Project Boat: Interior Hull + Interior Refit

[bill brown]

I wonder if the current owner has a compliant Boat Safety Certificate etc. for renting it out. Those windows make it look like a bit of a deathtrap to me .

[Athy]

I suspect that there is some cross-purposing going on here, as both boats are green and they are similarly priced. the one photographed at Ashby Boat Co, the Springer, is all steel. The one for sale on the Kennet & Avon (recognise the style but can't think of the builder's name) has a fibreglass top.

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, Athy said:

I suspect that there is some cross-purposing going on here, as both boats are green and they are similarly priced. the one photographed at Ashby Boat Co, the Springer, is all steel. The one for sale on the Kennet & Avon (recognise the style but can't think of the builder's name) has a fibreglass top.

Ah, yes.Sorry, I think its me getting confused here (not difficult)

[ditchcrawler]

28 minutes ago, bill brown said:

I wonder if the current owner has a compliant Boat Safety Certificate etc. for renting it out. Those windows make it look like a bit of a deathtrap to me .

Can you get one with an instantaneous gas heater never mind exits

[Bod]

When thinking of buying any form of "Do-er up-er" look at your tool box.

Will you have to buy more tools to do the work needed?

Your skills, are they good enough?

When costing the job, don't forget, glue,screws, paint, & brushes etc.  It all adds up, much more than you'd think.

 

Bod

[IsabelleSAllen]

12 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Nor would I. 

In fact I wouldn't even touch it with yours. 

Dear OP. Any boat that needed overplating is a rusty heap of poo and best avoided even if the overplating has been done, in my personal opinion. Only pay pocket money for such a thing. £3k would seem expensive for the boat you posted about. 

Trouble is, there is an avalanche of dreamers with £20k to waste on a colander. This is what you are up against.

 

 

A decent boat costs £30k whichever way you cut it. Either spend that in the first place or buy a £10k boat and spend £20k on it. Anything less and you are needing a bargain or live on a boat loaded with compromises.

In terms of hull work - I have seen lots of videos/blogs about blacking and can see lots of peoples NB's have been blacked annoded with care, and they have no overplating or replating, and just minor pitting.

BUT! What if a boat that had been replated/overplated had a whole the entire hull redone? Is this something people do? Is it really a whole new hull, or just plates fitted over the existing one? The Springer owner said it was quoted at £3000, for her 36fter, and that if I wanted it to be done, she would included it in the price of the boat. 

 

But yep, thanks for colander warning - i suppose scented candles and buckets won't suffice in this case!

[RLWP]

2 hours ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

IBUT! What if a boat that had been replated/overplated had a whole the entire hull redone? Is this something people do? Is it really a whole new hull, or just plates fitted over the existing one? The Springer owner said it was quoted at £3000, for her 36fter, and that if I wanted it to be done, she would included it in the price of the boat. 

Sort of. They make up a vee bottom and partial sides. The boat is floated onto this in a dry dock, then sits on the new 'hull' as thwe water is emptied out

This 'hull' is then welded in

No idea what happens at the back where the propeller comes out, and I don't think this repair comes above the waterline

£3000 sounds a bargain for that kind of repair, I was expecting over twice that

Richard

[IsabelleSAllen]

http://www.longportbrokerage.co.uk/boatdetails/?id=741

Thoughts?

[rusty69]

27 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

http://www.longportbrokerage.co.uk/boatdetails/?id=741

Thoughts?

Yes, Why has the price been reduced?

[IsabelleSAllen]

1 hour ago, rusty69 said:

Yes, Why has the price been reduced?

3 guesses. . . ?

[Bee]

OK, it is what it is, its old, 40 years plus, good points are that it has a plastic water tank - not an old integral so you shouldn't be drinking the canal through a hole in the hull. It is fitted out so you could move straight onto it, it will do the job, that is it will take you all over the system, not necessarily in style but that shouldn't be important. What would worry me is the condition of the hull under water. It could need a lot of overplating, it could have had a lot of overplating 20 years ago and that is now not very good. No one knows until it is closely examined. It needs looking at by lifting floorboards as well. If the hull is OK then it is an old, dull, small boat but so what, you could be seeing the same sights as someone in a boat costing 10 times as much. A boat like this though has a ceiling value even if you spent thousands on it.

[IsabelleSAllen]

1 minute ago, Bee said:

OK, it is what it is, its old, 40 years plus, good points are that it has a plastic water tank - not an old integral so you shouldn't be drinking the canal through a hole in the hull. It is fitted out so you could move straight onto it, it will do the job, that is it will take you all over the system, not necessarily in style but that shouldn't be important. What would worry me is the condition of the hull under water. It could need a lot of overplating, it could have had a lot of overplating 20 years ago and that is now not very good. No one knows until it is closely examined. It needs looking at by lifting floorboards as well. If the hull is OK then it is an old, dull, small boat but so what, you could be seeing the same sights as someone in a boat costing 10 times as much. A boat like this though has a ceiling value even if you spent thousands on it.

Yep, so exterior hull and interior plate would need thorough examination, thanks! 
And i don't have thousands to spend on a purchased boat anyway, hence the restriction to looking for old, dull, small boats. So that isn't a risk...

[rusty69]

19 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

3 guesses. . . ?

Location, location, location? 

[ditchcrawler]

23 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

3 guesses. . . ?

No cooker, you can't use the fridge and the batteries never fully charge 

[Bee]

That's good, being somewhat old and dull myself I now feel cheered up. The exterior hull and interior plate is just both sides of the same bit of steel, also it might not exactly slip through the water like a greyhound as back in the 1970's many boatbuilders hadn't really got the hang of the art yet.

12 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

Yep, so exterior hull and interior plate would need thorough examination, thanks! 
And i don't have thousands to spend on a purchased boat anyway, hence the restriction to looking for old, dull, small boats. So that isn't a risk...

 

[IsabelleSAllen]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Location, location, location? 

I guess at least the UK is pretty small... comparably 

58 minutes ago, Bee said:

That's good, being somewhat old and dull myself I now feel cheered up. The exterior hull and interior plate is just both sides of the same bit of steel, also it might not exactly slip through the water like a greyhound as back in the 1970's many boatbuilders hadn't really got the hang of the art yet.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I was trying to be sardonic in my reply, I didn't like Bee calling anything old dull and small! Anyway, things we dislike in others we fear in ourselves....

And yes, taken me a few days, but I just about got to grips about those two sides - but it is important to look at both sides? As it could be rusting inside out, as well as pitting outside in?

And anyway, slipping through water at 4mph, or crawling through at 4mph, not sure if i'd notice! 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

And anyway, slipping through water at 4mph, or crawling through at 4mph, not sure if i'd notice! 

You won't  be doing either, over many 1000's of miles I have averaged 2 mph (per engine hour) not including stopping and waiting for long periods at locks etc etc when the engine is switched off..

You are very lucky if you can get to 3mph on much of the network without producing a breaking wash.

[WotEver]

10 hours ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

it could be rusting inside out, as well as pitting outside in?

Yes, many do. 

[IsabelleSAllen]

Ok thoughts - considering it covers everyones advice about hull etc etc, and costs of redoing a boat - as in it is all done - 

Is it advisable to trust a survey someone else has carried out 2 weeks ago ? knowing it would be 2 years before you got her out of the water to see for yourself? 

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/narrowboatsforsaleuk/permalink/960047680813977/?sale_post_id=960047680813977

[cuthound]

26 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

Ok thoughts - considering it covers everyones advice about hull etc etc, and costs of redoing a boat - as in it is all done - 

Is it advisable to trust a survey someone else has carried out 2 weeks ago ? knowing it would be 2 years before you got her out of the water to see for yourself? 

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/narrowboatsforsaleuk/permalink/960047680813977/?sale_post_id=960047680813977

Short answer is no.

The surveyor has an obligation to whoever commissioned the survey, so you will have no comeback, and a LOT can change in 2 years. Even more can change in 4 years.

[IsabelleSAllen]

1 minute ago, cuthound said:

Short answer is no.

The surveyor has an obligation to whoever commissioned the survey, so you will have no comeback, and a LOT can change in 2 years. Even more can change in 4 years.

Sorry, clarifying what i meant - the current owner had a survey 2 weeks ago, and no work was needed on hull to pass, so they just blacked and replaced annodes. Should this survey and work be taken trust, or, if you were to see it to buy, would you get another survey done anyway?

[rusty69]

17 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

Sorry, clarifying what i meant - the current owner had a survey 2 weeks ago, and no work was needed on hull to pass, so they just blacked and replaced annodes. Should this survey and work be taken trust, or, if you were to see it to buy, would you get another survey done anyway?

I personally would want my own surveyor to look at it. Others are risk takers and wouldn't bother with a survey at all. It depends what your attitude to risk is.

[IsabelleSAllen]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I personally would want my own surveyor to look at it. Others are risk takers and wouldn't bother with a survey at all. It depends what your attitude to risk is.

Is it common that a surveyor can doctor his survey if he knows the boat owner? I guess first thing would be to see a copy of the survey, and see if it looked thorough?

[cuthound]

13 minutes ago, IsabelleSAllen said:

Is it common that a surveyor can doctor his survey if he knows the boat owner? I guess first thing would be to see a copy of the survey, and see if it looked thorough?

No, but anyone competent with manipulating pdf files can. The person who paid for the survey could have changed it.

As Rusty says, it all depends on you attitude to risk.

[John Hartley]

If this is the first boat you have looked at do not do anything until you have looked at many more. If nothing else it will give you some comparison on this one