Boat buying advice required

mmm     A bit like aving a racehorse....................spare money game.................

I think you should seas the day!

Guess I need to elaborate
Unless U go every time it runs or be there on the boat every times the conditions are right.....................no value

P.S..................been involved in both..................

wilfrid hyde-white kept a boat on the broads

The most fun you can have with a couple of oars

used used to be able to pick them up for next to noting years ago, but i think that ship has sailed

Just take a punt

The cost of hiring one on the broads is through the roof.  If you can hire it out now and then, perhaps at peak times could be a nice little extra income.

it'll cost a packet

hammer a nail through your hand and pin yourself to the kitchen table, it's less painful and more enjoyable most of the time & you won't be able to reach your wallet

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole

Can get expensive if you fill it with lots of seamen.

I think you'd need to be sure you were going to get a lot of use out of it for it to be a good idea.

Think it's up there with caravans on holiday parks - seems like a lovely idea but the depreciation will be huge and the maintenance costs and other associated costs (eg. mooring) mean you will need to be getting a lot out of having it to justify the spend and loss you will take on it.

That said, if you can make it work, good luck to you. Done a Broads boating holiday and it was superb, also did a canal boat holiday in North Wales which again was just brilliant, and stayed in a waterside cottage in Wroxham for a week too with a day boat, which we took out most days. Lovely part of the world. Where on the Broads are you?

I live in Blofield, Brundall marina is just down the road, I've had a look at mooring fees, roughly £200+/metre per year, which aren't bad.  The costs wouldn't be prohibitive, there's so many nice places here to see from the water, a great way to unwind.

You checked out what maintenance and upkeep you will need to do on it? I agree its a great way to unwind. If you can afford it and go into it with eyes open to potential pitfalls and costs then go for it. It's a great experience to just moor up for the night wherever the fancy takes you which you can't do with day boats.

Didn't go on that part of the Broads, went from Stalham down past Great Yarmouth and through Breydon Water (quite an experience on a vast bit of water sticking between marker poles) and past Burgh Castle down to Somerleyton (beautiful area) before going back up again. Keen to do it again and would probably take in the stretch up to Norwich next time.

There was a young admiral called Buckingham
Who liked licking his fingers & sucking 'em
He liked watching the stunts of the ****s in the punts
And the tricks of the pr1cks
That were ****ing 'em

Breydon water is like being out at sea!  They're the sort of things i need to get a handle on, maintenance, gas check, servicing, costs to pull it out the water for work etc  I'm lucky it's all near to me, me and the gf are going down the marina Tuesday to find some peeps to speak to and look at some boats.

Once you've been down to look at them you will be thoroughly sucked into wanting to do it! Bit like going to see some puppies if you think you might possibly be interested in getting a dog.

I had a 21 ft Orkney a few years ago with a mariner 100 engine I think it was and we sold it to get a deposit for our house, we didn't think twice about filling up a 25litre jerrycans and using most of it, today it would set us back £40 or more

I looked into buying a boat (to live on) before i moved
Your most expensive costs will definitely be Mooring Fee's if you plan to moor it up all year round will be expensive (Marinas vary)

Actual running costs aren't expensive , Diesel is cheap (they only go 4mph )

Your boat needs a Waterways license (roughly £600-700 year) Depending on length of your boat

Boat Insurance is very cheap (£100 odd year)

Your boat also needs a Boat Safety License (this is like a 4 year MOT for Boats) this isn't expensive either (about £150) , barring Repairs obviously !

Many people will take the boat out & have the bottom blacked when it's being checked over (a few hundred quid)


I chatted to a guy that lived on a boat & he said you'd need 3k per year to be comfortable !

Hope that helps , i'd still like to live onboard one day , just love the smell of them chugging away with the fire burning at the canal side

Personally i'd see it a waste of cash to have it moored up most of the year (why people rent them out) a lot of liveaboards just roam the canals & only moor up in the winter months

AppolloDuck.co.uk is the site to buy a boat from

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk

also still had this saved

http://www.rboa.org.uk/qa#why_do_you_want_to_live_on_a_boat

Quick tip for you, save money on expensive mooring fees by buying a really long, really narrow boat and just parking it end-on.

We had a long weekend on a house boat on Windermere at the start of September, Loved it.
Got talking to someone who had recently sold his yacht and now only had a dingy, he said the same as others have already said, you need to get the use out of it or your just wasting money.
He still comes up to Windermere but now hires a lakeside chalet, he can get 30 days rental for the same money as what he paid to run and moor the yacht.
According to him you can reside all year on your own boat, there are no restrictions like there is on a caravan/mobile home. So if you live in a high rent area such as the south east it could make sense.

Maintenance costs can be crippling considering you may not use it that much. Unless you have plenty of spare cash sitting around, terrible purchase. Novelty wears off, use it less and less as time goes on, costs never end.

If you have plenty of spare cash go for it. Better to hire when the urge strikes and weather perfect though I reckon.