Burscough Boats

[Vienna]

We are just starting to lok for boats and have seen a couple made by Burscough. Does anyone have any idea about whether they are good builders? We have been told so many times to go for Tyler Wilson, Steve Hudson, Bourne and avoid Liverpool boats but have never heard anything good or bad about Burscough. Any information/pointers anyone could give us would be welcome.

 

Thank you!

[Boat&Bikes]

Have a friend with a burs cough boat. He is happy with it. Il add that I've met several people with Liverpool boats and generally that are happy too. 

[cuthound]

49 minutes ago, ianali said:

Have a friend with a burs cough boat. He is happy with it. Il add that I've met several people with Liverpool boats and generally that are happy too. 

Has he tried taking linctus for it? 

[Neil2]

Most people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to boat builders.  There are no more than a handful of "proper" boat builders in the industry the rest are fabricators and not much to choose between any of them, it's all smoke and mirrors and snobbery.  Choose the boat you like the look of and has what you want on board and forget about who built the shell it really isn't that relevant to the majority of buyers.

[OldGoat]

11 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Most people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to boat builders.  There are no more than a handful of "proper" boat builders in the industry the rest are fabricators and not much to choose between any of them, it's all smoke and mirrors and snobbery.  Choose the boat you like the look of and has what you want on board and forget about who built the shell it really isn't that relevant to the majority of buyers.

That's quite harsh except perhaps the last sentence.

I look at many of the photos on here and look at the bits that folk never do - until they get a problem. For example -

• Engines crammed into a space where you just can't get at the engine to do more than basic maintenance.
• Minimal room between the end of the gearbox and thrust bearing
• Badly designed water tanks with poor - if any access
• Rear hatches made too wide

A long standing builder wouldn't do that. Mine wouldn't let me have a wide hatch, or a lifting hatch over the side hatch. So I bowed to his experience and got a great hull from him...

[Boat&Bikes]

5 hours ago, OldGoat said:

That's quite harsh except perhaps the last sentence.

I look at many of the photos on here and look at the bits that folk never do - until they get a problem. For example -

• Engines crammed into a space where you just can't get at the engine to do more than basic maintenance.
• Minimal room between the end of the gearbox and thrust bearing
• Badly designed water tanks with poor - if any access
• Rear hatches made too wide

A long standing builder wouldn't do that. Mine wouldn't let me have a wide hatch, or a lifting hatch over the side hatch. So I bowed to his experience and got a great hull from him...

I can see sense in all your points apart from the hatch width. Why does it matter? 

[Jerra]

5 hours ago, Neil2 said:

There are no more than a handful of "proper" boat builders in the industry the rest are fabricators and not much to choose between any of them, it's all smoke and mirrors and snobbery.  

Out of interest what is the difference between a boat builder and a fabricator?

[Athy]

9 hours ago, Jerra said:

Out of interest what is the difference between a boat builder and a fabricator?

I wonder if Neil is alluding to the fact that not many companies build steel shells, and that most firms who advertise themselves as "boatbuilders" are in fact fitter-outers. For example, I'm sure that Tyler/Wilson's shells end up on sale under a variety of brand names.

[Neil2]

10 hours ago, Jerra said:

Out of interest what is the difference between a boat builder and a fabricator?

Some would doubtless argue that it's a subtle difference, if any difference at all, but my contention is that given a narrowboat in its simplest form is basically a box with a point at each end. It's within the compass of anyone with metal fabrication skills to construct a passable example.  The most famous illustration was Sam Springer who turned his skills at building steel tanks to constructing basic narrowboats.  Legend has it Sam said a narrowboat was just a water tank in reverse, so to speak.  Over the years there have been many general fabricators who have entered and exited the narrowboat world, often depending on which was the more lucrative line of business.    

There's a difference, in my view, between fabricators who can turn their hand to building a narrowboat shell, and boat builders who specialize in, or just happen to build narrowboats.   Some may disagree, but I reckon the market is dominated these days by skilled fabricators, some of which are using clever marketing to persuade the buying public that their product is a cut above the opposition when in reality there's little to choose between any of them.  

You often find newcomers to the world of narrowboats have been "primed" with names to look for and names to avoid, it's not that simple.  The OP has been told, apparently, that there is a big difference in quality between a Tyler Wilson shell and a Liverpool shell.  That's just ridiculous.  There's a whole host of factors you should take into account when looking at a potential purchase, who built the shell is, in my view, a long way down the list.  I have a handful of names that would possibly make me sit up and take notice, but generally I'd rather not know and judge each boat on it's own merits rather than provenance.            

[Jerra]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

I wonder if Neil is alluding to the fact that not many companies build steel shells, and that most firms who advertise themselves as "boatbuilders" are in fact fitter-outers. For example, I'm sure that Tyler/Wilson's shells end up on sale under a variety of brand names.

I suspected as much but as my mate used to be a fabricator (not of boats) and he made things I couldn't see the difference between building and fabricating.  However as I say I needed clarification.

[OldGoat]

14 hours ago, ianali said:

I can see sense in all your points apart from the hatch width. Why does it matter? 

My bad - I meant 'slide' or 'sliding hatch'.  In retrospect it would have made difficulties with the rear upsweep and look awkward. Anyway I'm happy with what I got. 

[Vienna]

Thank you all for your replies. It's useful to hear what 'old pros' have to say and, yes, Neil2, I think that is a good point - we should look beyond the hull and focus on the boat itself. It is so easy to get into the frame of mind that we are being pulled over the table and sold a boat that is not up to scratch. However, having seen many rust buckets on the canals recently, it seems that even the worst hulls do actually float.

Anyway, the Burscough boat turned out to be not what we were looking for - so the search continues!

[reg]

On 28/07/2017 at 20:51, Vienna said:

We are just starting to lok for boats and have seen a couple made by Burscough. Does anyone have any idea about whether they are good builders? We have been told so many times to go for Tyler Wilson, Steve Hudson, Bourne and avoid Liverpool boats but have never heard anything good or bad about Burscough. Any information/pointers anyone could give us would be welcome.

 

Thank you!

 Nothing wrong with a Liverpool Boats, good practical boat sold for a decent price.