Chinese boats

[blackrose]

I've just seen a brand new 45' narrowboat shipped in from China, imported by an Irish company.

 

Fully fitted with Barrus Shire engine, granite worktops inside, lots of stainless steel fittings and a solid bamboo interior including the floor which lifts up in sections so you can get access underneath.

 

I think the guy only paid £34K for it which is amazing value. The guy who delivered it from the importers claimed that the steel was better than UK steel and was much more difficult to drill, but I don't accept that hardness is necessarily an indicator of good quality steel.

Edited May 3, 2007 by blackrose

[carlt]

I've just seen a brand new 45' boat shipped in from China, imported by an Irish company.

 

Fully fitted with Barrus Shire engine, granite worktops inside, lots of stanless steel and a solid bamboo interior including the floor which lifts up in sections so you can get underneath.

 

I think the guy only paid £34K for it which is amazing value. The guy who delivered it from the importers claimed that the steel was better than UK steel and was much more difficult to drill, but I don't accept that hardness is necessarily an indicator of good quality steel.

 

I've got one! Well people keep asking why I keep paying a licence for 'that junk'.

 

I'll get me coat.

[Gary Peacock]

I had a look at one too and they seem very good value and quality, if they get the longer ones sorted then I think a lot of UK boatbuilders will find there is more money to be made building water/diesel tanks or skips!

 

But the rest of the UK manufacturing industry competes in exactly the same way with overseas products so it's nothing to get upset about. (And there's still a few call centre jobs left at the moment if things get really tough!)

[charles123]

45ft is the maximum size of a shipping container so they wont be able to build boats any bigger than that. They were featured in the can mags a while back and looked to be a very good value. As I say the size available will mean a very limited market

 

Charles

[Gary Peacock]

I think you might find they have plans.

[Chris J W]

45ft is the maximum size of a shipping container so they wont be able to build boats any bigger than that. They were featured in the can mags a while back and looked to be a very good value. As I say the size available will mean a very limited market

 

Charles

 

Couldn't they send it over in two halves?

[Chris-B]

Couldn't they send it over in two halves?

handy for short moorings then

[charles123]

Couldn't they send it over in two halves?

 

They could assemble them in UK to produce a 57ft boat, the bow and fore deck being added later, or ship the full length complete boat as deck cargo but either way its costs more and like any business you do it to make money. They have to sell in the £1k per ft (or just over that price) to be competitve with many UK suppliers so there is not much profit margin to start eroding and therefore a fine line to make the proposal viable. Having said that if they can get a large throughput of sales you can live with a small profit margin

 

Charles

[blackrose]

I think you might find they have plans.

 

They do indeed. The same guy told me he has also ordered a widebeam. I don't know the dimensions but it's certainly bigger than a standard shipping container.

 

On a second look, there's something a bit weird about the boat. Some parts of the steelwork look top quality while other aspects of the welding look a bit clumsy and unfinished (big thick welds which haven't been ground off). The interior is similar: lovely granite and solid wood, but cupboard doors which don't close properly and rough bits where worktops & walls meet.

 

It's probably like Chinese production in any other market. It's starts off with some quality control problems for several years but it will gradually improve as better technical expertise is introduced.

 

Personally I don't think I'd buy one at the moment but would wait until the problems have been ironed out.

Edited May 4, 2007 by blackrose

[John Orentas]

It must be 7 or 8 years since that write-up appeared in one of the comics so they are not new to building. I remember being most impressed by the (what would be in this country) high quality of materials used in particular some very exotic timbers, the area where they were built too, the finished boats were moored on what you would swear was the Trent.

[GLYN FORSTER]

45ft is the maximum size of a shipping container so they wont be able to build boats any bigger than that. They were featured in the can mags a while back and looked to be a very good value. As I say the size available will mean a very limited market

 

Charles

 

If you check out the Whilton Marina websits they have the range of chinese boats, 39/44 or 57 foot, i work there as the engineer and have to admit they are excellent quality for the price, allthough im not to keen on the hull shape.

[Norman Bond]

I have seen the boats at Whilton and have to say that I really do like the shape. Not as elegant as most, but the almost vertical cabin sides make them look much wider than standard and make them a bit more imposing. But as a wide-shouldered fat bas***d I need the room at that height.

 

And I think the well deck and locker look really good.

 

But the 57 footer is the same price as the new Colecraft at Whilton. Admittedly the Chinese boat has a 12mm bottom, but I still think I would go for the Colecraft as I know the kind of quality I would be getting and the Chinese one would still be a bit of an unknown quantity.

 

 

Norman

[blackrose]

I have seen the boats at Whilton and have to say that I really do like the shape. Not as elegant as most, but the almost vertical cabin sides make them look much wider than standard and make them a bit more imposing. But as a wide-shouldered fat bas***d I need the room at that height.

 

And I think the well deck and locker look really good.

 

But the 57 footer is the same price as the new Colecraft at Whilton. Admittedly the Chinese boat has a 12mm bottom, but I still think I would go for the Colecraft as I know the kind of quality I would be getting and the Chinese one would still be a bit of an unknown quantity.

Norman

 

Apologies, I spoke to the importers East-West Marine today and I got the price of the 45' boat wrong in my original post. It's about £47,500 which is over £1000/ft and not as cheap as I first thought.

 

Tell me, how are they transporting 57' boats from China - I thought they had to go in a container?

 

The guy from East-West Marine told me they were trying to build bigger boats but the container was the issue, otherwise bigger boats would have to be placed on top of the other containers on the ship - now that would be a sight worth seeing...

Edited May 4, 2007 by blackrose

[GLYN FORSTER]

Apologies, I spoke to the importers East-West Marine today and I got the price of the 45' boat wrong in my original post. It's about £47,500 which is over £1000/ft and not as cheap as I first thought.

 

Tell me, how are they transporting 57' boats from China - I thought they had to go in a container?

 

 

We just had a 57 footer delivered to Whilton last week, they are put on top of the deck but they now transport them fully covered with tarpaulins to keep the salt water off them, the first 57 footer we had delivered had been exposed to the salt water and all the vents and exterior fittings were all corroded, allthough they are chinese a lot of the equiptment including engines/pumps/inverters e.t.c are all from uk suppliers so spares e.t.c shouldnt be a problem.

[arlow11]

i think the only concern is the steel quality i work in the motor trade ,the cheap parts from china are new look top blocks but only last a year think the metal is made from dogs and old bicycles,but time will tell

[blackrose]

i think the only concern is the steel quality i work in the motor trade ,the cheap parts from china are new look top blocks but only last a year think the metal is made from dogs and old bicycles,but time will tell

 

Inscrutable those Chinese boats....

[Canal Shop Man]

From what I've seen of these chinese boats, I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. The materials used in places are totally unsuitable, the quality control is non-existent and many of the parts used are totally non-standard (at least in this country).

 

If you want a new boat cheap, you will be hard pressed to beat them, but surely the point of buying one is to get good use out of it and then get good money for it when you resell it. I think some of these will be going VERY cheap in a few years time . . .

[blackrose]

From what I've seen of these chinese boats, I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. The materials used in places are totally unsuitable, the quality control is non-existent and many of the parts used are totally non-standard (at least in this country).

 

If you want a new boat cheap, you will be hard pressed to beat them, but surely the point of buying one is to get good use out of it and then get good money for it when you resell it. I think some of these will be going VERY cheap in a few years time . . .

 

You're probably right, I used to live in Japan and the more I look at this boat the more Asian it looks. But it's like everything else, 20 years ago you wouldn't have bought Chinese clothes - now it's almost impossible to avoid them. Eventually they'll sort out the quality contol & one of these importers will realise they've got to ship a well made UK narrowboat out there for them to copy before they get it right.

[Chris J W]

Could someone post a link / piccy - curious to see these beasts of which you speak.

[Theo]

Could someone post a link / piccy - curious to see these beasts of which you speak.

 

There was one featured in WW but I fear that I did not like that one a bit! There was too much chrome on it. I did not notice the lack of tumblehome though, regarding which, although I can see the utility in vertical sides I think that sides which are too vertical make the boat look too much like a bus.

 

Mais chacun a son gout. And I would defend the right of anyone to think that their boat is the best on the canal.

 

Nick

Edited May 8, 2007 by Theo
Poor French

[Scotty]

they're cropping up all over the place

 

boatsandoutboards.co.uk

 

aspleywharfmarina.co.uk (very red!)

 

aspleywharfmarina.co.uk

 

www.LuxuryNarrowboats.co.uk

 

Walton Marine (best photos)

 

 

Forgot Whilton, they have these pdf's

 

44ft, 39ft, 57ft

Edited May 6, 2007 by Scotty

[Chris J W]

they're cropping up all over the place

 

<SNIP!>

 

Probably as I'm a newbie, but they don't look too bad to me.

[bramley]

Probably as I'm a newbie, but they don't look too bad to me.

 

 

when i bought my last nb from whilton i was moored up next to one of these chinese boats, the fella had just bought it, there was a messy amount of sealent around the windows, but inside looked lovely, all for 40k, i bet discount could be possible too if tried hard enough

 

cheap and reasonable quality,

Ross

[Raymondo 1]

From what I've seen of these chinese boats, I wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole. The materials used in places are totally unsuitable, the quality control is non-existent and many of the parts used are totally non-standard (at least in this country).

 

If you want a new boat cheap, you will be hard pressed to beat them, but surely the point of buying one is to get good use out of it and then get good money for it when you resell it. I think some of these will be going VERY cheap in a few years time . . .

 

 

Interesting comments we are more than happy with our East West Marine Boat.. All our materials are fine!!!

12mm plate is thicker than most new boats, in our understanding.

 

The quality of our boat is very good and we have no complaints. All the equipment is of the highest quality and supplied by UK manufacturing companies not sure what the person who posted this means about non-standard?

 

Before we purchased this boat we spent a considerable amount of time looking at "new Qaulity boats" All fitted out with MDF and Nail guns. Our boat is all Oak and Bamboo, so no complaints here...

 

We are not alone thinking this way I'm in contact with other owners who are more than happy with the build quality, and fittings, we are all enjoying our boats and are looking forward to many happy years of boating thanks to East West.

[David Schweizer]

I have only just looked at the pictures of these boats, and whilst they are certainly not the ugliest boats ever built, they certainly are not the prettiest. The Bow is quite high and looks really odd with only one rubbing strake, at that size it could well do with at least two and preferrably three. I am also uncunvinced by the way the stern end lurches upwards without any attemt at an elegant curve.

 

I think that most of the builders in this country do not have too worry too much about the Chinese competition, whilst asthetics is still an imprtant aspect to buying a boat. Of course they could improve the appearance, then there could be a challenge.

Edited June 2, 2007 by David Schweizer