9th August - The House is Sold!


The House

Having put the house on the market 30th May 2002, we were not expecting to have sold it within two days, but on the Saturday morning we had a couple come to view it and they had made an offer by lunchtime!

We have just been given an "exchange" date of the 9th August and so we have been very hastily bagging up, selling off, or simply throwing away our life's possessions over the last few weeks. This is very tiring, but it has at least kept our minds off of the reality of what it is we are actually doing.

People have been very kind to us, offering loft space, garage storage and even a bed, should we need it. At this time Urszula is fully recovered and the Dog is holding his own.

We held our "Garage Sale" which was far more successful than I had ever imagined, but we still have a lot of 'stuff' to dispose of, take a look here and let your friends know, just in case anyone wants to buy?


The 'New' Boat

We went to Gent and had a good look at the Rally of the Dutch Barge Association. We were invited aboard a few and really talked ourselves out of buying anything that large. Realistically we can't see ourselves being able to manage, as we get older.

The Barges in Gent

We have also been looking round at small flats and or properties with a view to keeping a foothold, here in the UK. But with the present housing market we are waiting on this one for a while longer, to see what the market does.

Last weekend - 27/28 July - we should have been packing, but instead sneaked off to look round boatyards on the lower Thames. After Holland, we were surprised recently to see that prices seem to be harmonising between the UK and there. It was a good excursion, having dismissed the barge style, we were back to possibly GRP and River-Type Craft.

We have looked at a large number of craft, old and new, although the decor and so on are very 'nice' in newer boats, they certainly leave a lot to be desired in terms of storage space? One particular boat looked OK, but the steel decks 'flexed' as you walked on them and storage below was no use at all for a family weekend, let alone the live-aboard life. Then we saw this:-

Possibly Kahawi-II

We know this boat, having previously looked over a couple of Super Van-Craft. Not new, she is really just what we were looking for, twin diesel, very solid and plenty of stowage for all our 'junk'. The price although high, is not far off of what we were expecting to pay and the yard is a very reputable one.

I can't say too much more at this stage, as we are waiting on a survey report and lots of things could go wrong, but we are fairly confident!

CRB 12 Aug - In fact the survey was not good. A boating friend of mine, with his Wife came down on Friday last and we spent all afternoon giving the boat a good looking over. Suffice to say that the electrics were in poor shape, the bow-thruster couldn't be persuaded to work and it looked like both engines had cooling water leaks. The last I had heard on the engines alone, being an engineers bill of over £1,000 to rectify.

Now I am quite capable of sorting out all of the above myself, but we were not at all sure how this boat could possibly have passed a BSS examination earlier in the year - given the state it was in when we looked over her?

We have subsequently seen several other boats of a similar style and quality:-

Or maybe this one will be Kahawi-II

There seems little point in paying a high price for something that then needs additional thousands spent on it? There are numerous boats of this style available on the European Waterways, particularly in Holland, the above looks particularly good for a live-aboard couple and we will be visiting in September, with a view to purchase. Perhaps we will be disappointed, perhaps not.

Tonight we a entertaining a couple, who have just done exactly this, purchasing in Holland and returning to the UK. Next update soon!



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