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The use of the thread title worries me a little. It implies the OP is starting from a position of expecting to be a victim of some sort of coercion from an authority, rather than looking at the rules and practicalities and seeing how a life can be made from it. CRT doesn't have any agenda apart from trying to maintain a system for a variety of users, most of whom are somewhere on the anarchic spectrum (I include cyclists & fishermen as well as us) when it comes to the rules/traditions, with not enough money to do the job. The villagey nature of those who live on has changed a bit over the last thirty years as more people do it, but in general we all help each other out as far as possible, possibly due to a shared history of needing help. But do bear in mind the crucial, and expensive, need for occasional sudden large amounts of money - my boat needed 9 grand's worth of work overnight a year or so back, or all I would have owned would have been a pile of underwater rust. If that had been my only home... renting might not be secure, but at least houses don't often sink. The other thing you lose as a cruiser is all your local network, friends, acquaintances, regular and known habitats. That may be more important than you think as you're used to it so don't really notice it any more, but constantly moving mucks it up. PS those who post endlessly on various forums about hidden agendas or social cleansing by CRT are usually (though not always) those who have deliberately, for one reason or another, picked a fight with CRT and lost. Most of us just get on with our lives with no problems, putting up with the occasional glitch that is bound to occur in an inefficient management system.

Hi Ali, just to pick up on a few points you made: 1) There are a lot of CCers on the system. Thousands. I can’t really see them being “evicted” any time soon. Many CCers get on with their lives, and never come into conflict with CRT - because they abide by the rules they signed up to. Some, and they tend to be the noisy ones, signed up to the rules with no intention of obeying them and then moan loudly when CRT get uppity with them for non-compliance. I call them “piss-takers”! From your writings I think you would be in the former camp and thus not have a problem. 2) I don’t think one can say there is a “boating community”. Boaters come in all shapes, sizes and flavours just like in the real world! Some are lovely, some are selfish and obnoxious, just like in the real world! But it is perhaps a more friendly and helpful group of disparate people than one might find living in, say, suburban London. Not that that is saying much! But my point is that it is not all roses and chocolate box. 3) Although fully residential moorings may be hard to find, plenty of “leisure” moorings are in reality used as residential. Usually there is a caveat that you have to have a home address, but that could be a friend or relative. And some places specify a maximum number of days you can be there, but often it is nearly all the year except for, say, a couple of weeks. There is a wide variation in how this point is addressed. But anyway, a marina mooring is pretty much like having a caravan in a car park. Not that great a place to live, so you will want to get out from time to time! But an important point is that a mooring, even a residential one, has no security of tenure in law. It is not treated the same as a house. Not trying to put you off but you would be giving up a secure land based home for an insecure water based one. Although I suppose if you fall out / get evicted from a mooring, you can take your “house” with you and chug off into the sunset. A bit like being a snail! 4) And finally please don’t consider a boat to be a cheaper way to live than a house. Things go wrong with boats and can be expensive to rectify. Power, heating, water, sewerage etc are all more problematic than in a house. Especially in winter, I think you have to be more resilient than in a house. For example, when you find you are frozen in, miles from a shop/water/Elsan point, low on diesel and coal.... etc I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide, but please don’t think that living on a boat all year round is an easy and cheap option!

Caveat Emptor . . . unless the builder/designer negligently failed to advise their client. In principle, one might expect the CaRT Licensing web site to pick up this matter but, of course, there are waterways where the vessel might be more than compliant and the licence quite clearly does not guarantee the ability to cruise the whole system. Applied strictly then we (at 60ft) could not be licensed for the C&H but we have done it several times. If the owner explicitly said to the builder that they wanted a design that they cruise this route (down to London?) who then said, "No Problem" (sorry Sue) then surely they would share the liability for any financial outcome. In any event, anyone building right to the limits, if they have any knowledge of the system, should know that this is foolhardy, not just to width but depth, length, tumblehome and air draft. Unless there is explicit evidence of negligence by others, surely a court would expect the buyer to exercise due diligence?

Working single-handed, I looked on Foulridge as an opportunity to go and make a cup of tea while the boat found its own way through.

Out of water on Saturday! What to do? Er, find a water point and fill up the tank? I've just read the topic title, so I assume that's what it is about. Jen ?

Having gone from the days that the arrival of the patrol officers leading to a mass engine start, even if you had only been moored for day or two, and patrol officers standing on your boat asking why your address is in nottingham , but your boat and its mooring are in herts, to the current where a case of claimed tunnel anxiety gives you ‘permission to stay’ ( by report), the pendulum can shift. it got quite stressful in the early days without moorings and this could come back. At one point we ended up renting for a while to appease the board which was very challenging as we still had no mooring. While I am not a conspiracy theorist, but the rise of the right and the intolerance of certain ( often wealthy and influencial groups) is likely to make things harder. ( if you look at the boat naming and shaming about putative overstaying at an organised event on the braunston rally thread) you can see how identifiable you can be) if you have a fixed rent secure tenure for gods sake keep it. Livung on a boat after say your mid 70s is very hard, and i cant see the tories taking you off and giving you your flat back. i dont want to be negative , im not but be careful. I now no longer live our boat, ive been lucky we both worked hard no children and nhs pensions so dont have to , but after 35 years experience I would not want to have the boat as my home in 10 years time.

Cos it's dark?

I'll just leave this here ...

Oxford - here we come !!!! Edit to add direct link to builder : https://sites.google.com/site/bargeyachts and pictures here : https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/7e41ea898f5f4916b95129586bbf001d https://www.findafishingboat.com/15m-belgiun-luxemotor/ad-82215 Hull: Steel Length (metres): 15.00 Beam (metres): 4.80 Draft (metres): 1.00 Licence: Engine: 80hp Hydraulics: Electronics: Other information: This is a new build round bilge steel Lux motor barge Can be bought as is or completed to owners requirements Unique interior layout allows double cabin below permanent deck saloon with large lounge galley area with lantern skylight giving a light open feel. Large covered cockpit area. The interior is open and easily accessible via proper stairs to the saloon. Engine room and all machinery are aft of the accommodation making it a very quite vessel. Side decks are protected and secure. Build by highly experienced yard to high standard. INTERIOR NOW COMPLETE See website for more details bargeyachtforsale.com

Don't wimp it, name and shame the git.

Thanks very much - price is not something I'm in a position to worry about!

Hi Jennifer, Thanks for the compliment! I hadn't considered that idea... I am a crafter (sewing/crochet/knitting) at mo, but I don't make enough to survive on that alone as yet. I've a million other ideas zipping around. I am about to start learning a new craft but of course that'll take some time to do well enough to sell... I'm also a photographer which I could develop more (more arty stuff than postcard/holiday picture stuff but hey I'll try anything) and I'm also an amateur astronomer with my own scopes so there might be some mileage in that with tourists in dark skies... I dunno, have much research to do. I also make great fudge - but I guess that's already covered then!

Noah and I spent many hours worrying about the construction of black water tanks for forty days and nights, In the end, we opted for traditional thunderboxes. ? I was just using the terms sump, and soakaway in a generic sense. No doubt some systems are designed to produce a clean discharge, but these are more sophisticated. In my days with the Min of Ag in England [1967-75], people without mains sewerage had the option of a septic tank, which would be emptied regularly, they must still exist. No scope for reed beds............................ Back on topic: the trolley arrived from Robert Dyas, wish me luck

That's just vindictive because he might not have been thirsty or hungry when he passed your cafe so could be construed as biased evidence in court. I'm with TM on this one. The reason I love the canals is the lack of being part of the "MACHINE". We dont get junkmail, can take the pi££ out of Energycompany and Sky salespeople who tell us life will be better with them, can move 1/2 a mile from the mooring and people dont know where you are, enjoy views and fresh air people pay thousands for, endure the harshest winters wearing shorts and t shirts with the doors open, etc etc etc. The worrying thing about all these lock limited opening times is 'has CRT got a van with WELLBEING on it CCTV ing lock users at certain flights trying to ascertain time and motion studies for future use. ..... Of course not, it's a chariteèeee.

Try the guys at Bollington wharf. They're a friendly bunch Richard

The problem with tracking us around is not now, it is should a future, less benign govt get into power. Them having historic records showing exactly everywhere you have been, and when, since about 2010 would be jolly handy in suppressing anyone suspected of not toeing the party line.

3rd option is leave the system as it is because it largely works, ok there are some issues over logging mistakes and London but it basically does work. People are trying to invent an intrusive technical solution for no reason

I would prefer we didn't walk even further into a society the is happy to accept tracking of our personal lives

Indeed. Basically, we have an Act that is designed to make lawyers rich by its vagueness. Each person will take a line on it that suits what THEY want it to say. So, the person who wants to remain in a 10 mile stretch for ever will adopt a very literal interpretation of the bits that can be measured directly "without remaining in one place", and ignore the bits that are a question of degree "bona fide for navigation". The person who finds it difficult to get a good mooring whilst on holiday because the same boats shuttle back and forth between the desired spots will concentrate on "satisfies the board" as a view that the law appoints an arbiter of questions of degree. Clearly, neither is wholly right. One cannot say "I have only been moored here for 13 days, I am allowed", and disregard the other words. The other words must bring some function. Equally, "the board" cannot be unreasonable in what it requires to be "satisfied" The reason that this is in the law is very instructive in my view. People lobbied because the way they used the canals made it unreasonable for them to have a home mooring. They were moving all the time to different places. That was accepted. However their argument wasn't that there are loads of free moorings on the bank in the local area, so they would just use those. neither was their argument that they didn't want to pay. I take a view (and it is of course a view that counts for nothing in law) that if your cruising pattern is such that you are permanently within a days travel of a central point, then the argument about it being unreasonable to have a mooring don't apply to you. In the end, CRT do have the option of bringing in an increased charge for CCers. That would be a blunt instrument. The CMers would get a mooring, because trundling back and forth isn't worth it if you have to pay. The genuine CCers would be hit in the pocket, having done nothing to deserve such action.

Most septic tanks discharge into a soakaway. Not much point overflowing into a sump. The aim is not containment, but to allow the discharge to be aereated before slow release into the environment, by which time it's pretty harmless.

no more until its launched, mite do a walk through of it video, better than pics.

Well that's my excuse!

Should we really blame CRT when it's the local residents who treat the canal as a rubbish dump?