struggle to CC in London)

 

My Budget's currently around the £15000 mark. I'm willing to buy something that needs refurbishing, as I work freelance and can take time off when required to renovate. I've looked into Marinas in Essex and Uxbridge as my "second option" though really like the idea of moving around regularly, although winter's coming!

 

My min capacity would be 40" such as the boat listed above. As I'll be sharing it with my girlfriend. Probably max would be 50".

 

There's a few boats on 'duck which I might go view this week/weekend in London which I'll post below:

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/display.phtml?aid=386141

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=386262

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/display.phtml?aid=386034

[BlueStringPudding]

Here's some other places to start for cheaper boats. Don't forget every cheaper boat will need a good survey doing and will need careful thought about whether the hull is in good nick or anything else is tired and needs repairing or replacing. They're likely to be older (or just short!) And it's not unheard of to look for a boat that's a few grand over your budget and put in a cheeky offer for it. That's what I did with mine, and it got accepted.

 

http://www.whiltonmarina.co.uk/used-narrowboats/ (about ten boats well under £20k)

 

http://www.braunstonmarina.co.uk/Findaboat.aspx (two or three under £20k)

 

http://greathaywoodboatsales.co.uk/boat/filterBoats/price/0-20000 (one or two on here)

 

http://www.bwml.co.uk/brokerage/search/,0,,,40,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0 (lots around the BWML brokerages)

 

and there are plenty more brokerages to look at. Good thing about brokerages is you can go there for an afternoon and look round lots of boats in the same place to get an idea of what you can get for your money.

 

Your budget will need to include survey, any repairs, replacement of any consumables including batteries, and of course license and insurance costs. If you include all that, is your budget still £15k? Because £15k is already tight for a 40fter unless you want to buy a plastic boat, which are often much cheaper.

 

So you may want to consider where your compromises may have to appear to be sure you can afford the lifestyle you're after, if £15k doesn't cover everything:

 

• Shorter boat?
• Plastic boat?
• Older boat with potentially higher maintenance costs?
• GRP or Wooden topped boat, again with potentially higher maintenance costs?

 

If CCing in London doesn't work out, which is a very real possibility, you'll also want to cost up your contingency plans:

• Cost of marina mooring in or near London?
• Cost of CCing but commuting from a range of waterways (not cheap in rush hour)?
• Cost of both the above - an online or marina mooring outside of London with a reasonable commute?

 

And what can you live without for a few years until funds become available:

• Fridge? (I did without a fridge for three or four years, just bought fresh food every day)
• 240v electrics (hairdryer, microwave, washing machine etc)?
• Solar panels? (Not cheap but good investment in the long run - get some straight away, eventually or not at all?)

 

And importantly, what does your girlfriend want? If she isn't happy with any of the compromises you might have other issues to contend with.

 

Definitely make a list of everything you want on your boat, from appliances to type of bathroom, and then look at as many boats in person as you can. Only then do you start to see (and smell, and feel and hear) what the options are you might not have though of, but also what the limitations and compromises really are. Amend your list every time you see another boat that has something you really want or is something you really can't see yourself living with. You'll start to learn the warning signs too - stains that indicate windows or roof vents leak, the faint smell of mould covered up by air freshener, oil under the engine and gearbox very recently cleaned up, rust poorly painted over, rattly engine or gearbox noises or bouncy engine on soft mounts, and so on. Back in 2006 when I started boat shopping, I learned about all those lovely things by reading this forum extensively, looking at lots of boats and photographing them from weird angles (like up under the inside of cupboards to spot mould from under the gunnels) and asking lots of questions here on the forum. The knowledge here is brilliant and the majority of the advice based on genuine experience.

 

Good luck with the search.

Edited October 1, 2014 by BlueStringPudding

[Graham Davis]

Wes,

Honest answer; for the 30 litres of fuel plus a good lunch in Cardiff (cheaper than Penarth!!) I wouldn't bother looking at the one in Penarth Marina. I suspect it will need a lot of work to get it to a suitable state to cruise continuously, from more suitable equipment to 3 or 4 batteries, plus it will be expensive to get it onto the main canal system.

 

Look at boats on The Duck, say south of the Midlands, as you now appear to be doing.

If you and the girlfriend haven't done it yet, go and hire a boat for a week or two, and see how you get on.

 

Good luck.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Graham Davis

[weswally]

Good luck with the search.

 

Thanks for your time BluString,

 

In response to your questions / topics:

 

I've been keeping an eye on Whilton marina for a few months, I actually saw that 'Leap of faith' boat listed a while back, and loved the tug style bow. It was £17,900, dropped to £7,900 so I called instantly this afternoon but someone's already put a deposit on it. Apparently she needed overplating. Man, I just want a boat of my own so bad but I think the crux is I need to save a lot more and find something more sustainable to my lifestyle.

 

I've looked into boat finance before, so i could pick up a £30k boat for instance and pay it off, but usually mooring is essential as they won't let one CC with finance.

 

My main things in the boat is a nice kitchen. A good sized bed (I'm a tall lad) and an area to work that's seperate to my living area. I'm a designer / musician by trade, most likely need to hide some instruments under the bed etc.

 

Solar panels - these are one of the first things I looked into when I started my NB hunting crusade a few months back.

 

Once again, thanks for the help Blue String! I might need to keep saving so I don't end up with a hunk o' shite!

Wes,

Honest answer; for the 30 litres of fuel plus a good lunch in Cardiff (cheaper than Penarth!!) I wouldn't bother looking at the one in Penarth Marina. I suspect it will need a lot of work to get it to a suitable state to cruise continuously, from more suitable equipment to 3 or 4 batteries, plus it will be expensive to get it onto the main canal system.

 

Look at boats on The Duck, say south of the Midlands, as you now appear to be doing.

If you and the girlfriend haven't done it yet, go and hire a boat for a week or two, and see how you get on.

 

Good luck.

 

Graham, Thanks for the offer mate.

 

I might ask the seller a few more questions regarding power etc, but the general forum consensus is this boat is not right for me, and me for it at this stage.

 

I think I'll make a trip up to Whilton this weekend and have a gander at what's on offer!

 

Cheers!

[Grace and Favour]

 

Thanks for your time BluString,

 

In response to your questions / topics:

 

I've been keeping an eye on Whilton marina for a few months, I actually saw that 'Leap of faith' boat listed a while back, and loved the tug style bow. It was £17,900, dropped to £7,900 so I called instantly this afternoon but someone's already put a deposit on it. Apparently she needed overplating. Man, I just want a boat of my own so bad but I think the crux is I need to save a lot more and find something more sustainable to my lifestyle.

 

I've looked into boat finance before, so i could pick up a £30k boat for instance and pay it off, but usually mooring is essential as they won't let one CC with finance.

 

My main things in the boat is a nice kitchen. A good sized bed (I'm a tall lad) and an area to work that's seperate to my living area. I'm a designer / musician by trade, most likely need to hide some instruments under the bed etc.

 

Solar panels - these are one of the first things I looked into when I started my NB hunting crusade a few months back.

 

Once again, thanks for the help Blue String! I might need to keep saving so I don't end up with a hunk o' shite!

I have an impression that Whilton Marina are making a good business out of selling boats (some may be well over-priced) to folks wishing to take them down to London area.

 

There will be no harm in you looking at boat sales much further afield that may well not be 'priced with a view to selling it to London' , and thus avoid an unnecessary premium.

 

And you're right in trying to save more for a dearer boat I suspect. Although there will be bargains around at £15K - 'bargains' is a relative statement, and you're quite likely going to have to spend a decent(indecent) additional wedge in order to get it up to a reasonable standard/fir for what you wish to use it for.

 

I would also urge you to arrange a survey on whatever boat(s) you wish to purchase - (and bear in mind that a survey, including lifting out costs etc) will certainly cost you many £hundreds, maybe a £1k to do every time - and whilst it may be invaluable as part of your final purchase process, (it's an excellent bargaining tool) you need to be fairly keen on a boat before you make that decision.

 

And you can always ask the advice of members on here regarding you future potential purchases, of course.

[BlueStringPudding]

As Grace and Favour says - definitely look further afield in order to buy a better value boat than one aimed at London buyers. You can always cruise the boat down to London once you've found the perfect one, which is fun and the best way to learn how to handle it.

 

In terms of finance, it doesn't have to be just a marine mortgage. I bought my boat on an unsecured personal loan from the bank (potentially harder, if you're freelance, admittedly) - so that's potentially up to £25k and I applied for a credit card at the same time which paid for the work that needed doing on the boat, plus the license and wotnot.

[Tom Richmond]

And I bought mine with a personal loan from a friend. I didn't see it coming, but after a particularly harsh conversation with my bank manager speaking to the friend on the phone, he just said "Dude, I COULD lend you £10k if you wanted?" So it's always worth asking around, you never know what might turn up!

 

Agree in principle that more money will make things easier for you, but also don't give up hope, and don't stop looking. I got mine for £14k, which included new BSS, blacking and the lift out costs for the survey. Survey was £300, licence was around £700. So, that is your budget right there! Of course I then went and spent at least another grand on her, but that's boating!

 

Best of luck. Keep us posted.

[MtB]

 

I've looked into boat finance before, so i could pick up a £30k boat for instance and pay it off, but usually mooring is essential as they won't let one CC with finance.

 

 

So let's imagine you've bought a boat on finance, got the mooring etc like a good lad.

 

Provided you're keeping up the payments, how would they know if you cancelled the mooring and went off CCing? And why would they check, or even be bothered, provided you keep up the payments?

 

Just asking to shift your perception of how banks think. I know of at least one boater with a proper marine mortgage who CCs.

 

MtB

[FadeToScarlet]

 

So let's imagine you've bought a boat on finance, got the mooring etc like a good lad.

 

Provided you're keeping up the payments, how would they know if you cancelled the mooring and went off CCing? And why would they check, or even be bothered, provided you keep up the payments?

 

Just asking to shift your perception of how banks think. I know of at least one boater with a proper marine mortgage who CCs.

 

MtB

You also don't have to keep the boat on the mooring. We spent less than 14 days in total on the mooring we got so we could get the mortgage.

[weswally]

definitely look further afield in order to buy a better value boat than one aimed at London buyers.

 

The boat that started this topic was based in Cardiff . I've never been restricted to London. i actually WANT to find one outside London cause I couldn't think of anything more satisfying then cruising it around the UK for a month.

I got mine for £14k, which included new BSS, blacking and the lift out costs for the survey.

 

There is still hope!!

how would they know if you cancelled the mooring and went off CCing?

 

haha, such a good point. I was talking about Royscot larch, who I'd imagine would be pretty onto it. But I'd imagine a lot of people do this.

 

Thanks for the tips guys!!

[MtB]

 

haha, such a good point. I was talking about Royscot larch, who I'd imagine would be pretty onto it. But I'd imagine a lot of people do this.

 

Thanks for the tips guys!!

 

 

Royscot Larch are the lender in the case I am aware of...

 

 

MtB

[Southern Star]

Rather than taking out very expensive boat finance, some unscrupulous individuals have been known to simply borrow money from their bank/building society, telling them it is to buy a car.

[Laurie Booth]

Rather than taking out very expensive boat finance, some unscrupulous individuals have been known to simply borrow money from their bank/building society, telling them it is to buy a car.

Better if you borrow money for a new bathroom or kitchen. 4.9%

Edited October 3, 2014 by Laurie.Booth

[Tom Richmond]

And you wouldn't really be lying either, as you would have a new bathroom, and a new kitchen!