Buying A Boat (again!)

[SwanR]

Even though I'm not in the market for a boat at the moment it is so interesting to read how other people get on and the advice given. Please do keep sharing with us. :)

[Guest]

On 1/20/2018 at 11:50, Wyndham said:

I must admit, I hadn't thought of getting the mooring first. Trouble is, it could takes us many months to find what we want and then we'd be paying for the mooring and not using it. Maybe best to not put in a firm offer without being sure we have a mooring.

As for what type of boat, initially the idea was that it must get under Wroxham bridge. However, if it can't it will have other benefits.

We're still around 70/30 in favour of the low airdraft though. Whether I have the balls to take it through is another matter!!  

I'd find a mooring first, I've found that marina's will often "reserve, give you first refusal etc." on a berth, that leaves you free to concentrate on looking for the boat without paying for the mooring. I'd recommend that you sign a mooring before you sign on a boat though.

[BrundallNavy]

I disagree ref the mooring as you may well be able to continue with the boats current mooring at least in the short term.  There are plenty of free moorings around if you know where to look.

Doug.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, brundallNavy said:

I disagree ref the mooring as you may well be able to continue with the boats current mooring at least in the short term.  There are plenty of free moorings around if you know where to look.

Doug.

Better buy a boat that comes with a trailer, you can put in your garden till you get a mooring arranged if the previous mooring is not available to you.

[scraggs]

Getting the mooring first is going to cost you and if you are like us finding what we wanted took ages and was still a compromise.
Originally we wanted to moor on the north broads but decided to find the boat and moor her on the south broads which was far easier to find a mooring, we can move her north at a later date if we want to.

[scraggs]

42 minutes ago, Philosophical said:

Better buy a boat that comes with a trailer, you can put in your garden till you get a mooring arranged if the previous mooring is not available to you.

We did consider that as it would have made life easier especially as we could have brought her home for winter work, but then we decided to go bigger and towing 26 foot by 10 foot had too many problems, mainly width and weight.
If  buying smaller it's definitely worth thinking about.

[ZimbiIV]

Buying a boat!

First thing unless you are willing to have an inanimate object control your lives .Don't.

2nd it is not what you want, but, what you really don't want!

For us it was No outboard petrol engine, enough room for 2 no more, we would never have got away without one grand child or other. Nothing wrong with petrol/outboards, we just decided not for us considering petrol availability on the broads.

3rd look elsewhere the broads prices tend to be dearer than nearby even when including the transport costs.

Look around close to the Broads Lincoln/Newark St Ives even the Thames can be cheaper to buy and transport than the big boys on the Broads.

4th be prepared for finding Chandleries (all those toys you don't need).

If you still want a boat, what time do you have to enjoy it?

If it is only 2-3 weeks a year it is probably cheaper to hire.

I took early retirement and we spend 2 weeks a month onboard using our boat as a transportable cottage.

Saying that we do about 100 hours a year.

Travelling to the boat.

We have nearly a 600 mile round trip.

Would we be without it NO!

paul

PS. an old saying but if it floats your boat buy it. 

 

[Simo]

We bought our first boat last year - and we had about an hour and half drive up, so we would book a fri or sat night cheep stopover in a travelodge or prem inn in Norwich or wherever looked good, which gave you good time to travel all around the boat yards, marinas and sellers looking. We really did learn a lot doing this seeing different boats and speaking to people and i would recomend doing it that way! It seemed that nearly all the boats advertised were disapointing in one way or another, but travelling round you could spot something with a for sale sigh on it quite often! We saw one boat that became our benchmark, which was double our budget , but we kept going back to it and ended up buying it in the end - well pleased with it now and armed wit what we learned on the way got it at a better price! 

We also looked at moorings while on our travels, and ended up under Wroxham bridge in bridge house broad, short walk to shops and pub - may be space there!

[SueH]

Another option of course - go the syndicate route.  Less initial outlay and outgoings.   Good route to see if the long term plan is to continue private ownership.   Please pm for more info if needed.

Sue

[Wyndham]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to offer advice and experiences. All being read and noted.

 

18 hours ago, brundallNavy said:

I disagree ref the mooring as you may well be able to continue with the boats current mooring at least in the short term.  There are plenty of free moorings around if you know where to look.

Doug.

 

I assume you mean free as in "available" rather than free as in "no charge". I'd be interested to know more.

 

36 minutes ago, SueH said:

Another option of course - go the syndicate route.  Less initial outlay and outgoings.   Good route to see if the long term plan is to continue private ownership.   Please pm for more info if needed.

Sue

Although good value the syndicate route is not for us. We intend visiting for lots of weekends. One thing we want is the freedom to just go whenever we want as well as being able to plan a visit then change plans at the last minute. I don't think you can put a price on that freedom.

[Paws]

We have  a bounty 37 we brought it for £19000 it was on the market for £25000 it has two bedrooms which has a wardrobe and 3 drawers in each room plus a wardrobe and 4 cupboard s in the front cabin we have done a lot of work on it new kitchen loo curtains mattress carpet s you could of lived with it but we wanted it all new a mooring came with it brought from Herbert woods hope this helps best of luck it was the first one we saw but we have had lots of boats before 

[Paws]

I just posted the above topic I should of made it clear the other boats were narrow boats this is the first one on the broads

[TheQ]

We too would have liked a Hampton, but found these effectively had a premium on their price. We only got an idea of price ranges by going round the boat yards ,  looking at prices and peering in windows. Then having decided what to look at seeing many boats. We then got it down to two, and the favourite was the one we didn't buy. It was a single floored boat except for a raised control position with sliding roof.

However having got it down to two,  which were the same price,  before engaging a surveyer I did my own survey..

On the favourite I found a large area of Deck that Squelched (glass hull, ply decks) and on lifting floor boards / removing loose covers in the bottoms / backs of lockers found evidence of a lot of rot to wooden bulkhead framing. So sadly we had to walk away from that one.

We eventually bought an Elysian 27 CCP, it still need much work ( and still does) but not structural.

Price of a boat should be on it's condition, but there are an awful lot of over optimistic sellers out there...

I think you are going to have to come here for several days and have a good look round the boatyards and the boats.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

On 1/22/2018 at 09:08, SueH said:

Another option of course - go the syndicate route.  Less initial outlay and outgoings.   Good route to see if the long term plan is to continue private ownership.   Please pm for more info if needed.

Sue

Absolutely spot on Sue.

If you`re only going to use it for 2-3 weeks of the year, Syndicate ownership is what i would recommend. The other thing with Syndicate ownership is the fact that mooring, maintanance, and any possible replacement costs are devided up between all syndicate members.  You can also use weeks not used by other owners, so in effect, even though you have your allocated 4 weeks, you could use it for 6, 7, or more weeks in the year, though mainly, these will be unused winter weeks.  The range of syndicate boats though is good for family sized groups, but there is only one 2 berth syndicate boat called Gooseander. A great little boat, but is fwd dv, which may not be to your taste?.  I have a share in Lightning, and our annual running costs equate to around £1,200-500 pa depending on what we replace etc. That`s a lot less than the cost of some moorings alone, let alone river tolls, insurance, then fuel and gas etc on top of that.  And as Sue H says, if you want any further info, please feel free to pm me.

[Guest]

As a comparison to the above, our overall running costs costs are around double at £3000 pa, and a much smaller/cheaper boat than Lightning as well but syndicate would not suit us as we use the boat as a little  home from home that we can visit  whenever we like. It all depends on what you are looking for.

[Polly]

There is a premium on Hampton Safaris but that is because they really seem to be the perfect Broads motor cruiser. I'd have one if 1. I could afford it and

2 I gave up sailing a wooden boat!

[SteveO]

Hampton Safaris are good boats and would give you no problems with bridge access.  Although  small (25ft), they feel like a "proper" boat  but are relatively cheap to moor,  toll, run and insure. The design is clever and maximises available living space, unlike an aft cockpit boat, half of which is a "no-go" area in cold weather.

The first boat we ever hired was a Safari and we did the whole of the broads in it, in a week.   The only negatives  we found were

i) the saloon can be a bit draughty when it is cold (but most owners keep a few lengths of foam pipe insulation to shove in the gaps

ii) there is nowhere on the boat to sit and fish other than in the saloon with the hood slid back and

iii) I used to get dripped on from condensation on the rear cabin side windows in cold weather. Some friends of ours fitted double-glazed windows to theirs for this reason.

Hamptons also have an active owner's club, so plenty of advice, meet-ups and other activities are available.  These boats might seem expensive but in my view you get a lot for your money and, if you chose wisely and look after your investment well, you will get your money back when you eventually come to sell. 

 

[finny]

when i had my Hampton i got the canopy maker to make clip on wind cheaters that wrapped the corners on the windscreen and sliding roof - very effective 

great little boats in many ways my only concern was stern on mooring in fast current or wind - they are very soon away with you otherwise pretty good 

 

finny 

[Wyndham]

Well maybe I should change the title now to "Bought a boat"

Everything finalised today and tomorrow morning we set off with enough stuff to kit out a small flat to make it ours. The past few weeks has been like being newlyweds again

We have a list as long as Mr Tickles arm of stuff to do and another as long as his other arm of things we'd like to do.

It's nothing like we originally were looking for, but it felt right and still does.

Yours an excited, elated, worried, concerned, nervous, skint Wyndham.

[Polly]

Oh excellent!

[CambridgeCabby]

Welcome to the no regrets but skint club 

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, Wyndham said:

Well maybe I should change the title now to "Bought a boat"

Everything finalised today and tomorrow morning we set off with enough stuff to kit out a small flat to make it ours. The past few weeks has been like being newlyweds again

We have a list as long as Mr Tickles arm of stuff to do and another as long as his other arm of things we'd like to do.

It's nothing like we originally were looking for, but it felt right and still does.

Yours an excited, elated, worried, concerned, nervous, skint Wyndham.

Congrats Wyndham, hope you enjoy your new boat and create many happy memories

[Londonlad1985]

Congratulations! Exciting way to start the weekend! 

[imtamping2]

Well done......can't wait to hear more......enjoy.

[CambridgeCabby]

Hopefully you’ll be able to attend the May meet