Marjorie

I've never seen anything quite like it! What do you think? http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=331336

Was that because there was a particular type of boat you wanted?

Look! You can get outdoor rugs! Who knew?! (lots of people, I'm sure) http://www.next.co.uk/g39658s4

Oh. Thanks

Maybe this would just get gross... it's a bit difficult to see what it's actually like... but reasonably priced! http://www.grass247.co.uk/outdoor-carpet/red-outdoor-carpet.html

I'd never heard of these until this afternoon, and Google is being surprisingly unhelpful. Are they better in some meaningful way than a 'normal' fridge? (Fridge's aren't my thing, I don't know quite what I am referring to when I say 'normal').

Really? COOL! Did you buy her new, or old?

QUICK! I need at least one of those, I'm sure I do. Do you keep them on the roof?

NICE BBQs!

Wait. I'm coming over....

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across like that at all! I certainly don't think I know everything (but surely it's easier to help me if you know that I do know some things?) - and I certainly didn't mean to knock anyone's beloved home (my Black Prince joke was in bad taste, I can't argue with that). Wrist duly slapped. Thank you for saying it, instead of just being frustrated with me in silence.

HA! You're hilarious. Also: thanks. I thought so. While we're on the subject (sort of), a lot of the boats I've seen (real life and virtually) say they have oak or ash panelling inside. Is there any reason you couldn't use pine tongue and groove, painted and varnished, for the ceiling and above gunwales (for example), and marine ply panelling (maybe 9mm so it doesn't warp?), also painted, below? That should cut a bit of the fit out cost and still be fit for purpose, right? OK. Good plan. That's a hull sorted then. Will you call your son about the Cambodian children for the fit out?

Yep, me too.

HOORAY! We are not alone I met boyo on the marina too (I was in the process of scaling down, he in the process of scaling up - the only real fly in the ointment!). My first idea was to repurpose an old one (I like the idea of using what's already there), but I can't work out where the sweet spot is - it seems like, to be sure of the hull and mechanics, you have to spend around the £30-40k mark, which is more than a sailaway. Have I just got it wrong somewhere? The woodlands house is beautiful, but yes, not mobile (what is WRONG with people), and also presses a few too many of my 'living simply and being a navel gazing hippy aren't the same thing' buttons ) You are some of the kindest people I have never met.

I'm *still* not sold on having a new boat built, but I do want to research it properly. So here's my list of people to go and see. What do you reckon? For Hulls: XR&D Tyler Wilson Elton Moss R. W. Davis Norton Canes (Did i pick all the stupidly expensive ones?) For Fit-Out: Straight & Narrow (Phil Norton) Cherilton Narrowboats (Graham Ford - is this the guy people were saying is brilliant, but was off-puttingly grumpy at Crick?) Kingfisher Narrowboats (only because there's a link to them on the XR&D website, I don't think anyone has suggested them directly) Woodworks Boat Fitting (same as Kingfisher) Is that overkill? If so, which would you bump to the top of the list?

Quite right, they weren't on there, but I put them on there in order to ceremoniously cross them off for having minuscule kitchens.

That is a very nice way of asking that question - the way I am more used to goes something like this: "Well, how do you know you want to live on a narrowboat then? They're not like houses you know." Followed by varying degrees of eye-rolling and/ or scoffing The answer is a bit long and complicated and probably better told over several pints and a packet of pork scratchings. Essentially, it's a bit like this: I believe in small and simple. I don't want lots of things and acres of space - I tried it, and I didn't like it (which may well be the understatement of the decade). The HUGE boat we are fitting out now is my other half's dream, and while the journey to get her finished is remarkable, and I wouldn't swap it, as we get closer to completion I've really had to think about what is important to me and where I am willing to compromise. I won't compromise on his happiness, but I also can't reconcile myself with scaling up so dramatically. So, we had this idea that I could go on my tiny-boat travels (which I've been banging on about for ages as my example of how life would be if people weren't so hungry for stuff and nonsense - the other one is something like this), and he could live on the big 'un like he's been dreaming about for years, and we'll just see how it all ends up working out. (there are so many holes in that potted version, you're all most welcome to roll your eyes and/or scoff, but in real life it's rather more rational and sensible than I've just made it sound, and I'm absolutely not some head-in-the-clouds hippy) And, as for the "Well, how do you know you want to live on a narrowboat then?" version: I don't know, I just do. I've made some of the best decisions in my life by trusting my gut, so I'm just going to go with it. Also, now I've found all of you, I'm going to pick you clean of all your knowledge and experience, like the information vulture that I am.

Someone I met the other week, who has had I think 4 narrowboats over the past lots of years (lets say 20 - I can't really remember), said that if he was to recommend that I do one thing, it would be to get a slightly bigger engine than I think I need to help with manoeuvrability and rivers. (don't shoot the messenger)

I didn't say you'd want it to be an Imperial 1, only to look like one. You'd never fit an actual Imperial 1 into a narrowboat. You do know they're only 6' wide, don't you?

There's an s-type porthole too, by the looks of things. They are really rather expensive though, now I've actually looked. Maybe someone could buy me some for christmas...

HOLY COW. That's expensive. And it looks... like... a fridge... Surely you'd want it to look like an Imperial 1 Class Star Destroyer for that money... Or, at the very least, not make your boat sing.

My holiday menu goes like this: Breakfast: fried things Lunch: roast, all the trimmings Dinner: beer and chocolate. Black Prince boats are struck firmly off my list.

Very little. A few weeks in total, on hire boats, and a couple of friends with narrowboats that I've been on, but never whilst moving.

I didn't even look at the price...! I wonder if they'd be leaky because the glass comes out. Or maybe that's just silly.