Ex hire boats

Grehan

Grehan

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 Jun 2001
Messages
3,729
Location
Inland France + Oxon.
www.french-waterways.com
We're thinking of buying one. Norfolk or France. Maybe something like this . . .
PORT-BH1113-EX1.jpg

Hydraulic drive (?). We'll possibly amuse ourselves by ripping out and revamping the insides.
Apart from the patently obvious, is there anything particular we should look out for?
 
Expect this sort of craft to be well battered...

Certainly many of the ones on the Thames (well they were s/h broads boats from the last quarter of last century).

On the other hand with the rotten summer this year you might get a bargain in good shape.
 
They won't have been cossetted, and are, generally, underpowered or restricted because they go everywhere on full throttle, but if you factor a bit of a refit into the cost (possibly inc. engine), you will get a tough boat ideally suited to the inland waterways which makes good use of the available space.

If your plans are for extended cruising on inland waterways or general liveaboard, could be a very good place to look.

That said, they will always look a bit like hire boats and you may encounter a bit of snobbery (on the Thames anyway), and in the current climate, you might get a bargain in the general market that has been better looked after, so drive a hard bargain!

Would be interested to hear about your endeavours.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Would be interested to hear about your endeavours.

[/ QUOTE ]Having sailed in the Western Med for 3 years we returned to France last year having made the decision to spend more time in France and change to a mobo. We've sold Grehan 1 so now we look for Grehan 2. European waterways, not the Thames (which we know quite well and we did our RYA courses at Bisham).
 
I had the same sort of boat in mind for exploring the French inland waterways. In many ways an ideal choice (small single engine, roomy with low air and water draft) but when we were looking there was nothing that came up to scratch. Several on the market but we didn't want to have to put in the sort effort that would have been necessary (been there, done that, too many times in the past - now suffering from refurbishment fatigue!). But we're still off to France, in a conventional Dutch steel cruiser, ticks a lot of the boxes on the 'essential features' list, but is arguably too posh to go mixing it with hire boats in the average French lock. Still, you can't win 'em all!

Have you tried looking at www.apolloduck.com? Usually a few on there and already located in France.
 
Thanks. Yes, we did think of 'going Dutch' - seems like the pukkah boaty thing to do, but (and we haven't really made our minds up yet) I don't want to have a 'steel problem' (we spent an interesting two weeks on our backs under a friend's boat scraping the rust and exposing the corrosion) and a plastic fantastic is a bit cheaper, lighter and more economical fuel-wise, and with more space.
But, au contraire, steel is just the thing to fearlessly bash the living daylights out of the hire-boat half-wits in the locks!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
steel is just the thing to fearlessly bash the living daylights out of the hire-boat half-wits in the locks!!!!

[/ QUOTE ] Not when its £18000 repaint is only a year old its not!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And I wont get into the falacious argument about the 'problems' of steel boats. Just look how many really old ones are still about.
 
Check out all the Thames brokers as I met a skipper at Marlow that had a hire boat style boat built to his spec. It's now for sale or was back in the summer. Sorry I don't have any other info to hand.
 
Thats a lot of money, I can see that it makes a lot of sense for the accommodation, but its not a boat you will be turning around to look at as you walk away is it.
 
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