dmtarry
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Posts posted by dmtarry
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Thanks Fudge, I have spoken with S&A I got the list off Mike Web at Peel and have been right through most of them Other than Preston Brooke and the cruising clubs. Found one option which is not ideal but may have to take it as a base and then look around for a better mooring once there! The plan would be to cruise the area between Manchester and Warrington and use the mooring mainly in the winter particularly if I can find one with power. We want to stay in this area for the next few years as our children and grand children are all in the area.
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Does the wide beam use a lot more diesel than a narrow boat Dean? I wouldn't have thought that their was much in it unless oversized for use on rivers?
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Thanks folks will investigate further.
Hi all
To clarify the issue further I am not looking to be residential at a mooring, I would like to have a permanent mooring at which i would visit and possibly over winter. the main time would be spent out and about on the bridgewater and on some longer cruises. if that makes sense!
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Hi
Can anyone advise on best options for a permanent mooring on the bridge water canal preferably around the Warrington area. If nothing around Warrington then as close as possible to be near grand children as they all live around Stockton Heath and Lymm area. We have sold our houses and are in the process of sourcing a boat and would more than likely prefer a wide beam for space and comfort, and will probably move to a narrow boat some years down the line to travel the full system.
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This scam is used on ebay all the time with cars, boats, camper vans etc
Google the text of the response and see what comes up?
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I think it would be a potential minefield to assume that customers will do this correctly and when it goes wrong it will be your product not their ability to measure the curve. Possibly a generic curve that will fit the majority of roof profiles along with adjustable feet fitted on the inside corners that can be used to level the box off.
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I am no expert and I am sure it can be done this way, however when finished and the boat is launched it will change shape and this may impact on the fit out in some way? I am sure that you can compensate for this and the experts will be along shortly to advise better than I could.
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And people wonder why the country is falling apart at the seams, so many narrow minded keyboard warriors who want to put the world to rights and interfere in other peoples lives. For gods sake get a life chill out and stop worrying that someone somewhere is enjoying life without observing your interpretation of what they should doing, To many Sad sad individuals, very depressing that so many control freaks feel that they have to have their say and that there input and position is the only correct one. Must have far to little in their lives of real substance to leave people alone that are doing them no harm.
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I am not a CCer though do think that they have some different needs and problems than some other groups. It may be that simply having a CCer section / forum on this website alongside living afloat would help? At least they would be able to have meaningful discussions between themselves that may not be relevant and or open to comment from non Ccers.
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We have just cancelled or sky tv, phone, Broadband package moved to freesat and Three MiFi 15gb 2 year contract at £18 monthly. Works great far quicker than my original BB (due to crap connection area) and no cable here. I cant fault it and it will go with us if we are out f the house!
David and Doreen
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Glad that all went well Salopgirl and great to feel the chirp in your writing! hope all goes well enjoy and be careful. I would hope that the folks on here will help to look after you until you get on your feet, you have a lot of help and information at your fingertips. Thats what the forum should be about. You have my number if you need it.
David and Doreen
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Best wishes for a great day - 35 years for us on the 26th of this month
Dave and Doreen Tarry
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Great news TG
All the very best to you and tiller boy
Dave and Doreen
I've nearly bust my knicker elastic over the past few weeks after we accepted an offer on our house.............but its finally time to break out the champers
We were so close last Friday to completing we took the decision to go and trail a boat we had looked at back in July. Yesterday we gets a call from our solicitor to say our buyers deposit has cleared.........today we gets the call to ask if we are ready to exchange..............yes please we say.............15 minutes later we gets a call to say contracts are exchanged!!! Whoo Hoo!!
Offer made on boat - accepted.............and its out the water on Thursday for a pre-purchase survey..............if all goes well and we see no reason why it should not we will be living on this by the end of this month:
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There is the Inland Waterways Map of Great Britain by Nicholson?
on amazon for 3 0r 4 pounds
not sure if it what you need.
David
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Can the area take another marina? You've got Ventnor Farm and Calcutt. Then there are Napton Marina and Wigrams Turn,
Barby(?) and Hillmorton. The other side of Braunston Tunnel there are two below Watford Locks and that's just the ones I can think of. That's a lot of berths in a small area.
You would assume that the company investing in the new Marina have researched this issue after all they are going to pump a considerable amount of money into the venture!
You would think that they should be best placed to evaluate this.
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so long as it frees up the towpaths then why object? the more marinas that open the lower the price of off line moorings will go!
I am not in or aware of the direct issues in that area, though if the area is congested with boats moored on the canals then extra moorings may be beneficial ? You would think that it will ultimately create more competition in both the quality of moorings available and price paid to obtain moorings? There seems to be many members commenting on C'Ming and surely far more availability is going to have to be provided if we are chasing CMers into paid moorings.
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Lucky sod, I wish I could afford to slip off and not have to think about going back to work on Monday
ENJOY :cheers:Great stuff well done and enjoy every minute of your escape
David and Doreen
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Yep. Nothing bespoke about my boat. I viewed a few shells in their yard, and placed an order. I sat back till they said my shell was ready, and I drive it off tomorrow. I know all the specs, asked for extra spray foam, and a bigger alternator. I'll be paying the bank back, but the way I see it, we would have been paying rent to someone...and this way, if I ever sell it, it'll be cash in my pocket instead of someone elses. Doubt that will ever happen though...cant stand the thought of moving back onto land.
Good luck with it all Dean?
Dave and Doreen
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Great to see so many happy with their lifestyle choice, a great encouragement to people like us in the throws of this decision it is big gamble and very scary when planing it and the old out of frying pan into fire thoughts are in your head! We will have to make our minds up and jump in or out soon as no2 house is sold and no1 house has a keen renter wanting to move in! My head is like a garbage processor with a thousand different thoughts and options, ifs and buts swirling round and round. After the last 4 years in my job (Worked there 30 years in total) working through a very stressful and difficult period, that my family feel has near put me in a bad place health wise. However I am sure we will not regret it whichever way we go, we just need to get our heads clear? after all its either this or go get another job for the next 5 years to make it a lot simpler financially to do it in the future?
David and Doreen
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There must be something in the air at the moment.
As you were writing your last post, we were moving the last bits and pieces on to our 57 foot boat, having just sold the house. We are giving it a try to see how things go and have rented out our "bolt hole". We are of a similar age to you both so if you do take the plunge it will be interesting to compare notes in a few months time. I must admit I have been quite inspired by Starcoaster on this forum who, if you read some of her threads, seems to have been totally inspired by the experience and has a lovely way of saying it the way it is.
Hi
I know what you mean, and i have had a few chats with star coaster she is very helpful I hope all goes well and will pm you with our details love to have a quick chat to compare notes.
David and Doreen
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My advice, for what it's worth, is make a list of all the costs you are likely to incur.
Examples:
Docking and survey.
Bi annual docking ( you might be prepared to diy the blacking in the first few years but your enthusiasm for this will wain as time goes by )
Repainting ( plan to do this every five years )see www.boatpaint.co.uk for prices of paints.
Boat safety inspection ( every four years ).
Insurance including contents.
Boat license.
Gas ( allow 1 13kg bottle per month for cooking only ).
Diesel ( allow 1 litre per hour for the amout of cruising you intend and 1/2 litre per hour for heating if applicable )
Smokeless fuel ( allow 2 tonnes per year if applicable ).
Electricity, of course depends on what appliances you have on board but as a rough guide allow £60 per quarter.
There will be those who argue that these amounts are over the top and they use much less but better to over than under estimate.
Whatever boat you eventually buy, there will be things that you'll want/need to fit,change or renew such as a solid fuel stove ( if there isn't one fitted already you'll need to add in the cost of alterations to accomodate it ), inverter to provide 240 volt, solar panels or even some parts of the fit out itself. You may not think you'll need any of this now but, I promiss, you will.
Coincidentally, I was 56 when I sold my house and bought my barge but never looked back, it's been seven years now and I still think it's the best thing I ever did.
Keith
Many thanks Keith, glad you have enjoyed your time afloat.
David and Doreen
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Two things I've noticed in your initial post...
You've listed £50,000 as being the budget you have for your new boat, but of course you wouldn't need to spend this much to get what you're after. I'm sure there will be boats in the £30,00 to £40,000 range which would suit you also so this would leave a bit more extra in the 'kitty'.
You've also mentioned that you're in the Warrington area, which covers the southern Bridgewaster and the northern (just) Trent & Mersey, if you're thinking on being based on the Trent & Mersey then you'll have to go down the narrow boat route. If you prefer wide beamed boats then you'll need to be based on the Bridgewater. The Bridgewater is owned by the Bridgewater Canal Co. so cruising onto the Leeds & Liverpool, etc, would mean the cost of a BW concessionary license.
True I was assuming that I would have to spend more? will find out when we eventually get out in a position to buy one? as noted earlier we think a 57ft nb is the way and when we have the cash to do it we will hopefully be able to negotiate the deal we want? not going window shopping when not in a position t buy!
David and Doreen
Having survived a big cancer op, hopefully permanentley, you realise you are mortal, took a while stopped long commute chacing the dollar (which paid for the boat)spending 3 months on the boat this year and much longer next year. We are both very very happy.
Hi Tuscan
God news re the opp hope all goes well and you are ale to spend time out and about.
David and Doreen
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Our situation is very similar to DMTarry's. We've decided we've had enough of the rat race and are going to take the plunge (I'm 58 and my wife is 54). Our boat purchase will be paid for with our share in two property sales (deceased parents) and then we plan to let our own 4 bedroomed house out to help with the income.
The main obstacle we are finding is the house sales being so slow with the way the market is at the moment, and this is something you should bear in mind if you need this as a way of funding the purchase. We've been looking at 2nd hand boats for a month or so now as we were told it could take a long time to find the right one even if we have a flexible 'wish list' of what we want. Murphy's law being what it is, we found the ideal boat quite quickly but cannot buy it because we need one of the houses sold to pay for it. But we know there will be others.
We are gaining good experience looking at boats and one thing we have found is that some of the boats aren't nearly as good as they look on a website. Obviously it pays to do the initial searching online but it still pays to see as many boats as possible, and that includes ones which are slightly above your budget, partly so you can gauge market values better but also because some sellers may be willing to reduce their asking prices more than you think.
Our biggest issue is what stern type to go for (hence my ealier question about dogs and traditional sterns).
Hi
Nice to know someone else is going through the same issues and dilemma's as us, do let us know how you get on? are you southern based or Northern, we are Warrington based.
Dave and Doreen
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Walk the waterways near your home area, if it says for sale then chat to them consider making an immediate offer if you really like the boat. When you have seen a score of boats then you will know what you are looking for -long /short conventional or reverse layout and shhh! pump or or cassette.
Some boat sales seem to be sticking so once you have half chosen one put in a fair offer.
Doing that on a regular basis at the moment Arthur, some lovely boats about and seems that its a buyers market though some people seem to be in cuckoo land and asking ridiculous prices that cannot be achieved. Some of these I suspect are in so deep with circumstances suddenly changed (As did mine when I suddenly got made redundant) they are struggling to find a way back? Its a great shame to see people in this situation? However my son confirmed tonight that he is buying my other house and has met his bank manager to discus things, this will put us in a good position shortly, once we have the cash available I will be able to go shopping seriously with a cheque book in my hand? He is also going to meet with HSBC who are apparently leading the new mortgage situation with Nat west and Midland in some turmoil?
David and Doreen
Decision time - To live aboard or downsize!
in Living Afloat
Posted
Hi All
Well the pressure is now on, I was made redundant last year from a good job and we have now sold both of our houses subject to finalising matters and have to decide whether we use the money to buy a smaller house or go for it and buy a wide beam boat and move aboard? We have determined that a wide beam would be the best option for us to live on, though understand that this extra space comes with some limitations for long term cruising of the systems.
The capital generated from the sales if invested should be enough to give us a sufficient though not massive income to retire / semi retire with, and i am awaiting final detail from financial advisers to clarify this. (Though as we know investments can go down as well as up) Hopefully in 10 - 12 years or so we would still have enough capital to buy a small house if we decide to, draw down our private and state pensions (I'm 57 my wife is 54) and await our impending doom.
However as always complications raise there heads firstly my wife wants to keep her part time job for a wile, and we want to keep fairly close to the Warrington area for the next few years to be near our children and grand children. As we would not their fore be able to continuously cruise for a while, we are attempting to locate a suitable mooring on the Bridgewater preferably with power and facilities that we can use as a base and then cruise around the area for a while. Hens teeth springs to mind.
Looking at the houses and areas that we can buy in and still retain enough capital to provide an income makes down sizing a bit un appealing, while some of the wide beams in this price range are very nice indeed.
We would certainly need a boat designed to be self sufficient and assume that power etc are things that we will have access to sporadically at best. Any views on the specifications that would best achieve this would be helpful I/e Water heating, Central Heating, Electrical system, Solar / Wind assistance, Appliances, Toilet type, (Helmet on) size of holding tanks, etc I know many of these issues are subjective and cause lively debate and would be interested to hear from current live aboards with limited power access on there views of the best specifications.
My current Thoughts
Fire - Good Quality multi fuel with back boiler?
Hot Water - Back boiler, colorifier and an emersion heater?
Central Heating - Back boiler, and Diesel system
Electrical - Battery banks charging system type?, Solar power type?, Inverter type?
Toilet - Pump out with good capacity tank?
Fridge 12 V
Washer?
Also if we have a permanent mooring though we would spend a lot of time out and about I am assuming that we are not perceived as living on the mooring, even though we are living aboard the boat? How is this perceived ? are we just bridge hoppers?
I always thought if we had the chance it would be simple buy boat sod off! Funny how something that you have thought as your goal for 35 years suddenly becomes a bit uncertain just when you find yourself in a position to do it. Grand children who knew it!!
My head is in bits!!