Your opinion on these?

[Catnip King]

All seem over priced to me. I also don't really like any of them so I can't give a proper opinion. My advise is don't be so set on such a new boat go a bit earlier in age and you will get a better deal you just need to do your surveys.

[LadyG]

I love Eventide, except for that one essential for myself [looking for a liveaboard] .......... a multi fuel stove.

Edited May 13, 2017 by ladygardener

[LadyG]

34 minutes ago, Catnip King said:

All seem over priced to me. I also don't really like any of them so I can't give a proper opinion. My advise is don't be so set on such a new boat go a bit earlier in age and you will get a better deal you just need to do your surveys.

But, if theboat is over 20 years, might it not need asurvey every 6 years, for insurance?

P assume the asking price is  a guide price, not always, but often oowners want the money and will take a cut.

Edited May 13, 2017 by ladygardener

[Catnip King]

Just now, ladygardener said:

But, if theboat is over 20 years, might it not need asurvey every 6 years, for insurance?

Usually its 30 years but can depend on the insurer. I don't think a survey is a big deal anyway get it done when you get the blacking done. But entirely down to you but just stating my opinion

[Catnip King]

This time of year most are going to be inflated though that is the trouble. Winter is the best time to buy a boat in my opinion.

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, Catnip King said:

This time of year most are going to be inflated though that is the trouble. Winter is the best time to buy a boat in my opinion.

 

Disagree.

The best time to buy is when you find the right boat. Or rather it finds you and you'll feel strangely driven to get yer cheque book out. 

Boats are like cats. 

[WotEver]

7 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Boats are like cats.

They spend most of their time staring at you with distain?

[MtB]

7 minutes ago, WotEver said:

They spend most of their time staring at you with distain?

 

Dogs have owners, cats have staff. As do boats...

But when you live aboard it becomes a symbiotic relationship.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Mike the Boilerman

[Catnip King]

39 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Boats are like cats. 

That explains why I end up in cuts after trying to give my engine a bit of love

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Catnip King said:

That explains why I end up in cuts after trying to give my engine a bit of love

 

Ermmm... that could be interpreted the wrong way haha!

[Neil Smith]

The first boat says 2011 but that might be when it was first commissioned  or registered, it might have taken years to fit out.

Neil.

[Sally Grim]

11 hours ago, ladygardener said:

I love Eventide, except for that one essential for myself [looking for a liveaboard] .......... a multi fuel stove.

 

11 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

(....) Or rather it finds you and you'll feel strangely driven to get yer cheque book out.

I also wish for a multi fuel stove. But apart from that, Eventide looks so very lovely. Most of what we are looking for, even a washing machine fitted. We probably can´t do better, unless we build one ourselves.

But the odd thing is, I don´t feel the urge to get my check book out. Maybe it is too perfect looking. I like houses, boats and such to have a soul. (Which is a very dangerous trait of my character.)

 

1 hour ago, Neil Smith said:

The first boat says 2011 but that might be when it was first commissioned  or registered, it might have taken years to fit out.

Neil.

I have taken it for granted that when it said that the boat was from 2011, that referred to when the hull was built. Isn´t that generally so?  

[Stilllearning]

18 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

 

I also wish for a multi fuel stove. But apart from that, Eventide looks so very lovely. Most of what we are looking for, even a washing machine fitted. We probably can´t do better, unless we build one ourselves.

But the odd thing is, I don´t feel the urge to get my check book out. Maybe it is too perfect looking. I like houses, boats and such to have a soul. (Which is a very dangerous trait of my character.)

 

I have taken it for granted that when it said that the boat was from 2011, that referred to when the hull was built. Isn´t that generally so?  

 

18 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

 

I also wish for a multi fuel stove. But apart from that, Eventide looks so very lovely. Most of what we are looking for, even a washing machine fitted. We probably can´t do better, unless we build one ourselves.

But the odd thing is, I don´t feel the urge to get my check book out. Maybe it is too perfect looking. I like houses, boats and such to have a soul. (Which is a very dangerous trait of my character.)

 

I have taken it for granted that when it said that the boat was from 2011, that referred to when the hull was built. Isn´t that generally so?  

If it was built in 2011, shouldn't there be documentation for the RCD with build date etc all on file?

[Neil2]

3 hours ago, Sally Grim said:

 

I also wish for a multi fuel stove. But apart from that, Eventide looks so very lovely. Most of what we are looking for, even a washing machine fitted. We probably can´t do better, unless we build one ourselves.

But the odd thing is, I don´t feel the urge to get my check book out. Maybe it is too perfect looking. I like houses, boats and such to have a soul. (Which is a very dangerous trait of my character.)

Time for a bit of devil's advocacy i think.. 

Eventide might be a nice boat but to anyone with experience she's still way overpriced.  

In today's world 45 is a small boat, especially for a semi trad.  The key dimension is cabin length which is only 28', this means that you have a very small saloon, only 8' long. You might think that's ok but for two people it is a bit tight, and it's probably why there's no solid fuel stove.  And the lack of a stove on a narrowboat is a serious omission. If you're shelling out £50k for a boat it shouldn't be a compromise.    

[Richard10002]

Eventide looks very similar to my boat, albeit a bit better presented. 45ft Gary Gorton hull 2001 build.

i paid the asking price of a keen seller, £18000, surveyor said it was worth £26k, and I would definitely have paid £23k or so if that was what it had been asking.

At £50k for Eventide, I'd say they are taking the mickey and looking for a mug.

i like the look of the third one, Honey B, but it also feels expensive - at your budget or a bit over, it might be a good buy.

[Sally Grim]

It was my thought too, that Eventide is a nice boat, but too expensive, given that it is 18 y.o. Lots of quality details, but still somewhat old. So I´m in a way glad to hear that my novice opinion was not far out. 

Of the three I actually like Honey B the most. It looks like someone has enjoyed it. And as I said, I like boats to have a feel to them. But it is a bit over budget. Which we have already stretched from what we started with. And it also is longer than what we planned for (appr. 50 ft).

So I would greatly appreciate any further comments on Honey B. Is there any warning signs that I need to be aware of? 

[WotEver]

47 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

So I would greatly appreciate any further comments on Honey B. Is there any warning signs that I need to be aware of? 

It looks about £10k too much to me. 

I wonder how the Axiom prop performs...

[alan_fincher]

I think I'm going to be out of line with many here but Eventide just looks so ridiculously overpriced, I couldn't take it seriously, however well maintained.

Although I am one of those that is far from a fan of buying from Whilton, I can't immediately see why people have such a downer on The Black Pig.  There is no reason I can see to question the fact it is a 2011 boat, and normally I would have thought the starting price is not bad for a boat of 50', and only 6 years old, reasonably well appointed.

Whilton are notorious for the boats not being well presented for sale, but that doesn't make it a bad boat, and many have bagged a relative bargain as a result.  The interior doesn't look that uncared for to me and it wouldn't have to sit long under those trees at Whilton for the hull to look like it does - it will wash off.

I'm not keen on that reverse layout, and if the plan is to any kind of scale, it seems to use too much length for bedroom, and not enough for living area.  I would hate to have a cross bed in a leisure boat, but many like them. (Actually looking at the pictures the bedroom is not laid out quite like the plan shows, I think).

There seems to be no inverter listed, but that can be changed.  You need to get the location of the solid fuel stove checked out - it looks surprisingly close to its surround, so all the right rules about fire-board need to have been followed, or it could be a fire risk.  Look to see if anything is scorched for starters.

I assume you are "opinion neutral" about toilet type, as this one has a cassette toilet, whereas Black Pig is a dump through.  It would affect my choice, as changing from one to the other can be far from trivial.

 

[Neil2]

39 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

It was my thought too, that Eventide is a nice boat, but too expensive, given that it is 18 y.o. Lots of quality details, but still somewhat old. So I´m in a way glad to hear that my novice opinion was not far out. 

Of the three I actually like Honey B the most. It looks like someone has enjoyed it. And as I said, I like boats to have a feel to them. But it is a bit over budget. Which we have already stretched from what we started with. And it also is longer than what we planned for (appr. 50 ft).

So I would greatly appreciate any further comments on Honey B. Is there any warning signs that I need to be aware of? 

You often find cruiser stern boats with the bed right at the back end up having to fit a pram cover, that's ok if you don't mind putting the thing up and down every time you go cruising.   Bear in mind that being a cruiser there's probably not much more cabin room than a 45 foot trad.  And you don't have to put a silly tent up on a trad.  Generally, again it is overpriced by a good £10k I reckon.

The problem at the moment is brokers and owners are optimistically pricing boats because there is every chance that a naive potential buyer will come along and if the owner is in no hurry to sell why not wait and see what happens.  Boats on brokerage have no mooring fees to pay but there is commission on the sale so they are inclined to hold out for the highest price they can get.  

If you only want a 45 foot boat don't go looking at longer boats even if they do tick all the right boxes, as I said earlier 45 footers are regarded as small boats these days so the market is smaller.  If you could go down to 40 foot there's real bargains to be had but the issue with the extra five foot is it allows you to have a permanent bed and a decent size saloon. 

[alan_fincher]

53 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:

So I would greatly appreciate any further comments on Honey B. Is there any warning signs that I need to be aware of?

Looks overpriced again to me.

I would politely say that if you are looking at.....

Boats that are 45 feet, 50 feet and 56 feet
Boats that are reverse and conventional layout
Boats that are cruiser stern and semi trad
Boats that are cassette and pump out loos

you probably have not thought enough about what you actually need to be ready to make the right decision.

Of course other people will say you will know when you have found the right boat, but you still don't seem to be at that place either, so possibly none of these are the right boat for you?

[alan_fincher]

5 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

The problem at the moment is brokers and owners are optimistically pricing boats because there is every chance that a naive potential buyer will come along and if the owner is in no hurry to sell why not wait and see what happens.  Boats on brokerage have no mooring fees to pay but there is commission on the sale so they are inclined to hold out for the highest price they can get. 

If you talk to brokers at the moment the "problem", (actually a "problem" only if you are a buyer!), is that for conventional boats of a reasonable age, and fairly standard layout, demand is grossly outstripping supply, meaning that prices being asked for this type of boat have risen across the board, and that sellers are banking far more out of the sale than they might have a couple of yeras ago.

In the current political and Brexit uncertainty, people don't seem to expect this to change, so I think to be successful in buying many are now paying a lot more than we would have thought "the right price" only a couple of years back.

[Neil2]

1 minute ago, alan_fincher said:

If you talk to brokers at the moment the "problem", (actually a "problem" only if you are a buyer!), is that for conventional boats of a reasonable age, and fairly standard layout, demand is grossly outstripping supply, meaning that prices being asked for this type of boat have risen across the board, and that sellers are banking far more out of the sale than they might have a couple of yeras ago.

In the current political and Brexit uncertainty, people don't seem to expect this to change, so I think to be successful in buying many are now paying a lot more than we would have thought "the right price" only a couple of years back.

I suppose there are those who will argue that the current situation is just market forces at play so in that respect a boat cannot be "overpriced" if someone is prepared to buy it.  But I reckon the upper end of the market is propped up by people with little or no experience and a little thought applied would show these inflated prices up for what they are.  Eventide is a good example of this.  Someone will buy that boat at or near to the asking price.  You know and I know and countless other members know that you could buy a much cheaper boat and bring it up to the same spec as Eventide for well under £50k, so in that respect it is a rip off.  But no broker is going to tell a potential buyer with a wad of cash there might be an alternative. 

[mark99]

The Reeves Hulls are generally thought of as very well built but they have a distinctive bow snub shape - some people find that bow form unattractive. (But most people don't give a hoot re bow form).

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, mark99 said:

The Reeves Hulls are generally thought of as very well built but they have a distinctive bow snub shape - some people find that bow form unattractive. (But most people don't give a hoot re bow form).

I thought ours was quite 'nice'

[mark99]

They do seem to have all convex bow forms. They are one of the most recognisable bow shapes on the cut imo.

Edited May 14, 2017 by mark99