Sealine 218 for sale

Hi, it's now May and we haven't had time to use Jane Morris and so we've decided to reluctantly put her up for sale.

Jane Morris is a 1989/90 Sealine 218 Envoy, approx. 22' long and powered by a 205hp Volvo Penta Petrol Engine.

Electric 12V Fridge, Gas 2 ring cooker and grill, hot and cold pressurised water system. Manual toilet, 12v lighting system. Trim tabs and bathing platform. 6 x fenders.

BSC valid until 2012

2011 River Thames licence

Since buying her in 2009 she's had:

Full Engine Service (Spring 2010)

Full Outdrive Service (Spring 2010)

New Carburettor (July 2009)

New Holding Tank (2010)

Plus 2 x new batteries, new mooring lines, new shower head, new barometer. New bilge pump.

Also equipped with : Anchor, chain and warp. Fishfinder, cd/radio player with saloon and cockpit speakers. 2 x fire extinguishers, plus engine bay extinguisher.

Antifouling was done last year (2010) but will possibly need doing again, and may need priming as well.

Drop me an email and I'll send you more pictures and answer any queries you have.

Thames mooring may be available (Reading/Pangbourne), subject to separate agreement.

Price: £14,500 ovno

If interested, email me: david_sealine@sky.com

River, ice and my local town

My ideas about using the boat in winter have so far come to nothing. Either it's so cold I can't get anyone to join me, or it's impossible to get to the mooring, or the strong stream warnings put paid to any romantic ideas of a gentle cruise down to Reading.

Maybe I should have had the boat hauled out for the winter. At least I would have been able to check all the things I've been meaning to inspect since I bought the boat last summer.

But I'm hopeful I can borrow a trailer for a week or two. This will allow me to get the boat out, put some fresh antifoul on, and service the outdrive.

I live in Newbury. It's an expanding town with a shopping centre currently under construction, a newly opened cinema and the Kennet and Avon Canal running through it. All in all, it's a very nice place to live. But there are an extraordinary amount of people who still like to think of it as a quaint market town and want to freeze it in time, no matter what economic or social pressures it faces.





For instance, there's an opportunity to have an arts/community building, financed at little cost to the taxpayer, on the edge of the local park and overlooking the Canal. I think it's a great idea and lots of people agree with me. But lots don't like the idea of a building in the park. I struggle to see their viewpoint. A park is more than just grass and playareas for kids.

But my point is that connected to this plan, is a project to return what is now a car park back to the Canal Wharf, with moorings, a pub and a restaurant. I think it would be a huge boost for Newbury and would strongly differentiate it from, say, Reading or Swindon. Fingers crossed it goes ahead sometime in the future.

*The photo by the way is of Newbury taken yesterday showing Victoria Park, and the new Parkway development under construction. I've been told it's one of very few (if not the only) large scale shopping and housing development currently being built. It's a huge vote of confidence in the town and I'm very pleased to see it happening.

Reading Festival from the River

Being nosy we nipped along to Reading to see what was going on. Not much to see really, huge amounts of metal panelling had been used to keep out the riffraff and keep in the ticketholders.

Surprised to see how miserable everyone looked. The ferry boats were doing a good trade, moving people from the music to the camp-sites upstream at Tilehurst. All the usual boats were roped in, including the Caversham Princess and the Devon Belle.

Kaiser Chiefs looked good on tv Friday night though.

Nice place to break down

Poor Jane Morris broke down in Abingdon Marina. After a visit from Roger, a brilliant engineer, it was agreed a new carburettor was needed.

A few weeks later, she was up and running again and we travelled back to our Mapledurham home base.