The exciting part of buying starts here – what boat to buy and how much are the running costs!
Your first boat will be determined by your available budget. Take a look at Norfolk Yacht Agencey or Anglia Yacht Brokers websites and boatsandoutboards .co.uk to see what boats are in your price range. If you are looking for a mainly day trip boat look at Shetland or Microplus type boat around the 17' size. A boat like this will give you overnight accommodation for 2 people a small water supply and sink and usually a two burner cooker. It will have a canopy which will fold down on a nice day and will normally be powered by an outboard. The usual size of outboard for a boat this size will be between 5 and 10 hp and will be perfectly adequate for the river speeds required. Pay particular attention to the condition of the outboard and the canopy as these can be expensive to replace. http://www.normanboats.co.uk/ This site is run by one of the Norfolk Broads Forum members and you will find lots of boats here in your price range. Norman boats are at the bargain basement end of boating but they are good fun. There is nothing cheap about owning a boat, but hiring is also very expensive so if you use it enough, it will cost about £600 to £800 per year for mooring. Insurance is £90 on mine. Check on the Broads Authority website for the river tolls. They are probably going up again soon, but remain good value compared to other waterways.
As for moorings if you allow around £30 per foot per year you will find yourself a nice mooring on the Broads. Moorings can be a lot cheaper than this if you are prepared to moor on the river but of course that leaves your pride and joy vulnerable to damage from passing craft. A boat of this size will usually come with a trailer and I would look into the possibility of slipping the boat when you need to use it and keeping it on land when not in use. If you have space at home to store it then all the better as this will cost you only the fee to use the slipway ( it used to be between £5 and £10). If you don’t have space at home then a lot of places will store your boat on land for a fee. There is a place in Yarmouth called Anglia marine down Cobham way that does this, but as you are aware Yarmouth is not the prettiest place on the broads to keep a boat (and beware of the strong tides ). An average sized car will tow a boat of this size, so don’t be afraid of taking it somewhere else to slip it. In your budget allow around £100 for river tax and around the same for insurance and you wont go far wrong.
As with any large purchase if you don’t know a lot about it, it may be wise to employ a Surveyor (I charge £12 per foot) and your insurance company may actually require this.
Hope this has been helpful. If you are lucky enough that your budget stretches beyond what I have detailed above then as an example of the fixed costs for a larger boat ( see Broom picture below) I allow £1500 per year for a 35 footer (moorings tax and insurance). As a word of caution always keep a little bit back from your budget to allow for unforeseen costs.
Here are my running costs for my friends boat last year, should help you set a budget..........
The boat is a 1980 30’ x 12’ Broads Cruiser
Insurance £158 per year, Mooring fees £840 per year, BA licence £215 per year, Fuel Costs 2007 £180, Electric tokens £13, Servicing £120.
He used his boat for 166 days in 2010 and had 23 weeks of holidays for £1526 or £30 a week (which equates to £66.34 per occupied week)
This is a good guide for a boat of this size, but does not include the cost of purchasing.
Now go and get looking………………
Take a look at this database (click the link below) of almost 20,000 boats seen on the Norfolk Broads during the last 37 years. (Together with information from the Broads Authority, some historical records taken from old catalogues and photographs and the valuable input from boat owners and other enthusiasts).
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| Must do the lottery this evening!!!!!! |
