I've owned a boat since August 2010 but I've only just joined this group. So, by way of getting up-to-speed, I thought I'd give a potted history of the events so far.

After much research and deliberation, we (my wife and me) decided to bite the bullet and invest in a narrow boat. We'd been turning this idea over in our minds for several years.

We looked at used boats, with a view to re-fitting but decided that fitting out a pre owned boat would restrict the layout we wanted. We would have to base our layout on the existing window placements. You'd want a window above your dinning table, wouldn't you?

We also thought that by buying a pre-owned boat, no matter how much money we put in to it, we'd still have a 10 or 15 year old boat.... (Obviously, I'm not talking about historic boats)

The decision was made. We chose to invest in a sail-away.

We chose our builder, paid the deposit and began.....