Widebeam Boats 23ft And Under?

[brandenjg]

Hello all, for a few months now I've been looking around online for a new project boat without any luck. What I'm looking for is a widebeam boat either 22 or 23ft long. The only makes I've found are viking or Freeman boats which both seem to be beyond my price range.

 What I'm hoping for is if anyone knows any names of boats to keep an eye out for as no one seems to put the width of the boat on their Gumtree ads.

 condition wise I'm looking for floating with no leaks under the waterline and must have windows.

Budget at the moment is around 1k for the bare bones of the boat.

 Reason for needing an upgrade is a disabled relative has taken a very keen interest in boating and has been coming along with me every time I go to the boat and has caught the bug. He's decided he'd like to go half's on a boat so need to find a proper 4 berth with the extra width for room to walk through.

Thanks in advance Branden

[BuffaloBill]

Have a word with Jon at Wayford.

[brandenjg]

Im planning to have a trip out there this week to see what he's got in at the moment. I did notice the Freeman mk1 on his site but doesn't say how wide.

Branden

 

[Wildfuzz]

If you see Jon give him a kick from me........... May help the sale.

[Mowjo]

They are 7' 6" wide, think you'll need to go to 25' to find anything wide beam,,personally I'd wait till I had a bit more cash, anything in your price range is going to need a lot of money spent just to bring it up to Ok,,,

[MauriceMynah]

I agree with Mowjo, 25ft will open up your prospects a bit. I used to own a Sea-Master Cadet which boasted 9'6 beam for it's 25' length. I refitted it inside to a 3 berth but 4 is do-able.

[BroadAmbition]

What about a Hampton?  However I think you will struggle for £1k it would have to be a proper shed at that money but there are bargains about, we paid only £2k for 'B.A'

Griff

[brandenjg]

I can work with anything with an internal width of around 7ft so 7ft 5 overall would work.

Above 23ft would mean needing to find a new mooring, more cost overall as far as tax etc.

I've not sold my dandy yet as plan to strip parts to reuse in a new boat instead of selling it and having to pay for all new bits. Selling would open up funds but I know how hard it can be to sell a dandy. I'd be better stripping it and selling as a project for a couple hundred.

Branden

[Mowjo]

52 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

I agree with Mowjo, 25ft will open up your prospects a bit. I used to own a Sea-Master Cadet which boasted 9'6 beam for it's 25' length. I refitted it inside to a 3 berth but 4 is do-able.

Maurice! my Cadet was five berth if you include the cockpit, even with four inside there was plenty of room,

Branden, I owned a Freeman 23, though a bit on the narrow side there's still quite a bit of room in them as the rear cockpit is quite small on them giving you more room inside, we actually managed to sleep 3 adults and three kids on ours, was tight but good fun, personally out of all the other boats of similar size I'd go for the Freeman every time, parts are easy to get from Sheridans thought most you can find cheaper, there's a good owners club for help and info, the only downside might be that a lot of them are still petrol, my latest is petrol and it's no problem apart from lugging Jerry cans around, most 23's only have a 15gall tank, but unless your going out for weeks I found it was big enough,,

 

[MauriceMynah]

1 hour ago, Mowjo said:

Maurice! my Cadet was five berth if you include the cockpit, even with four inside there was plenty of room,

Yes of course, I forgot the double in the cockpit... ok... thin double. Mine was 5 berth counting that!

[JawsOrca]

I'll keep my ears open. Sadly if your total budget is £1k (from buying to running) i don't think you will find much and I wouldn't advise you tried. Orca cost £1 but she then cost another £10k to complete really. If the boats a complete project then it's worthless (yes it does seem in norfolk worthless still means a couple of k but that's norfolk for you) but you are doing the owners a favour buy taking it on so take if for free... There are a couple of yards here on the medway (and I've seen some on the thames) that clearly advertise free boats but obviously you will need to pay to transport. PM me if you want details of who I know off.

[brandenjg]

The 1k budget is for a floating shell. I estimate another thousand for a half decent engine then about the same again to fit out internally. I'd hope to shave atleast £500 off internals by using bits of my dandy E.g electric tap, solar panel, stereo, mud weights, ropes etc.

 The plan behind such a low starting budget is to spend a good 6-12 months laying out the boat internally exactly how we need it. I've got loads of spare bits and ideas that wouldn't fit on my dandy, but would work on a slightly wider boat.

 unfortunately any boat would have to be in Norfolk in order for me to able to view and collect as I don't drive I would be relying on relatives to collect.

Thank you for the suggestion I realised Norfolk is always pricey when it comes to boats