There and back again - Shropshire Tales

Matthew and I travelled up to Shropshire, to the Blackwater Marina, a week ago to look at our preferred boat, the Dalton Dame. We spent about an hour and half looking through the boat thoroughly and overall we liked it. It was a bit of a shock for me though, when we first boarded the boat, I made the decision that we would start at the stern (the front) of the boat and work backwards. However, when we made our way down to the double bedroom, I felt rather claustrophobic and was then left wondering how I would survive for about two weeks on the boat!!! However, to try and over come these feelings I went back to the back of the boat where it is more airy and the entrance is situated. This made me feel a lot better and I was soon moving happily all around the boat, claustrophobia overcome. 

We will have to do some vanishing and polishing/repairing of fixtures and fittings but nothing that we can't do. There was some water damage around the air vent in the double bedroom and the galley area. This was concerning because it was dripping into the light fitting and had damaged the wood. However, when we raised it with the marina manager he said that it would be repaired, should we buy the boat. We had a good chat to the marina manager and we left feeling that it could be a good boat for us. We will need to get it painted, it is going a bit rusty on the roof, and it would need blacking after the full survey.

Now we have to complete our Operating Proposal and send it to the Canal and River Trust to see if it will be approved before we can place an offer on the boat. We do need to speak to the moorings site, and the place where we will use boat services such as refuelling and pumping out waste, to make sure that they are happy for us to use them because the boat is hired out some of the time. Lots to do and organise.