Description

Thames Sailing Barge 70ft Large Sailing Yacht 6 Bedroom House Boat

A rare opportunity to purchase a Thames Sailing barge is very good order and ready to sail, charter or live aboard.
Thames Sailing Barge Alice is a 75ft, steel barge able to sail with 30 people aboard for private use or to accommodate up to 60 people alongside for parties or drinks. Alice is fully coded for charter work too, when chartering she is coded to carry 12 paying passengers and 5 crew (17 in total). Alice has been berthed alongside at Gun Wharf Quays Marina for 13 years and is currently berthed at Hayling Island Yacht Company, she can easily be sailed to any other location. Under current ownership she has been very well maintained to keep up her commercial coding and has just had a survey done this year. The current owner had a new Ford 125hp 6 cylinder diesel engine installed just after purchasing her which runs very well. With a 20ft beam Alice offers a huge internal cabin space with a very large main saloon, with a wood burner, 3 bathrooms and a galley / kitchen with 2 gas cookers, 2 sinks and 2 fridges suitable for commercial entertaining too.
A charter revenue of £55k per annum has been achieved on a non-commercial basis as this has been a family boat for the owner, this figure could easily be increased significantly.

Alice has a huge advantage over any other Thames sailing barges as she is a much more modern conversion and therefore of welded steel construction. All other Thames sailing barges are either wood or riveted steel. As such Alice is structurally very strong and much easier to work on, requiring far less maintenance than other Thames Barges. Other Thames barges also have propshafts which are offset from the centerline whereas Alice’s engine and prop shaft are on the centreline so she is much more manoeuvrable and has better efficiency and performance.

Layout:
Huge main saloon with dining / social areas, bench seating with storage beneath, bar area and log burner which pumps heating to all living spaces.
Large kitchen suitable for commercial cooking
4 x double cabins up forward with a family bathroom with bath and shower.
Independently assessed tripplie cabin / crew quarters with ensuite located on the port side close to the bow.
Master / captain’s cabin to the aft with ensuite toilet and shower which doubles as a day heads.
Large engine room with an independent entrance hatch, this houses the fuel tanks, batteries and other equipment.
Large independently assessed workshop / store on the starboard side toward the bow.

Alice’s History:
Built in 1954 by J. W. Cook for Hubbocks as a steel swim headed lighter, she operated from the river Lea to the Lower Pool of London. At that time, she was towed or rowed. During the time she operated as a lighter in the 1970’s, she was used to carry supplies to the Pirate Radio ship “Radio Caroline”.
She was taken out of trade in 1994 and bought by Owen Emerson. He refashioned the bow and stern, fitted all the necessary sailing equipment, an engine and a fully fitted pine interior and in 1998 Alice was re-commissioned as a classic Thames Sailing Barge. Since 2005 she has been family owned and available for charter in the Solent.

A note from the skipper:
She is great fun to sail and one can experience with awe the forces that can come into play in just a moderate breeze. When under sail, you can imagine the skill that was involved in handling such a 60 ton boat with no engine, GPS or radio. In those days a boy who joined at 13 became quite good at 50 and retired at 55. Now, with her engine, central heating and spacious cabins those worries are lessened but even so at 9 knots under her full 5 sail rig you can experience a day you will always remember. Most of her sailing has been weekend cruising in the Solent with a few trips over to France.

Specifications

Accommodation

Construction

Engine(s)

Beta Marine FORD Iveco CD6 150 hp diesel

Location Map