Cruiser Stern 45′ Calcutt Narrowboat

“Summer
Rain”

….
is a 45 foot long narrowboat. Calcutt, cruiser stern narrow boat, all
steel construction, early 70’s vintage. It has a BMC 1.5 diesel
engine with a Newage PRM 260 gearbox, both in good working order.

Boat
Safety Certificate is current until November 2027.

The
Canal & River Trust Licence runs to January 2024 and I pay £80.23
per month by bank direct debit for this.

I
insure it with Saga and that costs me £134.40 per year.

The
mooring cost me £32.20 a week & that is paid in advance every
eight weeks, or thereabouts.

The
hull was professionally cleaned, checked and re-blacked in 2015 I
think, so ideally it will need doing again soon. To the best of my
knowledge the steel hull is in a good, sound condition with no signs
of leakage.

I
have owned this boat since 2010 and have happily explored quite a lot
of the canal system in it. I lived on it for a good while after a
relationship split and it proved to be a very comfortable ‘live
aboard’ boat, even in the depths of the 2010/11 winter. My record
outside temperature was minus -14.7’C and inside is very cosy
thanks to a Morso Squirrel multifuel stove which runs on wood or
coal.

Starting
from the front, there is a water tank then small double seating area
at the prow (pointy bit) outside in the air. Then a door leads down a
few steps inside the boat into the dining area for about 6 people,
which converts into a double bed at night. Then there is a kitchen
area with storage units & worktops either side & with full
sized sink, hot water heater & a 4 burner full size cooker with
oven & grill.

A
corridor follows off this area, which has on the starboard side a
toilet room & a shower room on the port side. Two doors close
across this corridor to make a more spacious bathroom / toilet &
private dressing area for when you have a shower.

The
last section of the boat has a permanent single bed or sofa (with the
facility to add a single bunk bed above), a storage unit opposite
with worktop. The Morso Squirrel multifuel stove is opposite a L
shaped seating area which can convert to another double bed (but not
when the stove is lit of course !!). The main door leads out up some
stairs onto the spacious bridge area where you stand or sit to
control the boat.

Below
this is the engine & gearbox covered by strong sheets of non slip
Bufallo Board. The fuel tank and the gas bottle storage at the very
back are covered by seating pads. When the boat is not being used
there is a cover to keep the rain off this area. When it rains when
you are going along, an umbrella and a good coat keep you dryish; a
bilge pump empties any excessive rain water getting into the rear
bilges / engine area.

It
has 12 volt electrics throughout. A starter battery is charged by the
engine mounted alternator. A leisure battery provides the internal
power supply with mostly LED lights, water pump, mobile phone
charging points & fridge (which I don’t think is working –
think of it as an insulated storage box). This is all charged by a
100 watt solar panel, professionally installed, which adequately
charges the leisure battery all year for minimal use (lights, water
pump). This solar system can take another 100 watt solar panel &
there is room in the battery box for two more leisure batteries &
that would probably run a 12 volt TV & wifi system. Running the
engine can also charge the leisure battery at the flick of a switch
(or you can fit an automatic split charging system).

There
is a 240 volt shore hook up, using an orange ‘caravan type’ lead,
also correctly installed with a modern RCCB trip & MCB fuses,
which powers two three pin sockets at each end of the boat.

It
has a Propane gas system (13Kg orange bottle & new regulator)
supplying a very good full sized 4 burner cooker, grill & oven &
a Morco hot water heater for the kitchen sink and the shower room
basin & shower.

A
large water tank at the front of the boat supplies cold water via the
electric pump to the kitchen area, shower room & a marine manual
flushing toilet, this empties into a large pump out tank. This toilet
system, correctly used & managed, works well and does not smell
at all.

The
interior of the boat is the 1970’s original, with yellowish
Melamine work tops and dark wood units and walls. You could say it
was ‘retro’ or you could say it was very dated, whatever, it will
need a bit of tidying and some minor repairs to the ply wood in a few
places. New curtains are a ‘must do’ (see pictures), as whilst
not damaged and function very well as curtains, are pretty dreadful !
Think 70’s caravan and look at the pictures. The original floor
covering of ¾” ply wood has delaminated in places and this has
been covered with 19mm Sterling board. This needs either finishing
off, covered with vinyl etc, or replaced with something better like
some recycled Victorian floor boards, or a modern equivalent.

The
exterior is a bit faded ….. yes it needs a repaint & this fact
is reflected in the starting price of the boat.

Any
surface rust has been cleaned down and re-painted as required, so it
would now need a good sanding down and repainting either by brush or
roller.

You
could of course pay a professional to do it for you, at a price, or
save the money and do it yourself.

Mechanically
& structurally it is in very good condition, everything works as
it should and I know of no faults in this department. The BMC 1.5
engine is simple enough to work on and spares are readily available
from Calcutt Boats Ltd.. As long as the battery is kept well charged
it has never failed to start. It smokes a bit on starting as they all
do, but this clears once it is warmed up. I did have the main diesel
pump rebuilt a few years ago because it was leaking and the engine
mechanical diesel pump has been replaced by an electric one. I have
recently serviced it with new oil in the engine and gearbox (same
10/40 semi synthetic oil in both) and the oil & fuel filter
changed.

All
the electrics, gas, & plumbing work fine and the Boat Safety
Certificate means it has had a very recent safety check. There are
obviously no gas leaks, but common sense dictates you turn the gas
off at the bottle at night & when the boat is not being used;
this goes for the internal electrics & water too, both the 12
volt, 240 volt electrics & the water stop cock get turned off
when the boat is not being used & in cold weather I drain down
the water heater in case of frost.

A
boat of this age requires a bit of DIY & mechanical knowledge of
course, but nothing a practical person cannot cope with easily and
everything is fixable due to its simplicity. I have plenty of
information like instruction manuals & a workshop manual for the
engine etc. & this will go with the boat. It is totally reliable
if you check everything daily before sailing & at the end of the
day, to make sure any potential problems don’t become actual ones.
It has never let me down, or left me stranded miles from anywhere.

Stored
away from the boat I have other items which will go with the boat on
sale. An anchor for use on rivers, a lifebuoy & rope, a 12 volt
TV & aerial etc. old but was working OK, spare engine parts inc.
a starter & alternator, spare binge pumps etc.

It’s
ready to go & explore the canals next Spring & Summer. As you
can live in it as it is you could stay at the mooring for a week a
time and give the interior a cosmetic make over, or do a full refit.

THE
MOORING

The
boat is currently moored at Newbridge Wharf, a small, secure fenced
site on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, within a few
hundred meters of the A41 road on the edge of Tettenhall, N.W
Wolverhampton. There are about ten other boats on this site and my
mooring could be transferred subject to approval from the site owner.
I think the site is an excellent mooring with secure parking,
electric point, fresh water & pump for the toilet. The other boat
owners are all friendly & helpful. The cost of any mains
electricity used is at the current rate of 47p per unit of
electricity inclusive of standing charges etc.

The
canal at this point adjoins the Smestow Local Nature Reserve and a
great variety of flora & fauna are present along the canal, or
can be seen on the many footpaths nearby. You would be surprised what
wildlife you can see from the boat, so close to a city centre; there
is a badger set on the opposite side of the canal from my mooring,
for example.

Within
10 minutes sailing east from the mooring the Shropshire Union Canal &
the Birmingham Canal Navigations branch off, in the other direction
down the Staffs. & Worcs is Stourport on the River Seven. Thus
the mooring is very central & accessible to a large part of the
canal network in all directions.

Facilities
local to the mooring are excellent and within a three minute walk are
a small Coop type shop, a chip shop, Indian & Chinese take away,
a Majestic Wine, a pharmacy, chain food pub, burger bar, off licence
etc.. A five minute walk up hill takes you to the village green of
Tettenhall where there are more salubrious shops, eateries, bars and
a superb bakery. Within a 30 minute walk are a good number of pubs
listed in the 2023 Good Beer Guide (& more in Wolverhampton
centre itself). The No 1 Bus runs right past the site into the centre
of the city every 20 minutes & back until quite late.

VIEWING
DETAILS –

Now,
if this boat interests you, you really have to come to see it, that
is why I have got it on a long listing. Viewing can occur most days
throughout this period by appointment. As there is a lot to see and
talk about you need to allow 2 hours viewing time in the light &
ideally on a dry day too !

If
after an initial inspection if you are still interested, then we can
arrange for a trip along the canal. Because you can’t do a three
point turn on a canal various turning points, called ‘winding
holes’ are set up all along canals at various points to enable you
to turn around. This makes taking you for a sail easy if the boat is
facing up the canal and would take about 50 mins to do, up and back
….. and about half a day including going through two locks (twice,
there and back) if the boat is facing down the canal towards
Stourport. You probably know canal boats don’t steer very well
going backwards, so reversing along a canal for anything more than
100m is almost impossible to do, but very amusing to watch !

PAYMENT
DETAILS

If,
after inspection, you want to reserve the boat I would require a
£500.00 deposit and the rest as a bank transfer on the day you take
over the ownership. The Canal & River Trust have a form to do
this legally and you would of course need insurance in place on the
day of transfer. I pay the mooring fees every eight weeks and
whatever is left of that period will transfer to the new owner on the
day of transfer.

Current Price: £15000.00

This Cruiser Stern 45′ Calcutt Narrowboat may be available on ebay