Narrowboats.

[dhutch]

Just wondering if anyone else here is in the narrowboat scene?
- Boating has always been a part of my life, and we have a number of dingys between myself and my cousins (toppers, mirrors, topaz, rs200). However we also have a narrowboat which i currently dedicate a lot of my time towards running and maintaining.

Shes rather unusual in that she is steam powered, and taht the hull design is heavily influenced by the dutch luxmotor style, as well as that of a traditional uk narrowboat

Anyway, if anyone interested, heres a few photos of her.

- -


We also have a website at http://www.emilyanne.co.uk
and have recently started a blog at http://snb-emilyanne.blogspot.com/



Daniel

Edited by dhutch on Monday 2nd June 16:31

[Nevin]

I have 16, soon to be 18, which I dedicate most of my waking hours to running and maintaining.

[fryske]

Nice boat - I'm always looking at the narrow boats for sale - they seem relatively cheap for what they are??? what am I missing? do they require mega maintenance / rust proofing??

We are based in North Worcs - there's loads of canals round here and I'm very tempted to buy one.

What sort of figure am I looking at to moor it? What's the availability / problems in finding a mooring?

[dhutch]

fryske said:

Nice boat - I'm always looking at the narrow boats for sale - they seem relatively cheap for what they are??? what am I missing? do they require mega maintenance / rust proofing??

We are based in North Worcs - there's loads of canals round here and I'm very tempted to buy one.

What sort of figure am I looking at to moor it? What's the availability / problems in finding a mooring?

Thankyou very much. We like her!

As for looking to buy one, it all depends really, theres such a lot of variables.
- All narrowboats are one-off's, basicaly, and like cars a certain builder will command more respect than others. On paper they may look the same, but you wouldnt pay the same for a four door 2l kia as you would a four dor 2l bmw.

Corrosion can also be a very real issue, particalarly on older boats. And often they rust from the inside out as well, so for a 15/20 year old boat a look under the floorboards is proberbly the most important cheack. You can fix anything, but unless your after a serously cheap boat you want the hull to be sound. You can overplate (basicaly, as the name suggests, welding sheets over the existing hull, incasing it) but even if done well its a bodge in simple terms.

Our boat is valued currently at around 60k, being so unique that means nothing, but it is about right for what she is. 17 years old but in bloody good nick, basicaly no rust anywhere, becuase we painted her properly from day one. Shotblast all over and expensive two-part paint inside and out.

Mooring another mine feild, marina, linear (canal bank), residential, or not. Mains? Water? Parking?
- To put a figure on it were paying about 56pence per foot per week (58ft boat) for a marina mooring in cheshire, without electricity (same marina does moorings we elec, for more) which we keep the boat on for 6 months over winter. Then arouns march/april we push off and spend the summer mooring on the towpath, which you cna do (basicaly) anywhere for upto a fortnight at a time. And we move her every weekend or ever other weekend. Unless we cant in which case we have to look at somewhere (like another marina or a friend mooring) we can leave her at where ever she is.


Daniel

[AJWB]

I've been into narrow boats all my life. My family used to have to have Florence, a 45' boat we kept on the Shroppie. More recently we had Juniper, a 47' that we kept on the Llangollen. Was great fun at the time, had lots of good holidays on them. We lived on Juniper for 6 months whilst our new house was built. After living on it, it just wasn't as special, this and an encounter with an abusive trip boat driver near Llangollen persuaded us to sell up

[TimCrighton]

My mother has just ordered a Semi Trad 57 footer from Amber Boats. http://www.amberboats.eu/boats/index.php?option=co...

Quite looking forward to it arriving - its going to be moored close to silverstone and the plan is to hire it out for the Grand Prix and other race events as and when they aren't using it and I'm not racing at Silverstone!

[john2443]

dhutch said:

Just wondering if anyone else here is in the narrowboat scene?

Oh, yes! First went up the cut in 1979 and for quite a lot of years from then had 1 or 2 weeks a year canal hols and worked on a 38m hotel boat in France for a summer.

Recently, due to children, haven't managed much time on the canal, although did have a day out 3 or 4 years ago to move a hotel pair belonging to a friend of my friends cousin - that was good fun having never driven a butty, but trying to manoeuver them round a marina in a strong wind that was going the wrong way (don't they always!) was a bit hairy!

Have been looking recently at prices for hiring a boat next year - BH! it's gone expensive; that's partly because we now have to go in school hols, but even so, prices seem to have gone up.

John

[Nevin]

john2443 said:

dhutch said:

Just wondering if anyone else here is in the narrowboat scene?

Oh, yes! First went up the cut in 1979 and for quite a lot of years from then had 1 or 2 weeks a year canal hols and worked on a 38m hotel boat in France for a summer.

Recently, due to children, haven't managed much time on the canal, although did have a day out 3 or 4 years ago to move a hotel pair belonging to a friend of my friends cousin - that was good fun having never driven a butty, but trying to manoeuver them round a marina in a strong wind that was going the wrong way (don't they always!) was a bit hairy!

Have been looking recently at prices for hiring a boat next year - BH! it's gone expensive; that's partly because we now have to go in school hols, but even so, prices seem to have gone up.

John

Its going to be even more expensive next year because you'll be paying for your diesel separately, whereas it was always included before.

And it may look expensive, but the average cost per person per night on one of our boats, if you have it full, is about £27.

If we made it any cheaper we'd be making no profit on it at all. As it is we are barely breaking even.

[v15ben]

I've been into the scene since birth, quite literally! My grandparents bought a 57 footer when they retired which coincided with me coming into the world! I've been all over the UK repeatedly and I'm especially fond of the Thames after spending a number of summers cruising along it! I used to write a few articles for the local IWA branch magazine, but don't get much time to attend these days! My grandparents' boat is now owned by my uncle and is being totally refitted - will be good to get back on the water next cruising season!

[Berserker LM]

I live on a 68' narrowboat, and it's absolute bliss! I wouldn't swap my "pikey-pottie" for a "flusher" and a mortgage under any circumstances! It's not for everyuone as it can be hard work, but the pros definately outweigh the cons in my book!

[spitfire-ian]

This is what a group of us hire a couple of times a year. It's basic but it means we can afford to go more often.