Leaderboard

Hi, We've lived on a boat for 11 years. We had no experience of boating before purchasing a boat. I think hire boats have little in common with the type of layout required to live on a boat, so little point in going down that route. We found our previous camping/outdoor life style more beneficial, emptying toilets, fetching water and generally being aware of the weather etc. more helpful. Wouldn't dream of going back to the house

See post #5

For probably the first time in my life I actually remembered advice on this thread and reversed beautifully on Sunday, My husband was on his boat behind me and nearly crashed into the bank because he saw me coming towards him and thought 'oh gawd, no, someone help me' and took immediate evasive action. He had to apologise though and said it was a really neat bit of manouvering. Thanks everyone - have some cake

If any single handed boaters need an extra hand on locks on the Southern waterways then I am available. Ian. 07704 249 523.

Hello all and thanks for all the useful stuff I have already discovered by lurking. My wife and I currently live in a 12' x 35' residential park home. We plan to buy a 57' narrow boat (or thereabouts) and we will initially divide our time between the two homes. Longer term we intend to live full time on the boat and when funds allow spend our time cruising. I should also point out that we have lived in a two person tent for five months in the past. Quite a few people have drawn a sharp breath when we have rejected the idea of hiring a boat for a week or two just to get a feel for it before we buy as we might not like living in such a small space. We have been on quite a few boats now including spending a day on one and we are convinced that space isn't an issue. Given the cost of hiring we would rather invest the money in the search and to pay for surveys. What do the panel think? Are we making a huge mistake?

I vote for don't hire. You sound like you know what you are doing.

How much power have I wasted having my laptop on to read this drivel

I'm not sure hiring is much of a preparation or test for living on a boat. Layouts are likely to be different, you won't have your own stuff around you, and you'll know it's only for a limited period. The amount you will learn from the experience will, I suspect, be marginal - it's just not the same thing at all. You don't even have to empty your own toilet. What I would do is spend a lot of time with people who live on boats, experience their boats, listen to their experiences. In my view, this will provide far more valuable information. It will take longer, but cost less. It wuill also enable you to get an idea of what you want in a boat; what you like and don't like and need or don't need about other people's.

Why not volunteer in the Crew Swap section to get some boating experience and maybe help out another boater at the same time?

Well, quite. I always like to survey the disasters I have left in my wake Richard

I think you are supposed to shit and piss in it.

Thanks Stewart I appreciate the input. Yes we've done all the financial calculations (I'm a spreadsheet nerd) and we know we can afford to do it. I'm still not convinced that hiring a boat will teach us a lot more than we know/can imagine/can learn from talking to others. We are outdoors types and as I said in my post lived in a tent while cycle touring for five months. We had plenty of wet days on that trip I can assure you.

We had never really set foot on a narrowboat, sold house , bought boat, been living on it for 16 months now and loving every minute. Don't listen to the doubters, go for it.

There's at least one respected long-term member who does just that. Don't be a stranger!

You are a thourghly sweet person and giving person. I wish you all the best on your next chapter in life.

I don't really worry too much, in a typical year there is usually plenty of additional evidence of movement. Thames licence Diesel Sales (though I doubt anybody would want to go through the paper records) Harecastle / Liverpool Link/ Anderton lift Maybe a dry docking Trading at a market or festival As for keeping a log.... A few lines of "what we did today", a photo, and a note of the location is much more enjoyable when you read it back a year or two later. I strongly feel that any log should primarily be for us and not for CaRT. If you take a photo on the iPad you can arrange for that to go straight into the diary, and maybe the location too. The way software is heading I reckon in a couple of years the iPad will do the whole lot automatically using a couple of sensors and artificial intelligence, except for the location most days are pretty similar........... Wake up with Hangover Back to bed Wake up feeling better Cruise lots of miles and lots of locks Walk dog Dog rolls in s**t Dog in shower Eat Try to stay in Go to pub. ................Dave

A result and all the better for you coming back and documenting the outcome

Thanks everybody. It was a perfect match and very easy to replace. Absolutely no need to tamper with anything. Canaline want £550 for it, I got it for £160 from the abovementioned ebay shop. Draw your own conclusions.

If you are on the paddle it wont get cilled

That isn't what I said. The pump is put onto a machine, the mark on the pump is set to a datum on the machine and the pump is calibrated. Then you put the pump back, align the marks and it should be correct Richard

I would refer to CRT and ask them politely, as that's the approach more likely to yield positive results. If you were a CRT grunt, would you rather deal with a pleasant customer, or a rude one full of his own sense of entitlement?

So having been told by Richard the line on the pump would be dealt with by whoever reconditioned it and exactly how such pumps are "timed" to BMC 1.8s by myself you came back with the above. Even if he did not you had been given the information about exactly how to do it yourself. You were also told that problems with the timing gear would complicate the issues. Calibration is a technical term used to describe the process by which the pump RECONDITIONERS ensure each of the four cylinders receive equal amounts of fuel so it has nothing to do with any mechanic who fits the pump to the engine. I accept that you probably meant time the pump to the engine. You say you did not understand what Richard and myself were on about, if so why not ask for a fuller explanation? If you re-read your post number four you made an assertion based on what appears to be poor information that Richard and myself were wrong about just lining up the marks. That seems to suggests that you would rather trust an unidentified source who had given you suspect information than the correct information you were given here. Just maybe before you make such suggestions you should do a little internet research to see exactly who is more the likely to give you the correct information. If the timing had slipped I think that you would be suffering lots of smoke, a loss of power, rough running and poor/difficult starting. Not to mention potential damage to the valves etc. so I doubt there is a problem with the timing gear. You do not mention poor starting or loss of power. If I had to guess I would want to check the valve clearances (if any are massive it could indicate a timing problem) and then consider if inadequate precautions had been taken when the pump was off so dirt got in a pipe and is causing an injector to stick open. Try loosening each injector union in turn with the engine running and see if the smoke becomes less over a minute or two. The engine will misfire and run very badly and fuel will drip out of each loose union but if eh smoke does lessen it would suggest an injector problem. There are other possibilities as well.

Not entirely on-topic but it might be helpful to the OP to read my musings on how brokers, Whilton in particular, decide on the price of the boats they sell. Boats for sale at Whilton fall into one of two categories. 1) Boats privately owned and placed on brokerage at Whilton by the owner, a bit like a house is placed with an estate agent. The owner pays the broker a percentage of the selling price on completion of the sale. Typically perhaps 5% plus VAT. Here, it initially appears to be to the broker's advantage to sell at a high price in order tio maximise their commission, but if you reflect of the work it takes and time the boat occupies a berth on the broker's site, it actually makes more business sense to sell a boat on brokerage cheaply as you could probably sell three boats 15% underpriced in the same time it tales to sell one boat 10% overpriced. So it is in the interest of a broker to constantly prssure the seller to reduce the price in orer to get the bost sold quickly and the sales commission banked. 2) Boats owned by the broker firm itself. Firms like Whilton run adverts in the boating publications along the lines of "We buy any boat, cash waiting". They go along and have a brief look over a boat and offer a low, low price on the spot. If the deal is accepted they make immediate payment and send an employee along to steer the boat away and bring it back to the sales site. Once back at base they fix anything obviously wrong then photograph it and place it on sale at as high a price as they think they can get. They will know virtually nothing about the boat, understandably. Now consider the effect on the broker's potential profit if you offer say 10% under the sale price on each of two £30k boats, one in each of the two categories above. In the first category the broker, should your offer be accepted, makes £1,350 instead of £1,500. Not a massive difference. But what about the boat they paid £20k for and have on sale at £30k? They stand to make FAR more money from this sale - £10k profit. But your 10% reduction means a selling price of £27k so their bottom line profit is reduced by £3k, a FAR bigger loss to the firm than on the other boat. So when negotiating a purchase it is helpful if you can figure out whether the boat is genuinely on brokerage (i.e.a commission sale) or owned and being sold by the brokerage itself. If owned and being sold by the brokerage firm itself you also get a whole raft of consumer protection missing when you buy a boat genuinely sold on commission on behalf of the private seller.

I think Chubberdog's post was a little joke (considering his previous), with some helpful info thrown in. Edited to say: has somebody cleaned up those dodgy contacts? The thread seems to be running fine now.

These may help in your decision (it is always recommended to go 'one size' up if you can) Yachting Monthly -Anchor Test Nov09.pdf You can see how very poorly the Danforth is rated. The Danforth is the one commonly used on Nb's Interesting to look at the YM tests : A 16kg CQR has a holding force of only 206kgs A 10kg Fortress has a holding force of 3281 Kg (THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED & EIGHTY) Just shows how important it is to chooses the correct anchor. Traditional is not always the best. Everything evolves.

Different 'kettle of fish' but on our 38 foot yacht we have a 25kg 'Brittany Anchor' with 150 feet of 10mm chain. The 'Brittany' is one of the 'better' designs. but not as good as the latest designs. Last month we were anchored up in the sheltered mooring at Spurn Point (River Humber / North Sea confluence), it was a bit breezy, and a bit of tide running (but they were not Spring tides). We had 4x depth of chain out in 6 metres of water and appeared to be safely 'hooked' in. Went to bed - fast asleep when the anchor drag alarm went off (it was set at 75 feet), up like a shot to avoid dragging and potentially grounding the boat. Engines running, anchor back in, moved back to a safe location, dropped anchor again with 6x depth. Stayed on watch, A little later anchor alarm goes off again, Repeat - re anchoring procedure. We now have 10x depth out an seemed to have it sorted, but no - we dragged again. Eventually the tide was 'out' and we were in 2 metes of water depth with 40 metres of chain out (20x depth). This time it held - just as it was getting light. We will be upgrading the anchor to either a Mantus, or a Manson Supreme, but with a 27kg at around the £600 mark (for galvanised) we need to make sure we get the 'right one' If you are planning on any 'sea' time then your anchor cannot be too big and you cannot have too much chain

Some of you might recognise the name from the 'Stolen Boat' thread. I saw a link to it on Facebook, wondered how in hell something as big as a narrowboat in the restricted environment of the canal network could disappear, and visited the forum to follow the story. After a day or two it occurred to me that the 'guest' continually on the forum might be taken to be the thief, so I joined the forum to reassure you all... I did say in my original post that once the stolen boat situation was resolved I'd leave the forum as I had nothing to contribute. BUT - in my meanderings around the internet I wondered where the nearest canal to my home in Brighton might be - and found that the Wey and Arun canal Trust offer narrowboat cruises, with cream tea provided. So I and the management climbed into the Landy and headed for Loxwood to partake. And a very enjoyable time we had too. So - the upshot is that I have joined said Wey and Arun Canal Trust and shall be reducing my excess avoirdupois helping to clear some of this old waterway. At present the Trust has only a few pounds open to boats, but has ambitions to restore the entire waterway from the River Wey near Guildford to the River Arun which runs to the sea near Arundel; it was originally meant as an alternative route from London to the sea to avoid the French fleet back in the 17th Century. So instead of my original intention to sign off you'll see me sticking around here for a while. If I live long enough, I might even see some of you boating down a stretch of canal that I helped to clear. I'd quite like that.

Great, that's already 1 mystery solved, as I've been wondering almost since your first posting why you were eating cake all the time Peter.

Our 23ft cruiser has an oversized Delta anchor at 10kg. It was fitted as standard by Sealine and is if anything a bit big for the boat, a 6kg would have been more then adequate. That said we have never had a problem with it dragging. Ours sits on a bow roller at the bow of the boat so that it is always ready to deploy. Sealine in their infinite wisdom them covered the bow roller to try and make it look nicer. Whilst it might look nicer tucked away under the bow it is a pain the *rse to get back up as it has a habit of coming up backwards and spearing the gel coat in the bow recess. ETA: We have the anchor on 100ft of 6mm chain attached to the boat with a piece of webbing strap which can be easily cut should the need arise.

There is a spare on the titanic if you need one

I didn't think there were that many boatyards left. ETA mmmmm cake.

I can only state what I had when we owned a 27' yacht weighing about 2.5 tons. We had a 25 lbs CQR anchor with 40 metres of chain and a further 20 metres of warp. This was for use in tidal waters.

There are many previous threads on this subject which you may find interesting, although sometimes confusing. Try the search function at the top of the page. Howard

As a newly declared CCer this year, I got the "Welcome" email from CRT, telling me sternly what my obligations were and that they would be watching me closely from now on. So I asked for their sightings records of my boat for the previous two years, and enquired whether my previous cruising history would satisfy them if I was to carry on in the same manner. In each of those years I had been cruising around for 7-8 months, covering well over 1500 lock-miles each year. You would have thought that if CRT really were watching they'd have noticed, but no. 8 sightings in one year and 6 in the other. Of which not quite half were of sightings of the boat while it was moored in a marina or boatyard. What I saw from the meagre sightings records that CRT provided makes me concur with alan_fincher. If you move your boat regularly, it is very likely that CRT haven't got the foggiest where you have actually been. The way I satisfy CRT that I am complying with the terms of my licence, is to actually comply with the terms of my licence. If they can't be bothered to look and see that's what I'm doing, why am I obliged to do anything else?

Cake is good. Jeans are just clothes. Did I mention how good cake is ? Rog

You cheeky chap! It's like trying to fit into jeans that you can only go up to your ankles (and that's why I eat cake )

Glad you were pleased with it Sam!

Canoeists should be encouraged, especially if they teach powered boaters to be more tolerant of other water-users.

You're kidding....!

If an accident has been waiting to happen for decades but it hasn't happened then you can conclude that it actually isn't waiting to happen! Having a foot in both camps I can tell you that the problem is entirely in the minds of the narrow-boaters. Canoes are very agile and their occupants have an in-built survival instinct!

If you lose things in multiple places (like home / work / boat / car) then something like the TrackR (which does use a smartphone) may be more a advantage. They have a button on the tracker do you can locate the phone as well, they remember the last location via GPS so if it's out of range it will tell you if at home etc. It Can also notify you if you leave a device behind.

DO NOT get a mobiles LPG heater to use in the boat or use the hob for space heating, you WILL KILL yourself.

Are you sure the boat was blacked and not coated in crispy bread crumbs!?

Some funny replys, but it looks like i will just have to accept the tapping on the hull and remember how nice it is to live on the canal. :-)

How can you have 3 laptops 2 macs and not be able to post a picture on an internet forum ? What did you use all of this computing power for ? Squasing spiders?