chris667

If you choose a winter mooring definitely don't overlook the simple electric blanket. Best invention ever. One of the things I really miss about my boat is having a bowl of porridge on top of my stove. I'd get up, light the stove with kettle and pan on top, then go back to bed. When the kettle whistles, get up and eat your porridge, better still with blackberries you picked from the side of the canal no one can reach because you were in your canoe. With regards to radiators, diesel heaters and the like, it's all stuff to go wrong. A stove was always sufficient, backed up by electric heaters when I had the mains.

Remember that you can leave the boat anywhere for a couple of weeks, providing you secure it well. Talk to other boaters who are moored up and likely to also cruise less at that time of year. I did Derby to Reading like that.

If you've pushed the button on a new boat, congratulations! Have you got a survey? Or pictures?

Why can't you secure a £1000+ bike inside a GRP boat? Well, being able to remove the windows with a Stanley knife is a start. Or, being able to kick in the doors as they are almost always made of thin plywood. Security isn't something designed into them. When I had a steel NB, I had two hardened staples bolted through the steel bow doors. I added two D-locks to those, which I used to secure a mountain bike with the wheels removed. You'd have needed an angle grinder to defeat it.

Well, laundry was more expensive, as it always meant a bus journey and higher prices to use the machines. I paid out more in repairs and servicing the two years I stayed out. And I spent a lot more going out, because frankly mooring on my own in the winter was miserable. Mains hookup meant I could do nicer food, and I had a fan heater and electric blankets, which made the boat much nicer to be on. Your mileage may vary, of course. But that is how it worked out for me.

Spiders are beautiful. Did you never read Charlotte's Web? I hope we're not putting you off. You couldn't secure a nice bike in a GRP boat, but a centre cockpit in steel might be a contender! You could have staples welded onto the sides to give you points to lock your bike away; wheels off, and a pair of D locks, and you'll put off most of the scally lads. http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/Inland-Cruisers-for-sale/springer-28-centre-cockpit/145676 Inicidentally, I would say £13k is a lot for a springer.

Ah, but it isn't the diesel. There are other costs. People that know me are always surprised that no keep quite detailed records of the money I spend; I know that the years I spent on the cut all winter my outgoings were far higher than the years I spent with a winter mooring. Of course, you might have different expectations and results. But that was the case for me.

Yes. Sorry. Stupid Google phone keyboard!

Not having mains when it's dark most of the time costs a fortune! Generators are expensive, and so is your engine. If you add it up, a mooring with mains is often cheaper than fuel. And with regards to the mooring, sometimes you can get stuck. So even if you don't take one, you can find yourself in one place.

Wanting to store the boat inside suggests you will need a bigger boat. If you had a cruiser stern with some sort of wheelhouse you'd be able to chain it to the tiller, but a full size bike inside would drive you mad. It's half the width of the inside, nearly!

Sorry, typo. The cost of not having a mooring is much higher in the winter.

In that case, it has to stay on the roof, vulnerable to thieves and bridges. I once ruined a nice hard tail steel MTB under a bridge. I was gutted. It was my last expensive bike.

Yes, it is. My boat was 32' and had a fixed double. I got rid of the shower though, as it wasn't worth having. As for bikes, get a Raleigh Shopper. I only discovered them shortly before I sold up, but there were far more places to keep it than were possible on normal boat. Surprising how practical and like a normal bike it felt.

Incidentally, sueb, I would suggest it is not true to say going home for holidays allows you to live on a leisure mooring. Leisure moorings have whatever terms and conditions they want; depending on the site, you can be asked to leave without notice.

Any boat, at any price, can be a money pit. The genuinely good ones at low prices tend not to be advertised, or go by the time the adverts go on. My boat sold on its second day of brokerage. I reckon to get a real bargain you need to be a boater already, or at least know a lot of boaters.