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Steel Narrowboat with Wooden Top and Fibreglass Roof


FloatyMcBoaty

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Hi there, 

 

I'm on the hunt for a narrowboat which I plan to continually cruise and live on. Over the past few months I've been a quietly digesting a tonne of information from these forums and other resources online. I finally have a question to post, so hopefully you might be able to help. 

 

I've seen a boat online which looks pretty tidy, but it states that the top is wood and the roof fibreglass. I've seen quite a lot of negative press around GRP. Should this ring alarm bells? If I go and view her is there anything I should look out for? She's also just been repainted externally - should that also ring alarm bells? 

 

This is the boat in question. Would really appreciate your advice! 

 

Thanks in advance. 

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Not a bad boat, although it doesn't give any age.

Standard, robust engine (if maintained)

 

I think the price is a bit top heavy, but may just be an opening price.  I do think it's a bit of a London price though.  I suspect you'd pay less for its equivalent further North.

 

Having a wooden cabin would hint at 60/70s so although it's not a lot of money it might still be worth a survey as with that type of age you'd want to know the state of hull and bottom thickness.  The photo of the ultrasound reading is meaningless, especially as the boat is in the water.

Wooden cabins are prone to leaking and generally need replacing/steeled over when that happens.

A bodge job often done is to fibreglass clad the roof.  That doesn't mean it's a fibreglass roof, it means the leaky or rotten roof has been clad over with fibreglass, not the same thing.

 

I'd be wary, if you're happy to accept spending money to fit it out and then within a few years start spending money on structural issues then so be it.  I suspect you'd end up spending more than it's worth.

 

Good luck

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Rugby Boat Builders boats of that era came with a wooden top, but few have survived that way - in fact I was thinking the other day that as this was one of the mass builders of the era, how few of the boats one sees at all now.

 

Part of the reason one now sees so few may be that they are reputed to have generally used gravel for ballast, rather than something solid, and that this trapped water on the bottom, and made them rot far more than other steel boats of the era.  If the gauge with a "6.0" on is seriously meant to indicate there is 6mm of steel there, please ignore it.  As far as I know no cheaply available meter can measure steel thickness accurately when the boat is in water.
 

If the top is wooden, but the roof has had a fibreglass skin put over it, that will be because it was leaking.  Furthermore if the cabin sides have been covered in a "perspex like sheeting", I bet that means what's underneath is rotted and/or (if plywood) de-laminated.

I wouldn't touch this boat with a barge pole.  It's priced at "London prices", where far too much money is regularly charged for crocks of shite.

I would say "avoid".

Sorry to know your dreams, but I'm sure you can do better for £20K.

(Is the year of build even mentioned - I can't see it).

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Good advice in both the above posts, I'd add that if you intend to travel north you will find the sides of the cabin top will be vulnerable to damage from both bridges and tunnels, and is almost certainly the product of a workaround for leakage. 

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It's pretty enough and the interior, though a little spartan, looks neat - but you should be able to find a serviceable all-steel boat of a similar size for that money. I would suggest that you have a look around for one.

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One further point.

Whatever the history of the cabin, it is now wide enough at the base that there is no gunwale wide enough to practically walk along, (presumably why there are also apparently no hand or grab rails on the roof either - although the absence of these means there is nothing to stop things rolling off it).

A GRP skin over whatever remained of a wooden roof may be advertised as strong enough to walk on, but is it strong enough to walk on without flexing and maybe cracking the skin, and opening up new leaks.

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I agree, this boat could be the best part of 50 yrs old, this doesn't condemn it as hopeless at all but it just may be. I have a feeling that Rugby boats did not have much of a gunwhale when they were built so perhaps not indicative of many layers of rotten ply. It really needs someone to look carefully at the whole thing, many surveyors would not really know what to look for. Any watermarks or black wood inside is trouble, a good sniff round (literally) some of the dark corners will likely reveal some rot, floor bearers may be soggy and that is without even looking at the hull and machinery. The worst case scenario could be a ton of rotting, leaking wood on a poor hull with a value as a do-er upper of less than 10 thousand. On the other hand it could have been replated and the top maintained in reasonable nick and give years of trouble free (ish) service. As is so often the case you need someone with experience of older boats to look carefully at it - far too many 'experts' don't really have the experience needed when the chips are down. Oh and I agree with Zenataomm, £20k should be a starting price and not the final price whatever it is like.

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45 minutes ago, FloatyMcBoaty said:

Thank you all for your input - very useful. I'm not going to bother looking at her this time, it doesn't sound worth the risk! 

 

I must admit I'm finding boats that meet my budget and spec very few and far between. 

 

Nevermind, let the hunt continue!

I think you have made the right decision. It looked to me as if it had been tarted up to sell. Oh, and who stores logs up against their woodburner? 

Edited by Stewart Kirby
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