Shares this small don't come on the market very often - this is your chance to get on the canals for a quarter the cost of hiring.
After about 12 years of brilliant boating on nb
Shadow we now need to sell our half-share* as we hope to do more cruising on
Jubilee. Especially when Ally and Ben have (eventually) bought their house.
Shadow is a six-berth 58' semi-trad narrowboat built in 1995 by Pat Buckle.
The great advantage of a "half-share" is that all the costs are immediately halved. And you still get plenty of boating every year as there are often "spare" weeks to be had.
Shadow started out as a 12-share boat but, following the collapse of management company OwnerShips a few years ago, it is now a 10-share boat, meaning that my share is effectively 1/20.
Think of all the running costs of a boat over a year and divide by 20, and you can see that it's not very much. Certainly much less than hiring for the same number of weeks. If you buy my share you will become a member of the syndicate which owns the boat outright. We currently choose to have the boat managed for us by BCBM, one of the biggest players in the shared boat world. If you look at their website (
click here) you can see a breakdown of running costs for last year which will give you a good idea of the costs. Don't forget, you pay half the amount quoted for a full share, i.e. about £600 per year including the management fee. There is lots of other useful stuff about Shadow on the BCBM website.
saloon looking towards bow: the two armchairs convert to single beds
dinette: this converts to a double bed
galley with microwave oven, four-ring gas hob, gas oven, 12V fridge
view from galley past dinette to saloon
newly-fitted main bathroom with pump-out loo, sink, shower
battery charger and inverter
bedroom with fixed double bed: this extends to king size
view from bedroom to stern showing en-suite additional pump-out loo and sink to right of steps
semi-trad stern with plenty of space for crew
a lovely well-maintained boat ...
... with a very quiet engine, a BMC 1800 with hospital silencer
If we didn't have another boat we would not be selling, as
Shadow is extremely good value for money, and a fantastic way of getting a couple of weeks' holiday each year. The boat is currently moored at Wigram's Turn Marina at Napton Junction (near Daventry). The mooring location is agreed by the syndicate at the annual general meeting, usually held in Walsall in the autumn (attendance not compulsory!)
All we are asking for our 1/20 share is £1,250.
*Update to clarify re. half shares: When narrowboats started to be sold into managed shared ownership the boats were usually split into 12 equal shares. So a "half share" refers to half of a 1/12 share, i.e. a 1/24 share. A "half share" isn't half of the boat. As I have tried to explain above, Shadow now comprises eight "full" shares and four "half" shares making ten shares in total. Therefore my portion is effectively 1/20 of the boat; I pay 1/20 of the maintenance costs etc. But the syndicate is still trying to sell two more "full" shares to bring it back to a 12-share boat. If this happens there will be two consequences: each owner's costs will reduce by 17%; and there will be slightly fewer weeks available, but remember that there are often unclaimed weeks every year.
10 comments:
Would it be a practical proposition for someone who doesn't live in England, Halfie? I might be interested. But I'm not sure I really understand what a half share is. It's clearly not half the boat, and you say you have a 1/20th share of the costs, so what is the difference between a half share and a whole share? Maybe I should look at the website :-) Anyhow, it's a thought. I really want to cruise the English canals, but cannot afford the costs of a hire boat for the sort of time I could give it, so this might be an option if it's reasonable in terms of annual outlay.
Val, it's a half share because it's half of the "normal" original 1/12 share. The boat was built to be part of the OwnerShips shared ownership scheme, where most boats were "divided" into twelve equal shares. Shadow happened to have ten 1/12 shares and four "half", i.e. 1/24 shares. Three 1/12 shares were absorbed into the boat (don't know how else to put it) when OwnerShips failed; one of those has since been sold, so the boat is now divided into eight full shares and four half shares. So my half share is effectively 1/20 of the boat. I hope I've made this clear!
As for living abroad: one of our owners lives in the USA and owns one and a half shares. By special agreement from the rest of us he is guaranteed a three or four week chunk of continuous use of the boat each year, so it makes it worth while for him and his wife. A single half-share, though, wouldn't guarantee two contiguous weeks in a year, so you'd have to work out if it's sensible to come to England for a single week. (I would say, of course it is! Especially from as near as the Netherlands!)
Annual outlay, as I have indicated, is around £600. This will reduce slightly if any of the "absorbed" shares are sold, that is, if we return to the original 12-share boat. At present we operate as a ten share boat.
This could be the opportunity you've been waiting for!
Val, I've updated the post to try to remove the confusion regarding "half" shares - thanks for pointing it out.
Thank you very much, John! I'll read further and mull on it! I'll also read the website too, so I'll try not to bother you too much with daft questions.
If you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them, Val.
Dear John, I don't know how else to contact you except here, so this is just to say I have considered everything and sadly, I think that unless we could guarantee a consecutive two week cruise, it's not really worth it for us to have a half share. I will have to think about a full share sometime as that would give us the time. Still, your offer would be very attractive if we had more time. Mine is rather rigorously determined by university holidays and other constraints as well. Many, many thanks for all the information and good luck! I will let others know about it.
One thing you can't guarantee with a share as small as 1/20 is that the weeks are consecutive, unfortunately. For that you'd need a "full" 1/10 or 1/12 share. But, of course, you'd pay double the running costs. The share I'm selling must be the cheapest way of getting on the canals in a boat you can call your own. Sorry it doesn't quite fit your requirements, Val.
Hi Halfie,
Is this half share still available? I may be interested and have no idea how else to contact you.
Hello Cheri, yes, my share is still for sale. You may e-mail me at jhalfie (at) hotmail (dot) com. There are further details of the boat on the BCBM website here: http://www.bcbm.co.uk/boatsaledetails?domain=N&boat=93
where you can get an idea of the boat's running costs. But send me an e-mail and I'll try to answer any questions you may have. Halfie (John).
This share is now sold. Thank you for your interest.
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