I started looking in all the usual places, Apolloduck, Gumtree, Preloved, etc etc plus numerous brokerage web sites, trying to get a feel for what was out there and what could be bought with my very limited budget.
Funds i had earmarked for the purchase would not be available for 12 months so i was in no hurry. I could browse to my hearts content. In the comfort of my armchair i looked at hundreds of boats, trad sterns, semi trads, cruiser sterns even a few GRP boats, i seemed spoiled for choice.
Eventually i thought i would go and look at some of these prospective homes, yes actually get on board one or two, well, what an awakening that was!
It's said that photos don't do justice, well it works two ways. What looks good on a photo in reality can be very disappointing -to say the least.
One of the first boats i looked at brought this home to me. On the photos it looked promising, good layout, spacious saloon and good sized bed area.........
In reality it was almost a derelict shell, disgustingly filthy, and nothing short of a full re-fit would have made it habitable. Then there was the boat that needed to be re-floated before you could consider boarding it. They obviously took the photos before it sank!
Its certainly a learning curve but gradually i learned to look beyond the glossy bits and see the potential, and also to look at the more important aspects like hull condition, etc.
I spent the next 12 months going to brokerages, boat sales, auction sites etc climbing over all manner of narrowboats looking for something that would at least tick some of the boxes.
And then i found 'Bracken'.
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