Is a barge a vessel?

chasroberts

chasroberts

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Vessel in question is a 150 foot barge. No engine. Does it need to be registered anywhere and if not how do you prove ownership etc? Does it need proof of VAT (although I'm fairly sure it's exempt through age)

Think big project.......

Seriously, if I were considering purchasing such a thing, what would I need to look/look out for. All thoughts, musings or wild ramblings will be appreciated. Really am in the dark here. If it was a normal yacht then I'd have an idea.

Thanks to all as usual for reading/commenting etc

Chas
 
Can't see how it's any different to a yacht. No need to register (just like a yacht) and you "prove" it's yours by showing the bill of sale from whoever you bought it from (and from others to them, and so on). VAT not a problem for you unless someone has reason to think you imported it to the EU, but misinformed people may consider it an issue if you come to sell it.

Pete
 
The word "vessel" includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

As for registering depends where and what you intend to do with it.
 
If it's 150ft then doesn't it have to be registered? anything over 70ft I thought.

I remember reading about a narrowboat that had been designed and built to be seaworthy doing a circumnavigation, and it got impounded at the first sea port it stopped at. At 72 ft it was over the limit and required registration, and then required various safety upgrades before it was allowed on it's way.
 
Uricanejack said:
The word "vessel" includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

As for registering depends where and what you intend to do with it.
Click to expand...

That could be a very important part of the definition, since the barge in question has no engine.

In order to give a better answer, it would help if the OP could say where the barge is, what it has been used for, and what they intend to do with it if they do buy it.
 
ProDave said:
If it's 150ft then doesn't it have to be registered? anything over 70ft I thought.

I remember reading about a narrowboat that had been designed and built to be seaworthy doing a circumnavigation, and it got impounded at the first sea port it stopped at. At 72 ft it was over the limit and required registration, and then required various safety upgrades before it was allowed on it's way.
Click to expand...
I think you have to be registered if you are going outside the UK whatever your size.
 
chasroberts said:
Vessel in question is a 150 foot barge. No engine. Does it need to be registered anywhere and if not how do you prove ownership etc? Does it need proof of VAT (although I'm fairly sure it's exempt through age)

Think big project.......

Seriously, if I were considering purchasing such a thing, what would I need to look/look out for. All thoughts, musings or wild ramblings will be appreciated. Really am in the dark here. If it was a normal yacht then I'd have an idea.

Thanks to all as usual for reading/commenting etc

Chas
Click to expand...

Therefore a 'dumb' barge.
 
Thanks to all for your thoughts. Went and had a look today (600 mile round trip! Ouch). Dumb barge sems to sum it up. Was looking to develop it as liveaboard but think that I might just be biting off more than I can chew.

Interesting comment re size and registration requirements.

I will repost if anything comes of it. Some project though.

Chas
 
Chas[/QUOTE]
I will repost if anything comes of it. Some project though.


Remember the "Grand Design" TV programme with a converted dumb barge? Ended up on a mooring at Leigh on Sea as the owner couldn't find anywhere to moor it (no one wanted the eyesore near them and it was too big to get up the Thames past the bridges) and the local council forbids living aboard.
The result was that it was vandalised over a 2 year period, broke adrift and ended up on the beach. Sold to a couple with stars in their eyes and more money than sense.
Before you embark on the project, make sure you've got somewhere to put it when you live on it!
 
Anything that size would also need a Pilot to enter most ports.
Possibly a different league of harbour dues etc.
 
chasroberts said:
Vessel in question is a 150 foot barge. No engine. Does it need to be registered anywhere and if not how do you prove ownership etc? Does it need proof of VAT (although I'm fairly sure it's exempt through age)

Think big project.......

Seriously, if I were considering purchasing such a thing, what would I need to look/look out for. All thoughts, musings or wild ramblings will be appreciated. Really am in the dark here. If it was a normal yacht then I'd have an idea.

Thanks to all as usual for reading/commenting etc

Chas
Click to expand...

You do not say what it is made of. Some were concrete and some steel. If a steel one then I would get a good hull inspection carried out as all sorts of corrosion could have been taking place. We once hired a 200 ft barge to offload a grounded ship. The barge looked great and was the only one around. Luckily it was double skinned.....Once full of sugar bags it had to be sat on the sandbank next to the ship till pumps were found!!!! :D:D

SHip was refloated and barge was fine once it was offloaded back into the ship. Sugar stayed dry.
 
Katouf said:
Remember the "Grand Design" TV programme with a converted dumb barge? Ended up on a mooring at Leigh on Sea as the owner couldn't find anywhere to moor it (no one wanted the eyesore near them and it was too big to get up the Thames past the bridges) and the local council forbids living aboard.
The result was that it was vandalised over a 2 year period, broke adrift and ended up on the beach. Sold to a couple with stars in their eyes and more money than sense.
Before you embark on the project, make sure you've got somewhere to put it when you live on it!
Click to expand...

I saw that program and spent most of it alternately cringing and swearing at the TV.

Had the owners decided to go with a more conventional conversion in appropriate materials, then I suspect they'd have managed to build themselves a houseboat within their original budget, and probably would have found it a lot easier to get (and keep) a mooring. The unorthodox design and insistence on using inappropriate reclaimed materials (not to mention the personality of the bloke in question, who managed to drive his first builder perilously close to having a nervous breakdown) doomed the project.

Of course, I'd strongly recommend finding a proper residential mooring for a houseboat of that size before spending all the money on buying and converting it, as moorings are considerably harder to come by than old barges.
 
chasroberts said:
Thanks to all for your thoughts. Went and had a look today (600 mile round trip! Ouch). Dumb barge sems to sum it up. Was looking to develop it as liveaboard but think that I might just be biting off more than I can chew.

Interesting comment re size and registration requirements.

I will repost if anything comes of it. Some project though.

Chas
Click to expand...

Perhaps if you wanted it, you could get it shortened, by taking a section out of the middle cut and shut, end up with two shorter hulls, get engine beds fitted at the same time. A few conversion barges, available at Goole,
Alan G Pease, and up the R. Hull at Beverley
 
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