During the last 21 years we have completed bespoke narrowboats, bespoke wide-beams, bespoke Dutch Barges - wide and narrow beam and bespoke Thames Launch’s all fulfilling the specific needs of our individual customers. It is during this time we have grown from a father and son team to becoming one of the most admired and remarkable boat builders within the UK. Bluewater Boats is still family managed, although we do employ other staff members who specialise in their respective professions, of whom all have many years boat building experience.
We offer hulls, sailaways, lined sailaways and bespoke fully fitted boats.
People used to ask my dad if he'd bodge something up to put them on for a bit. He used to say no. If you do it right the first time, you won't need to do it again.
My dad RIP, who was a member of the welding institute would have been nodding along watching that. Thanks for posting. Looking forward to seeing future videos.
Very informative video and excellent craftsmanship - some of the reasons why we have chosen Dave and the team at Bluewater to build our bespoke widebeam.
Some nice welding there Dave and as usual excellent paint work. I've done a lot of welding over the years, not a coded welder but various training courses and as part of my job servicing ground equipment in an airport. I always found steel not properly cleaned and degreased mess's up any paint applied. The prep is 99% of the job. Some companies just cut corners either by design or cuting cost to meet a bottom line; end of the day it comes back to bite them. Unfortunitly there's no real British steel industry anymore and most steel is imported. Quality is possibly not as good as it should be and possibly an element of recycled steel too. Like the Japanese cars in the 70/80's, recycled steel. Cant beat them now.
Very hard to prove but it certainly seems that way as there is much more problems then years ago or it could be just builders not sanding down properly very difficult to say but that’s why it needs to be done properly just in case.
Boats now have a lot more electrics than they did a few years ago. Boats also sit in marinas on shore power. Many have defective galvanic isolation which causes pitting below the waterline.
This is a difficult one as we have done a few boats and not had any issues but if you look on line there are many unhappy customers but again this could be down to workmanship it’s not a easy coating to use and very expensive as you have to apply the normal epoxy for protection then the cooper coating is manly for the anti foul it certainly lasts longer then most anti fouls and is very hard wareing so I like it on steel boats and would definitely use it on my own boat.
One more question, regarding the shape of the bow of a narrow boat. Why do they have a sloped bow instead of a bow which is at right angles to the water? Mark Alberta, Canada@@bluewaterboatbuilder
I would agree with everything you say and you do a very professional Job.The only issue I would suggest is if someone's boat at any point in time, wants to enter any area where you may encounter a mixture of Sea water and fresh water then epoxy your base plate.If your purchasing a new build or wanting longevity then in my opinion it is a must have.The industry is going to change due to people expecting longevity and quite rightly so and whilst you are top of your game and sadly in the minority, at this stage base plate blasting isn't a standard practice but it will become so, going forward as who's going to invest 300k+ in something that's going to corrode when it can be fixed although understandably it's very inconvenient.Well done your 95 % only losing 5% because for not recommending Base plate epoxy and blasting if it's possible ? if any future chance of someone going into a part sea water/fresh water environment with any new build it should be highly recommended.But well done 👍
We do recommend the base plate on boats going into or around salt water and have done many barges like this. And are more then happy to blast and epoxy any boats but it does come at a cost we normally blast the base plate before the steelwork is done and use a holding primer then epoxy at the end so we don’t have to blast underneath the boat but where do you stop then should you do inside too the boats will last forever and I will be out of business 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for your nice comments it’s took a long time to get people to understand the importance of this.
@@bluewaterboatbuilder 😂 you won't ever be out of business as you do far more than others and therefore there will always be a demand for quality over quantity. My feeling is it might be possible to get the same adhesion qualities as blasted SA 2.5 without blasting the base plate but grinding it back or abrading it back for a mechanical bond and then applying epoxy and getting chemical bonds when the vessel is finished. You are doing great trying to get the message out, and I wish you well, as your one of the few in my opinion,who know exactly what they are doing and trying to help people understand about steel boats and longevity.Well done and thank you 👍
its the old saying you get what you pay for ,I have seen loads of narrow boat blacking vids and never understood why they never or rarely do the actual hull only do the side madness
Thanks for watching. As I’m sure you know nothing is the same price as it used to be pre Covid and Brexit and boats are no different I’m afraid. Absolutely Not taking advantage of anyone, as builders we have rising costs of materials, especially steel and timber, the main materials used on boats, wages, rent and rates, they have all increased which has to increase boat prices 👍
Yes we have applied a copper coat to a few of our new builds if the owner requests and the waters they are cruising in makes it worthwhile. Thanks for watching
I am an old school carpenter and am extremely fussy, to see this level of creativity, craftsmanship and attention to detail in this boat has restored my faith in craftsman. Absolutely awesome.
Real customer feedback. It’s easy to show video of the inside of the boat but authentic feedback is really important to us. You can see inside the boat on this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-py2T7BKDOys.htmlsi=PJ45x6dFZmCWHbOL
We are so looking forward to the build of our wide beam “BISON” and agree with all of the comments and that’s why we chose Blueatwer Boats as our builder .
I have done a lot of in-depth research and can say one of the few top builders out there. Very knowledgeable and has very knowledgeable skills about paint protection systems also. You will be very happy for sure.Enjoy 👍
We are really looking forward to the build of our 60 foot widebeam “BISON” and agree with all of the reasons why you would chose Bluewater as your builder. Cheers Swanny & Kath
If you’d like to see inside the electric boat please check out this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-py2T7BKDOys.htmlsi=PJ45x6dFZmCWHbOL We hope you like this video giving an insight from our customers. If you would like to buy a narrowboat from Bluewater Boats, please call us on 01926 811699. Alternatively please complete the contact request form at warwickshirearts.co.uk/bwb/
Brilliant Information, About The Pitfalls, To Be Aware Of, When Buying Any Boat/RV/Car, etc.. Thanks For Taking The Time, To Educate, Potential/Customers, &, For The Boating Industry, To, Get Their Act Together.! To Stop, Ripping Of Customers.! Customers, ARE, The Boating Industry's, BREAD & BUTTER, Yet COWBOYS, Think Its Ok, To Endanger Lives.! Great Infomative Video, Your A Credit, To Your Industry.!
I was really looking forward to seeing this "Luxury wide beam canal boat thats like a 5 star floating hotel" Majorly disappointed. You should rename it " Luxury wide beam canal boat builder, with glimpses of the boat" Too much focus on the presenter and not enough on the boat. When you view a boat you want to see the boat, not the guy who built it. Take a look at Nick's videos from Aquaholic. Thats how to present and show the full features of a boat.
Thanks for watching. I watched the video you suggested and was quite surprised to see that Nick does exactly the same as us. David is clearly showing everyone all of the features on the wide beam and explaining what they are for and why some of them are needed or were requested. A very good explanation of the build I would say 😊
Great video what do you think about copper coat on hulls i read about in a canal magazine this month i always used on commercial trawlers i owed and had great results
Thanks for watching, yes it is of some benefit on the hulls, we have applied copper Coat to a few new builds over the years and found it to be very effective 👍
It really doesn't seem to be a practical proposition. If you can only cruse for 5hrs, that's nothing, you definitely need a minimum of 10 hours for summer crusing. You don't mention how long you'd have to run the generator at night to fully charge the batteries, this is without using any of the inboard equipment, washing machine, freezer etc.. It just looks like a very expensive project just to satisfy the greens.
One of those batterys would cover the fridge and washing machine for the year! I run mine and the kettle off 100Amp lithium and the solar tops them back up from 30% in the morning! These aren’t the old lead ones! I think you’re thinking it’s 1990’s green tech and it isnt!
@BritishAnts I hope not, but the video said that you could only run the boat for about 5-6 hours a day, that's nowhere near long enough. I was referring to a freezer not a refrigerator.
After True Blue was launched we did some testing on her. After 12 hours of cruising her to Crick Boat Show her lithium batteries were still 57% and the generator was not used with all appliances being used throughout. So 12 hours well surpassed our, the owner’s and Vetus expectations. All good we think 👍
It’s a cracking refurb there’s no denying that, although not without its problems as you say. But 125k is too expensive. With some experience of boat refurbs I’d say you’re doubling your money there give or take. I appreciate the inflation since Covid but, with respect, this boat is 30% too expensive. You can still buy a 3 bed house in half of the country for that.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It is for sale at £115,000 not £125,000. However, sadly we are nowhere near doubling our money on this boat. It is a very good price for the boat with new boats costing in the region of £200,000.
Very nicely done work. What are the benefits of a hybrid boat over a traditional diesel set up? Other than being a bit quieter, which can probably be matched with a good hospital silencer? Any fuel saving must be offset by the massive cost increase in the build. It's a lot of technology to push a skip down a muddy channel.😂
Vibration is considerably reduced whilst on electric propulsion, which is the worst source of noise in our boat, which has a hospital silencer. I think hybrid should provide the best of both worlds.
The one thing that struck me from day one was that there really seems to be a mentality of "we've always done it like that" in the narrowboat world. Fine if those things work, not so fine otherwise!
Thanks for watching and commenting. We do try and show the difference shot blasting can make to a boat especially to people who have only known boats to be built Without it
Problem is the quality of the steel. Newer the boat, poorer the quality - Chinese import these days. I had 1929 iron build - still floating around somewhere - bit of paint every now and again to make it look good, but no pitting. Engine was 1930 - 2 cyl cov godiver (used in fire trucks) Only spares needed was inj nozzles, everything else remove,clean,put back. No money pit, and thump-thump all day.
Thanks for your comments. The steel industry in the UK is virtually nonexistent due to decisions beyond our control I’m afraid 😢. Hence the need to import steel from China/Taiwan etc. however it still remains the same that the best thing to do with mild steel is to blast it and remove all of the contaminants 😊
How long have canal boats been in existence. How long has epoxy been around. I wouldnt come down too hard on bitumin pain. Still being used in Australia on wooden hull vintage vessels.
Thanks for watching and your comments. It is a proven fact that epoxy coatings last longer and are more effective than Bitumen. However it’s great to hear bitumen is lasting for you over In Australia 👍.
Thanks for watching. We believe the mechanics of a boat are as important to a boat as much as the interior is. Unfortunately there are boats that are not built correctly mechanically and suffer from this failure. We build all of our boats with a hull/engineering/carpentry and painting perspective offering the best
I have seen some you tube videos of these boat repairs and I am aware of peddlers selling fake sacrificial anodes. Do you think this could be one of those boats that have rusted from this?
