Originally, my plan was to buy a 42′ yacht, either a Beneteau Oceanis 423, or a Jeanneau 42i, and to buy a villa, somewhere in the Med … Turkey, Greece, Croatia??
Having done quite a bit of sailing, I realised that, although it is possible to sail a yacht single-handed, it is another matter to berth one in severe, inclement conditions, on your own.
I think that it was this, more than any other reason that made me decide that my adventures would be better pursued on inland waterways, where single-handing is more doable, but can still prove testing.
My susceptibility to the dreaded ‘mal de mare’ also had a small part to play in the decision.
I’m not sure where the idea came from, but I began to think about a canal boat. Realising that I would never be comfortable on a ‘narrow-boat’, with a 7′ beam, and requiring something rather larger, I began to look at ‘wide-beams’. I had seen the ‘Dutch barges’, but thought that they were out of my price range.
About 2 years ago I began looking at ‘Dutch barges’, and found that it might be possible to get one built, but I would have to forgo the idea of a house as well.
I was interested in the ‘Aqualine Voyager’, and also a boat by the name of ‘Creo’, moored near Canary Wharf in London, but felt that their designs were missing one of the more important features to me, the open aft deck area.
Having visited a couple of builders, Bluewater Boats, in Ladbroke, Warwickshire, and Will Trickett, at Seend in Wiltshire, and also the ‘Crick Boat Show’ on two occasions, I was suffering from ‘information overload’! I think I came away from all of them more confused than before I went.
On my last visit to Crick, I was determined to view the barge on display, built by Piper Boats, of Biddulph, near Stoke on Trent. Unfortunately, when I went to try to get a ‘viewing appointment’, I was told that they were all gone for that day. As I was only there for the day, I missed out.
And so, I returned home, empty handed, so to speak, apart from the obligatory ton of literature that one collects from these events, only to recycle it all, once you get home!
I was so disappointed to have not seen over the boat at the show, as she looked a real beauty, that I made arrangements to pay them a visit.
I contacted Simon Piper to arrange a convenient time. Heading north in the motor-home, I stayed at a campsite at Mow Cop, overlooking Biddulph. It was pretty basic, but good enough for the purpose.
I spent a pleasant evening having a meal, and a couple of beers as the sun went down. I was able to see the Piper factory in the valley below.
The next morning was overcast and gloomy as I made my way down to Biddulph for my appointment with Simon.
It was a very interesting couple of hours and I was impressed with the workmanship that I witnessed. At that point my thoughts were somewhat vague, but Simon gave me lots of information to ponder. I expressed my interest in the 60M model. Apparently, at that time they had not yet built one.
Yet again, when I left, I felt more confused than before. Simon had tried to persuade me to go for a 49M at £220,000, but I was convinced that I would not be happy with that, but the 60M was £40,000 more, pushing me over what I had decided was my upper budget limit, once the extras are added on.
The next day, I had arranged to meet up with the owner of a 57ft Piper barge at Henley. She was for sale for £235,000. A new 60M is only £25,000 more??
For once, I was not confused. The visit had taught me not ‘what I wanted’, but ‘what I certainly did not want’! The 60M is 13’9″ beam. The 57 is 12’6″. Not a lot of difference, but the place that you appear to lose the 15″ is in the passageways and doorways. I also did not like the layout of the master cabin, where the bed is on your left as you enter, and you have to go all the way round it to get to the en-suite, which is tiny.
Some months later, I received an invitation to attend the Piper Weekend at Henley. Owners of Piper boats are invited to attend, along with prospective purchasers like myself. An opportunity not just to view the boats, but also to chat to the owners. It was very informative, and everyone was welcoming and friendly.
The Decision
At some point during the above, I decided to put the house up for sale, and actually do something about ‘changing my lifestyle’.
Unfortunately the house took ages to sell. I did have one offer that I refused, and then another that I accepted, but then they pulled out, but luckily someone else came along only a couple of weeks later.
Finally after weeks of stress and trauma, selling stuff, packing, moving things out, and still not knowing if it was actually going to go through, the completion was done on the 13th April 2015.
I was very lucky when my friend Allen offered for me to stay at his place in the motor-home, until the boat was built. Thinking that I had secured plenty of storage at my aunts place, I asked Allen about storage & he asked Julia, the lady who owns the farm opposite, and she had a 20′ container available. Far too much for my needs … or so I thought! But as it was very reasonable at just over £10 pw, I took it, and it was lucky that I did … I nearly filled it up!
The first few days were a struggle, as I was living ‘on top of everything’, and moving things around all the time to find things that I needed. After a few days, I managed to get sorted and so it became much more comfortable.
A couple of hours ‘rearranging’ the container meant that I could at least get in there!
I had spoken to Nick, Simon Pipers business partner, on the phone and he had suggested that I go up to see them to place an order, between the exchange and completion of the house, but as there were only four days between them, due to delays in the chain, I had to put it off until I had settled in, in the motor-home.
So, I arranged to visit Biddulph a second time, this time to place an order. I had been determined to go for the 60M, but I was concerned that it was pushing my budget, and not leaving me enough of a buffer. So I ventured off in the motor-home and headed for the same campsite. It was no better, but as before, adequate for a couple of days.
On seeing Simon, the next morning, I was a little apprehensive, as I had never done anything like this before, and found it quite intimidating. As I said, Simon had previously tried to persuade me to have a 49M, which was just not big enough, but the 55′ and 57′ models in their brochure, are just 12’6″ beam, whereas the 49M and the 60M are 13’9″.
I almost flippantly said that it was a pity that they didn’t do a 55M, which would be more suitable to my budget. To my surprise, Simon said they could do one, it just isn’t in their brochure, and as they have not built one of those, either, they didn’t have the architects drawings, but could get them.
The price?? As expected, was around £240,000, plus extras. Leaving me much closer to the figure that I wanted to have as ‘rainy day money’.
Simon spent a couple of hours adjusting the layout of the 60M, which has two cabins, to fit a 55′ hull. In the end he was able to give me the layout that I wanted, within the smaller space. It will be nice, maybe even cosy!!
The next morning I went back to the factory to finalise the basic specifications, sign the contract, and pay the initial deposit for the build slot. It was very fortunate that one customer who had the slot booked, did not actually want his boat until spring 2016, and agreed to allow me that slot, and put his back a few months.
I was very happy when they told me that they thought they could have it launched by the middle of September, in time for their ‘Henley Invitation Weekend’. I did hope that would be the case, but unfortunately it wasn’t. It would have been nice to go back there this year, not as a prospective buyer, but an actual owner. As it turned out, I went as on owner, but with no boat!
The weekend of the 23rd May was the Crick Boat Show, again. I decided to go, but with much more idea of what I needed to see, and to research.
I left Sherfield English on the Friday morning, with some trepidation, as it was raining quite hard, and I had heard some horror stories about previous wet Crick weekends, where people abandoned tents. Motor-homes, caravans and cars were being towed out by tractors.
Fortunately, as I headed north from Oxford, it stopped raining, and the weekend was almost totally dry … weather-wise, that is! It certainly wasn’t in the alcohol department!
As the show didn’t actually start until the Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprised when someone told me that the ‘beer and entertainment tent’ was open that evening.
Once I could hear that the music had started, I made my way over. The marquee was packed. The only place that wasn’t was adjacent to the bar. Very considerate!
I bought a drink, and stood there feeling a bit awkward on my own, and ventured outside. Close by, was the Piper barge, ‘Sinfonia’, which was their display model at the show.
As I walked up to have a look at her, a rather large guy was walking towards me, dressed in shorts and T shirt. Me, I was dressed in long sleeved shirt, jeans, and a jacket, and I was NOT warm.
I said to him that he made me feel over-dressed. He laughed, and we began chatting. Within about five minutes, I felt as though we were friends and had known each other all our lives. He asked if I had a boat, and I pointed to the Piper boat, and said that I had placed an order for a similar one.
The next day, I bumped into John again. He introduced me to his wife Julie, and their friends. He had told them about my boat, and they were all so friendly, enthusiastic and encouraging.
We swapped details so that we could keep in touch, and they invited me to a BBQ on their boat ‘Just Us’, that evening.
I spent the day going through the list of ‘things to do’ and later had a shower and made my way along the canal to their barge.
We had a lovely time, and had some lovely food, and lots of conversations about barging. Eventually we made our way over to the ‘Beer Tent’ and tried out some more of the thirty or so real ales that they had on offer. It is a testament to the friendliness of John, Julie, that I can proudly state that we were the last ones in there.
The next day, a bit worse for wear, I headed to the show. I went to the Piper stand to make my appointment to view ‘Sinfonia’, but as Pipers had already relieved me of £40,000, they said that I did not need one. Andrea, Simon’s wife, asked where I had been the previous evening, as they had come to my motor-home, to take me out to dinner. They said that they would like to take me out that evening instead.
Simon and Andrea picked me up at about 7.30, as we were booked into the local pub for dinner at 8.
We were joined by Nick, Andrea’s brother and Simons business partner, Dave one of their joiners, Simon’s father David, who originally started the business, and by a couple who are buying a 49M. It was a very pleasant dinner, and it was very interesting talking to Roy and his South African wife, Verne. Roy is an ex merchant navy captain, and he and Verne now reside between Singapore, Durban and London.
Afterwards, surprisingly, we found ourselves in the beer tent, again?? Luckily, John, Julie, and all their friends were in there as well, and we spent a couple of very enjoyable hours together, and yes, we were very nearly the last ones AGAIN!!
I am so pleased to be able to state that I have kept in touch with John and Julie. Friends for life, I think!
On returning to Sherfield English, I had so much to look forward to and to research.
And So It Begins
After a couple of weeks the build began, and I was (occasionally) kept me up to date with photo’s of the progress.
One disadvantage of being ‘the first’ of a particular model to be built, is that they have to get the drawings from the architect. This took a couple of weeks, but once the build got underway, progress was remarkably swift.
I decided that I would make a trip up to see the progress for myself, and also to discuss with Simon the finer details of the layout. Unfortunately this did not go to plan. Simon had been away for a few days dealing with some damage to a boat out in France, and on his return, only had 2 days before he and Andrea were due to go on holiday. So my opportunity for any input was limited, but I was able to chose some of the detailing for the galley, and en-suite bathroom etc.
I was also able to see at first hand, the progress. ‘She’ looked great, and to my surprise not only was the hull built, as in the photo above, but the roof was ready to go on, as was the wheelhouse.
In the meantime I have been looking at chart plotters, vhf radios, sofas, carpets, sinks, washing machines …. etc. Much of the equipment is included, but there are some items that I may want to upgrade, like the chart plotter. The basic one has a 6″ screen. At my ripe old age, I need something that I CAN ACTUALLY SEE!
Something that I was told I would need are really good mooring lines. Two basic polypropylene mooring lines are provided with the vessel, but I was told that I would need to buy a set of 2 x 15M, 2 x 20M, and 2 x 25M lines, each with an eye-splice in one end. No problem, I thought! How much can 6 pieces of rope cost?? ****!!! HOW MUCH??? ….. No problem! I will make them myself!
I bought 220M 16mm black nylon rope for a fraction of the cost of the lines, and it took me just a few hours to make all six! It cost me less than a half of the cost of buying them, and I still have 100M of the line left.
The Name??
One thing I have struggled with is a name for the boat. I had a long list, but after a lot of whittling down, I had to make a choice in order to register the boat …
As the hull topsides are going to be dark blue, I thought white lettering with red shadow?? The font choice was difficult, but after a lot of tinkering, I chose ‘Times’, as it shows up well from a distance. You can actually read the name! There were many fonts that I liked, but some were very difficult to read from any distance.
I liked the name in italic, but as the two names on either side of the bow are going to be visible at the same time, it would look a bit odd, if they were both ‘leaning’ in the same direction.
There is a very useful website www.funkymonkeyboatnames.co.uk where you can enter the name and play around with the fonts, colours, shadows, and styles.
Laura Marie?? It was the name of a lovely girl that I met on a holiday in Italy a few years ago, and when I told her that I was thinking about buying a boat, she suggested that I could name it after her … so I have!
If you have ever heard the song ‘I’m Not In Love’ by 10cc you might be familiar with false denial. Was I? Absolutely! I adored her!!
The Completion and Launch
Due to a variety of circumstances ‘Laura Marie’ was eventually launched about 6 weeks later than first anticipated. I spent the last week of her build at the factory, staying in the motor-home on site.
The final week was stressful, to say the least, but I was able to get out and arrange things, and buy bits and pieces for the boat. Pipers kindly lent me their small van for the purpose.
The last weekend before launch, I got to stay on board, to try everything out so that any ‘niggles’ could be sorted before she left for her launch at Caversham Lakes, near Reading.
To be continued …
