Lady Muck

Its ash dust and mould that annoys me, not the cold, because I'm not cold. I run a dehumidifier at the back and keep the burner on at the front, the dehumidifier keeps the back warmer than a heater ever did for less electricity. We are on shore power. Agree re. mud. That's annoying. So I much prefer cold, icy clear sunny winter days to wet mild, dark ones. When it's icy the dog doesn't bring any mud in. And mould, ok I have a dry boat, but a couple of times I've forgotten that leaving shoes with leather soles right near the wall under the bed in the winter creates a blue mould hell. Had to bin them. So posh shoes get stored in vacuum bags now. Pour a full kettle of boiling water down the weed hatch and you get a few seconds of warmish water to work in.

I agree, then there are legal reasons. I note how online newspapers will disable comments and alter things, remember when the teacher eloped to France with a pupil. When we were still in a manhunt situation, her name and photo was everywhere, once he was arrested the papers stopped sharing that information and the stories no longer had comments enabled. Different situation here of course, but we probably don't know that much about the crime, we could be making wrong assumptions, so if they're steering clear of online debate, well, as you suggest, they may have been advised to.

That should say 'boats' as so many end up not being lived on.

it can be very hard whether you move or not, one woman I know who is a newbie and has been mucked around by engineers springs to mind. Single parent, had ended up stuck outside a marina, without a boat engine, (she's an RCR member but I think in this case shes really been messed around). Thats a marina that dislikes ccers and will not help her, she had run out of water and has two kids onboard, one is a teething baby. It's not ideal. I'm always very keen to stress to newbies that the life is really damn hard if you are a cruiser, can be made even more difficult if you can't afford that new a boat, buy a wreck and you end up with unaffordable repairs. It can be made really stressy because of that as CRT are now really tough on people who can't move because of a breakdown. Especially if they've already got a family, I'm frank with them, it's not a walk in the park, whether you intend to bridge hop or not. Before we had shore power on our moorings there was a newborn here, I remember her trying to start the genny on winter mornings so she could sterilise the baby bottles. Anyway, they bought a house, the little boy hated the boat and would scream the place down. But that doesn't take into account why some families have ended up on boats and that some 'can't seem to get it together' to comply with the guidelines. To be honest, i'm living and working aboard, i'm out cruising and working right now and it still takes all of my time up, working and trying to not run out of water, trying to find services (there are barely any out here) and cruise. I couldn't do this with kids. It really wouldn't be easy. But I don't think anyone does it thinking it's going to be easy. Even if they don't fully understand what my mate calls 'the boat toil.' Reading this thread make me think some of us are either really lucky or have lead a sheltered life.

Spraypainted on a bridge in Hackney Wick is, 'change is the only certain thing.' People hate change. The canals have not been used as they were originally intended for at least half a century have they? I spent last summer on the upper Thames, I was surprised to get offered permanent moorings in more than one place. There were complaints about there being less boaters. We saw barely any cabin cruisers moving, more narrowboats and liveaboards. Thames is all about leisure boating so this was interesting.

Funnily enough this popped up on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36794222

They can, but you can do things such as paint the roof white, paint the boat in a light colour and we use silver reflective foil in our windows. We've also noted that solar panels will keep your roof cooler because of the air space underneath. Mould grows a lot easier on a boat, there's no doubt about it. You have to manage it if you're not to get mould. Get a dehumidifier if you are on mains, we've a Meaco DD8L, they are great for boats. You will still have to take precautions such as opening windows when cooking and using pan lids, being mindful that anything down low at the back of cupboards where there is limited air circulation can get mouldy or damp. I use vacuum pack bags for out of season clothes and footwear. Get a squeegee for your shower and try and squeegee as much moisture as you can out of the way after a shower, use an extractor fan. get a multi stage battery charger to condition your batteries when you are on the shoreline. Our last set lasted 8 years. We cruise a bit, we have solar panels, but we only ever buy cheap bog standard leisures, we just dont discharge them below about 70%

But nobody does, no one ever has in the ten years I've been aboard - this isn't about such small movement as that, even five years ago, if you moved two miles, or five miles, you'd get a section 8. Boaters are being enforced for way more than that. My friend, who is a mother got a section 8 as they didn't take into account that she went up the Thames for a few months, last year, they only counted her 15 mile range on the canal. this type of thing is really common, because the counting isn't accurate. If you come out at a yard, you can guarantee you'll get a letter and possibly a shortened license as the system doesn't account for that. I'm waiting to see what happens when another mate, a London ccer comes back from France, I think hes in paris at the moment.

We get the scowls too, until they see the M in our window. We are on their personal trainset that they thought they'd be able to play at boats on without anyone else getting in their way. Can't we celebrate that there is a new generation that is actually interested in the canals? I read a CRT report where they outline serious concerns about younger generation not being interested in the canals and no young leisure boaters. I think they need to recognise that they have a lot of people who are engaged with the canals, now. And that leisure boating is for the main not affordable for this generation. Some of what is going on around me is exciting. The village butty, our floating community hall on an old joey boat, that tours London putting on film nights, bands, has a choir, does workshops (foraging this week), joins in canal events up and down the waterways. Young boaters are running a trading boat that delivers veg boxes and groceries. There is allsorts going on. I think it's brilliant. Yes its got very popular and there are problems as you would expect with anything that has got popular, but to just stop the whole thing dead after making it come alive, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

No, but we should ensure that their kids are educated, as i said before this is a tiny fraction of the population of the UK, it's insignificant, only a very few people want to live like this because it is very hard, if they are able to, then many families who can do so move back to land before the kids start school. (one of the families in the article I posted up has done so). It's not at all common to bring kids up on a boat. i can't see how it's hurting any of us, only that usual something for nothing argument which I don't subscribe to. Rather that than stick them in a horrific b&b surely? I note that in my area of London, local authorities certainly don't want them evicted.

Like this you mean? Planning department said no. Ihttp://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2014/12/15/hackney-boating-families-set-up-community-moorings-river-lea/

this bit sounds dead easy when it's written down. Good luck if you're on a zero hours contract. Good luck if you can't provide proof of a salary. (I wouldn't be able to). Good luck if, like most letting agents they demand references from your past landlord. (I couldn't provide this either, having lived onboard for such a long time). You can try to be as responsible as the next person but if the computer says no, the computer says no. Most of my mooring was irish travellers when I took it. I know quite a lot more, not lived on boats, but trailers etc. Yes theres someone on this forum who has never lived in a house, is it Kez? And some of the 1980's hippy convoy travellers kids are now in their thirties and have families. Some are now on boats. When we moved onboard this was basically the London boating community in a nutshell, it was for weirdo hippies, in the main. What has made it busier is middle classes, graduates, yuppies who want a party posing boat, young couples getting boats. It is now not only for weirdos, it's cool. It's sprung up overnight like the warehouse communities have done. But no one moans about them as they aren't getting in the way on what someone thought was their trainset.

It does tend to push my buttons a bit ! But they might choose the situation because the alternative is grim, or because they've always travelled, because they fall pregnant and don't want to lose their home all sorts of reasons. I say, best of luck to them.

Dogless, yes. we are where we are because as you say, CRT have moved the goalposts, there are families who never had any trouble and now they get threatened with section 8 And: They can't just 'get a mooring' please show me some moorings in these areas that they can just go and 'get' ones which are residential and will welcome kids. Social housing shortage. ban on squatting - yes I know a lot of land based travellers are now on boats too, i know families where the parents are registered as travellers and therefore the kids are too. If you reduce peoples options you will get to the point that they are sleeping in tents. Unaffordable or no/little public transport to work in some places. Have you seen how much some season tickets are? Funding cuts for charities - I know two single parent families who fled violence and are on boats, have you seen how many womens refuges have closed? And the ones that are left have no spaces. Same as homeless shelters, no spaces. Because there is no social housing available you have to rent private sector. There is a shortage of suitable properties in some areas - eg all of the building near me is executive flats and the social housing has all been cancelled from the stadium development. Where will these people go? Landlords can pick and choose who they rent to - executives get priority over messy families with kids and pets. I don't blame anyone for taking to the water, especially if they are poor as the bankside choices are so grim in some places. We're taking about a couple of hundred families at the most, though, here, its not ever going to be a lifestyle most people will ever think about is it? And surely we should not hold children responsible for their parents decisions? we have a duty to educate them don't we?

Yeah oh hang on, some have never lived in houses, you do know that don't you?

it came up because someone living aboard moved jobs to out of London so they had to sell up, they posted in the Facebook group that they were leaving. You can't transfer the mooring at this site can you? Yes there is at least one airbnb on those moorings, but I have no idea if they are legit or not, there are a handful in London that are. There is also a new private mooring nearer to Islington and at least two boats on that one are airbnb. One of the managers of these posted in one of the private groups I'm in, asking if anyone would like the job taking the boats to and fro to be pumped out between guests (minimum wage obvs) and they got such a roasting on there. It's so frustrating that the few residential moorings that have been newly created following the London assembly report are failing to do what they were supposed to be intended for (liveaboards) and are filling with floating hotels. I guess we are headed in the same direction as Amsterdam.

It'll be on airbnb for £150 a night.

Ours is an offside moorings (15 boats) some on finger pontoons (ours is online tho). We're in N17 and its about as rough as inner London can be. We've barely had any issues, the high railings, rasor wire and several dogs running free works for us. I reckon we are more secure than a marina.

I have seen said studio and it is wonderful

I dont regret getting a marine morgage either.

That just sounds like inexperience, to me, you only gain the commercial skills that people want to see, once you're in the world of work.

True, if I didnt have a home mooring Id have to reconsider my solar spec etc. There is no way Id have clients over, never gonna happen. This is it, its never straightforward.