Was this a scam

[Lettydragon]

We brought a 38ft narrow boat in September that we found on eBay. When we went to view it everything looked fine, we took a friend who has more boating expirence than us and the guy who was selling was happy to give us any advice we asked for. But three days later the head gasket blew and we were stuck for two months until we could afford to get it fixed. At first we put it down to bad luck but soon found out the shower doesn't get hot, the boiler spits flame, the water pump picks and chooses when it works, most the insulation he said was new is rotted, it has only been blackened above the water line when he said it had all been done he even lied about the bulbs being led.

We fixed the engine got two days of travel in before it broke down again. We have no idea what is wrong this time and can't afford a mechanic as all our money has been spent on the boat. We are stuck about 60 miles away from family and work and expecting a baby.

Selling is not really an option as we took out a loan to buy the boat and can't afford anywhere else to live untill its paid off. Is it just our bad luck or do you think the seller knew about these problems. If he did is there anything we can do about it?

 

Sorry about the essay

[Paul C]

How much did it cost, and what age is the boat?

[Starcoaster]

He may or may not have known about each issue, you will never know for sure-he might have bought it to sell on and never really looked into it, taking the spec from the prior seller, or he may have known it all.

Unless you had a survey (I guess not) you are unlikely to have any comeback, and I suspect the receipt or sale terms or Ebay listing or something likely say "sold as seen" or something similar.

Was the Ebay purchase recent-if so, care to share the link?

Edited December 14, 2015 by Starcoaster

[David Mack]

I doubt you'll get anywhere with ebay or the seller.

 

The most important issue now is do you have a home moooring or are you a continuous cruiser. If you have a HM, then as long as you are there you don't need a working engine - you can mannage with a mains hookup or a generator. But if you are a CCer you must have a working engine or you are soon going to come to the attention of CRT enforcement.

 

Meanwhile, if you need a tow to get closer to home, post your location on here and someone may be able to help out.

Edited December 15, 2015 by David Mack

[bigcol]

Surely the person you took with you,mad a look at the boat.

Where was the boat kept

Or Cc, at least checked the systems, even had a long engine trial to wards where you want to go.

I'm hopping that as long as you have a mooring you can at least live on the boats and work through the problems which could be simple fixes.

Fingers crossed for you

 

Col

[patty-ann]

As others have said..where are you? perhaps someone can tow..if u are CC then you could soon have problems..try to work with CRT..how soon is little one due?

I don't think unless in writing you will have any come back on owner...do you have it in writing for e.g. insulation new.

[Bee]

You have been unlucky and your seller was dishonourable. It happens to all of us at sometime or other. Everything is fixable but maybe it will take a while. It would all look better in the summer. Don't worry about CRT, any trouble and just tell them what has happened. Breakdowns happen and having a working engine cannot be guaranteed for anyone, things fail. What engine and what is it not doing? Where are you? Can you get water and charge batteries?

[Southern Star]

Impossible to say really. If I sold my boat tomorrow I could say in all honesty that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and that it covered about 500 miles this year and never missed a beat, but it is 29 years old and there's no guarantee that the head gasket wouldn't fail three days later...

[David Mack]

Don't worry about CRT, any trouble and just tell them what has happened. Breakdowns happen and having a working engine cannot be guaranteed for anyone, things fail.

 

If you keep CRT informed they will be reasonable, but they will also expect you to take steps to get yourself sorted. Another poster here found to his cost that just leaving his boat (licensed as a CCer) on the towpath for months on end, on the grounds that he couldn't afford to get the engine sorted, resulted in him only being offered a 3 month licence when it came up for renewal.

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

If the engine runs low on water the head gasket is vunerable. If the seller stated that the boat had been blacked when it had not then you have a case but only if the seller is a trader. The water pump is probably a loose wire. Boilers of the Morco style will spit flame as they light. The breakdown could be a blocked filter or fuel shortage.

[Murflynn]

when you say the insulation is rotted, exactly what are the symptoms?

insulation is generally non-organic and shouldn't rot.

 

how do you know that the immersed hull was not blacked?

is the boat out of the water for inspection?

Edited December 15, 2015 by Murflynn

[Chewbacka]

If the engine runs low on water the head gasket is vunerable. If the seller stated that the boat had been blacked when it had not then you have a case but only if the seller is a trader. The water pump is probably a loose wire. Boilers of the Morco style will spit flame as they light. The breakdown could be a blocked filter or fuel shortage.

and if the boat was unused for some time before you got it, it could have water in the fuel which has filled the separator.

[Troyboy]

There might be a clue to the sellers knowledge in the name of your boat .

[magictime]

Sounds like the seller has been dishonest in at least a couple of respects, but realistically I'm not sure what you can do about it if this is just a private seller on Ebay. For now, I'd try to get yourself somewhere safe and convenient for family, work and healthcare, on an official winter mooring if you can afford it or having informed CRT of your engine troubles if not. As others have said, someone on the forum may be able to give you a tow.

 

Ultimately it sounds like you're just going to have to do jobs as you can afford them. Things like the boiler and water pump should hopefully be easy enough fixes. Once you've got the engine looked at, I'd seriously consider joining River and Canal Rescue so you're covered in the event of any further breakdowns.

 

And I know you're not going to want to hear this, but if you bought the boat without a survey and the hull still hasn't been checked - not sure about this as you suggest someone has seen the hull below the waterline and noticed it's not been blacked? - that has to be a pretty high priority. You should really be in the picture about whether (potentially very expensive) work is needed on the hull before you spend good money fixing up equipment, insulation etc.

 

I'd try not to dwell too much on the question of whether and how much the seller was intentionally misleading you (seething is not a healthy state of mind to indulge for too long) and focus as much as you can on sorting out problems bit by bit. I can see that it must feel like one thing after another is going wrong, but all those things can be sorted. Very best of luck, and first things first - get help if you need it to get the boat somewhere you can comfortably live, look after yourselves, and start to get problems looked at.

[Tony Brooks]

Pity it is not nearer to Reading so I could have a look but not due near Rugeley until early summer next year.

[RLWP]

We brought a 38ft narrow boat in September that we found on eBay. When we went to view it everything looked fine, we took a friend who has more boating expirence than us and the guy who was selling was happy to give us any advice we asked for. But three days later the head gasket blew and we were stuck for two months until we could afford to get it fixed. At first we put it down to bad luck but soon found out the shower doesn't get hot, the boiler spits flame, the water pump picks and chooses when it works, most the insulation he said was new is rotted, it has only been blackened above the water line when he said it had all been done he even lied about the bulbs being led.

We fixed the engine got two days of travel in before it broke down again. We have no idea what is wrong this time and can't afford a mechanic as all our money has been spent on the boat. We are stuck about 60 miles away from family and work and expecting a baby.

Selling is not really an option as we took out a loan to buy the boat and can't afford anywhere else to live untill its paid off. Is it just our bad luck or do you think the seller knew about these problems. If he did is there anything we can do about it?

 

Sorry about the essay

 

 

Hi there, sorry to hear your lovely Sabb broke down again

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Richard

[Neil Smith]

Have a good read of his description on the add and if it is not as described and is not fit for perpous you can report him to eBay and let them take it up with him and if you paid on PayPal they can refund you but good luck anyway.

 

Neil

[Paul C]

Have a good read of his description on the add and if it is not as described and is not fit for perpous you can report him to eBay and let them take it up with him and if you paid on PayPal they can refund you but good luck anyway.

 

Neil

 

They'll take into account the age of the item and the price. Hence, my post #2.

[IanM]

Have a good read of his description on the add and if it is not as described and is not fit for perpous you can report him to eBay and let them take it up with him and if you paid on PayPal they can refund you but good luck anyway.

 

Neil

 

"Fit for purpose" has no bearing on how it was described on eBay and indeed varies depending on age/condition, etc. If the boat was a few years old then yes, you could argue that the problems the OP is having is not right but if it is 30 years old then you could expect there to be issues.

 

As with buying most second hand things through a private sale it is Buyer Beware. The OP says he had a knowledgeable friend look at the boat so it could be argued that he did take necessary precautions when buying it however not checking everything worked and is as described before parting with any cash seems to be the issue here.

[Neil Smith]

She has been asked how old and how much paid but not been back yet.

 

Neil

[Chewbacka]

Have a good read of his description on the add and if it is not as described and is not fit for perpous you can report him to eBay and let them take it up with him and if you paid on PayPal they can refund you but good luck anyway.

 

Neil

Sadly the PayPal buyer protection specifically excludes a number of things including -

 

vehicles (including, without limitation, motor vehicles, motorcycles, caravans, aircraft and boats)

 

as detailed in

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full?locale.x=en_GB#13

 

That does not stop you going through the legal process assuming you can still find them and they have assets and you can afford the costs and risks associated with losing.

[Tony Brooks]

snip

 

As with buying most second hand things through a private sale it is Buyer Beware. The OP says he had a knowledgeable friend look at the boat so it could be argued that he did take necessary precautions when buying it however not checking everything worked and is as described before parting with any cash seems to be the issue here.

 

I agree but how did said knowledgeable friend miss the bulbs were not LEDs? Me thinks the knowledge may not be as extensive as one may wish.

[IanM]

 

I agree but how did said knowledgeable friend miss the bulbs were not LEDs? Me thinks the knowledge may not be as extensive as one may wish.

 

That's kind of what I was getting at. However I think that the type of lighting may be the least of their worries.

[Athy]

 

I agree but how did said knowledgeable friend miss the bulbs were not LEDs?

Perhaps he's just easily LED.

 

Are LEDs in any way inferior to ordinary bulbs? If not, then it's of no importance which type is fitted in the boat.

[alan_fincher]

Are LEDs in any way inferior to ordinary bulbs? If not, then it's of no importance which type is fitted in the boat.

 

The reverse, or course.

 

In power consumption terms LEDS are vastly better than conventional filament types - typically using about 10th the power fr the same amount of light.

 

Not the biggest issue the OP has, of course, but if they are struggling to generate power, it could be more of an issue than for those on a land-line or constantly on the move.

 

Sadly, as has been suggested, it doesn't sound like the friend with more knowledge has picked up on many of the issues, (although few of us would probably spot a head gasket was near failure, I suspect, and we don't know the circumstances of that failure).

 

Sadly, I agree with those who think there is unlikely to be any redress from the seller, or from e-Bay. I think in these circumstances you are left with what you have bought, and have to then try and overcome this issues, even if the seller has deliberately misled on some points.

 

Not nice though, and I feel for the people who regularly seem to have ended up in situations like this.