Acquiring our Narrowboat.

Part 4.

Narrow Boat Owners:

Not leaving until mid March '93 and having friends, with confirmed travel arrangements, scheduled to join is in early May was cutting it a bit close. But, based on our decision making trip we felt confident we would find "our" narrowboat

This is what happened:-.

From the 15th to the 28th of March we visited just about every marina, brokerage and private seller from the London to Yorkshire; most of them twice. A side benefit was we got a good feel for the quality of service offered by these businesses; some were well organized, acted in a responsible manner as far as far as the owner's boat was concerned and helpful to us as prospective buyers. A few were the opposite and we knew we would not want them handling the future sale of our boat.

We found two or three boats that were real possibilities but the truth was we became frustrated, confused and tired; our perfect boat just didn't seem to be out there and it looked as though we would have to settle for something less.

We had seen an advertisement for a 1991 60' Sagar moored at Brighouse, Yorkshire but it was listed at £45,000 and an initial phone call indicated the price was nonnegotiable; this was definitely beyond our price range.

We were on our way to look at private sale of a boat on the detached Rochdale Canal and decided to stop off at Sagar's boat yard; just to curb our curiosity..

I could use the words like "Love at first sight" but it was more than that. This boat was exactly what we had been looking for and we both had that "warm fuzzy feeling" about it. We had looked at a few boats in the £50,000 range just for fun; while very nice, they hadn't caused the same reaction.

We determined that the original price was close to £60,000 and, as it was in mint condition with very few hours on the engine, decided that if we could get it for 70% of original cost we should be in a fairly good position to recover a significant portion of our investment when we sold her. Even though the price was supposedly nonnegotiable, we offered £40,000 and received a counter offer, after a little bit of poker on both sides we purchased CLAIRE JUSTINE for £42,000.

This final remark will raise a few eyebrows.

We did not get a survey even though it would have cost little more than 1% of the purchase price. Why?

We didn't feel a survey would tell us anything revealing about the cabin appliances; they were nearly new and in working order.

We did take a slight risk with the engine and transmission, however, most surveys exclude all but a superficial look at the engine. We paid special attention to this area during the trial runs and everything appeared to be in excellent order.

The sale was contingent upon a surveyor's inspection for a Certificate of Compliance. In retrospect, this was a very superficial inspection; maybe because of the boat's newness and builder's reputation.

The big question was the shell.. My rationale was I could check the inspection hatch and bow area to make sure there was no evidence of rust on the inside and, if a Sagar shell of two years had a corrosion problem, it would seem Mr. Sagar's reputation was on the line. The unknown was the possibility of major damage to the shell that would require plate welding.

If you are interested in the specifications of CLAIRE JUSTINE click here

John.....The Canaloholic in Reno.