Hi Alan,

I don’t think it’s a case of the prices being lower over the winter, but the sellers may be more motivated to do a deal with you. People tend to buy with their hearts rather than their heads, so trudging around a cold and dirty boatyard looking at boats for sale in the depths of winter isn’t most people’s cup of tea. We don’t sell a huge number of boats at Calcutt, but I know we have far more potential buyers in the warmer months than we do between now and the spring.

The length of time between offer and completion is entirely up to the buyer and the seller and maybe the broker. We had a couple over here from Australia in the spring. They hired a boat from us for two weeks with the intention of buying their own liveaboard boat before they have their hire boat back. They achieved it easily. They may have been lucky, but the fact that they had money in the bank for the boat meant that there was no delay while finance was arranged.

The length of time that the surveyor takes and then the subsequent remedial work is a moveable feast too. It depends how busy (and organised) both the surveyor and the boatyard who does the work are. Of course, if there is remedial work to be done, rather than ask for the seller to do the work before you buy the boat, you could always ask the seller to reduce the price by the cost of the remedial work and then have it done once you take ownership. That would speed up the process for you.

Rather than worry about the time that the transaction will take, you need to think about how long your search will take before you find the right boat. Have you started looking yet? Do you know what length, style and layout you want? Have a look at the boats on Apolloduck. I’ve just had a look. There are about 900 narrowboats and 100 widebeams currently for sale. There’s plenty there for you to get your teeth into!

The boat at Whilton marina has quite a good specification, but it wouldn’t suit me. One of the joys of living on a narrowboat as far as I am concerned is sitting on the front deck watching the world go by. My boat has a table that is stored inside but which fits quickly and easily into a slot in the well deck for al fresco dining. We use it a great deal. Your boat doesn’t have a front deck at all. I think you would miss out. Ansuka also has a rear wheelhouse. Once more, you would be divorced from the sights and sounds of the waterway as you travelled… apart from the sound of your wheelhouse crunching into a low bridge.

I noticed that the toilet is a cassette. Don’t forget that you would have to empty this every two or three days and that the waste tank is quite heavy to carry in and out of the boat. I have a cassette toilet, but I also have access to the marina shower block for doing anything other than a wee. The flush on a cassette toilet isn’t very strong so it struggles to flush wads of toilet paper.

Good luck with your search. Let me know how you get on.