Newold

Thanks for the great replies. Im not so much taking time off work but I have leave comming up for one reason and another then enables me to figure my labour as free. How long did it take you Paul may I ask to bring things up to sailaway standard? When I say sailaway I mean the basic sailaway without lining. How much did your floor cost also please? I cant imagine some of these firms who sell sailaways using CE marked Birch and all said and done is it really neccesary to use anything other than shutter ply for example? IM sure anyone would agree it would be foolish not to look at the reality of all the options before doing things. IM not daft if all IM going to save is 2k I will save my back and earn the 2k doing what I do and wait. But thank you I appriciate brass tacks advise.

This reply interests me as I intend to cruise. If you can stay in one place for 14 days then move a few miles to the next place then onwards again why would moving sooner be seen as playing safe if you are not breaking the rules anyway? Are BW guilty of giving out false notifications or something grey just because they happen to be in the area patrolling? If you have a cruise log how on earth can they question you unless they have proof of you over staying?

What am I looking for? Advise from people who have done it I suppose? Its 9k extra for a sailaway becasue it comes with an engine. I intend to crawl around the north of England so do I really need to spend 9k on an engine? I ask because I dont know. Are my ideas great? Ballast is ballast plywood is plywood. How much is stern gear?

Yes I recognise that but is there really that much diference in performance?

Thanks for the reply. This is where I get confused. A bare hull now costs around 15k sailaway 25k for a 57 footer including everything you mention less the windows (1k) and ballast (£200) Anodes £50 shutter ply £20 a sheet insulation (£300)not sure on the stern gear thats a lot of money for an engine left.

Am I thinking wrong or are sailaways an expensive option? If you take away the engine the shell costs around 16k. So to bring it up to sailaway spec without an engine it would be around an additional 2k including ballast and windows. If I wanted to charge batteries I could use a generator if I were moored for longer than a couple of days so why would I spend in excess of another 7k for an engine and gearbox when I can buy a recon guaranteed BMC with gearbox for around £3500 and other engines cheaper. I am probably missing something or am I? Another question I would like to ask is is it better to fit a shell out on the water or on hardstanding? Any advise would be good. I will have around 6 months off work to work on the boat full time. Thank you.

But interestingly they still have the resources to waste on millions of random letters sent out to people to try and scare them into buying a tv license!

I could never go back to living on a council estate relying on the state to rehouse me which is why if at all possible we would like to stay on the housing market. As much as we may want to step away from the rat race you need a back up plan if and when you are too old to live aboard. Thanks.

Great replies thank you. The picture posted by Alan of Angel is exactly what I am talking about. Surely a stern like that could be built with a counter no?

Having been round diferent brokers recently and sifting through years worth of canal mags I am interested in how things have changed and developed. Old working boats had a stern that was swept up into a point with a big rudder fitted and from some of the pictures I have seen the skipper was standing in a kind of well and sheltered. Nowdays you can just step onto the stern but on the above kind it appears you would have to step up and over into, a bit like stepping into the bow of a new boat for example. I ask this question as I think the old design looks very nice but cant see any builders now making this kind of stern but they go to lenghts to build Josher style bows which would look perfect with this kind of ''canoe'' style stern. I am wondering if there are practical reasons why ? Perhaps someone knows a builder who does create this design. I would be very interested to see if there is an example in steel. I have tried to find some pictures but the only one I have is in a magazine so I am not to sure how to get that on here to show people. Thanks.

I agree with you totally its not constuctive to not fully take on the facts as how could anyone possibly do such a thing with one version of said facts. Get a crime number posted up and I will take you seriously.

Thanks Roger. Although I totally agree about the green point you make my perspective was being more ''aware'' of energy consumption becasue you have to generate your own. I think most would agree we can get more relaxed about lights leaving things on standbye ect when on grid hence my romantic sounding notions. If for example we were cruising on a boat as opposed to being moored and hooked to the grid the boat is our only means of transportation so creating more pollution using another vehical would not happen either. I too agree about the feeling of living in a less stressfull enviroment hence the appeal. Although I do sometimes wonder if spending an extra 40k on another property and moving somewhere else may possibly offer such an alternative. I cant imagine a boat being a good investment compared to property. Thanks for your thoughts on the matter it has been most helpfull.

Ally if the story is as you say it is I agree he is dishonest but without knowing his reasons I cannot make judgement. Its not imagination its called reading between the lines. I did not say you were willingly confrontational that was suggested to someone else. I am just saying there are always two sides and never in my life have they ever been the same or as black and white a you are claiming them to be for example. Not answering your phone to someone harrasing you ''which could be the case'' does not make a person dishonest either. Sorry if my perspective offends you. I dont wish to be right or wrong I just hope everyone involved is ok in the end. Best wishes.

To be fair I am only trying to see ''why'' the guy did this other that what you are acusing him for. Perhaps he feels ripped off so the amount is entirely material and knows that is the case but too afraid to hang about hence running. And if someone on this forum does give his location away what are you and your friend going to do exactly? You cant demmand money from a boat on the side of the canal if they dont have it or wish to pay it for a valid reason. So your machanic friend will have to take the matter to court to argue his case and or get the Police involved to confirm identity. Its not the same as picking up something in the shop and running out as that is a completly different scenario where there is only an act of theft. You dont know the full story so lets not be quick to judge! And why did he call out a second machanic? Possibly becasue the 1st was not up to the job? The point is you dont know the other side of the story. I can think of a very good excuse/reason to doing a runner its called fear. Perhaps he has told the machanic he was not happy and not prepared to pay the amount charged (hence the second machanic'' then the 1st machanic became abusive so again ''fear'' he got off. Not exactly unreasonable in my book not every one is as willingly confrontational as yourself.

What was the mechanic charging £1500 for and if he needed to come back then how did the acused manage to run his engine and get off? Without knowing the ''FULL'' facts I could only assume he was not happy about something and possibly too frightened to hang around and argue the case.

Nothing like a woman to get a man in trouble!

This is fantastic info everyone thank you. It really has stopped me worrying. So apart from chipboard what other material can you buy for not too much more money? I did think that perhaps it was were the units were positioned so if at the stern then perhaps its damper due to the entrance ect but Bag Oh Bones says their units are good as new. So its not the case. What would make a boat damper than another I wonder?

Is it possible to fit a flat pack kitchen unit carcass into a narrow beam boat or does it have to be cut back? I have been told by a couple of brokers when mentioning sailaways that you cant do this or its not a case of buying a kitchen from B & Q. Thanks.

Thanks for your insight Roger I never thought living on a mooring to be as nice as you describe it. At the same time I dont see what you think is rose tinted in my thinking as you have not given as much detail to that part of your reply as you have to the other part of your reply. For us being able to move around is important and perhaps the reality of actually doing that is what needs to be experienced on a cheaper cruiser as advised by another member before spending lots of money. The Wash is not something I fancy on a flat bottomed boat so thank you Sue for that perspective. Call me nieve but why would you be cold in winter if you have stocked up on coal? Many thanks.

That is probably excellent advise. My only worry is though becasue the boat is smaller we wont try and live on it to get an idea of what winter is like on a boat for example? Another thought to consider though certainly. Thanks.

Thanks for an excellent reply Patrick. When I say North I mean Greater Manchester and surrounding areas. We have walked extensively around different canals and have to say comming towards the Ashton through the city then up the Rochdale for miles is a horrible place from a canal perspective and not somewhere we would like to hang about in although once you get near Chadderton it gets nicer I must say. So I guess its a case of not just where you can go but how nice the canal is too! The bridgewater just comming out of Sale gets really nice and scenic which is the sort of thing we are looking for like most I would imagine. Funnily enough I am from Bedfordshire so that is where I would like to get to as thats where my family is say at Christmas for example. Would I be right in thinking to get onto the Ouse we would have to cross the Wash too? What are the complications and restrictions in reality of using such rivers and getting across the Wash? What kind of license would we need to live on the rivers and are the rules diferent to BW? Thanks everyone really appriciate the help. Personally Sue nowdays I think its a safer bet putting money into a house than a bank purely from an investment point of view. However I could'nt see us wanting to go back to this particular house but at least we could move on if wanted to at any point wheather living on a boat or not I suppose. We would be worried letting it out though as some of the stories I have heard even from family who have let property out make the prospect expensive if damage is caused past the value of a deposit. 10K of damage was done by one lot tennants. I would rather leave it empty and try and absorb the cost. But if its working for you then thats fantastic.

Its a shame when people go through so much together and up letting a material object break them up if thats the case. I remember watching the show to once. Its the tower bit that kills the design for it for me and possibly all the mooring owners!

We would be looking at complying with the CC liscense so would naturally move from one location to the next after two weeks. Now Roger I dont despute a widebeam is not a boat but personally I dot see the point of living on what is suppose to be a boat sat on a mooring for months on end hooked up so I can run everything I would have in a house. For us we may as well live in a house then if thats what we are going to do as its going to cost the best part of 40k and more to sit on a boat on a mooring surrounded by loads of other boats. Where as living on a boat and moving around seeing diferent places living in cities living in the country being thought full of consumption respecting the planet by generating your own power or using power two fold for travel while heating water and charging batteries feels right. Its that adventure but not being able to do that over considerable distance in a Wider boat so we can have more space that is a shame for us but not the end of the world. After all how much space do you need to go to the loo,read a book,watch tv,shower ect? Its the same in a mansion as it is in a narrowboat or caravan. I have never moored a widebeam but I cannot see it being as easy as mooring a narrowboat. These are all transitional thoughts of going from our house to a boat. Our thinking although it may have come across wrong is not judgemental. It is very hard as I can still feel that day when I walked into a widebeam and thought ''whoe'' this is great then going into a narrowboat straight after and thinking this is very small! So for my Mrs comming from the North for us to live in a Widebeam we would need to be able to move around the North so she can still be near family and I would be ok with that. Is it possible I wonder? No one has actually said for sure becasue perhaps they stay on a mooring so dont actually know the reality. I do love the Cheshire ring and would love to live on there for a bit so it would have to be a narrowboat. So there you go. Perhaps we should buy a smaller boat and just try it and see how we feel while keeping the house until we know how we really feel? What do you all think of these fiberglass wide beam boats? They seem pretty good for the money.