How old is too old.

[Tristesse]

I hope you're not all sick of these questions, I'm sure they've probably been asked before. Having been ripped off when buying a car on my own, I don't want to repeat this when buying my boat. So I have a couple of questions. Bearing in my I will not be able to fix things on my own....

1) Is it reasonable to restrict my search only to boats built since 2000 or is that too old?

2) Is it safer to stick to somewhere like Whilton Marina.

 

I know it's only a generalisation and I will have a survey before buying but I need to whittle it down as I can't survey every boat I look at. Thanks.

[LoneWolf]

1) no

2) gosh no

Edited September 2, 2016 by LoneWolf

[Chertsey]

1) no

2) gosh no

My thoughts exactly!

[LoneWolf]

and also, you will be able to fix a lot of things on your own.

 

for example, i knew nowt about engines when i got my boat but i learned to change the filters & what not by reading this forum & having a go

Edited September 2, 2016 by LoneWolf

[Paul C]

If you're not able to fix things on your own, boating is going to be very expensive. Boats aren't, or needn't be, complicated. But boatyards, engineers etc like to charge lots of money for stuff!

[Rickent]

My boat was built in 1981 and am sure it will still be floating when i'm pushing up the daisies.

[Alan de Enfield]

If Whilton was the only place in the universe selling boats, I would stay on land.

 

Do a search and find out the number of boaters who have purchased from Whilton, had a survey, and then the boat sank 'on the way home'.

 

Do a search and find out some of the sharp practices that Whilton partake of.

Edited September 2, 2016 by Alan de Enfield

[Rickent]

If Whilton was the only place in the universe selling boats, I would stay on land.

 

Do a search and find out the number of boaters who have purchased from Whilton, had a survey, and then the boat sank 'on the way home'.

 

Do a search and find out some of the sharp practices that Whilton partake of.

 

 

This ^^^^.

Have a green one.

[Tristesse]

Thanks for replies.

[sharpness]

This ^^^^.

 

I've seen this a few times recently, can someone tell this old dinosaur what the ^^^^ means please.

 

Steve

[zenataomm]

Hang on a second ..........

 

In 2008 I bought a 1969 narrow boat from Whilton.

 

No complaints whatever.

 

I do know my way around a boat, how to capitalise on survey reports and strip down a Lister.

Most importantly I negotiate very well.

 

In my opinion those skills are more important than where you buy from or the age.

[Dave Payne]

 

I've seen this a few times recently, can someone tell this old dinosaur what the ^^^^ means please.

 

Steve

Pointing upwards towards the post and agreeing with it.

^^^^ true dat.

[Rickent]

Pointing upwards towards the post and agreeing with it.^^^^ true dat.

 

 

 

This^^^^^.

[sharpness]

Thanks very much for that, I'll catch up eventually.

 

Steve

[Ange]

Obviously it depends how well it's been maintained, but a quality build, well looked after, is still worth considering whatever its age. I'm speaking as the owner of a 1990 Doug Moore boat - when we had her surveyed 7 years ago there was almost no hull pitting.

 

There are so many variables - who was the builder, has it been moored online or in a marina where the electrickery apparently can cause major problems for the hull, how well has it been maintained, etc.

 

If we were to buy another boat we'd never dismiss a boat purely because of it's age.

 

Whilton's a great place for boat shopping - getting aboard lots of different boats and sussing out what your preferences are with layout, etc. When we were looking we found their boats over priced and their sales team a bit estate agentish for our liking so were never tempted to buy from them. ABNB are not too far from them and are well respected, another not too far away is Braunston Marina. Rugby Boats have sold on behalf of quite a few forum members. These are the ones that spring to mind there are may others - we drove 100s of miles in our boat search and lost count of the number of boats we stepped aboard - it's a big investment and worth spending a lot of time so you get it right for you.

 

 

[Tristesse]

Thanks Ange, the sort of advice I was hoping to get. We all have to start somewhere but it's a job knowing where to start and a bit scary on your own. Thanks again.

[alan_fincher]

We sold a 1995 boat a year and a half ago, and it passed a survey with flying colours.

 

We had owned it about 10 years of its 20 year life. The hull showed minimal corrosion or pitting, and no other significant faults were noted.

 

So I would say restricting your search to only post 2000 is not a good move, particularly as some boats of only 10 years old have already needed replating or overplating due to lack of proper maintenance.

 

How it has been maintained can often be far more important than absolute age. Get a survey, as it is the only real way to answer that question.

 

I would have to be pretty desperate before I bought a boat from Whilton Marina - if you search the forum, it should become fairly apparent why that is!

[Ange]

Thanks Ange, the sort of advice I was hoping to get. We all have to start somewhere but it's a job knowing where to start and a bit scary on your own. Thanks again.

No problem . Iona was our first boat and we were very wet behind the ears when we started out. This forum was a fantastic resource for us, even when I asked questions that had been asked numerous times before and probably exasperated some long time members at the time!

 

Keep asking and good luck.

[MtB]

2) Is it safer to stick to somewhere like Whilton Marina.

 

 

Wow, I can see how you got ripped of buying the car!

 

Even the most basic internet research would I suspect, have revealed Whilton's dreadful reputation.

[Judgejim64]

Try appolo duck

[LoneWolf]

 

 

Wow, I can see how you got ripped of buying the car!

 

Even the most basic internet research would I suspect, have revealed Whilton's dreadful reputation.

 

people do research in different ways. some google it and some ask in forums

[Starcoaster]

My boat was surveyed at 24 years old and had near to the original thickness with minimal pitting, and that's on a Springer, which was built thinner than today's norm and at the budget end of the market.

[DrBurkstrom]

Slightly off topic but but has anyone else found that it only needs you to look at a couple of boats on Whilton's website and their poxy google ad turns up on every other site you visit, more or less forever? The prices are probably over the odds because they have to charge massive fees to feed their online advertising budget.

[Tristesse]

Wow, I can see how you got ripped of buying the car!

 

Even the most basic internet research would I suspect, have revealed Whilton's dreadful reputation.

 

I did Google Whilton. I found articles about dodgy practices but far more reviews and articles which were positive.

Asking about Whilton was just an example to hopefully elicit responses suggesting other places to look.

When you suddenly find yourself on your own and you have to do these things for the first time, it comes as a shock to

find how unscrupulous salesmen can be. Often finding out when it's too late.

[Joe the plumber]

I'm delighted to read what you've just posted.

 

We bought our lovely boat from Whilton Marina in September 2015 and have nothing but praise for them (search my posts from last year for more details).

Nothing I've subsequently found out about the boat has done anything to change my opinion. And we still regularly call in at their cafe as it's good.

They were friendly, helpful and courteous, did everything they said they would and if we were in the market for another, it's the first place we'd visit.

 

You can try here:

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=71979

 

That should give you an idea of what can go wrong (and right!), but note the chap near the end who came on here to complain about them, but whose friend

who did have problems hadn't actually bothered to ask to hear the engine running before he paid tens of thousands of pounds for a boat. That's hardly

the broker's fault.

 

There are a very vocal few who like to try to run them down, and a lot more who have no direct experience of them whatsoever but have read something by

someone else and jumped on the bandwagon, who join in. Given my own excellent first hand experience of buying from them, I'm happy to recommend

them.

 

Just do your own research, note what has been said about checking if they own the boat outright or are selling it for a customer (like an estate agent), have

a survey (usually by Craig Allen or Trevor Whiting) and you'll be okay. And if you post a link to a boat on here first, everyone will be very helpful with thoughts and

suggestions too.

 

Whilton have the largest numbers of boats to view in one place, but as has been said, you're also near to loads of other brokers (Rugby Boats, ABNB, Braunston, Weltonfields, Calcutt, etc) so you can easily have a really good look round. We particularly liked Whilton as they give you the keys and leave you alone to view,

whereas most others have accompanied viewings.

 

At present, it's very much a sellers' market (too many buyers, too few good boats), so please take care.

 

Incidentally, DrBurkstrom, download 'AdBlock Plus' on your computer (search Google - make sure it's from a genuine site), and all the annoying ads from everywhere will disappear, permanently:

Edited September 3, 2016 by Joe the plumber