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Which is exactly why he's posting here, being very honest and trying to find as much as possible from folks who know. Commendable in my view, far more than those that watch a few UTube vlogs and dive in without researching first. To the OP we bought and moved aboard a narrowboat after a few holidays. I was starry eyed looking forward to this idyllic life basking in the sunshine while waving and smiling at passing boats. Yes, it was a shock when we found out the realities of living off grid (we continuously cruised during the summer and worked during the winter). This forum was an incredibly valuable resource, for particularly when it came to electricity. We bought a boat with a teeny weeny inverter. Naively we thought switching that on after a day's cruising would mean we could watch a bit of telly and charge our phones up. Our inverter very quickly shrieked, I asked advice on the forum an was given spot on advice about conserving leccy and making sure the leads from the inverter were appropriate. Sorry, waffling 😊 The point being to the that no matter how much research you do, and we walked the towpaths chatting to boaters (well worth doing, but set aside a lot of time, boaters have a propensity to talk for England!) there will be situations that bite you on the bum because you had no idea that'd happen. In our case we got on with it and, with a lot of help and advice from friends made on this forum, we figured it out. It can be bloody difficult sometimes, especially when the canal freezes and you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with no car! Our first winter aboard was 2010 - when we got through that we knew we could do it. You're going the right way about it, go for it, you'll always wonder how it might have worked out if you don't. Hey you've been gifted a boat, we spent every penny we had and borrowed to the hilt to buy a very cheap boat. It's the best thing we ever did in our lives. We hoped to carry on until old age but unfortunately my ill health ended our dream. How special that we experienced it while we could. Good luck x

Didn't you say all that yesterday?

My advice is to not make it too quiet. Its a good indication of when you have a leak.

Mrs Midnight is the world's leading expert at steering under willows and bridges and knocking chimneys and coolie caps into the cut. One or two were retrieved but several manged to swim for cover and remain submerged. Her unbeaten world record is 4 folding chairs.

It should just take someone to call C&RT and say "I'm trying to apply for a CC licence but cannot find the form - can you tell me where it is ?" And when told, there is no separate form & just use the 'Pleasure Boat Licence form' you can say "but your terms and conditions say there is a CC licence, and then you go onto say All boats must have the right type of licence for the planned use of the boat, & you use your statutory powers to remove boats from the waterways that are not correctly licenced. How do I get correctly licenced ? They do repeatedly make themselves look stupid !

If you look at the simple statistic of property price v earnings you will find that the current situation has not happened in the last 100 years. The last time it was 8:1 was in about 1905. Before that it was even higher. It is impossible and pointless to predict the future but the trend is suggesting a return to pre Victorian times in this regard. In those days there was no state support. Now there is. One wonders going forward how it will deal with this problem. Graph https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/individual/insights/what-174-years-of-data-tell-us-about-house-price-affordability-in-the-uk/ It is basically wrong for people to own more than one land based property. Legislation should be enacted to ensure this does not continue. It won't be because people in a position of influence all have loads of properties and do good money out of it. It is still wrong.

I know someone who was chugging down the G&S when he saw a Ural with sidecar veer off the towpath into the canal. As it happens his boat has a small crane on it so managed to pull it all out too. Reckon that takes some beating...😀

Rod here. Me and Penny want to do the Lancaster canal in late September but are confused about the Ribble link and in particular Savick brook. Penny assures me it'll be fine, with plenty of water. She tells me the first cut is the deepest, though she does have misgivings about the half tide barrier and stormy waters. Mrs Rod wants to park at Penny Street basin, whilst I am attracted to the Lune aqueduct. All we need is a friend to lend a guiding hand. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Anyway, I don't want to talk about it. Thanks for all the help. You're in my heart. X

I think CRT are absolutely right to to emphasise their rôle in this. If they don't persuade Government to renew their grant at current real value levels then the first people who will suffer will be boaters. Running a linear environmental park is a damn site cheaper than facilitating a 2000 mile navigation system for 35,000 boats.

I'm talking about my experiences of canal boats in inland marinas - in answer to the above , it is not specifically an adress they want, they want to see evidence that YOU (not your parents are paying council tax (it may help if your Fathers name is identical to your own. IYou (and others) may consider it 'scaremongering' but it is also factual, and something the op may come across and should be prepared for.

Decision 028. Leaving Kate's. STUPID. I left Kate's immediately, keen to be on my own and not limited by the requirements of others. How stupid can you get? I didn't even fill up the diesel tank first! I didn't know how much Colecraft had put in, how far it was to the next Fuel place, how to bleed a run-dry engine or anything. But after much fretting I succeeded in getting to the next place and filled up. Decision 029. CCing. BAD. This one is fundamental but boring so I'll try to be brief. My research suggested that: 1. Marinas were expensive. 2. Marinas did not like works being done. (you can of course sail out & work & return but its hassle.) 3. Moorings were expensive. I had not yet got used to the principle that boating just is expensive. I therefore decided to CC. The situation: A mobile boat. Infrequent car availability. Single ring camping ring ex Halfords (I got through 3 of these. Unreliable, leaky, dangerous, ought to be banned.) PortaPotti 365 Camp bed & sleeping bag Water in 5L bottles No fridge, washing machine, sink, shower, Folding chair Inadequate tools The plan: Train & bus to boat vicinity taking clothes Buy food Board boat & move minimum distance Do works Move boat to another place to start a new 14 days Take laundry unless local laundrette Train & bus home With each visit about 5 days in total. Occasionally travel by small saloon car when wife allowed, 2hrs 15mins, & convey materials Occasionally stop near a canalside eg B&Q and load materials I did this for 18 months IIRC. I discovered that it was hard: To get close car access to the canal To find eg B&Q near the canal To find public transport To do the whole operation. Revisiting, I would bung it on an online mooring with good parking much earlier than I did.

Read the guide. Do lots of research until you have sufficient knowledge to ignore the guide. Then do a safe and sensible install. If you follow the guide then always wear full fireman's gear and have a fire engine standing by when using the stove, for full safety.

I'm always going this sort of thing. There is a vocation somewhere here but I missed it.

Register it with CaRT in winter. Cheaper license fees. Sell it in summer. More money for a longer boat. Don't try cruising at the size limit locks on hot days!

Brain out of gear.

I lived on the boat on a farm at at Croughton just outside Chester many years ago. The moorings are still there, not sure if people are still allowed to live on. I am unconvinced you are actually serious about all this. How big is the boat you've acquired? If it's just you, it doesn't matter much. If it's you, partner and kids it becomes rather important. What's the engine? Is there solar? Heating? It doesn't seem as if you know any of this. And a boat is a money pit. Unless you're an engineer, maintenance will cost you three times what you envisage, and it comes in walloping big lumps, like about ten grand when the water starts coming in through an old hull, or a couple of thousand to fix the gearbox. The other thing that strikes me as odd is how little research you've done. You'll get some info here, but the crucial stuff is to read and digest the stuff CRT supplies. The licencing rules, safety exam rules, insurance etc, and you seem to know nothing of any of these.

Wot paint numbers on my solar panels? How rude

Then put your next door neighbours postcode in...