Looked at my first boat today

[Stilllearning]

Yep, welcome to the wacky world of boat-hunting!

When viewing adverts, try to ask yourself, what is NOT included in the description or the photos. Examples may include no interior photos (repainted outside, shambles inside), no exterior photos (nice interior, plug-ugly boat), no photo of engine (is it rusty and bathing in a pool of oil?)...I think you get the idea.

If a boat is offered with a mooring, beware of the shot which shows a peaceful view of tree-lined fields with spray-on sheep just across the canal; just out of shot there may be St. Hades' Industrial Estate or the Merry Dumper tip recycling depot.

Exactly what Athy says: the same is true of houses when looking at them in estate agent ads. Yes I am an estate agent and I try to show the bits that others don't, it saves me having to explain and or apologise to potential buyers whose time I would have otherwise wasted.

[Naughty Cal]

Yep, welcome to the wacky world of boat-hunting!

When viewing adverts, try to ask yourself, what is NOT included in the description or the photos. Examples may include no interior photos (repainted outside, shambles inside), no exterior photos (nice interior, plug-ugly boat), no photo of engine (is it rusty and bathing in a pool of oil?)...I think you get the idea.

If a boat is offered with a mooring, beware of the shot which shows a peaceful view of tree-lined fields with spray-on sheep just across the canal; just out of shot there may be St. Hades' Industrial Estate or the Merry Dumper tip recycling depot.

Reminds me of the advertising blurb for an executive housing estate in Torksey Golf Course. The picture on the front of the glossy advertisements had masked out the cooling towers of the local power station

 

Can't find the original adverts now but one of the houses is for sale here for £1.1 million

 

https://www.propertypigeon.co.uk/property-search/lincoln/ln1-1534322047

[Athy]

The picture on the front of the glossy advertisements had masked out the cooling towers of the local power station

 

Can't find the original adverts now but one of the houses is for sale here for £1.1 million

 

]

 

Or perhaps "for a cool £1.1 million".

[Saul Bee]

Yep, welcome to the wacky world of boat-hunting!

When viewing adverts, try to ask yourself, what is NOT included in the description or the photos. Examples may include no interior photos (repainted outside, shambles inside), no exterior photos (nice interior, plug-ugly boat), no photo of engine (is it rusty and bathing in a pool of oil?)...I think you get the idea.

If a boat is offered with a mooring, beware of the shot which shows a peaceful view of tree-lined fields with spray-on sheep just across the canal; just out of shot there may be St. Hades' Industrial Estate or the Merry Dumper tip recycling depot.

Yeah I try to be a bit cynical, right up to the point where if a boat looks really nice at a cheaper than average price I imagine it is just about to sink. On my budget I don't expect to get everything I would like straight off and know that there are some compromises I will have to make.

Still I am fairly sure that the right boat for me is out there.

[Laurie Booth]

Yeah I try to be a bit cynical, right up to the point where if a boat looks really nice at a cheaper than average price I imagine it is just about to sink. On my budget I don't expect to get everything I would like straight off and know that there are some compromises I will have to make.

Still I am fairly sure that the right boat for me is out there.

The boat will find you.

[Jak]

Stop it with the sinking! All boats are about to sink (I'm sure I'm quoting from here). It's just a matter of how long it takes. You lot have me paranoid about drips from the stern gland, but still afloat after a few months on

[Dave Payne]

When I first had my boat I could hear water dripping somewhere at the stern, inside the cabin, I spent a good couple of hours with my ear to the floor searching the dripping noise and checking the waterline outside to see if I was sinking.....

 

 

Turned out to be the invertor on standby mode, pulsing noise sounding like dripping.

[Naughty Cal]

When I first had my boat I could hear water dripping somewhere at the stern, inside the cabin, I spent a good couple of hours with my ear to the floor searching the dripping noise and checking the waterline outside to see if I was sinking.....

 

 

Turned out to be the invertor on standby mode, pulsing noise sounding like dripping.

When we first bought our boat the sound of water lapping on the bow really bother Liam.

 

I told him he only needed to worry if the water stopped lapping on the bow chines as this meant that the boat was sitting lower in the water and was probably sinking

[Trillian]

When I first had my boat I could hear water dripping somewhere at the stern, inside the cabin, I spent a good couple of hours with my ear to the floor searching the dripping noise and checking the waterline outside to see if I was sinking.....

 

 

Turned out to be the invertor on standby mode, pulsing noise sounding like dripping.

I recently spent a long time trying to work out what was dripping only to finally realise it was my husbands home made wine happily fermenting on the kitchen side.

[Saul Bee]

yeah send me a pm if you want to .. I will be around till Monday 19th then locking the doors and throwing away the keys till 3rd Jan

Before anyone says anything we brokers are allowed time off as well

Chris

 

Chris fantastic to meet you today, the coffee was excellent, the banter fine and I was glad you had the opportunity to show off your remarkable manoeuvring skills.

Shame you didn't manage to sell me a boat but, there is still time (though not until January obviously) and having met you I feel a hell of a lot more positive about the whole thing.

Really sound advice even when you realised that I was not going to be walking out with the keys to SMEW and some really really nice photo's.

I will definitely keep you in the loop with my future boat hunting enterprises, thanks so much.

[mark99]

I would get and see Chris B a bit sharpish, you will learn a lot even if you dont like the boat. There are brokers and brokers and Chris is the good kind but be prepared to take all day as he can talk the hind leg off a donkey.

Chris does occaisionally stop yakking. Normally pauses to drop a pint down his neck or have a drag off the vape.

 

Seriously Chris won't stitch any one up or give them a bum steer. He would rather not sell a boat than sell the wrong boat to the wrong person. Nor would he try sell a rubbish boat.

Edited December 27, 2016 by mark99

[Ratty69]

Hi everyone,

Another newbie here looking to find a home on the water.

With regard to the integrity of the hull, if looking at a sailaway should I be asking about the grade of steel used? if so, what do i want the answer to be?

 

Thanks

[Alan de Enfield]

........ should I be asking about the grade of steel used? if so, what do i want the answer to be?

 

Thanks

 

Not really, I think it would be more important that you have some proof of 'ownership' at each of the stage payments. There have been a number of builders going 'bump' and people losing their money.

 

In the 70's & 80s (Springer) boats were built with second hand steel reclaimed from gas manometers (those big tanks that supplied gas to a whole city), many of those boats are still happily 'floating' so steel type is of little relevance - how it is looked after, and where it is kept is much more important.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Alan de Enfield

[Ratty69]

Thanks Alan.

 

Any knowledge on West End Marina boats?

 

on the surface they appear to be quite cheap .. this is making a few alarm bells ring

[Alan de Enfield]

Thanks Alan.

 

Any knowledge on West End Marina boats?

 

on the surface they appear to be quite cheap .. this is making a few alarm bells ring

 

Assuming you mean 'West End Marine' I know nothing of them personally, doing a search gives worrying information :

 

A thread on another Forum had to be 'temporarily closed down' whilst the firm was subject to legal action.

There are further examples of 'legal action' regarding 5 year old engines with all ID ground off them (and solicitors tracing the original sale to a tractor manufacturer in Italy) being sold as 'new boat engines'.,

Then the sale of a 'widebeam' narrowboat that was stuck in a yard behind shops in a town in Yorkshire and couldn't be lifted high enough to clear the shops and street lights.

 

This maybe a totally different company, but the 'boss' (Sam) operates under several different company names.

 

As always, do your own research before parting with any money.