Bought my first boat 800 miles away. Need advice!

It might be of interest to the OP to look at the vid of the Trader being moved to the Broads earlier this year . Certainly might give an insight into moving by sea . I'm sure others might recall the vid but a search for Trader might reveal the full story and the challenges involved.
 
ashtead said:
It might be of interest to the OP to look at the vid of the Trader being moved to the Broads earlier this year . Certainly might give an insight into moving by sea . I'm sure others might recall the vid but a search for Trader might reveal the full story and the challenges involved.
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Yup - as suggested in #40. Just click the link.
 
If it is that boat, its going to be fun working out a route to bring it down or low loader! Just look at the height of the flybridge!!
Surely there must have been better value boats of a similar size for similar money available nearer the OP's home location? The delivery costs alone and the repairs required to bring to a safe standard for regular use could easily equate to another 10K?

ProDave said:
I take it it is this boat? https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1992/cruisers-yachts-3850-3191256/

For that money that would not have been my choice for a river boat.
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Assuming that the boat is afloat then weather permitting a couple of trips from kip where there are no speed restrictions might not be a bad thing and would let you get used to the boat
There are plenty of people working out of kip that could sort out the pumps and tabs and may actually know the boat
Roseanne should be able to help you
We are actually quite civilised and friendly despite what we might appear at time on the forum
 
Wow! You guys are really amazing! Yes, that is the boat. See detail here https://www.michaelschmidt.co.uk/boatdetails.asp?boatid=6166816

She is staying in the Kip Marine now. Based on the inputs above. I think it will be interesting to cruising her down to the south if I can fix everything to make it up to standard, and find an experienced mate or skipper to go through the route together. Otherwise, she will have to go by road. Hopefully figure it out soon.
 
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As has already been said it would be road transport for me. Moving a boat of unknown condition/history by sea should not be undertaken lightly. Sea passages are a serious business and require careful planning with the right skill- set to undertake safely so a delivery skipper would be advisable if you do pursue this option. A bit of training over the winter would not be sufficent IMHO.

I see that the advert says it is being ‘sold as seen’ - not what you usually see on a brokers advert and something that would have caused me to ask some questions - why did they feel the neeed to put that on the advert? Maybe it was nothing more than it has been left for a while and needs some TLC but that being that case even more reason not to deliver via a sea trip.
 
mickywillis said:
If it is that boat, its going to be fun working out a route to bring it down or low loader! Just look at the height of the flybridge!!
Surely there must have been better value boats of a similar size for similar money available nearer the OP's home location? The delivery costs alone and the repairs required to bring to a safe standard for regular use could easily equate to another 10K?
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That was my point really. The height of that Flybridge is going so severely limit how far up the Thames you can get. Perhaps you should ask on the Thames Forum where others more familliar with the river can advise. It certainly won't get above Oxford, just not sure it will even get that far.

As for a sea route down, you have to get from West to East at some point. The Forth & Clyde is closed to through traffic at the moment due to a broken bridge, so it's round Lands End then.
 
Wpuld it be worth considering a part road, part sea trip ? Low loader to say Norfolk, then a series of hops round to the Thames. Plenty of stops with access to engineering, just in case.

I suspect there is a saga developing....
 
i used a lorry to bring back my boat to my club so i could do work and assess it before risking lots of unknowns sailing it back from where i bought it. i used P.J downs and sons haulage, excellent and they mostly specialise in boat transportation. Cost was £600 for a 30ft yacht from burnham on crouch to erith in kent. this included the use of the crane to lift the boat onto the lorry and off at the club

http://www.pjdownsandsons.co.uk/
 
If the boat needs work get it done now at Kip, their resources are as good as anywhere and probably no more expensive than down south. Shepherd Boat Transport are worth talking to, he works all over Europe, (did a winter rate one-way for me on the way back from Dusseldorf) and he will know the clearance on any route in the UK. Probably delivered it in the first place. Just sticking it on any low loader is problematic because of the height.
 
Thanks, mates. The boat heigh is 17 feet (5.2m). It's going to be a challenge cruising in the Thames as I found some of the clearance of the bridge just about 17 feet! Fixing things at Kip also is a good idea. For now, I can see 80% chance is going to delivery by road. But you know it will be exciting if I could find the way to do a little bit cruising by sea, even just for a 100 miles something. That could be an unforgettable adventure.

This forum is a great place. I already learned a lot from you guys during these two days since I committed to purchasing the boat. The more I learn, the more stressful I can feel. But I think (I hope) it's going be all right.
 
ProDave said:
If your air draft really is 5.2m then you are not going to get above Windsor

All the details are here in the cruisers guide https://www.visitthames.co.uk/dbimgs/Cruising Guide.pdf

Are you sure that 5.2m is not air draft + water draft?
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There's a technical datasheet here: http://cruisersownersforum.com/phpBB/download/OpMan/CY3850-CY3950_OwnersManual.pdf
Draft is 3ft 1.5inches and "Bridge Clearance" is 16ft 9.5inches. I presume this is air draft.
5.2metres, or a few mm less, seems correct.
 
If your boat height is 17 ft then its not “road transportable “ by normal means . Standard motorway bridges are 16,3

John
 
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