JamesGrant

Thank you - we have seen this one but think size may be slightly too small. We did spot it before but the site is useful as it's not too far away Thanks - where is it?

Chubby, thank you so much for your post. I was starting to get disheartened (but not deterred!) and your post really perked me and my girlfriend up. I think as you pointed out, most people seem to have missed the point that I don't own a house or have a mortgage. You're bang on the money, I'm young and I'm already fed up of not being able to afford to live the way society is going and i'm looking for alternatives. I'd rather live on a boat, have more money and more time to do what I want to do and love rather than working constantly to end up in a coffin having got nowhere in life. I'm almost sure that having time to do what I want and love will in turn make me love the boat life. Of course, people are still shouting "but you must want to live on a boat, not because it's cheaper" well the truth is as i said before it's been playing on my mind for the last 6 to 8 months so it's not a fleeting thought. We went to see our friends who have lived on a 30ft cruiser stern for the last two years and they couldn't be happier. (Just like to point out theirs is a springer and only cost £15k but it's bloody amazing and just passed it's hull survey). So yes, I do want to live on a boat and not just because it's cheaper. Maybe we won't like it, but as Chubby said, we won't know for sure until we try. We're actually looking forward to downsizing and simplifying our lives. Yes it's one thing to go away in a campervan for two weeks compared to living on a boat but the truth is, when we go away in our van, we have showers, in winter, outside in the freezing cold with boiled water from a pan fed through a solar shower. So yeah, we're used to difficult, I wonder how many people who live on a boat have done this? In terms of costs, trust me it still works out cheaper even when moored compared to the costs of renting here with bills. I fully understand if you own a house it costs more because you are paying for mooring fees where you don't pay them fees in a house, but a loan for a boat plus mooring fees still comes in less than my rent a month. Unfortunately as well, our budget will not allow us to get a massive boat that's nice and new because I'm simply not well off and let's be honest, if I had the money you'd still be telling me no in case I didn't like it. That's the whole idea, we get something a little cheaper that we won't lose much money on hopefully and we can test the water, excuse the pun. We have received some fantastic advice on the thread as well, so thanks for everyone who has contributed and I know some will have genuine concern and don't want to see us regret the choice. At the end of the day, that was what the original post was about, asking for help so we didn't make a mistake.

Yes of course, we were thinking trad would be best but it depends what comes up. The trouble with 50ft is finding one within budget. We are well aware of the drastic change and downsizing efforts but we feel inspired!

Sorry, I'll give you a little bit of background. I live up North (well to some!) around the Peak District area. Not the best place for number of marinas I know. I however am self-employed and my girlfriend intends to go self-employed. So we're fairly flexible on location and can move about, the only thing for now is I must stay close to the Peak for my job. Currently, I'm renting a house with a housemate and the rent alone is £825 a month, then factor in bills etc and you can see why a narrowboat is attractive. The fact is, we don't have the money for a mortgage and because I'm recently self-employed getting one or even finding another place to rent is going to be tough. However, we do have a campervan so we're very used to difficult, small spaces and living with less amenities than you'd get in a house. We've been told a lot that if you can cope in a camper (wild camping) then a boat shouldn't be an issue. We do realise it is completely surreal and a different kind of life choice, but we're both a little alternative with how we live anyway and think it would suit us. As I said before, our good friends are very similar to us and love their narrowboat. We fully realise we won't know for sure until we get one but this is why we want to keep the budget low, so we're not going into it in the deep end. This is also why we visited our friends to see what it was like, because if we stepped on and thought this is crazy we would have walked away. However, the more we look the more we feel it would suit us. Flexibility, something different, less overheads etc. We've done all the costings both from our friends and from various YouTube videos and we've priced it towards the upper end of what we think we would do. Yes we get a boat doesn't appreciate but at the end we can sell it and use it for a deposit on a mortgage if it really isn't us rather than paying money into rent. I should also say it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, more of a shoved rather than pushed kind of thing. I had it on my mind since the start of the year and there was also the possibility of getting a big van to live in, as I say we're quite alternative. But a change in circumstance has had me thinking now is a good time to try it. Anyway, we have spotted these two boats. We are looking for around 40ft for £25k including survery etc. http://newandusedboat.co.uk/used-boats-for-sale/952 - We physically saw this but didn't realise how cheap it was until an internet search later. Only thing we noticed when we saw it in person was there looked to be a little rust on the hull around the waterline. http://newandusedboat.co.uk/used-boats-for-sale/959 - This one is closer to us and looks in better condition but is a little older. We want to go and see this but the inside looks lovely. Our only concern with this broker is they don't have the best reviews on Facebook but I got the impression the reviews are more to do with new boats they supply.

Thanks. Yes we have been trying to look at the outside but obviously you can't see what's below the water. Yeah, we have added all the costs up. It's still cheaper than a house!

No need to apologise! We really appreciate the help and wouldn't have turned to the forums if we didn't need help

Thanks. Yes we went there on Saturday - we got a good idea but we did feel that they were probably slightly overpriced compared to what we had seen elsewhere. We are trying to look past the state of the inside to make it our own but of course it sometimes gives an idea of how the boat has been treated.

Thank you Athy and thanks for welcoming me! We're both very excited and so far loved looking around narrowboats (we've found people to generally be helpful and not pressuring). We saw a really well kept 1980's one and then there's been some shoddy ones (not that you can always tell what the outside would be like). We will of course get any boat surveyed, but we didn't want to start to throw any money away. I guess the main thing that worries us is we get a lemon when it's going to be our home.

Hi Guys, Recently, after a change in circumstance I've started looking to buy a Narrowboat with my girlfriend to live on. We have a couple of friends who have one and love theirs. We've been looking around and we don't have the biggest of budgets but we could do with a slightly larger boat (around 42ft, i know this may seem small to some!). The problem we're finding is that most of the larger boats within budget are quite old. We've been advised to get 1990 or newer but we're not sure of the reasons why? Can anyone shed any light on this? We have seen a couple of boats in budget and newer than 1990 through a broker so that may be an option but we're a little sceptical as they seem too good to be true.