Cheapskate

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So, I just bought my first boat – a grubby 20’ Norman river cruiser for under £2K and I’m having a whale of time cleaning her up and getting her up to BSC standard. Learning lots too. Trouble is, I read all these threads about spending £40K here, £80K there and I think to myself “do I belong in this discussion board?”.

The point being, is there a path for cheapskates like me to smoothly progress from my humble beginnings to a floating palace without flogging my gaff/children/soul? If so, what sorts of rancid hulks should I move on to and how much will they set me back?

While we’re at it … why does everyone slag off Bayliners? Are they the Yugo/Skoda of the boating world?
 

hlb

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Well starting with a £2 grand boat is posibly not the best way cosyour going to spend all your spare money and time on that so never have enough to get to spare £100 grand so you can then start at the bottom.
Better to start with no boat, therefore no expences and allot of work at something that pays very well. Then buy minimum £100K boat and spend it all again very quickly.

And yes Bayliner = Skoda

Haydn
 

boatone

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Where do you keep yor first step on the waterlogged ladder?
There seems to be a lot of 'money no object' types here and they also seem to be the most voluble - poss 'cos they dont need to work/havelotsofsparetime/needtogetoutmore etc etc. But I bet theres a lot more lurkers who live in the real world of £5 - £50k boating who buy their cutlery from woolies or the local hardware store - or even eat with their fingers - bliss!
Keep dreaming but use the boat and keep an eye open for cheap ways of moving up a notch. Remember - big boats dont just cost big bucks to buy -everything to do with them costs more as well moorings/liftout/liftin/antifoul/engines/servicing/cutlery/fenders etc etc etc .



boatone@boatsonthethames.co.uk
 

miket

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Whilst all boating tends to be pretty expensive, one can minimise the costs.

My first 3 boats were all ex Thames hire boats (Elysians 27's). Doing them up, quite cheaply and then selling on made sufficient profit to buy the 1st private boat. Thereafter, it was a matter of buying and selling well, because time started running out for major refurb's. Also buying the right age boat.

Most production boats lose a bundle of value in the early years and then settle to a figure that then remains fairly constant. I left the early years to those who can afford it and concentrated on boats that had reached their "constant value". That is surprisingly new in many instances. I also stuck to good quality production boats.

Now what was that about Bayliners and Skoda? There's nothing wrong with Skodas!
 

byron

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Don't believe everything you see here. My son was excited about a super model he met in his Forum. I said "Oh Yes! and what are you?" He said he had told her he was a USAF fighter pilot. I think that says it all.
Anyways, I can't stop as Claudia Schiffer is beckoning me from the heli-pad on my super yacht, she probably wants to fly to my Greek Island so she can rub my feet while I have my afternoon nap.

©2001
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andrewbarker

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Good luck to you, dreemer. Spend only the money you can afford to have at risk. For employed jobby types, that's never going to be much. My first boat cost 50 quid. Don't forget that a lot of gin palacy people have an image thing - they need to show success & major ££££££ to hand - Porsche, rolex etc, etc. Goes with some businesses. Nothing wrong with that - but not advised if you aren't in that game.

Anyway - first rule - if your boating is just for fun, DON'T give a stuff about what other people might/might not think. It's your pleasure and 100% better than p***ing it up the wall on a Saturday night.

I think what you will find is not that you really want a show offy thing but that you'll want new horizons. That's when you start to itch for a different boat.

For now, enjoy your Freeman. It's a lovely boat made by a firm who loved quality. And don't spend so much that you feel guilty.

Good luck
 

BarryD

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Well played, you've beaten me into the water by a week or so. Any boat for us mere mortals is a big investment (be it £2K or £20K) better to initially play with what you can afford to walk away from rather than have to keep using it to justify it's cost - currently we're looking at a boat that costs all of £14K but will do what we think we want it too. In a couple of years time we might upgrade or maybe not - who knows and who cares - it's supposed to be fun.

And Bayliners are not the Skodas of the boat world, I have a suspicion that Rinkers are. Yes - I'm buying a Rinker.

Barry D.
 
G

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Sounds like my kind of plan. I like the bit about good quality production boats ... what sort of manufacturers/models are we talking about?

As I mentioned, mine's a Norman but it looks like they've long since been out of business (no web site, yellow pages etc.). It would be nice to know a bit more about them. I think they were based in Lincolnshire (could be wrong).
 

peterg

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Rinkers aren\'t Skodas, Barry...

they're more like Nissan Primeras, quite a few out there but you don't really notice as they look like all the other ones!

anyway, we started out with a £4k speedboat a few years ago - great boat but the Johnson ex-MOD outboard engine was a pile of scrap (using my now acquired 20/20 hindsight) but we had a (few) laughs and learnt an awful lot and yes, sold it at a loss, but then we got a Fairline21 for £12k and sold it for the same 2 years later so we must have learnt something!
 

bryantee

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Tottaly agree withBarryD,Andrew Barker,Miket &Boatone.I;m a rag and Stick man.Its your Pounds to be foolish with.Started with Boat Kits in the Seventies @£700 In Seychelles.£50 Plans and Scrap wood in Dubai Mid Seventies.A Proper Yacht in the Eighties Contessa 26.10K.UK. A weekend Cottage in Prevessa (Greece)Nova 27 Long TV Mast ,No Wheels Ground Rent 600k per annum Needing lots of TLk 5K. and a Rival (Proper BOAT)15K. Ground rent ( Marina £600 Per Year)
Tot it all up .Probablly Cheaper to buy a New Yoghurt Pot. but not nearly as much fun. Listen to Ratty( wind in the willows).
 

ari

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Often wondered about these mega million captains of industry, and how they could possibly have so much time and interest to post on here as much as they do....!! ;-)
 

hlb

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Now Hang on a Minute!!

The man asked if there was an easy way to get from a 2 grand boat to a £££££££££ boat.
I dont know another way other than earning it or posabley
stealing it.
Nothing to do with with the fact that theres just as much fun in little old boats as big new ones.
Just to put the record straight and so Mr Dreemer dosent loose all his hopes and aspiration.
My first boat came free from a mate who had got fed up with it. The second was 8ft long and had a rag attached to an aluminium pole and two oars. The third was a National Ospray
racing dinghy ( Thats why I find it ok to slag the yachties, cos I sometimes am one) Cost about £100.
The fourth was a 30ft clinker built pilot boat that I bought for £600 and sold a few weeks later for £800 when I realised that it would take a far bigger mug than me to restore it.
The fifth was a new American 20ft cuddy cabin boat with a V8
petrol in it, which was the worst built boat I've ever had the unfortune to own. But we did have loads of fun in it. Mind you the two weeks holiday in Wales with the four of us in the rain. The windows leaking and the the awning leaking. Might have been part of what put me off American boats.


Haydn
 
G

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Re: My first boat

When I had recently started my own business many moons ago a client could not pay my fee and was singularly ungrateful even though I had kept him out of jail on tax evasion charges (actually they got him later when he deliberately burned down his second hotel but thats another story) . Anyway he had no money but he had a speedboat and I agreed to take it in part settlement of fees. It was an ancient Dowty Turbocraft - 16ft, straight six ford petrol, jet drive.
The boss and I drove up to Tarbert Loch Fyne and on enquiring where we could see the boat I was informed that I would have to wait for low tide as she had sunk 3 days earlier.

Anyway, I got her home and stripped her to the last nut and bolt, rebuilt her and nothing worked! Nice paint job though.

I eventually got the engine to run and must have enjoyed at least three hours all told before I traded her in for a more sensible Shetland. So we all start somewhere.

Nick
 
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