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Have you got £3.7 million to spend on a houseboat?


David Mack

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Here's the brochure, for anyone with a lot of money burning a hole in their pocket:

http://mr3.homeflow.co.uk/files/property_asset/image/3243/7406/120468i.pdf

 

It's the first time I've seen a boat plan with north marked on it, which gives some idea of their target market. But it's only a (five year) leisure mooring, and there's an engine room on the plan. No picture or actual mention of there being an engine, but at that price you'd expect one?

 

For all us crrrrazy people who think a boat is for going boating, the brochure doesn't give a length and beam but from the room sizes I estimate it's about 100 by 24 feet. So it might fit some way up the Thames, perhaps even as far as Oxford? Forget the GU or the K&A. I'm available as crew, and I promise not to tread mud on the nice cream carpets.


I've just thought of a slight snag; where's the tiller or wheel, the plan doesn't show one!? And would it be possible for the steerer to see the river ahead with that giant superstructure? Might need to be in radio contact with someone stationed at the bow.

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Tower Hamlets band H is £2393.70 a year, that and the £18000 mooring would not be a problem for someone with that much money for a boat. For a big mooring in such a prime location £18000 sounds quite cheap to me. Personally if I had £3,700,000 I'd buy a nice house by a canal or river in the Midlands and a quality narrow boat, keep my house in Croydon as a pied-a-terre in the centre of the universe, and still have plenty of cash left over. Dream on Peter.

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Tower Hamlets band H is £2393.70 a year, that and the £18000 mooring would not be a problem for someone with that much money for a boat. For a big mooring in such a prime location £18000 sounds quite cheap to me. Personally if I had £3,700,000 I'd buy a nice house by a canal or river in the Midlands and a quality narrow boat, keep my house in Croydon as a pied-a-terre in the centre of the universe, and still have plenty of cash left over. Dream on Peter.

Agree with almost everything - disagree about having a house in Croydon.

I would never willing live inside the M25 or even close to it - Too many people, filthy air - diesel car fumes and aircraft - nowhere decent to go for a walk, London is a terrible place.

  • Greenie 1
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Agree with almost everything - disagree about having a house in Croydon.

I would never willing live inside the M25 or even close to it - Too many people, filthy air - diesel car fumes and aircraft - nowhere decent to go for a walk, London is a terrible place.

 

Shhh - don't let all those folk in London know. They'll all want to move

 

Richard

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Agree with almost everything - disagree about having a house in Croydon.

I would never willing live inside the M25 or even close to it - Too many people, filthy air - diesel car fumes and aircraft - nowhere decent to go for a walk, London is a terrible place.

Greenie. But why do so many peeps not seem to realise it?

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As the hull is steel presumably it needs blacking? That must be a bit of a kerfuffle to arrange, especially if it doesn't have any means of propulsion.

It's certainly going to be involve a tug and a big dock, but if it's properly epoxied a boat that never moves could need repainting as infrequently as once every 10 years or even longer. Nobody would be silly enough to use bitumen blacking if they can afford a boat and a mooring like that.

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I don't think we can rule out the possibility that the boat can move itself. It's called a houseboat, perhaps because navigation is an alien concept to the estate agent, but the plan does show an "Engine Room" at the stern. The lack of any further information about its contents, or mention of a tiller or wheel is a concern, but perhaps the boat is so equipped. Then the steerer will just need some means of seeing where the boat is going, but at worst that could be resolved by mounting a webcam on the conservatory roof and showing its picture on a screen in the appropriate place. Further cameras might be needed to show the sides when mooring up or entering locks. The new owner can probably afford enough batteries, and there's a lot of roof space for solar panels.

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I don't think we can rule out the possibility that the boat can move itself. It's called a houseboat, perhaps because navigation is an alien concept to the estate agent, but the plan does show an "Engine Room" at the stern. The lack of any further information about its contents, or mention of a tiller or wheel is a concern, but perhaps the boat is so equipped. Then the steerer will just need some means of seeing where the boat is going, but at worst that could be resolved by mounting a webcam on the conservatory roof and showing its picture on a screen in the appropriate place. Further cameras might be needed to show the sides when mooring up or entering locks. The new owner can probably afford enough batteries, and there's a lot of roof space for solar panels.

As it's 128ft long and originally designed as a Paris river boat (maybe one of the Paris tourist trip boats) I would be surprised if the layout was for a cruising boat. It may have an engine room but nothing much in the way a bridge that I can see on the layout. I doubt if anybody that spends the best part of £4M even wants to attempt to go anywhere in it. They would use the Gin palace moored up along side for that.

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Had they arranged things better they could have kept the gin palace in the hold and lifted it out into the river whenever they wanted a cruise.

 

I once looked over a 100ft Dutch barge with a 32ft timber broads cruiser stored in the hold. I found it a rather delightful idea! Although keeping a carvel-built boat out of the water now seems a bit daft to me.

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I once looked over a 100ft Dutch barge with a 32ft timber broads cruiser stored in the hold. I found it a rather delightful idea! Although keeping a carvel-built boat out of the water now seems a bit daft to me.

Flood the hold?

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