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Buying a boat ?...Cautionary tales..BEWARE !!


Bobbybass

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It is possible to have overplating done and still have a problem.  In my case the corrosion started from inside the boat and worked its way out, through the original paper-thin original iron and then through to the overplating.

I was told by a surveyor to descale the rust, which was below the waterline inside the boat,  and repaint the bilges.  As we were doing this, we knocked a hole straight through the hull.  Oops! 

There was no alternative but to have the whole of the back end of the butty remade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yep old working boats wear from the bottom and rot from the top. The thaxted was rebottomed in 1984 fully cut out and painted. By mid 1990s inspite of waxoil and regular cleaning out the 5 year internal descale was pulling off 5 mm plus of scale and the pitting was getting bad and that was the inside. I think she was rebottomed again in 2009 or so.

 

 

 

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35 minutes ago, Bee said:

Most of us own boats that are massively strong for the job they do, we will not be going to sea in them, we require them to keep the water out, overplating does the job.

In fact - Sea going steel boats are considerably thinner (typically around 6mm) than Steel Narrowboats - when you think about it, (the careless handling and multiple contacts with steel pilings, concrete bank sides and brick lock walls, shopping trolley's dragged along the bottom etc.), a Narrowboat has far more potential for damage, than a sea-going boat normally anchored or tied up to a wooden pontoon

  • Greenie 1
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On 13/02/2018 at 08:51, roland elsdon said:

I'm not sure why a well done overplate will make the boat worth the price of a packet of crisps. If the bottom plate is blasted and then over plated properly with decent plate and then two packed you are gaining years of service, (unless the plate is perforated and or subsequently you then let water between the layers.)

 

The problem is the uncertainty. When buying an overplated boat you have no way of telling what lies behind the new overplating. What if the bottom was NOT "blasted then overplated properly"? How would you know? Jim's tale is a good example of overplating going badly wrong.

This is why an overplated boat is regarded with suspicion and the value lower than an equivalent boat with a good hull in the first place.

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2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

In fact - Sea going steel boats are considerably thinner (typically around 6mm) than Steel Narrowboats - when you think about it, (the careless handling and multiple contacts with steel pilings, concrete bank sides and brick lock walls, shopping trolley's dragged along the bottom etc.), a Narrowboat has far more potential for damage, than a sea-going boat normally anchored or tied up to a wooden pontoon

The Dutch steel cruisers which are becoming popular in our neck of the woods are only 4mm plate from new. They have no trouble insuring them yet when a narrowboat gets to that thickness the insurers get worried. Why is this?

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Just now, Naughty Cal said:

The Dutch steel cruisers which are becoming popular in our neck of the woods are only 4mm plate from new. They have no trouble insuring them yet when a narrowboat gets to that thickness the insurers get worried. Why is this?

Could be a combination of factors from the standards of helmsmanship to the environment in which they are used.

Insurers tend to base their premiums on historic claim levels (ie car insurance for under 25 yo being very high), maybe there is a history of more claims from the Inland Waterways as compared with the Open Sea.

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

In fact - Sea going steel boats are considerably thinner (typically around 6mm) than Steel Narrowboats - when you think about it, (the careless handling and multiple contacts with steel pilings, concrete bank sides and brick lock walls, shopping trolley's dragged along the bottom etc.), a Narrowboat has far more potential for damage, than a sea-going boat normally anchored or tied up to a wooden pontoon

The 4mm thickness was the point I was making when I said that a NB was typically 6mm thicker than a 'sea-going boat.

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7 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

If you got so much knocked off in the first instance then no there probably isn't much that the survey will throw up that will get you anymore knocked off.

But it will be a fresh pair of eyes looking over the boat and perhaps flagging things up that your rose tinted spectacles have missed whilst looking around the boat.

 

Not quite true.  The boat was massively over priced and hadn't sold for nearly a year. 

I didn't get as far as the survey....the broker "fessed up" to a few costly repairs after accepting the offer, and as I was about to pay deposit. (and before the survey)

Whilst I pondered my next move (2 days) another buyer moved in and made a higher offer and was happy to foot the 3k repair. 

On one hand i was pleased I found out before we had the survey, on the other hand we would have paid the deposit, paid for the survey and so still progressed to purchase.

C'est le vie

 

Personally I would always use a surveyor....just wanted to point out that one should not use a surveyor and discount the cost thinking they may get more knocked off.

I would pay for a surveyor and write off the cost.

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I negotiated £8k off my last boat purchase by saying I'll just buy it, no surveys or any other formalities if the price is right. Transfer the money into your bank now. 

I actually offered £9k off the asking price, but the chap seemed pleased to be selling to someone who understood what they were buying, and I was willing to compromise ;)

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10 hours ago, Boaty Jo said:

If you do happen to end up in a mess these 'dreamers' have found a solution. (Best hurry as the public's benevolence won't last for ever).

cock-up solution  

Beats the be'jesus out of insurance!  Blunder through life with no back up plan in the sure and certain knowledge that, if it turns out you're an idiot, bigger idiots will bail you out.  Social media - what's not to like?

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On 11/02/2018 at 16:38, Furness said:

A surveyor that you can check by asking on this forum .The vendor/broker will probably refuse a buyer permission to lift floor panels,remove trim panels,and poke a screwdriver into rust bubbles and generally have a forensic investigation of the boat,whereas a surveyor would not be denied that permission.

Even with a survey,you are still taking a chance,as has been reported above.

Buying a boat is rather like taking up with a new woman,you don't really know what you have got untill you have lived with them for a year! 

Is  the broker going to deny full access to the innards if you have asked "is it open to survey?", after all you can just say you are doing your own preliminary survey.

I can only endorse the spouse problem, but give it six months, life's too short.

Edited by LadyG
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I've just got to this one and as usual its gone a bit off the OPs topic ...............

Having spent the last 50 years owning app 15 boats roughly 50% were surveyed and 50% not, more recently we've spent the last few months buying that which we now own with 3 fails en-route - my thoughts/experience on surveys are that they are worth it

If you know what you are doing as your boating career progresses then by all means just survey the hull but if you are new to this great hobby of ours and don't know anything then IMHO you need an expert opinion but NOT someone already connected to the boat, or the broker, or the boatyard in anyway and DONT trust surveys which come with the boat.

Surveys in the last 5 months have stopped us buying 2 pricey post yr20000 boats with poor steel/electrics, poor paint/steel but in the final analysis saved us a lot of money in buying fixable problems we were happy to take on and resolve at our leisure.

My assessment of the market today is your biggest enemy is on board DIY electrics and the corrosion issues they can cause and to a lesser degree poorly prepared/delivered paintjobs which are expensive to fix but do also beware of anything that hasn't been used.

Just heard that a very close friend has been diagnosed with cancer with her husband similarly affected 3 months prior so above all don't get too hung up on problems - a lot of this is common sense and make sure you do end up with a boat and pursuing your dream..................

 

 

Edited by Halsey
accuracy
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