Ann and I set off on October 26th, heading for Droitwich Spa Marina, which had a campsite attached. £25.00 a night was a bit steep, we wanted to consider the marina as a potential mooring spot once we purchased a second-hand narrow boat.
Ann had made an appointment to view a boat on Monday, the 28th, in the Leicester area; I can not remember the place or the boat’s name. Ann, Ellie, and I visited the Marina Office, and on their wall, they had narrow boat sales adverts. The brokerage was called New and Used Boat Sales, and one boat looked OK. We asked for a viewing.
New and Used Boats set up a viewing for the following day at 11:00 a.m. I cannot recall the exact name of the boat, but it was something like Peppercorn. The price was £52,000, a little on the high side, but we had to start somewhere.
Bang on time, at 11:00 a.m. the next morning, the Broker met us at the boat. The boat itself was OK—it even had a washing machine—but the layout was not well planned, and there was a lot of dampness. This could be seen in the discolouring of the wood around the windows, on the ceiling, and on the floor.
I checked out the access panel on the floor to the bilge and underneath was very rusty. I could scrape the rust off with my fingernail. It wasn’t very thick rust, but it indicated an underlying issue with dampness. My damp meter showed up to 67% damp in some areas in the walls.
These meters can not be relied upon to give a 100 percent accurate reading, so if you are using one, make sure there is other evidence present, such as the discolouration, before you walk away.
In our instant, there was such evidence. On top of this, the engine room was a disaster. There was rust in the bilge, and the state of the engine itself showed that this boat had not been well maintained, if at all.
We thanked the Broker and walked away. Next day we headed to Leicester. Ann called the Broker just to confirm the appointment and he said sorry the boat has had an offer on it. A little anoid Ann replied and you couldn’t have called us to advise of this? We would have wasted the time and the diesel if I had not called you. The Broker was not interested and just hung up.
Charming, I thought. If this is what second-hand narrow boat Brokers are like, then this would not be a pleasant experience.
We stopped in a layby for a cup of tea, and I looked at our shortlist. The next boat on the list was up near Nantwich. It was quite a drive, so I checked the Search for Sites App for a site to stay overnight at. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to where the boat was moored, and if we could drive most of that now, we could be ready to view mid-day tomorrow. This would allow a lie-in and time for a walk with Ellie and some lunch.
The App said Norbury Wharf had a Motorhome Stopover, so we called ahead. Indeed, they were a stopover and had space for the night. We arrived at 3:00 p.m. and after parking up and plugging in I went to the office to book in.
Then, on their wall, there were several photos of narrow boats for sale. On the bottom left was a boat named Wright Away, advertised for £42,950. I had come across this boat back in August and thought it was lovely. It was on my bookmark list but not on the shortlist simply because when I clicked on the bookmark, the site came up with a 404 error. I assumed it had been sold.
I asked if Wright Away was still for sale, as I was under the impression it had been sold. The reply was no, but it was still for sale. We would like to view it, please. Glynn, the Broker, gave me the key and told me where it was moored. I rushed to Ann in the motorhome and told her the news. She quickly put on her coat and Ellie’s lead, and off we went in search of Wright Away.
It was moored starboard side, too, in a small dead-end arm of the canal; at the end of this canal was a dry dock. Luckily it was not rafted up, so we unlocked the padlock and went aboard.
It was indeed a nice boat, fitted out in oak veneered plywood, with a Bubble Stove with a back boiler, radiators, a diesel oven and a hob. She was traditionally laid out and had a Gardner 2LW Diesel Engine as her propulsion unit.
I liked the boat straight away; the damp meter was on green all the way through the boat, and no evidence of leaks or dampness was present. Ann liked the boat too. We handed the keys back into the office advised Glynn we were interested and trundled off to the pub.
The next morning, I asked to view the boat again and start the engine to listen and get a feel for how it started and ran. This took an hour or so, and then we headed up towards Nantwich to look at three more boats.
The Broker showed us those boats, all priced around £40K. They were awful. I still cannot understand how these boats were shown in such a condition. The broker then said, “OK, I have another boat priced at £49,950. Take a look, and the owner will take an offer.”
Armed with my damp meter, voltmeter and torch, I reluctantly climbed aboard, the boat itself had a nice layout. Oak veneered ply again, I started measuring, 45%, 56% and in some areas 62% dampness. The Broker said you are the only person he has met who brought a damp meter to the viewing. I just smiled, then checked the window surrounds, I could see no insulation around the gap between window frame and hull. I fact the hull side I could see was one rusty mess.
Kneeling down, I aimed the torch up under the gunwales. For about two meters, the oak ply cladding had been removed, and the underside of the steel making up the gunwale was another mess of rust. Turning to the Broker, I said, “Take a look at this.” He stooped down and just nodded. With that bombshell, I said thanks but no thanks and left him there pondering.
As we walked back to the motorhome, Ann called Norbury Wharf to ask if we could spend the night on their stopover. Glynn advised, of course, so we headed back, arriving around 2:00 p.m.
We took the opportunity to have another look at Wright Away and took loads of photos so we could discuss the boat in the evening. We both agreed that Wright Away could be the boat for us. The next morning, I headed to the office and made an offer of £34,000. Glynn thanked us and said he would speak to the owner and get back to us.
We then headed south back to Droitwich Spa for one last boat viewing. That boat turned out to be awful as well. It was neglected, with the walls painted an odd grey colour, and the engine looked like it had never been serviced. We drove to Monmouth to spend a night at a Pub Stopover to rest up, eat and drink, and visit the old town.
After parking up and connecting to electricity, Ann, Ellie, and I walked into town. As we walked, my mobile rang, and Sarah at Norbury Wharf told me my offer had been rejected. Oh, well, never mind, I thought. Five minutes later, she called back and asked me if I wanted to increase my offer. I said, “OK, I will offer £36,000.” She promised to speak with the owner right away.
As we walked around the town an hour later, the phone rang again; this time, it was Glynn; he asked me how I was and then told me that the owner had accepted the offer of £36,000 for Wright Awa. I was both shocked and happy at the same time. Glynn then asked if I am I having a survey done and I answered yes of course, (never, ever buy a boat without having tasked a surveyor of your choice to complete a survey, even if there is one available, you just never know) he also said they would require £1000.00 deposit which would reserve the boat and take it off the market until the survey had been completed.
I said I would transfer the money as soon as we got back to the van, and Glynn would email me all the details. I relayed all this to Ann, and we both shouted, “Yippee!” and walked back to the Pub up the longest steep hill you can imagine. Arriving, I transferred the money and started searching for a surveyor.
The process of finding second-hand narrow boats is indeed a nightmare process. I realise now you just cannot get attached to a boat from looking at online adverts. No matter how good the photos look, the boats will look different (and in most cases be terrible) than in the flesh.
These boats also disappear from the market very quickly, especially the good ones. They get scooped up at first viewing because there is so much absolute rubbish in the marketplace. Demand seems to still outstrip supply, so if you are looking, act quickly and be prepared to travel immediately to get your viewing.
You should check as much as possible yourself. In a future post, I will provide a list of what to look for, what gadgets to take, and how, where, and what to check. Scroll down and register for my mailing list so you can receive an email when I post it. The next post will continue the purchase of Wright Away. Stay tuned.
