Big Changes Ahead

[ZimbiIV]

Robin,

Welcome to the penniless boat owner society.

Fees are not charged for membership 'cos you will not be able to afford them now.

paul

[deebee29]

Congratulations on the acceptance of your offer Robin

You have a massive life changing and exciting time ahead for you.

I send you my Best Wishes that all goes well

 

[MauriceMynah]

Congratulations matey. I hope I didn't come across as too negative, I was just saying it as I saw it. Hope to tie alongside some day. Do you intend to keep it's name or change it? Either way What is it (to be)?

[imtamping2]

Good luck Robin.....Hope it all works the the good

[LondonRascal]

Thanks all, and John you are far from negative, indeed bring many a laughing fit to me when reading your posts.

The boat name will be changed to 'Independence' which to me is fitting and sums up a great deal. There are three phases now:

Phase 1: This will be learning the boat, her systems and finding any issues that need work. I will be having a local boatyard to where she is currently lift her out the water and do a hull inspection, check Anodes, rudders, cutlass bearings and the like. I then also want to find a yard who can update her navigation gear to SIMRAD items, this will be larger more advanced chart plotters, a larger open array Radar and new Auto Helm and associated driver units. I also need to go through the engine room with a fine tooth comb along with inspecting her 3 fuel tanks with a Borescope inspection camera. I am sure there will be a lovely layer of crud and water in them but this sort of thing is essential to do before heading out to sea in either the late part of this year or early part of next you don't want to go having clogged fuel filters in a rolling sea on a bitter cold day. In short Phase 1 will be getting her ready and some of this work is better to have done there where they have the lifts, services and are used to dealing with larger sea boats than the Broads where more commonly are used to dealing with smaller river boats.

Phase 2: This is improvements, cosmetics, new seat covers, carpeting, additional systems like batteries and and so on, the upgrade items, the making it my own etc. That can take place at my leisure. These items will only become apparent over time and use too.

Phase 3: Having her kept up to scratch, enjoying owning her and feeling proud :)

 

 

[Bound2Please]

Congratulations Robin on your life changing adventures

Charlie

[Broads01]

Congratulations Robin. Wow it sounds like you have a huge amount of work ahead, I hope you enjoy it. 

[JamesLV]

Congratulations Robin, I imagine you must feel in a slightly ‘odd’ place right now!

i very much look forward to “more, as it happens!”

[WherryNice]

Fantastic! Glad it's all starting to come together for you Robin, good luck, I hope it turns out better than you imagined

[LondonRascal]

Thanks all

[BroadAmbition]

08:41 - 31st October 2017:  "I am pleased to say that your offer has been accepted..."

And about time too, well done, congratulations

 

Welcome to the penniless boat owner society.

He is already a fully paid up member of this society along with the other owners of 'B.A'

 

So, sort out diary dates and prepare to roll my sleeves up once again,  hang on a mo, I can't remember rolling them down much lately

Griff

[FairTmiddlin]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

So, sort out diary dates and prepare to roll my sleeves up once again,  hang on a mo, I can't remember rolling them down much lately

 

Griff

Eu up lad

what's the going rate for a seafaring skipper to tramp this one from the South to the Broads then. Either a shed load of cash or an arm or a leg which ever he can afford?

[JohnK]

Wish you best of luck.
Very jealous.

Would definitely recommend Goodchilds Marina at Burgh Castle (not Burgh Castle Marina) for you.
They’re used to dealing with systems on big boats (they build pilot boats). They have a big boat lift. They’re extremely helpful. Just off Breydon (which has no speed limit) so very easy to get to the sea.
I keep my ski boat there and they’ve done all sorts for me, VHF, fish finder, fitted NMEA device all very professionally done at a good price. They’re even happy to organise stuff for you with other people (BSS and covers for me so far)

Can’t recommend them enough (you may have picked up on that )


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SwanR]

Wow! Sounds amazing. Look forward to hearing how you get on over time. It's certainly going to be a change from "life as you know it" so far!! 

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, JohnK said:

Wish you best of luck.
Very jealous.

Would definitely recommend Goodchilds Marina at Burgh Castle (not Burgh Castle Marina) for you.
They’re used to dealing with systems on big boats (they build pilot boats). They have a big boat lift. They’re extremely helpful. Just off Breydon (which has no speed limit) so very easy to get to the sea.
I keep my ski boat there and they’ve done all sorts for me, VHF, fish finder, fitted NMEA device all very professionally done at a good price. They’re even happy to organise stuff for you with other people (BSS and covers for me so far)

Can’t recommend them enough (you may have picked up on that )


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To be honest that's a extremely sensible suggestion as far as mooring , brundall is fine but trundling around on the river with big engines running at low speed does them no good at all , all diesel engines be they turbo or not last better if they are not subjected to low speed running , good child's offers the best of everything , form boat lift , moorings , fuel / pumpout and easy access and the sea and  to the yare and waveney if required , I personally think its a very smart idea to keep it there and a seriously .

Thing is I'm now regretting leaving my 57 foot narrow boat in Yorkshire , but I did that for a good reason and that's the pure difficulty of finding a mooring even on the southern side  in summer for a boat that big , in winter its not so bad but in summer its going to prove difficult .

[Jbx5]

Congratulations Robin and all the best in your new life

if you need any crew for the trip to Norfolk just let me know ha ha!

John

[finny]

Well done Robin - enjoy the ride 

 

Finny

[ChrisB]

"MAZEL TOV"  Robin. From Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory. She would be lovely down here.... Sunday/Monday sees me back in Norfolk. Cant believe my month is up!!

 

[LondonRascal]

I’ve not update this thread for a period, but thought now might be a good time to for tomorrow I am off to formally take delivery of my boat. 

To be honest, it is only now that I have begun to actually feel any sense of real anticipation and excitement for everything so far as just been a case of emails, documents, and enormous transfers of money which I have pretended to contain less digits than they really have to make me feel somehow better.

Now, as some will know I am proceeding in somewhat of a new way with this purchase – and it is not for the feint hearted and I am not going to say to people ‘go and follow me’ for you may very well come very unstuck and cost yourself dearly. But I want to be open and over time will be sharing more in forthcoming videos and posts here – for this is all new for me! 

As to how I bought the boat, If you are able to glean details as to the history of the boat you are buying all the better. This might be just to Google the name of the boat and finding it turns up being talked about on a Forum, or sometimes people have their own websites charting their journeys on their boat and this all helps give a great deal of information not only about the boat, but an assessment of how they used the boat and what they may have done to it over time. It also provides a character assessment of the person who owns her.  So a chap who spends a lot of time on the boat, listing the various upgrades he has proudly carried out and the works done on his boat in a Forum, and who happens to own a large scale company whereby money is of little object to running costs, might be a better bet than someone who has pulled out his last hair in despair at the bills he has had to fork out for on his boat and whose wife would very much enjoy a lifestyle minus things like:

“Sorry darling, I can’t go to the Christening because I have those new fenders arriving Saturday”.

Having a good idea of what I was dealing with therefore allowed me to approach matters in unorthodox manner. Hours of research and ‘home work’ followed up with making contact with the Broker and arranging a viewing. But, be aware anything you may say to the Broker, your attitude and character, line of work you might be in and so on will form an assumption in his head about you – so it might be wise not to give too much away, or dare I say stretch the truth a little for this will likely filter down to the seller.  I therefore wanted to present the Broker upon my meeting as a very matter of fact person not asking too much and having a look about almost as if I was not being very serious or just a an amateur and after 20 minutes thanked him for his time and headed off. 

But even that first meeting had not been what the Broker had thought it was, for I said I had come from London that day – in truth I arrived the evening before and early the following morning arrived at the Marina.  I looked at some boats at the Brokers based close by (but not the Broker I was using) and pretended to be interested in one of the boats they had for sale, this resulted in some conversation and being invited to where I wanted to get to – past the secure gate and down to the Pontoons.  I looked on the boat, had another talk and once the broker had locked up the boat left me to have a think alone and meet him back in the office.  Of course, I went along the next Pontoon to look at the boat I had come to see (only from the outside mind you) but this let me see up close and personal her usual condition – no pre-prepping, cleaning or hiding away things. 

I then popped into the office thanked them for their time and said ‘I’ll be in touch’.  Of course it mattered not if later that day I was seen once more in the Marina with another Broker, it would perhaps only show this chap who was in town was a keen potential buyer eying up several boats.  I had asked my Broker if I may take some photos on this meeting, but actually I was recording video – this meant I could watch it back over and over, pause it and so on and I’d have a record too of things that have been said between each other should you need to refer to it later. Once that was done, it was back to the hotel. 

I took my time over the video, used a previous Survey report of the boat to assess the items that were required to be attended to at the time  that Survey was done and ‘cross check’ that things had been done since (or at least which had been verbally confirmed to me as having been done).  I also used tools to extract the EXIF data from photographs sent to me of the boat to provide details of the date and time the photos had actually been taken. In my experience, some which were said to have been ‘recent’ dated from late 2011. So you can see you are all the time extrapolating data and information to use to reach to the point of either making an offer (and what that should be) or not. 

Now in my case I had made my choice and it then came down to working out how bad things would need to get to make me back away and opt for another boat, either the same type or a completely different brand or type of boat. Once I had set this in my mind to be an amount of money, I then set about working out how best to achieve the lowest price I felt reasonable to pay, avoiding lengthy negotiations in the process. 

My big weapon would be the element of surprise.

Having viewed the boat the Broker was keen to point out why this boat was a good deal, its younger age, its extra features and the like – I ignored all of this, and as ever if you ‘treat them mean you keep them keen’ kept him wondering was I serious, was I not, should he go quiet or keep up the emails to me.  I was not rude, I did respond, but all very open ended with things like:

 “I don’t like to let people down and having agreed to view another boat this weekend, I really feel it best to be polite and keep my appointment. I will revert in due course” 

Of course, there never were another other viewings. I also was posting things here and on another Forum and was being warned not to be too open and show my cards to readily – what if the owner was reading my very posts, what if this gave the game away and he would be ‘tipped off’ to my tactics of a sudden, low cash offer and not accept.  But I was not quite so innocent, for I was publically referring to two boats both of which were not the boat I was actually looking at, it was the same model sure, but nobody would quite be knowing which boat on the market I was after and if you were the owner you would be wonder if the person your Broker had been talking to was me or not. 

Come the settled time and day my process for the final offer changed – and to add to even more randomness I put three percentages into a hat to pull out and whatever I chose would be the one I went with, out came 13% and so the process was underway: Email to the Broker late Friday boom! No survey, no sea trial, and an offer £32,500 less than the asking price payment can be made in 24hrs.

I can only imagine the conversation that took place between Broker and seller – that chap, the odd fellow came down a couple of weeks back and spent a short time having a look about and went away. I never thought he was that serious, well he has only now offered you this amount!  End of season, build up to Christmas, a pile of cash waiting – does he go for it or lose out? For as I said, if the offer was not accepted, then any counter offer would include a Survey and sea trial and may drag on the time the transaction takes and could affect the offer further. 

I get replies saying it has been put to the seller, but then I get emails, draft contracts, talk of hand over procedures, moorings, insurance – this is all work the Broker is doing, why? Why do it all if you are not sure the offer I made would be accepted. I was confident it would be, and the Tuesday of the following week it was. 

Well this caused something of a stir when I shared the fact it has been accepted ‘no mention of a sea trial’ some exclaimed. And no, here I was spending all this on something a great distance away having spend 20 minutes walking about one Saturday afternoon. Most would have taken more time buying and trying out a new mattress let alone a boat! 

But it was all calculated risks – the seller and me, if there were faults and issues with the boat that might come out in a Survey and Sea Trial the seller may face harder negotiations on price or need to spend out to have them fixed, equally, if it later transpired my gamble had not paid off I would be into thousands to get things right – my gamble though the saving on the listed price would cover the cost of rectifying these issues. 

Today, I received an email forwarded from the current owner. Was it to bring bleak news about those ‘issues’ that I should be aware of? No it was to tell me about how the MD of the engineering firm tasked to her upkeep would be joining me on Friday, at the seller’s expense to go through all systems and educate me on their use. It went on to say how the engines had been serviced recently, even the Turbo’s coolers being removed, and flushed and engines run to full throttle with all temperatures being normal.  Numerous other items being serviced and changed as required, down to a new carbon hoist line for the crane which had been load tested, to a new battery charger and monitoring system recently installed. It is fair to say that this does not appear to have been a boat that has been left without care.  Even the fuel tanks are almost full (they hold 3,000 litres of diesel) 

So..Of course there is plenty to go wrong, plenty of scope for me to have to fork out for things to be put right and indeed my plan is to have her lifted and inspected under the water prior to her being brought to Norfolk, along with a massive update to her navionics systems. But as I sit here on the eve of my travel to take delivery of ‘Independence’ I am quietly confident my way of buying, on my terms has paid off and I might not have bought a lemon after all.

 

[grendel]

I wish you well in your endeavours and with your independance, sounds like you have achieved your aims, may you have many good trips onboard.

[Jocave]

Congratulations, exciting times ahead for you, had to laugh at some of the replies you received on the other forum, "crazy,mad and stupid" were a few things posted ,forget all the negatives you go for it Robin and enjoy the experience ,I'm sure there will be ups and downs along the way but good for you for doing such a big life changing journey, can't wait for the updates and possible blogs, it does look an impressive vessel ,bit of a step up from Brinks Belmore 

[Bound2Please]

Well done Robin its your life you only get one of them. Follow your dreams mate...

Charlie

[Jocave]

45 minutes ago, Bound2Please said:

Well done Robin its your life you only get one of them. Follow your dreams mate...

Charlie

Now that's a statement I like, wish everyone including me took that outlook..

[Broads01]

So potentially a big day in your life tomorrow Robin. I hope all goes well tomorrow. Pleased to read you'll be videoing this, I've really missed the Captains Blogs this year. 

[Baitrunner]

Hi Robin. Good luck with the cruise ship!!!!

thats a massive vessel!!! There will only be a couple of boats bigger on the Yare. Size is impotent (pun there). Barges excluded you will be in the top 10, maybe 3 from my knowledge. I hope you can afford to keep the guest fridge topped up? Your fuel bill will be small in comparison once Griff and the boys get onboard.

will you be cruising her up to norfolk? That will be an awesome blog and I'm jealous of the adventure that you will have. You must record it and and post it. 

You will have ups and downs, but enjoy the ups.