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Simon and Jacqueline's Widebeam Barge
Si and Jacq wanted a wide beam barge. They
have gone from a Tug & Butty design,
through their Shell taken hostage and their boat builder
going bust to loosing £20,000! But the have not given up, and
are now fitting out their barge. There story is depicted here
and on their own web site.
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June 2009. It's has been 22 months since we signed our initial
contract with Simpsons Boats Ltd (Brimscombe). However, Simpsons
don’t exist anymore! The company went into liquidation August 2008
taking £20,000 of our money that we will never see again. This is
why we are building the boat ourselves, because we can’t afford
another company to complete the boat. The joke is we know nothing
about boating, especially how to build one! We both work full time
and live 125 miles from the boat. |
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So you maybe asking why we wanted a widebeam barge…..well, to
live on. We are both civil servants and can not afford to buy
in the London area. We are both water people….kayakers,
surfers and a fisherman. We thought what could be better than
living afloat. I suppose we are the typical people that are
cursed in the boating world…wanting a houseboat to live in
London, never driven a boat, never spent a night aboard,
signed a contract with a dodgy company and building a boat
with no idea!
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We originally signed for a tug & butty (apparently a VAT dodge), but
it turned out to be another one of Simpsons pipe dreams. We luckily
pulled out of that one as weren’t 100% confident but did sign a new
contract with Simpsons. Our Shell was stolen and then held for
randsom. The company went bust taking £20,000 of our money. Izuzi
repossessed our engine and our inverter was stolen. |
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The shell wasn’t RCD compliant and
needed more work. Believe me when I say we have cried during
the last year, but we have also laughed. It took some time
but at the end of the day it is only money and we are getting
an experience of a life time and one to tell the grand kids.
This experience has certainly made us stronger and when we
eventually finish the boat, boy are we going to
party!!!!!!!!!!!!
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If you are interested in buying or building a boat then you
might find our website useful and vise versa - maybe you can
give us advice. Our website has a blog, photo gallery, and
statistics. It is updated after each visit.
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