Julysea

Hi all, How picky are CRT about the exact measurements of your boat if you bid on a CRT mooring? For example, if it's advertised as 20m and you are 21m is it worth trying to get away with it or would you come a cropper? Thanks!

Thanks for these thoughts everyone, this is pretty much as I thought, but some new ideas emerging. Great.

Hi all, just after some personal experiences and recommendations. I have a 69x11ft widebeam which I am hoping to move down to the K&A permanently (I know it's a huge beast, there are reasons for that!). Obviously, I know that none of us live onboard in non-residential moorings , but say I was to want a mooring, either on the canalside or in a marina on the K&A, does anyone have any personal experience of where would be a good place to go or to avoid? Any places which are tolerant and any that are not? Any that have a good community for families living aboard and any that aren't great for kids? Any experience or opinions would be helpful, just to give me a place to start looking! Thanks!

Thanks for that everyone. I guess I'll check with them first thing and see!

This is of course an entirely hypothetical question, but if you were thinking of bidding on a CRT mooring auction and it stated the maximum width was 7 feet, you needed it to be 11 feet, and as far as you could see there would be no problem with extra footage as the mooring was behind a long concrete arm, what would you do? Would you bid anyway and if you won, just moor and hope no-one noticed? Would you contact the person auctioning and discuss the possibility of using it for extra width? Would you just leave it presuming there was a good reason for the published max width? Or would you do something else? Thanks for any and all thoughts

We live on a 69ft widebeam and our baby is 5 months, we also have 4 other kids between us who alternate between being with us and their other parents. We've only been doing it since December and things have been pretty up and down but all in all I would say go for it, despite the problems we've encountered I've not regretted it for a second.

We're only just down the road from you in Staines and the marina was iced right over this morning and still not melted. I'm quite glad I haven't got a thermometer!

Thanks everyone, I'll check it out with companies in our marina!

Hi all, we've been living aboard our steel-hulled narrowboat since lasdt month and inevitably now that we are living in the space have realised various design mistakes we made. So, what I'm wondering is - how possible is it to add another porthole? I don't even know what kind of company I need to look for to get a quote much less if it is actually possible or even vaguely how difficult or expensive it might be. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks!

So, having looked at previous fridge threads, I am still confused. We are kitting out our new boat. We're going to be mainly cruising, not often on shoreline power, we have quite a powerful inverter and a starter kit of 3 batteries which we're hoping to add to. We're also hoping to add some solar panels when we can, but that probably won't be until at least the spring. So, what fridge should we get - 12v or 240v? I gather gas fridges are fairly fuel-heavy. Obviously we'll only get a fairly small fridge with a very small freezer compartment, so what would be more efficient in our circs? And does anyone have any recommendations for specific models? Or any other useful thoughts, experiences or ideas? Thanks!

Thanks everyone, it seems upon checking that my boat is 25 tonnes and it's due to be delivered on or around 5th Dec, which means if we used the Reading one we'd be trapped that end! Bloody closures! Any other options anyone can think of? I'll check out the Thames forums, thanks!

Hi everyone, We're looking for somewhere to have our new boat delivered and will be requiring craneage - our preferred option at Penton Hook marina doesn't have the necessary capacity (around 23 tonnes) and our next option, Shepperton Marina, has the required tonnage but will be marooned behind a lock closure at Chertsey from November to March, so that's out. We need a crane as near as possible to Penton Hook on the non-London side, and obviously, good value for money! Does anyone have any recommendations before I go through the whole list from the Environment Agency? Thanks a lot!

Turns out that final measurement is only 113cm so we dont have enough GRT to qualify for 0% VAT

Yes, that's my calculations too, unfortunately the boat is already almost finished as when I looked into this before ordering, I couldn't find this formula, so we'll have to go with what we've got and we're just checking with the builder what that hull to gunnel measurement is. I calculate that if it's over 135cm then we qualify, and if it's under we don't. Not sure how likely it is to be over as it's a flat-bottomed steel hull. It is all bollocks, yes, this will be our only home and I don't see why we should pay VAT on it, it's not a luxury item to have somewhere to live!

Thanks everyone, that's very helpful. I;'ll do the calculations to see if our 69ft x 11ft widebeam qualifies. Our boat-builder definitely said it was something which had to be claimed back afterwards using some kind of paperwork which they would endorse for us. We'll definitely give this a try now!

I have been googling about the topic of reclaiming VAT on newbuild boats for living aboard full-time, but the information I can find seems totally contradictory. One boat-builder I spoke to said it was standard practice for his company to help their live-aboard customers to reclaim the VAT after the build and another said it might be possible but it was very difficult, whereas other people online seem to think it isn't possible at all. Does anyone here have any experience either way on the possibility of reclaimng VAT after building? Thanks!

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'll look into keeping to BW waters until January. But now I'm confused again - is registration of a boat the same as having a license or is it a different requirement? I understand that requirements seem to be changing from Jan 2011, but despite extensive reading I have not found a clear explanation of the process for getting a new boat onto the water. Can anyone point me towards a website which sets out plainly the process - as far as I can understand so far we need to ensure we have an RCD annexe 3 when the boat is delivered, which will enable us to get insurance. Do we need to get it BSS certificated to the standard it is to start with or only after it's finished? When do we need a Declaration of Conformity? And is registration different from licensing? If you'll excuse the pun, I'm all at sea!

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and new to boating. I have searched previous topics but not found an answer to my specific questions and I hope someone can clarify for me. We're expecting delivery of a sailaway lined in 6 weeks time. We'll be continuously cruising, at least to start with, as we can't as yet find a permanent home mooring. So my questions are: 1. On the BW site it says you can only buy a Gold Licence at the start of each year. As I understand it, if you buy a short-term Visitor's Licence to cover you in the interim period until 1st Jan, then that requires you to have a home mooring. Is there some way round this so we can be properly licenced? 2. Given that our boat will not be finished when we take delivery of it, it will not have a Boat Safety Certificate until we do finish it, so how do we then insure it before we get the Certificate? (I understand we have a short period of leeway to allow us to finish it before having to have the Certificate) I'm sure these seem rather dim questions to many of you experienced boaters, but I'm learning, so please be gentle! Liz