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Buying used narrowboat


bmandce

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Hi All

 

We are from abroad and new members to the forum. We have holidayed on narrowboats several times and have been smitten!! On retirement later this year, we plan to buy and live aboard a(n?) nb. We have been "trolling" the For Sale sites and have found a number that we would consider buying. We plan to fly over to the UK in late Feb / early March to follow up on them. One of these is a J M Clarke build. We do not know anything about the quality of this builder/fitter. Can anyone out there help or advise?

 

Thanks,

Brian and Cecilia

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You certainly will open up a can of worms asking such a question

 

But if you do remember that there are two sides to every story

 

And you might only get one side here

 

 

Oops! Did not intend to cause dissention or ruffle any feathers! This is our first post and having read how helpful the forum can be, we decided to ask what we thought would be a simple question. It is a genuine query, as we do not want to commit ourselves to a "lemon" or to waste resources pursuing an avenue that is not feasible. Thanks for your comments, bargeeboy.

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Oops! Did not intend to cause dissention or ruffle any feathers! This is our first post and having read how helpful the forum can be, we decided to ask what we thought would be a simple question. It is a genuine query, as we do not want to commit ourselves to a "lemon" or to waste resources pursuing an avenue that is not feasible. Thanks for your comments, bargeeboy.

 

If you have been perusing "for sale" adverts, you will have noticed that some apparently similar boats (same length, same age as each other) vary widely in price. That should be a guide to which makers have better reputations.

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If you have been perusing "for sale" adverts, you will have noticed that some apparently similar boats (same length, same age as each other) vary widely in price. That should be a guide to which makers have better reputations.

 

That is the conundrum - the boat in question appears to be reasonably priced in comparison, but has been on the market for a while - one wonders why!!!

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That is the conundrum - the boat in question appears to be reasonably priced in comparison, but has been on the market for a while - one wonders why!!!

 

Could you give us a link to the boat you're looking at? Some that I looked at when I started looking at a few years ago have only just sold - mainly as they were stupidly overpriced in the first place.

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Bmandce, perhaps it has an unusual shape, or a non-standard interior layout ? As shown by the brave new design ventures which have been heralded in the boatymags in recent years, and then have been spotted a couple of years later at the back of a marina at a knock-down price, the majority of boat buyers want something normal and safe (I do not fit this category, but then I am not a majority), and anything too innovative is viewed with deep suspicion.

Edited by Athy
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I'll add my comments if I may. Price is not a guarantee of the quality of the boat, as I am sure most people are aware. Its not like buying a car where you can look at a number of vehicles of the same age same extras and compare price. Even if find two boats the same one might smell and the other not!

 

Do not discount any boat because of its price, it could be the one for you. Our last boat was a 60ft Hessford with a cruiser stern and BMC1.8 not every ones cup of tea but we had a great time with it for four years. It was certainly more fum than not having a boat.

 

Wrinkley

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Thank you Chris, Athy and Wrinkley. Some interesting and helpful replies. We will continue to build up a list of boats to look at on our trip in Feb/March. We have a few non-negotiables that we require in our "future home". eg 58' to 60', shower not bath, pumpout not cassette, min 4'6" double. We would like to do a large amount of Cruising, possibly even CC (maybe not in winter the first year - which means a Winter mooring). Any comments or advice??

bmandce

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My first advice would be to not get too rigid in your 'non-negotiables' - when I was looking for "Jean Margaret" I was utterly set on having a cruiser-stern with pump-out loo, no other boat would do. And what did I get in the end? A trad stern with cassette loo!

 

Should you decide to go down the CC route, don't get too hung on having a winter-mooring straight away. The cut is an amazing place in winter (see this recent thread) and an experience not to be missed. The main issue for the winter time, really IMHO, is the stoppages and if you can work around them. I've found that getting a winter mooring is generally pretty easy even at short notice, so keep it mind, but don't let it influence your plans unduly.

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Hi bmandce.

 

I'd second the comment about not having too many prerequisites in mind before you choose boats to view. When you find the right boat, you should get that 'wow' factor and it's strange how then, certain things you thought were non-negotiable suddenly become optional. For the same reason, I'd not get too hung up on a particular builder; in the used market there are good and poor examples in pretty much every sector and, for example, no amount of quality joinery will make up for a dog of a layout. Main thing I would say is go and see as many boats as you can before you decide.

 

Mike.

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Thank you Chris, Athy and Wrinkley. Some interesting and helpful replies. We will continue to build up a list of boats to look at on our trip in Feb/March. We have a few non-negotiables that we require in our "future home". eg 58' to 60', shower not bath, pumpout not cassette, min 4'6" double. We would like to do a large amount of Cruising, possibly even CC (maybe not in winter the first year - which means a Winter mooring). Any comments or advice??

bmandce

Winter is the best time to cruise. Mostly real boaters around.

Sue

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Winter is the best time to cruise. Mostly real boaters around.

Sue

I am always bemused by that sort of subjective comment, What is the definition of a "real boater"?

 

I consider myself to be a boater in so far as I own a boat and go boating, but there are clearly other crieria which need to be applied, in order to qualify for the much desired prefix "real".

 

Please enlighten me so that I can consider whether I am eligible to apply for membership of this much revered minority.

Edited by David Schweizer
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Hi once again

Thought you had scared us off did you? Not so easy to do I'm afraid. We have listened to your advice - thought about it long and hard, read some more, done some more research (thanks for the links Churchward) and generally mulled! The upshot of which is that we have booked our flights and will be on our way in late February. Alea iacta est!

 

We have made a number of appointments to see boats and still have a broker or two to contact. Our non-negotiables are now a "starting point" and hopefully we can be a bit flexible. As you say, it's the wow factor that's important, as well as layout.

 

Thaks for all the advice and comments. However, we are not finished yet and might well be back with some technical questions.

 

Cheers

bmandce

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One of your first priorities when you land here, apart from donning extra layers of clothing, should be to gain access to a computer, so that you can keep in touch with this forum and let us know your progress towards ownership.

Betting is one of the few vices which I have succeeded in relinquising, but I'll wager a round of drinks that you end up with a boat which is completely different from the one which you imagined. Trouble is, if I'm wrong you would have to cruise right down here to Norfolk to collect your winnings

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Mr. Papa, you and I both know where it is! A hard core of brave souls found out where it was as they sallied forth to the 2007 IWA rally, but I suspect that to 90% of indigenous boaters the Middle Levels are only a rumour - so what chance have our Yarpie friends got of ever finding them? I hope they will try, though.

Are you at Fox's?

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Mr. Papa, you and I both know where it is! A hard core of brave souls found out where it was as they sallied forth to the 2007 IWA rally, but I suspect that to 90% of indigenous boaters the Middle Levels are only a rumour - so what chance have our Yarpie friends got of ever finding them? I hope they will try, though.

Are you at Fox's?

 

They're all scared of the currents where the water cascades over the edge of the world (but we know it's just the top gate of a Nene lock when the level is up).

 

Not at Fox's; we're at Bill Fen in Ramsey which is even further away from the mainline. We've met strangers on the way there, and the look of relief is wonderful. "We've not seen a boat all day", they say. "We though we we're lost forever!".

 

MP.

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We have visited Bill Fen by land, and almost by boat: last year we set off to cruise to ramsey, moored at Floods Ferry overnight, but the alternator, so called because it alternates between working and not working, failed so we had to turn back and go to Fox's for repairs. There is a moorer there who has a Gardner engine and whose profession is repairing and selling long case clocks; I must contact him, as one of his clocks which we bought needs looking at.

...and after that nicely off-topic diversion through the waterways wilderness, back to our friends' boat search!

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