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.

The cost of maintenance is usually much higher on a boat than a house. And the value of a boat is unlikely to go up unless you spend a lot on it. Besides which, the cost of ccing is only low in the winter. Do it because you want the lifestyle, not because you think you're "escaping the rat race" and somehow beating the system. And to answer your original question, no it isn't overcrowded unless you look at small parts of the system.

I did, for a couple of years, study with the Open University whilst living on a boat. I used libraries for Internet access and printing, and went to tutorials at wherever was local. But then, I'd been living on a boat for several years before I started. I think it's too much change in one go. Yes, you might be able to stay on a leisure mooring, but it's a fiddle and you can be told to leave without any notice. Cruising around an area is possible, but it eats into your free time. You will constantly have to think about fuel, electricity, and water. And breakdowns can run to thousands. Anyone that says it's cheap is lying or hasn't had a boat long enough to experience an expensive breakdown. Sorry to sound like a pessimist. Sometimes people do exactly what you are doing and make a great success of it. However if you are depending on the degree to get on in the rest of your career, it needs to come first.

Have you checked if there are any CART moorings on the towpath?

At least it hasn't been stolen.

Those things are cosmetic and/or things that need to be done regularly. Honestly? If the hull is good, those things are not important at all. You shouldn't be afraid to make an offer though. What are you realistically happy to pay for this boat? Start there, and explain why. The seller should at least consider what you have to say. I can say that as someone who is selling a boat I wouldn't be offended. I only have a problem with people that make offers on the strength of the pictures on Apollo Duck. I think the lack of physical presence attracts chancers, but as someone who has looked at it you're not one of those.

I lost my chimney in the exact same place, just up past Aldermaston.

I am a good bit heavier than you and manage. Certainly they are more than capable of carrying your weight, in It's all about choosing the right seatpin and stem.

In that case, I suggest an immersion element for shoreline, along with a couple of fan heaters. You will get change from £100.? For trips out a calorifier, along with a stove, is by far the least trouble. I hope it's not true, but you may find you need the money for something else on the boat in the future.

There are very few hilly canal rides. On my Shopper, I have the great advantage of having the gears enclosed in a little shell in the rear hub. I don't need to think about it, unlike when I had my Galaxy and had to clean it every time I rode through the mud. Plus, do you really want a £1000 bike on the roof of your boat?

Bless you, but no. The Chopper was a kids bike. The Shopper was Raleigh's response to the very expensive Moulton. 20 x 1 3/8" wheels. Some models, like this one, were called the Raleigh Twenty, then there was the Stowaway which folds in the middle. Plus, of course, all the badge engineered ones from brands that were owned by Raleigh. Even today, I bet that saddle would be worth quite a bit of money. These are great bikes, albeit not for very rutted roads. However on a good surface they're a more than a match for any touring bike if you need to carry heavy objects.