955matt
New member
Hi guys, this is my first post,
A little background on us first.
We are English but have lived in France for about 4 years and have recently be thinking about getting our first boat. I have done quite a lot of canal boating in the uk and the wife has done quite a bit on small sail boats. We have had a Motorhome for about ten years which has been great but tend to find you miss quite a lot as you have to concentrate on driving all the time and are limited to where we can stop due to it being just under nine meters. We have a thirteen year old son and two large dogs that go with us.
We live only about 15 mins from the nearest marina that we like and have been thinking about a Dutch steel cabin cruiser. We had a recent trip to the netherlands to look at some boats, our budget is about 55k so not huge. We found a 12 meter boat built in the 1980’s only two owners and very original, the boat is out of the water so you can see the hull etc . The boat yard does not know the make even though they sold it to its current owners 15 years ago would this put you off and would it affect its price? The boat does not have hot water or heating with the engine off or an inverter or generator, I’m quite happy to install this as I’m restoring a farm house at the moment and spent my career as a vehicle mechanic so work does not put me off , would you factor this into an offer? The owner wants 9k less than he paid 15 years ago do you think that’s reasonable ( I know it’s difficult to say not seeing the boat ) but as a general rule.
My wife is currently doing the VHF course and am I right in thinking that we don’t need a license in the netherlands and Belgium if it’s under 15 meters and not capable of over 20 kph? Would I need a hull survey for the insurance and are they worth it. The whole boat was repainted about 7 years ago and still looks like new, the hull looks good but will need new antifouling. Would you get a survey on the boat or just do it your self with a thickness tester etc?
What do I need to think about and what do I need to look out for generally, any advice or pearls of wisdom would be great.
Many Thanks Matt
A little background on us first.
We are English but have lived in France for about 4 years and have recently be thinking about getting our first boat. I have done quite a lot of canal boating in the uk and the wife has done quite a bit on small sail boats. We have had a Motorhome for about ten years which has been great but tend to find you miss quite a lot as you have to concentrate on driving all the time and are limited to where we can stop due to it being just under nine meters. We have a thirteen year old son and two large dogs that go with us.
We live only about 15 mins from the nearest marina that we like and have been thinking about a Dutch steel cabin cruiser. We had a recent trip to the netherlands to look at some boats, our budget is about 55k so not huge. We found a 12 meter boat built in the 1980’s only two owners and very original, the boat is out of the water so you can see the hull etc . The boat yard does not know the make even though they sold it to its current owners 15 years ago would this put you off and would it affect its price? The boat does not have hot water or heating with the engine off or an inverter or generator, I’m quite happy to install this as I’m restoring a farm house at the moment and spent my career as a vehicle mechanic so work does not put me off , would you factor this into an offer? The owner wants 9k less than he paid 15 years ago do you think that’s reasonable ( I know it’s difficult to say not seeing the boat ) but as a general rule.
My wife is currently doing the VHF course and am I right in thinking that we don’t need a license in the netherlands and Belgium if it’s under 15 meters and not capable of over 20 kph? Would I need a hull survey for the insurance and are they worth it. The whole boat was repainted about 7 years ago and still looks like new, the hull looks good but will need new antifouling. Would you get a survey on the boat or just do it your self with a thickness tester etc?
What do I need to think about and what do I need to look out for generally, any advice or pearls of wisdom would be great.
Many Thanks Matt
