Alvechurch have a few boats for sale and I liked the layout of one of their hire cruisers. So we went off to Gayton and saw Wien.
It was quite nice with a nice lounge but the loo was in the shower and the fit didn’t seem that good.
Dotterel looked quite nice, the lounge was a bit short and we were not sure how to convert the back cabin into a double. We liked the side hatch and the semi-traditional back deck. £39,950.
Then it was off to Alvechurch.
We saw 3 boats, Liberty which was 59feet and £35,000 but has seen better days. It has a traditional back deck and we hated the manoeuvre to get inside.
Kiwi Explorer was 65 feet and £65,000 but it felt like a fibre glass cruiser.
Senghenydd was a 66 feet traditional with port holes and felt claustrophobic.
We were a bit worried about moorings, every boat yard you visit looks at you and says ‘have you got a mooring?’ Some are polite some almost abrupt. Disheartened we returned to Alton.
Never say never as they say. We saw two more adverts for boats we fancied one called Kayos (like the name) 67ft at Whilton, the other was an ex- Black Prince boat at Stoke Prior at 57feet. They were both about £50K.
Black Prince were very helpful and offered us moorings near Napton in Wigrams Turn. Quite a trip to get there!
Wilton also reckoned they could squeeze us in if we were not too fussy about where. I noticed that Calcutt also had moorings available in their new marina. As we were going that way I suggested visiting Dotterel at Gayton again.
Off to Gayton and something sort of clicked. Don’t know why. We realised we could make a really big double cabin in the middle room where the corridor changes sides.
We liked the unit that separated the lunge from the kitchen too.
We went up to Whilton for lunch in their nice little café and saw Kayos. It was nice, perhaps too nice, the corridor went down one side, it was carpeted halfway up the walls. Over lunch we decided to cancel Stoke Prior as Kayos was also an ex-Black Prince not just a longer version of the one on sale at Stoke Prior. Rang up Black Prince who were ever so nice about it offering advice and encouragement.
Back to Gayton and put in an offer, a couple of haggles later it was accepted. Gayton offered us space outside their marina until space became available inside so we had a mooring. The boat was going out that day and the last thing we saw was a lovely picture of a happy little girl staring out of the hatch!
Cheers Graham
