Liamba
New member
Hi all,
First post here and coming with zero knowledge to share, just hoping to sap some of yours! Maybe one day I’ll be able to give back.
We’re a family of four including a four year old and a three month old. I love boats and have spent plenty of time on and around but never owned one. The wife has been encouraged by me and after a few Hobbs Hires seems very keen. We appear to have made the decision to buy a boat and whilst I’d like to spend as little as poss to get what we want we have a budget of circa 100/150k.
We’re based near Bourne End so nice and close to the Thames. What we buy will only be used on the Thames, I can’t see us venturing to the coast at this stage. We are still working so this is weekend and holiday use.
First question – we don’t currently have a mooring and initial calls indicate this could be a challenge. Should we find this before worrying about finding a boat?
Having started off looking at day boats, we’re now settled on wanting a cabin and something we can overnight/weekend on. We’re both sociable and really like the social side of the Dutch Sloop type boats. Envisage spending much our time on the boat with friends (parents and kids) during the day and poss camping with overnight (we’re not all going to be able to sleep onboard).
We’ve identified two boats we like.
Interboat Intercruiser 29
Pros
Cons
English Harbour Yachts –27 or 29 offshore
Pros
Cons
Many thanks in advance!
L
First post here and coming with zero knowledge to share, just hoping to sap some of yours! Maybe one day I’ll be able to give back.
We’re a family of four including a four year old and a three month old. I love boats and have spent plenty of time on and around but never owned one. The wife has been encouraged by me and after a few Hobbs Hires seems very keen. We appear to have made the decision to buy a boat and whilst I’d like to spend as little as poss to get what we want we have a budget of circa 100/150k.
We’re based near Bourne End so nice and close to the Thames. What we buy will only be used on the Thames, I can’t see us venturing to the coast at this stage. We are still working so this is weekend and holiday use.
First question – we don’t currently have a mooring and initial calls indicate this could be a challenge. Should we find this before worrying about finding a boat?
Having started off looking at day boats, we’re now settled on wanting a cabin and something we can overnight/weekend on. We’re both sociable and really like the social side of the Dutch Sloop type boats. Envisage spending much our time on the boat with friends (parents and kids) during the day and poss camping with overnight (we’re not all going to be able to sleep onboard).
We’ve identified two boats we like.
Interboat Intercruiser 29
Pros
- Really keen on the aesthetics
- Lovely sociable deck
- Local dealer and benefits associated with
- Sensible river boat, sensible engine options and drive shaft
- Easy boarding for grandparents
- Just bloody nice boats
Cons
- Would appear to be few and far between so will take time to find one
- No space for me to stand at the helm when the canopy is up
- Single cabin with two birth
- Fudging a bit to sleep on with kids
- Cabin not as nice as deck space
English Harbour Yachts –27 or 29 offshore
Pros
- Separate cabin for the kids (big plus)
- Great cabin space inc galley and heads
- Quality feel cabin
- I really like the cabin space!
- Deck space ok
Cons
- English Harbour Yachts no longer exist – Is this a problem?
- Not great to look at in comparison to Intercruiser
- Not the sociable deck space of Intercruiser
- Difficult for grandparents to access
- The larger 29 (preference) has outdrive engines and too many BHP for what we need,
Many thanks in advance!
L