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Looking to buy - unsure of what age to look for?


JamesGrant

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12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

DENNY

A project, but might suit you

http://www.narrowboatsltd.co.uk/boats-20k/denny/

 

they have a few boats in your price range, some on the hard.

Thank you - we have seen this one but think size may be slightly too small. We did spot it before but the site is useful as it's not too far away :)

 

8 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

There are cheap boats out there, this one is £12K

 

DSCF9325small.jpg

DSCF9326small.jpg

Thanks - where is it?

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41 minutes ago, LadyG said:

where's Burnley. is it on a par with Hull? once upon a time Stratford E London was the pits.

I've never been to Hull.

13 minutes ago, JamesGrant said:

Thank you - we have seen this one but think size may be slightly too small. We did spot it before but the site is useful as it's not too far away :)

 

Thanks - where is it?

Lady Lane moorings North Stratford Canal.  (Wink wink Liveaboards OK)

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16 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

I've never been to Hull.

Lady Lane moorings North Stratford Canal.  (Wink wink Liveaboards OK)

I am not sure what is going to happen in London, it seems that too many folks are buying boats to live on, many are cc, but only for the purpose of avoiding paying for a mooring. The utilities must be stretched to the limit.

There are relatively  few Official Residential moorings per se, but it is likely that a lot of non residential moorings are being used as residential,  however its not clear if this will be "tolerated"

Edited by LadyG
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On 21/09/2017 at 12:46, JamesGrant said:

Thank you - we have seen this one but think size may be slightly too small. We did spot it before but the site is useful as it's not too far away :)

 

Thanks - where is it?

Maybe someone loves it, but not me ............. dull red, dull green, black and rust .............. nope, I think you can find something more exciting, if the idea is to buy something dirt cheap, well it fits that bill [have you got another £12K to end up with a nice home?

Almost certainly a £12K is a project.

I am assuming you are young, and able to cope with less than luxury: if I were you, I'd get a smaller project boat, learn how to maintain and upgrade, sell it if find you enjoy the lifestyle, then get a bigger one, if you don't want to do that sort of thing, forget boating. 

If you are both out working, you just need a double bed, a sf stove, and basic cooking facility,  you may not agree, but if you decide to eg paint the cabin, a 60footer costs twice as much, takes twice as long. Do you really love DIY that much?

Edited by LadyG
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Don't worry about age look for good builders (as they used good steel) either in their day or now peter nicholls mike heywood evans and son les allen to name but a few 

Be aware of whilton and most others - basic broker tactic is to overprice so you bid and think you have a good deal - if you have been looking intensively (in the flesh not on the net) in a price band it doesn't take long to get a gut feel and you are probably right

Edited by Halsey
more info given
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10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

 

DSCF9325.JPG

And I suspect that enlarged picture showing the state of the join where the GRP top attaches to the steel hull gives an idea of the issues you might face if you bought this boat...................

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3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

And I suspect that enlarged picture showing the state of the join where the GRP top attaches to the steel hull gives an idea of the issues you might face if you bought this boat...................

It would perhaps suit someone seeking an old boat to "de-convert".

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13 minutes ago, chubby said:

I went past Wyvern at Leighton Buzzard a few days ago . They have a 40 ft for sale at £12K . Looked tidy from across the towpathbbut i think its a wooden top - but it might be worth a look ??? 

If it's a 40 foot boat from the Wyvern fleet it will be a wooden top.

Shame - I have always thought it rather quaint that they have boats in the hire fleet that are quite that old!

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Wyvern and Calcutt boats have a set of boats that they have vastly exceeded the normal lifespan of a hire boat by.

By doing this, they have managed to get a good annual income of some boats that would normally have been retired off and replaces. 

Yes, they have looked after them and repainted them regularly, but I wouldn't want to take one on given the lifetime use they have had from hirer's. 

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2 hours ago, Halsey said:

FYI - they do actually say in the ad that it will need over plating

so that's about £12K to get the boat back to what you started with,  barely fit for porpoise, sry purpose

Edited by LadyG
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Just now, WotEver said:

More like £7k, it’s only a 40 ft boat. 

oh, thought he wants something longer, but my understanding is that you have to remove the interior, and be on the hard of course, I'd be removing the engine , de rusting and painting as much as possible, a bit of a project!

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On 9/19/2017 at 16:19, JamesGrant said:

Sorry, I'll give you a little bit of background. I live up North (well to some!) around the Peak District area. Not the best place for number of marinas I know.

I however am self-employed and my girlfriend intends to go self-employed. So we're fairly flexible on location and can move about, the only thing for now is I must stay close to the Peak for my job. 

Currently, I'm renting a house with a housemate and the rent alone is £825 a month, then factor in bills etc and you can see why a narrowboat is attractive. The fact is, we don't have the money for a mortgage and because I'm recently self-employed getting one or even finding another place to rent is going to be tough.

However, we do have a campervan so we're very used to difficult, small spaces and living with less amenities than you'd get in a house. We've been told a lot that if you can cope in a camper (wild camping) then a boat shouldn't be an issue.

We do realise it is completely surreal and a different kind of life choice, but we're both a little alternative with how we live anyway and think it would suit us. As I said before, our good friends are very similar to us and love their narrowboat. We fully realise we won't know for sure until we get one but this is why we want to keep the budget low, so we're not going into it in the deep end. This is also why we visited our friends to see what it was like, because if we stepped on and thought this is crazy we would have walked away.

However, the more we look the more we feel it would suit us. Flexibility, something different, less overheads etc. We've done all the costings both from our friends and from various YouTube videos and we've priced it towards the upper end of what we think we would do. Yes we get a boat doesn't appreciate but at the end we can sell it and use it for a deposit on a mortgage if it really isn't us rather than paying money into rent.

I should also say it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, more of a shoved rather than pushed kind of thing. I had it on my mind since the start of the year and there was also the possibility of getting a big van to live in, as I say we're quite alternative. But a change in circumstance has had me thinking now is a good time to try it.

Anyway, we have spotted these two boats. We are looking for around 40ft for £25k including survery etc.

http://newandusedboat.co.uk/used-boats-for-sale/952 - We physically saw this but didn't realise how cheap it was until an internet search later. Only thing we noticed when we saw it in person was there looked to be a little rust on the hull around the waterline.

http://newandusedboat.co.uk/used-boats-for-sale/959 - This one is closer to us and looks in better condition but is a little older. We want to go and see this but the inside looks lovely.

Our only concern with this broker is they don't have the best reviews on Facebook but I got the impression the reviews are more to do with new boats they supply.

 

The first boat is not a t Mercia the second I looked at from the outside the other day when we visited. I bought my boat from them and overall was pleased with the deal. Ian the manager is a boater himself so he knows his stuff [he has an old boat] Boats however do sell fast from Mercia so best to call ahead before you visit

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