Viewing 25 posts - 41 through 65 (of 65 total)
  • anyone live on a canal boat ?
  • Kip
    Full Member

    My big brother and I used to have a Saturday job at a hire boat company back in the late 80s because our dad was a mechanic for them. He’d been on the industry for years so some of my best memories are of moving boats around the North West, and most of them were falling apart. I remember my brother and I raking through a boatyard looking for anything that would pass as deckboards!
    Boats have come on immensely since then and big bro is a joiner who now renovates one a year (or so) in his spare time and sells them on for a fortune.
    I love the canals so I’d say work out your costs properly then do it. If it works out then great, if not, sell it on knowing you gave it a good go.

    thestabiliser
    Free Member

    Dutch barge

    Filthy beggar. Reported

    kayak23
    Full Member

    I used to build narrowboats and always wanted to live on one but it’s not really compatible with my penchant for toys.
    Still a dream though.

    Pendant alert – Anything under 7ft width is generally called a narrowboat. Barges often over that but you can still have a widebeam narrowboat. Barge is quite often misused as a description (not that it really matters obviously in the grand scheme of things)

    I know a few people who live on them and stayed on a few myself in winter. They’re not generally cold despite the perception. Quite the opposite usually. Small, insulated space so heating is pretty quick to make a difference.

    Anyway, if you’re in a marina, none of the normal hassles apply. You’ll have shore power, paved/gravel access paths and outside lighting and waste services. It’s just a compact house with added ducks.

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    donks
    Free Member

    I’ve got several friends with boats….all of them are water pikeys to be fair and are what is called continuous cruisers..no mooring and have to move every 10 to 14 days and not just round the corner but at least 2 or 3 bridges away. That is a big hassle in some ways, especially if you are having to move away from work and amenities but it’s also a bit of the essence of boating to not be set down in the same spot.
    I looked at marina fees for the new one built in Milton Keynes and it’s really not cheap..£350 an month for a 60ft….this is doubled however for wide beams!!
    Diesel heaters are both expensive and quite noisy to run so you best off with a wood burner with a gravity back boiler to run a rad or two. You often only need the rads in the furthest points from the stove.
    It’s definitely a thing that boaters hate cyclists. My mate has had many a run in with cyclists going too fast (in his opinion!)

    Best thing he did though was to purchase a bit of land with a mooring on recently. This was about £28000 but it’s not a bad bit of land and it’s on the opposite side to the tow path so his dogs have free run and no cyclists. Not allowed to build on it but sheds and storage is allowed.

    If you wanted to do some travelling in a 10ft wide beam you will be restricted to certain section as some locks are only 7ft wide. The grand Union can be mostly travelled and so can the Leeds Liverpool I think but Birmingham is all narrow locks I’m told.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    You need to watch this series. Some homes are in the UK and there’s some fabulous ones in other parts of the world too.

    https://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-floating-home

    firestarter
    Free Member

    Ads678 that’s not him lol although he does have land to the side but its his land he pays for, he’s on a corner by the fence actually and the road/path is the other side so he has no passers-by, it’s nice tbf

    TiRed
    Full Member

    56ft is the minimum length for a live aboard. A broad beam will be much more comfortable. It’s f you are reasonably tidy and like neat things and a disciplined life, I think you’ll enjoy it. Central heating and insulation means it will be cosy. Mooring in a nice spot is about £200/month and you’ll want a proper toilet with full pump out facilities and a permanent power hook up.

    It’s a very relaxed way of life and you should try it if it appeals. A wide beam can’t cruise a lot of the canal network so check that out.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    This was interesting, a mature couple designed a narrowboat “for the less agile liveaboard boater”. Lots of adjustments to make life easier, all done in a modern way including electronics.

    bensales
    Free Member

    I nearly did it about 20 years ago, planned to sell my house and use the equity to fund the boat.

    Until someone pointed out that boats depreciate and houses rarely do.

    Maybe when I retire.

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    What’s an incinerating toilet?

    dudeofdoom
    Full Member

    If you are in a fixed mooring, isn’t it just like living in a static caravan / park home, but more expensive, colder, wetter and with added essential maintenance?

    Yep,the worst of both worlds.

    I get if your your young and the morning view out of the patio doors are the tower bridge but I’d think of how happy you’d be sat in it in the middle of the winter in the dark and raining on the miserable days.

    I’d also check the what the situation with flooding where it’s moored with good old global warming making it interesting.

    dudeofdoom
    Full Member

    Until someone pointed out that boats depreciate and houses rarely do.

    Maybe when I retire.

    Keep house,rent it out to rent/pay loan on boat,best or worse of both 🙂

    el_boufador
    Full Member

    Have friends who lived down in London on a Dutch barge, mainly to avoid ridiculous rental costs.

    We went to stay with them a couple of times. It was perfectly comfortable, just like a small but well designed flat really (all the spaces used really well).

    Costs aside I think I’d rather have been living in the boat than in a shoebox flat in London.

    It seemed like a lot of work though, to keep on top of all the various jobs.

    Also it forces you to be minimalistic which I suppose isn’t a bad thing really.

    They’re now on land, mainly due to having had kids I think.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    We live by 2 canals: Peak forest and the Macclesfield.

    Water Gypsies as they are sometimes known love their life on the water, but there are lots of downsides. This year the locks have been mostly ‘locked’ due to the dry summer and lack of water (it’s not fun getting grounded.) Also this summer was extremely hot in places and I think some of the boats turned into ovens.
    Good luck ton, you’re a top chap thinking of your child and grandson.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    I’d also check the what the situation with flooding where it’s moored with good old global warming making it interesting

    Surely a better prospect than many Stewart Milne houses being built on the flood plain round here….. Boats float…. Last I checked a Stewart Milne house did not.

    damascus
    Free Member

    I’m 6ft3 and spent a weeks holiday on one. My thoughts

    1) they do get cold, very cold. The gas was included in the price and we got our moneys worth.

    2) I felt cramped in and was always ducking my head

    3) they are incredibly slow, we hardly got anywhere.

    4) when a boat goes past the waves rock your boat

    5) where would I store all my stuff and bikes?

    I also have access to a newish static and that’s pretty cold too. They just don’t seem to insulate things properly in the UK!

    Water destroys everything and so there’s an ongoing cost to consider for repairs and servicing.

    Does it have solar panels for heating the water?

    What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t like it and you sell it and you lose a couple of grand or ten? Life’s too short, you obviously like the idea. If you have the money, why not? I bet you get more friends visiting you if you buy it.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    I bet you get more friends visiting you if you buy it.

    Not all at once though, have you seen how much space Ton takes up? 😜

    Edukator
    Free Member

    Remember Aracer ? A mountain unicyclist enthusiast unhappy in marriage. His last posts on here were about having quit his unhappy home for life on a narrow boat moored in a port with other such live-on types. He stopped posting on here at about the same time, the narrow boat perhaps coincided with getting a life that replaced wasting time on here. Have a good one if this is your last STW thread, Ton. 😉

    dyna-ti
    Full Member

    If you are in a fixed mooring, isn’t it just like living in a static caravan.

    No, you bob up and down.

    If you bob up and down in a static caravan, it means someones stealing it.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    All very well having 6 radiators, but they will mainly be heating the canal. I’d imagine the running costs aren’t that low.

    Boats float….

    Although if they are over secured in their moorings they can sink if there is a sudden rise in water level and they can’t actually rise themselves – seen it happen a couple of times!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    If you bob up and down in a static caravan, it means someones stealing it.

    Or Frank’s taking it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/dec/30/caravan-swept-away-river-dee-flood-scotland-storm-frank-video

    dyna-ti
    Full Member

    8′ headroom 😯

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    Ton, you’re west Yorks right? I can put you in contact with my pal in Ripon who lived on a barge for a good few years if you want? He bought it new with his wife and lived on it until kids came along.

    Maintenance is the main thing, if you skip any basic stuff it becomes 10x worse until it sinks. Seen it happen.

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Last century a mate did the same. Cost him his marriage as his wife got fed up with coming home from school mto find he had moved! When the cut froze (unlikely nowadays) everything stayed put. I think, lost touch, that he moved ashore. (Anyone seen Jamie Stewart?)

    doublezero
    Free Member

    Better to regret something that’s been done than to never have tried.

    In the OP’s situation I would definitely give it a go if you don’t like it you still have the option to sell the boat.

    I hope I’m in the same position for my kids when that time comes, I’ve always fancied a life afloat, had mates that used to live on the canal, it’s hard work but worth it when your living in nature, although most were on the move without a mooring.

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