HOW TO START
Considering buying your own fishing boat? Here’s some expert advice on what to consider before dipping your toe in the water
Invariably the dream will play out something like this, ‘I’m going to buy my own small boat. I want a boat that I can tow and launch anywhere and whenever I like. With my own boat I’ll be able to fish offshore whenever and with whomever I choose. I’ll be able to target the fish I choose to catch, as I will be the skipper.’ That’s the dream, but what’s the reality?
Running your own boat properly is a big undertaking, and you should be under no illusion that it requires a serious investment of your time, effort and, most of all, money. Forget the oft used saying, ‘unless you enjoy standing in a shower ripping up £10 notes, then running your own boat is not for you.’ That is simply not true, these days inflation has upped the cost to £20 notes!
When you are the owner, ensuring the boat along with all essential items of safety equipment are maintained in a seaworthy condition will be down to you. It’ll also be down to you to navigate your way through the ever-changing conundrum of tides and increasingly variable weather patterns when planning each trip and, of course, the precise marks where you intend to fish. You will be the one tasked with making the call on where and when it’s safe to fish. Then, finally at the end of each day, it’ll likely be you that gets to clean and service everything ready for the next trip.
That said, running your own boat can be a joy. Certainly the 20-plus years I owned and fished from my own boats were the most enjoyable years of sea angling I have enjoyed during my life. There really is something very special about catching fish entirely down to your own intuition and efforts, especially when you get to share the experience with a close friend or two aboard your own boat.
The deciding factor for pretty much everyone when considering boat ownership is budget. From what I see advertised I would suggest that you can buy a decent enough secondhand boat, engine, trailer package for under £10,000. But remember, you will certainly need money in reserve for essentials such as insurance, servicing, replacing damaged equipment and general day to day running repairs, plus marina or harbour fees if you do not want to trailer your boat.
BUYING NEW
An all-new package consisting of a typical trailerable 16-18ft boat, with engine and trailer, will set you back upwards of £15,000-£20,000, though of course you can very easily spend considerably more than that. Often it will be the size of engine you choose for your rig that will be the factor that most significantly affects the overall cost of the package. Many angling boats I see that are easily trailerable and suitable for regular launching and retrievi
