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Beginners Guide To Buying A Boat

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Perhaps after you have been on holiday on a narrowboat a few times you will get the bug like most people and will want a boat of your own.

Buying a boat, especially a narrowboat is a major capital outlay, plus there are the annual running costs, so the decision to buy a boat should not be taken lightly.

What you will be using the boat for, and your financial situation will determine the size and type of boat you buy. Will you only use it as a weekend retreat, or for the odd week's holiday, or will you be useing it for long-term cruising or as a liveaboard?  The longer the boat, the more expensive it becomes. Everything about narrowboating comes by the foot; the cost of moorings, licences, and the cost of the boat itself; and the longer the boat, the higher the cost.

You will need to choose between new or secondhand, usually defined by your budget.  New narrowboats  start at around £1,000 a foot for a basic fully-fitted boat. A much cheaper way of buying a new boat is to purchase a bare or partly-fitted shell (usually referred to as a sailaway) and do some or all of the work yourself. This is not recommended unless you are competent in carpentry, plumbing and electrics. If you decide on a new build make sure that you have contract that shows you own the boat from the start, and what work should have been done before each stage payments. Most boat builders are very reputable, but you hear of so many horror stories of people losing tens of thousands of pounds through boat builders going out of business, so make sure you are legaly covered. We have a list of boat builders here, most have been in business for several years.

If you do not have the capitol, or cannot wait for a new boat to be built then there are lots of secondhand boats to choose from, they come in all sizes, styles and conditions. You would expect to pay a minimum of £25,000 up to £100,000 for a well looked after boat, depending on size and type.  Any steel boat costing less than about £15,000 is really not worth looking at, and will just be a hole in the water that you throw money into.

The maximum length of a narrowboat on the UK canal system is 71ft 6in and 6ft 10in wide, but boats this long are restricted in where they can go just as a wider beam boat of 10ft, 12ft or 14ft is.  If you don't mind these restrictions that's fine, you can check the 'Maximum Craft Dimensions' on our 'Boaters Resouces' list to see exactly where you can go with the various size boats, check this out before you come to any decision. If you want a boat that will go anywhere on the UK canals and waterways, then you should look at a boat no longer that 58' long by 6'10 wide.

Narrowboats have marinised diesel engines which not only power the boat, but also charge a bank of domestic batteries to run the 12 volt system.

The best place to look for a used boat is at a brokerage or marina, we have links here to most of these, with their web-sites giving full details of the boats available. When you decide on a boat, it is advisable that you have a full survey done, this may cost you a couple of hundred pounds but may save you a lot more if the boat has problems.

A cheaper option still is a fibreglass cruiser, as long as you make sure the beam is no more than 6'10 and the air draft (headroom) is no more than 6', then you will be able to cruise anywhere on the canals and rivers of the UK. Cruisers can be bought for as little as £1,000, but don't expect a lot for this price, but they are suitable for day cruises and overnights in summer months. The more you spend of course, the more comfortable the boat will be, and many people do cruise all over the canal system in them. If you intend to cruise for more than a day at a time then you will want to make sure the boat has a toilet, cooking facilities and a comfortable sleeping area. Cruisers are usualy powered by an outboard motor, although you will find some more expensive ones with an inboard motor, but an inboard engine takes up valuable space inside the boat, and are usualy overpowered for canal cruising and are more suited to rivers and the broads. You will find that most outboards on cruisers are 10hp or less and are quite capable of mainteining the 3 - 4mph limit on the canals. One disadvantage of an out board, (or any petrol driven engine on a boat) is keeping the fuel topped up. Diesel can be obtained at many canal-side marinas etc. but finding a garage to purchase petrol near a canal can sometimes be difficult, and any longer cruise you make you would need to plan ahead to avoid running out. As with all powered boats used on the canals and waterways you will need a mooring, license, insurance and a safety certificate; and the cost of these should always be considered when buying any boat, remembering the longer the boat then the more it will cost to keep on the water.

British Waterways who manage most of the waterways in the UK state that you must have a permanent mooring for your boat unless you intend to cruise continuously. So you must make sure you sort a mooring out before you go ahead with any purchase, without a mooring you will not be able to license your boat.

You could also consider a boatshare, you legally own anything from a quarter to a 12th of the boat although this varies. Purchasing a share of a boat entitles you to several weeks use of the boat each year, the number of weeks you get depends on the number of shares in the boat. All maintenance, license, insurance and mooring costs etc are then shared beteen the joint owners. We have a list here of boatshare companies.

We also have links here to boat finance, boat insurance and BSC examiners.

Hopefully these tips will help you if you intend to purchase a boat, but if you need any more help please contact me useing the contact form on the left.

You can find out more about the different types and styles of narrowboat at Beginners Guide To Narrowboats.