Hi tuscan. Bowten is right we had just enough equity to purchase boat and pay mooring fee and license for a couple of years,we really did not want to stay on land as we have the belief that communitys seem to have lost the spirit now. i lived in the same house for 15 yrs didnt really know anyone, i love chatting, but being ill its sometimes difficult to meet people, i always believed that the boating community was what i wanted,a friendly wave quick cuppa everybody in the same boat (pardon the pun)helping each other out..i wanted my children to see that side off life and to realise we dont need big houses and fancy computer games to enjoy life. we didnt have a tv for a year !! unfortunatly we have found that as we do not have a mooring and we seem to have just appeared in skipton some boaters have made an uninformed judgement on us,presumed we don't care about rules, but we do we try our best even by doing little things like cleaning other peoples dog poo up where we moor,gritting towpath,i am an avid reader and donated 100 books to the boaters toilets,god i am by no means perfect and my children can be little monkeys but we keep them in check and just want to get on and enjoy our new life on the canal.i wake up every morning and look out of my window and smile because apart from some negative reactions i love my boat and the life. Just need a mooring !!!!!!!!