WhiteSuit

Interesting comments about surveys which have numerous threads in their own right. I had the same surveyor for my two first boats who I learnt an awful lot from being present at the time. Unfortunately he is now retired. What you get from a survey in my experience is a detailed lesson in the boat and the market at that moment, along with hull condition. Anything else is a bonus which gives you virtually no legal comeback if mistakes come to light later. When I sold my last boat I was told by the purchasers surveyor the boat didn't have the described galvanic isolator. I went to the boat, opened the electric cupboard and photographed said isolator which was the first thing in sight. Needless to say I would never have used that surveyor. I have had some poor experience with house surveyors and the only one I would use again is one who makes estate agents in my location shudder if he is appointed. One of the boats I viewed, which with its charm and fine lines was saying "You want me" in a sultry way, had a year old survey from someone who came recommended on here. I would have have taken a chance on hull condition based on that and the fact it had been blacked whilst out for the survey. That left me to confirm that everything else was working which the brokers wouldn't allow. I cynically wonder if the brokerage gets a decent rate for it's offices in the marina because of the number of lift outs and subsequent work provided through surveys. The second viewed boat fell into the category of one which had not been prepared for sale in any way as in Crewcut's comments. I too find that surprising. I still feel miffed that despite me saying why I needed to hear the engine in my initial phone call that was not allowed at my visit. Would I deal with this broker again? You are buying the boat not the brokerage, if the boat is one that you want you have to buy wherever it is sold. The boat was marked up as sold on their website within 18 hours of my visit. Maybe the purchaser was already interested and the broker applied pressure of my visit to hasten their decision and I was only being used as a stalking horse, who knows?

I thought everyone would work that out

Looking for a boat with an old engine in a proper engine room, I thought I had found a couple of potential boats at one broker in the East Midlands. I used this broker to sell my last boat and had no issues over that sale. I rang and made appointments for both boats making it clear I needed to hear the engines if the boat was as good 'in the flesh'. My first boat had a Kingfisher which was rather loud, though a nice sound, in particular when bouncing off lock walls. So much so that it used to be a relief to pull the stop after a few hours cruising. Having travelled over a hundred miles to view, the first boat ticked a lot of boxes so I asked to hear it run. The response was we don't start old engines till you have agreed a price and paid a deposit. The deposit would have included a £1000 non refundable portion. They would run a modern engine but there was no way you could move away from the jetty. How can you tell if a boat can stop/start, is manoeuvrable and the gearbox is functioning without trying it? "We are not here for a jolly" was the response. Every other boat I have bought, through brokers, I had a test cruise. They seemed to think that a survey would show any issue but by that stage it would have cost me at least £2000, deposit lift out and survey, which I would loose in order to confirm the boat was right. They also would not connect leisure batts or gas to check everything was working. The boat that ticked the boxes for me I would not even have had a survey on as there was a year old survey to view. But I would have needed to check everything was in order before putting an offer in. I wasn't prepared to put an offer in under those conditions. I was told that I could hear the engine running, possibly, if I made arrangements during the week. That was exactly my understanding of my phone call making this appointment. Needless to say I didn't put an offer in and so did 200+ miles and left with a real feeling of bad taste with the broker. Am I just being a bit Victor Meldrew or would you spend tens of thousands of pounds on something you hadn't properly viewed?

I sold our boat about 18 months ago due to a change of circumstances and lack of use. Typically I am now missing boating. So, looking at shorter boats (our last was 57'), internet research is showing marina prices to be almost as high for a 40' as we were paying 18 months ago. I know everything has increased but I found that a bit of a shock. License fees also seem to be similar, in that the 40' is almost our old 57' rate. Are people paying the advertised rates or are deals being done? It does seem that the independent marinas are disappearing , selling out to large groups so more of a cartel possibly.

The last cassette I bought for a 200 had wheels and a handle and performs just as the old variety did. The 2 major drawbacks were less capacity and a handle which felt sharp and uncomfortable to use. The wheels on a towpath are next to useless. My complaints to Thetford fell on exceedingly deaf ears!

I saw it and was tempted back onto the canals. Lovely interior the lounge is almost reminiscent of a gentleman's club.

I sold my boat last spring through a broker. It sold within a matter of hours for the asking price which was approximately 50% more than I paid about 9 years earlier. Part of the reason for selling and leaving the canals was that I was recouping all my investment into the boat, including maintenance and improvement, and I thought the market was overheated. There appears to be two major groups buying boats, those that cannot afford mortgages or renting costs of bricks and mortar and those with affluent pensions to afford the lifestyle. These you would think will continue but I regularly peruse the Duck and brokers sites and boats like ours appear to be slower to sell, often with price reductions. Although I miss boat life tremendously, from a financial point of view I believe I sold at the right time. That said I will only be proved right or wrong by hindsight. At the end of the day do you want to boat and have you the finances to do it. As has been said already life is for living it is not a dress rehearsal.

We had a year at Park Farm and would endorse Haggis' comments. We only left because we sold the boat. Our use was similar to yours and our needs were a safe park for the car when on the boat and a safe mooring for the boat when we weren't. It was very handy for diesel, we had texts from Halsall when they were coming and would fill the boat when we wren't there, good service. Dave, the caretaker, would warn you if you were running out of leccy and top up for you as required. It was also better value than most although that may change as they are due to build a clubhouse and more facilities. That shouldn't be a problem in the short term as look how long Orchard has taken and they are the same owners. One thing which have never found at any other marina, they don't keep a boat key for emergencies. Fortunately we never had such needs and Dave would have contacted us if need be but we were over 200 miles away

Interested to know how you research places, we tend to use 5 van cl type sites where possible but seem to find lots of no overnight parking/sleeping signage. Scotland is different and we will wild camp when we head up there with a similar usage system to you.

She wasn't on her own! I don't find it lonely whilst cruising or doing stuff (as there always lots of stuff to do on a boat) but after weeks in the downtimes. My problem as I don't read much, in fact normally only on the boat Unlike yourself I don't play an instrument either, attempted guitar but for the sake of everyone with ears I parked that thought. ps recognise your description of the cruiser but never moored near Nice defo need more practice

We are doing very similar to yourselves having just bought a motorhome. It is a very different lifestyle that requires more planning and less spontaneity than boating. AND I hate paying to park up😱

That was a definite feeling I had beforehand, in fact it reaffirmed the decision. We did think we might want to choose to hire at sometime in the future on a new to us canal. You can have a lot of hires for the annual cost of ownership.

About ten years ago my wife and I upgraded from our first holiday boat (a bit like camping on water) to a boat we could truly live on board throughout the year. It was part of the grand plan to retire early and spend a lot of our time exploring this wonderful country from the waterways. At the time our surveyor valued our boat at five grand more than we paid for it and forecast a shortage of boats if we left our decision any later. That prediction has definitely come true. We holidayed on the boat till we finished working. In our first four years of retirement we lived the dream, spending four to six months aboard. Not bad considering covid shortened our access to the boat. In that time we have extensively cruised the midlands, the south, and started on the north west. We moved our mooring up north to tackle the cross pennine routes etc which meant the boat is over four hours travelling time from home. As our family situation has changed with an unexpected grandchild and Judy's parents needing more help we only managed a three week holiday on the boat last year. I was given permission to solo cruise for long periods with Judy joining me when able but I didn't like the loneliness. We have now made the hard decision to sell the boat and look for new adventures. This was exascerbated by continual closure/stoppage notices from CRT and the changing attitudes of (some) other boaters. The decision was eased by the brokers valuation, so we embarked on our final cruise to the brokers to sell. We were not looking forward to this final week's cruise, for one thing we were moving to a target which has not been our way since selling our share in a boat twenty years ago. I don't know if I was looking for reasons to justify our decision but moving back towards the midlands showed up a few. Due to long hours on the tiller we got through just before an emergency stoppage by CRT. Needless to say it was caused by them not repairing a paddle for two years because the other one was working! We arrived at the bottom of Glascote at the back of a queue following a closure there. With nothing coming down, a woman came down from the top lock to say if no one helped her through the lock we would all be held up???????? We enjoy locks, Judy ended up working the top one while I worked the bottom one for about 8 boats till our turn to go through whilst others sat around and chatted. One guy carried his windlass up and chatted with me without doing any work, then said he would see me tomorrow at Atherstone where he was a volockie!!! Takes all sorts. Coming back down the Coventry to see far more stationary dwellings. Also surprised to see expensive quality boats that had been sold recently, rapidly degenerating with peeling paint under a wood store. Don't get me wrong we met some lovely people on this trip, locking has always presented the opportunity to find new friends, it just seems attitudes change. There are a lot of good people in the world and some not so, you just never know which ones you are going to meet. To conclude, the boat sold within a few hours of going onto brokerage leaving us with a return that more than covers ten years of maintainance but it's not all about the money. We have loved the boating life, the waterways, and our experiences over the last twenty five years. I am incredibly sad to have given it up before I am ready but I worry that the system is in decline. I do not look to the future of the waterways with the same rose tinted specs I had all those years ago. On the other hand maybe that's just old age and cynicism.