Narrowboat 50ft with Wheelhouse #BoatForSale

This is my friend's boat, now for sale with Boatshed.  He fitted it out himself as he's a professional carpenter, and the work is beautiful. I always remember that Reflex stove was toasty in winter too. We had some good times on board that boat; he lived on it happily for years, but now no longer lives in England. This is a great opportunity to get an unusual boat. The wheelhouse means you can cruise in all weathers.

Narrowboat 50ft Cruiser Stern with Wheelhouse

Features

• An unusual and very attractive fit-out in cherry, chestnut and sycamore.

• Open plan with separate bedroom cabin at front. Large living space with kitchen and wet room shower/toilet.

   Gas water heater. Diesel reflex heater and solid fuel stove.

• Fixed double berth

Phil says,

"This is an unusual looking Springer, with a great new fit out. Recent engine replacement 2008. Replated 2004.  She would make a fantastic live-aboard, with plenty of space for very comfortable living. Choice of efficient diesel heating or multifuel stove, with gas water heating makes her very warm and cosy."

See lots more photos at Boatshed Grand Union

My Boatshed Anniversary

It’s now a year since I began working for Boatshed Grand Union! We have lots to celebrate and it’s been an interesting year.

I first met Phil Bassett because he was the broker when I bought my current boat, a lovely 70ft trad narrowboat for sale with Boatshed. You can read the full story about how I came to work for Boatshed here. 

Last August I was introduced on the blog;

“Peggy Melmoth will be handling some of the administration and email enquiries, welcoming new clients, liaising with vendors, and updating the Boatshed Grand Union blog.”

I have also been creating sales documents, increasing our Facebook and Twitter following and have otherwise generally been making myself useful.

In October British Waterways updated their guidance for boats without a home mooring, and in December Boatshed launched Boatshed Liveaboard, after the government encouraged the idea of using boats as homes.  

During the winter the Tring summit level on the Grand Union was closed to navigation for several months. This meant boaters had to decide which part of the stoppage they’d like to moor on and remain.

The rain made up for it later in the year so some of the Boatshed team got completely soaked at The Crick boat show. 

Boatshed Grand Union and Boatshed Inland were proud to be major sponsors of the Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice in May.The Olympics did not really affect our business, despite navigation on London’s canals being restricted. In other news of course, this is the year that British Waterways became a charity and was renamed the Canal and Rivers Trust.In July British Waterways Marinas Ltd, one of the largest marina operators in the country, appointed Boatshed.com as its sole provider of brokerage at its marinas in the South and West.

We also launched a free eBook about Living on a Boat and we’ve seen Boatshed Grand Union rise in to the top 20 of the UK Waterways websites ranking. 

We’ve sold 32 boats during the last year, and have two under offer at the moment. The Boatshed worldwide group of brokerages now has 477,527 registered customers (across our 56 offices) and of course new visitors register each day. 

I am lucky enough to really enjoy my work and look forward to another great year with Boatshed.

Disclosure: I am paid to write the Boatshed Grand Union blog. It was my choice to republish this article here which first appeared on the Boatshed Grand Union website.

Living on a Boat: The Free eBook

I’ve been living on a narrowboat for twelve years and for as long as I can remember people have asked me questions about the lifestyle.

• Is it cold in winter? 
• How often do you have to move your boat? 
• Aren’t you worried that your children will fall into the canal? 
• Is living on a narrowboat cheaper than living in a house? 
• How much does a narrowboat cost? 
• Have you got a TV/shower/toilet etcetera? 

I was even once asked (by two teenage girls on the towpath in Essex), Can you read and write?

I’ve tried to answer these questions over the last couple of years on my blog, and also on the Boatshed Grand Union blog. As far as technical questions or buying and selling a boat goes, Phil knows more than me, so I’ve teamed up with Phil to create an ebook about buying and living on a boat. We hope it will be helpful both to anyone considering buying a boat to live on, and also to those who are simply curious.

I really enjoyed writing, designing and publishing Living on a Boat, and I am sooo excited to be launching it out into the big wide world today. Simply pay with a Tweet or a Facebook post to get your copy.



I hope you enjoy it.

Boat-Wife xx

Recommended Narrowboat Books

When I’m not writing, business blogging, parenting or narrowboating I like to get my nose stuck into a narrowboat book.

Terry Darlington, author of Narrow Dog To Carcassonne will be signing copies of his book Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier at this year’s Crick Boat Show. The new book sees him travelling the north of England with his wife Monica and their two dogs. Narrow Dog to Carcassonne was the bestselling travel book of 2006, and this latest will be his third book.

Terry’s first book is the only modern boating travelogue that I’ve read, so Steve Haywood’s books are quite high on my reading list. He’s written One Man and a Narrowboat: Slowing Down Time on England's Waterways and Narrowboat Dreams about his own travels and the history of the canals. I have however read the original boating travelogue: Tom Rolt’s Narrow Boat . This is a lovely lyrical log about Tom and Angela’s travels in 1939 through an idyllic rural England.

I tried to find books about narrowboat women and so discovered The Amateur Boatwomen (Working Waterways) by Eily Gayford. This is a fascinating account of the author’s experience training women to work narrowboats during the Second World War. I like the bit where they sit in a cabin laughing at the seemingly impossible thought that boats might one day have “a bathroom with hot and cold taps, fitted carpets, a Hoover, (and) a telephone!”

I then read Ramlin Rose, by Sheila Stewart: This is probably one of my favourite books ever! I met some travelling boat girls up the River Stort a couple of years ago and asked them if they’d read anything about narrowboat families: They recommended Ramlin Rose. Sheila Stewart had wanted to interview a Banbury boatwoman and write her biography, but ended up compiling a number of true stories into a fictional life story.

This month I have read my first historical boat novel; Water Gypsies by Annie Murray. This is a sequel to The Narrowboat Girl, but I was told the cut does not actually feature that much in the first book, so I went straight for the sequel. Water Gypsies begins in 1942 and describes a series of tragedies that befall the heroine, who is tormented by a miserable past!

Marie Browne’s Narrow Margins is a modern tale of a family aboard, trying to make a new start after losing their IT company and large house when Rover went bust. They move their children and dog onto a dilapidated narrowboat called Happy Go Lucky and teach themselves about narrowboat life and boat refurbishment as they go along.The sequel, Narrow Minds describes their return to the water on another run down boat. There's an interview with Marie Browne on the Sunday Mercury website.

Next on my list of books to read about families on boats is For Better For Worse, For Richer For Poorer by Damian and Siobhan Horner. This husband and wife team have written a memoir about leaving their careers and lives ashore, to travel the French canals with their two young children.

Of course, if I didn’t spend so much time reading narrowboat books I might finish writing my own: The Real Life of a Narrowboat Wife. Then it could be me signing copies at next year’s Crick Boat Show…

Come and say hello to me at the Boatshed Grand Union standat Crick this year.

For more information about this year’s Crick Boat Show visit www.crickboatshow.com or call 01283 742972.

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Boatshed Grand Union, and it contains affiliate links to Amazon.

Why not top up the canal at the water point?

We still haven’t had enough rain to make all of our canals fully operational, with only 38% of the long term average rainfall for February being experienced in Southern England.

Still, I had a good laugh when I discovered this April 1st article on PennineWaterways News. It describes an innovative BW scheme to bring water from the north to the south, carried on specially adapted working boats. 

“BW spokesperson Allie Sash revealed that they had been considering topping up the Tring summit level from the water point at Bulbourne, but the recently-announced hosepipe ban has sunk that idea.”

On a more serious note, Sue from Retirementwith No Problem, recently asked 'Do boaters really care what happens?' She counted 18 boats coming down the Buckby flight on their own in one morning: i.e. without sharing locks.

To save water we have been asked to wait to share some locks at the beginning of this season, but that is ok isn’t it? These are unusual times. We will just have to allow extra time for our journey. Boaters are going to have to slow down to an even more leisurely pace than usual. Amy from nb Lucky Duck pointed out that sharing locks is fun.

I’ve had many a good chat with a random person while sharing a lock. It’s a great way to meet other boaters, and you share the workload of winding the paddles and opening the gates too. Everybody wins.

Of course you don’t have to wait for two hours for someone to share with. Simply use your own discretion. Or do wait, if you have the time…

BW reports that reservoir levels in parts of the Midlands and South East are still at record low levels for this time of year, and the water management team continues to work with local businesses, boating organisations and other interested parties to manage the problem. We have many canal boats, barges and narrowboats for sale on the Grand Union and so this issue affects our business and our customers.

BW has issued details of overnight lock closures at targeted locations on parts of the Grand Union and Oxford Canals. Special openings will be considered at busy times such as Bank Holiday weekends. BW has published a map showing the risk of drought impact on navigation in the midlands and south east.

So I’d like to end this blog with a final thought, in the style of Jerry Springer. Let’s share locks and save water. Sharing is nice. Make new friends. "Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other".

And the water.

 Sponsored post. 

More about business blogging. 

What Does 'Project Boat For Sale' Mean?

Project boat for sale

A long time ago, when I sold my beloved first ever boat, a 45 foot red narrowboat with a cruiser stern, the boat broker told me that she was a little “tired looking” and labelled her as a project boat for sale.

But a project boat can be a beautiful thing; a bargain full of potential. If you're looking for cheap boats for sale in the UK it may be because you're the sort of person who is interested in fitting out a narrowboat or refurbishing a barge. If you're considering this option you will know that you may need a variety of skills, from woodwork to plumbing, and wiring to painting. You may also have to budget to outsource some of the jobs you are less confident about. It could be an opportunity to completely redesign the interior to your taste but it's good to bear in mind that one day you may want to sell it. While it's easy to research the prices of a new stove, cooker or toilet, it is surprising how the cost of tiling, taps, timber and paint can add up.

Your other most valuable commodity will be time. You may need to consider planning your project around work and family; can you estimate accurately how long the work will take? You will also need to consider the requirements of the Boat Safety Scheme. If you're going to move around large sheets of ply or drill holes in steel work you'll need to be physically fit. Depending on the size of the refurbishment you plan to undertake you may like to sketch out your ideas as a plan, and look in waterways magazines for ingenious layout ideas, cunning storage solutions and varying berth and dinette options. Plan ahead and think about how the current tasks will affect future work. Make sure that plumbing and wiring is reasonably accessible for your future self to maintain, and tidy up as you go along, to boost morale, reduce mistakes and find lost tools!

For some enthusiasts the attraction will be the satisfaction of restoring a historic boat. Our unusual Admiralty Pinnace boat for sale has so much potential for someone with a talent for woodwork. Although she is thought to have been built by the Admiralty in 1919, she does not show her age, except perhaps in her grace and style. The wheelhouse, massive salon and wonderful bedroom can be seen in the photos here: Historic Project Boat For Sale.

Boat refitting or restoration is a labour of love but in some cases you could be proud to own a piece of floating history, that has been redesigned to your own specification.

What does 'project boat' mean to you? Are you looking for a project? Have you successfully restored your own boat? Please feel free to come over and join me on Facebook or Twitter for a bit of a chat. We have recently sold two project boats and are looking forward to seeing how they turn out.



For the month of March this blog will be featuring these sponsored posts, while I get on top of my various work committments. I plan to include more tales about the real life of a narrowboat wife in April. If you would like to contribute a personal story about living aboard I am happy to accept guest posts.

Peggy

Kids on the Cut

What's happening on the English canals and rivers at the moment? There were grim findings in the Regents Canal in London last week. We've also had water shortages and council elections argy bargy so I thought I'd write a cheerful story for the blog. As Spring approaches, here are some waterside ways to have fun with the kids.

There's a science workshop for children at the London Canal Museum this week from 13 to 16th March. The day includes a boat trip and practical workshops. Children can find out how the Islington tunnel was built on the canal and build model tunnels. Then, discover why boats float and how to measure the amount of cargo on boats. It costs £4 per child and you can book it by emailing education@canalmuseum.org.uk

This weekend the Puppet Barge in Little Venice is showing The Flight of Babuscha Baboon.  The show tells the story of a baboon who wants to fly to the moon in a hot air balloon and has to save an elephant from ivory hunters. For more information visit http://www.puppetbarge.com/

If you're not in London the canal still provides plenty of inspiration for family fun. Try hiring a day boat on the Grand Union canal or making a boat themed recipe from Favourite Boating Recipes; Traditional Cabin Fare (compiled by Cas Best.) On rainy days you could read books about characters living on a narrowboat like Rosie and Jim or Bert and Betty. If the weather is fine I might try cycling with the kids, fishing, foraging, or going on wildlife walks.

While we're on the towpath I'll  keep an eye out to see if there are any narrowboats for sale. We are always looking for more boats to add to our selection of narrow boats and barges for sale on the Grand Union. If you have a boat for sale we'd be happy to take it on brokerage for you.

Disclosure: I wrote this post for http://grandunion.boatshed.com/index.php. For business blogging and other services visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/


For the month of March this blog will be featuring these sponsored posts, while I get on top of my various work committments. I plan to include more tales about the real life of a narrowboat wife in April. If you would like to contribute a personal story about living aboard I am happy to accept guest posts.
Peggy

Could You Live Aboard?

There are almost 35,000 canal boats on Britain’s inland waterways*, but it’s quite difficult to estimate how many of those are floating homes. I was recently interviewed by a journalist who seemed to want to find out what ‘type’ of people are living within the boating community. The truth is that we are just as diverse as the community living ashore. Live-aboard boaters include middle-aged divorcees, retired couples, young professionals, people on low incomes, people ‘down on their luck’ and canal heritage enthusiasts. It can include people seeking an alternative lifestyle, or people seeking a cheaper lifestyle. Some boaters are foreign tourists discovering England and some people are able to choose a nomadic lifestyle because they work from home.

If you think you may be one of these people you need to consider the challenges. Confined space and a lack of storage will mean de-cluttering your possessions before moving aboard. Have you taken into account the extra chores such as disposing of your own domestic waste and sewage, and keeping your water tank topped up? Are you ready for an unpredictable electric supply that depends on the engine being maintained in good working order? Your gas will be purchased in bottles and the changing price of red diesel will affect your home budget. If your work or personal commitments make continuously cruising impractical you will need to find a mooring.

If you have considered all of these points then you are ready to take the plunge. Imagine the emotional freedom of releasing so many material possessions to move into a cosy narrowboat. Consider the sense of independence and achievement knowing that you are responsible for supplying your own gas and electric, and the environmental awareness you’ll gain when physically managing your own waste disposal. You’ll feel more connected with nature and feed swans and ducks from your kitchen window. You will learn to be economical with water and you may like to learn new skills such as marine engine maintenance, boat refurbishment or painting roses and castles. Will you exchange the gym for cycling or running on the towpath? Will you enjoy being part of a community in a marina or will you consider a new career as a roving canal trader?

When you have thought through all of these things and worked out your budget it’s time to begin browsing the variety of canal boats for sale at Boatshed Grand Union. If you’re already a leisure boater looking to exchange your current boat for a live aboard we would be happy to take your boat on brokerage for you.

*Source: British Waterways website


I wrote this post for Boatshed Grand Union.
For business blogging, social media and other virtual assistant services visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/

Do You Know Who I Think I Am?

Phil Bassett

Following my earlier blog about How to Sell a Boat on the Inland Waterways I thought I’d share a bit more about who we are at Boatshed Grand Union.

Phil is the owner of the brokerage. Phil and his wife Lynn love to get out and about on the Grand Union on their 48ft narrowboat Persephone. He also runs Canal Experience Training, an RYA Training Establishment for the Inland Waterways. http://www.canalexperience.co.uk/

When he’s not working on brokerage or coordinating helmsman training then he spends time supporting the work of the South West Herts Narrowboat Project, a charity which runs a narrowboat for Youth and Community groups. http://www.swhertsnarrowboat.org.uk/

In fact it seems that Phil loves canal boats and boating as much as I do. I have lived aboard for twelve years and share a 70 foot narrowboat with my husband and two young daughters. My daughters were born on board our boat and sleep in a gorgeous boatman’s cabin all painted with traditional roses and castles. At Boatshed Grand Union I help with the administration, blogging and social media networking. I work for a number of other boating related businesses doing similar work and I’m also a freelance writer. If you’re considering living aboard you may enjoy a series of blog posts I wrote about living on a boat.

Both Phil and I write articles for the Boatshed blog. If you enjoy our blog you may like to subscribe by email or RSS (links are near the top of the side bar). Alternatively our contact page http://grandunion.boatshed.com/contact.php has links to our Twitter feed and Facebook page. If you follow us on Facebook and Twitter you get weekly blog updates, recently reduced boats, new listings and other boaty news.

We have recently welcomed Adrian Ezard to the team as a broker. He will be working from Gloucester and covering the Severn, Avon and Sharpness Canal. His work includes meeting boat owners on board and taking up to 80 photos and videos of each boat. Either Phil or Adrian accompany all viewings and communicate all offers to the seller. We handle the sale from start to finish, keeping you informed throughout.


Brian Duckett


We also work closely with Brian and Johannah Duckett at Boatshed London. http://london.boatshed.com/index.php If you are buying or selling a boat in London - in St Katherine's Dock, South Dock Marina, Limehouse Marina, Chelsea Harbour, Poplar Marina, Gallions Point or any of the other London marinas or moorings, they would be happy to help you. They run Boatshed London from their office aboard HMS President which is moored on Victoria Embankment, close to Blackfriars Bridge.

Boatshed Grand Union and Boatshed London are just two local parts of a worldwide brokerage. Boatshed has offices across 10 countries and each one is owned and operated on a licence basis by people passionate about boats.

So that’s who we are: boaters who love boats. If you have a boat for sale we’d love to take it on brokerage for you.

Peggy Melmoth
http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/

Brian's office

Peggy's office

Roving Traders and the CRT Council

Cheeseboat 2

So, voting has now opened for boat owners to elect four boaters to represent licence holders on the Canal and River Trust’s National Council. The council will consist of 35 members but only four of these will be boaters! Voting is open until noon on 9th March and ballot packs are currently being sent out to voters. However, BW does not consider Boatshed Grand Union brokerage to be a waterways business; they simply consider a waterways business to be a company that has a British Waterways trading licence; so we will not be eligible to vote.


A group of boaters who do hold trading licences have set up a website with the aim of giving a voice to the small roving canal traders on the UKs waterways. The aim is to promote and enhance their unique trading community which includes floating businesses such as; The Cheese Boat, The Graphics Boat, Fudge Boat, Cookie Boat, Tillercycles (who repair and sell bikes), Book boats, Coal Boats, Art Galleries, knitting and sewing boats, a traditional canalware and crafts boat, a boat selling LED lighting and two travelling hair salons.

It's important to have independent businesses like these represented on the CRT council. Graham Phillips owns Tia www.tiacares.co.uk a small business afloat, based mainly in the south Midlands, supplying environmentally responsible cleaning products. Lorraine Fox is based around London and owns www.thesandwichbarge.co.uk Together they are the two candidates representing the Roving Canal Traders. Read more at http://www.canaltraders.org.uk/

Any changes in waterways rules and regulations affect their ability to trade, so giving these traders a voice on the CRT council is important. There are just five candidates standing for the two seats available in the Boating Business “constituency”.

If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a roving canal trader Boatshed Grand Union is the best place to start your search for narrowboats for sale; and if you have a canal boat for sale we sell boats for boaters. Will you take your business afloat this year?



Peggy Melmoth
Floating writer and virtual assistant!
http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Boatshed Grand Union.

Images from: http://www.canaltraders.org.uk/

Boats That Blog

I recently wrote about Boats That Tweet but you will find that a lot of canal and narrowboaters who tweet, are also boats that blog. Many narrowboat blogs are cruising logs, and while some are a written diary, others are more focussed on keeping a photographic record of their journey.

It’s pretty impossible to pick my favourite boating blogs because there are so many good ones! Instead I’ve chosen three very different boating blogs to give you a flavour of the variety that’s out there.

Granny Buttons
http://www.grannybuttons.com/

The UK Waterways ranking site lists the most popular boating blogs of the moment and Andrew Denney’s blog Granny Buttons is consistently at the top of that list. Granny Buttons is the name of his narrowboat and he shares his own thoughts and opinions related to the canals and waterways of England. This is a good example of a blog with a lot of reader interaction as the comments thread often sparks off discussions. He also displays a long list of boating blogs in his side bar so it’s a good starting point for discovering more blogs.

Writings From the Where Ever


http://fancifulalice.blogspot.com/

Alice Griffin is a mother, wife, writer, traveller, dreamer, vegetarian, animal lover, seeker of peace, crafter and sometimes a gardener; just doing her best to live an authentic life aboard her narrowboat. She writes heart-felt posts about finding beauty in the little things, and describes how living afloat and being so close to nature can be good for the soul and good for her little girl.


Living on a Narrowboat
http://livingonanarrowboat.co.uk/

Paul Smith’s website is more than a blog, it is a wealth of information about the reality of living aboard. It includes case studies of liveaboards, marina reviews, and lots of useful articles. To view all of the content you need to subscribe, but membership is free. There are over 4000 subscribers and the site receives up to 6,000 visits each month, so he must be doing something right!

To follow this blog click on the little orange button towards the top right corner of the page and subscribe to the RSS feed. Alternatively, you can receive Boatshed news updates by liking our page on http://on.fb.me/mdBX5L]Facebook [/lor following us on Twitter @BoatshedGU. Our news feeds also let you know when we have a new boat for sale. If you have a boat for sale, we would be delighted to take it on brokerage for you.

I wrote this post for Boatshed Grand Union.
For business blogging, social media and other virtual assistant services visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/

Thousands of Miles of Waterways

This is a guest post from Phil Bassett at Boatshed Grand Union, who has discovered some cool canal maps online.
.
I have heard many figures quoted for the number of miles of navigable waterways in the UK: It is certainly several thousand. How do you find your way around such an extensive network? Well there is a route planner http://http//canalplan.eu  which I love. It's great for planning routes and will give you an itinerary, plot your route on Google maps and show you a photographic tour. Mike Kelly's http://eureauweb.com/Water-Way application is a great location aware information system that is really useful to have on board. All the information and route-planning of a Nicholson's Guide plus more, in electronic form. Lately I have found this great map of the inland waterways at the UKWRS site. So now you know how much of the waterways there is to explore and you have the means to find your way around. Jump into the Boatshed site and look at all the narrowboats for sale that we have in Hertfordshire and London as well as the Dutch Barges and Wide-beams.

Visit the Boatshed Grand Union blog here.

#BoatsThatTweet

Yes, I too was one of those people who asked, “What is the point of Twitter?” I had already wasted hours on Facebook keeping in touch with my friends’ status updates, and I didn’t need a whole other social world on line to mysteriously suck away my time and energy. But as I got more into blogging and ‘met’ other bloggers on line I kept hearing that tweeting was the thing to do.

I find Twitter to be a lot faster and busier experience than Facebook, it is a constantly moving conversation, like walking into a bar where everyone is talking at once: That makes it sound awful! But it’s a quick and easy way of sharing news, links and information. It’s a place to socialise, network and meet new people.

To get people ‘following’ you on Twitter you need a short and interesting bio, saying what you’re about. Advertise your Twitter ID on your email signature, blog, other social network profiles, and website if you have one. Follow other people and companies with similar interests, and follow people that you would like to follow you. Whenever you see something interesting ‘retweet’ it, and that person will thank you.

On Twitter I’ve discovered people that I would never have randomly met or spoken to in real life. Last week I discovered a campaign to stop the government closing 50% of coastguard stations that is tweeted by @CoastalJoe1. I heard that a 74 year old man who fell into the Coventry Canal at Tamworth is seeking the girl who saved him via @unofficialNBW and I heard that British Waterways are looking for volunteer lock keepers via @waterscape_com. It’s also useful to follow @BWcomms. Boats I’ve tweeted with recently include @hotelboats (Snipe and Taurus) @b0atg1rl, @nbchalford, @workinboatwoman and @albiondumsday (Granny Buttons narrowboat blog). I’ve even discovered a boating hairdresser @FloatingSalon. @workboatpug is an Oxford based marine engineer who publishes a daily online paper called ‘Tweets from the Fleet’, sharing boating articles and information.

The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It is a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. Hash tags allow you to create communities of people interested in the same topic by making it easier for them to find and share information related to it. Try following the hash tag #BoatsThatTweet and easily discover so much more about canals and narrowboating!

This week I will be taking over the Boatshed Grand Union Twitter account so why not follow me @BoatshedGU for regular news updates from this blog and information about buying and selling narrowboats?

You can also follow my personal account @Boat_Wife for blog updates from www.narrowboatwife.blogspot.com and any other random things I might tweet about.

I look forward to ‘meeting’ you on Twitter!

Boat-Wife
xx

How to sell a boat

At a time when some businesses are struggling, our biggest problem at Boatshed Grand Union is that we seem to be selling too many boats – we have several under offer at the moment and are ready to take on more boats for brokerage. To meet the demand of our large and expanding database of 240,000 registered customers we need more canal and narrowboats to sell.

How is Boatshed different?

We put your boat onto more than 50 websites of our own websites, which we advertise in all the main boating magazines. We also have direct computer links that put you boat straight onto Apollo Duck and other similar sites.

No need to move your boat – we sell it where it is.

You can still live aboard.

No sale – no fee.

More photos than any other broker provides.

We offer a complete service, including handling all the paperwork and financial transactions. Our brokers accompany customer viewings, therefore making themselves available to answer any questions that a customer has. On average it can take about twelve viewings to sell a boat (that's the world-wide average) yet at Boatshed Grand Union the average number of viewings before a sale is four. By the time the buyer travels to your boat they have already seen so many photos of all aspects of your boat that they have a really good idea of what to expect.

When I bought my current boat from Boatshed I was amazed at how quick and efficient the process was: It's traditional brokerage but with cutting edge technology. If you're interested in experiencing a way of selling your boat with minimal hassle and stress then get in touch. After all – no sale, no fee, nothing to lose! We sell boats for boaters.

http://grandunion.boatshed.com/listmyboat.php
 
Disclosure: I wrote this post for Boatshed Grand Union.
For business blogging and other services visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/