Mad Harold

You will be swapping one lot of problems for another lot. Shallow canals, broken locks, collapsing canal walls, stuck out in the sticks due to several reasons.Plus the canal licence,mooring fees, BSC,insurance.(I know you have insurance and mooring costs with a sea boat) Tides and currents are in the hands of God, but the canals are in the hands of people rather further down the food chain. Having said that canals have a few advantages over the sea. You don"t get seasick, if your boat breaks down, dry land is nearby, and when you are fed up you can get the bus home.

This does sound like a better route.

No need to do the Rochdale both ways. Just go West on the Rochdale and come back on the HNC! Be interesting to see how far you get before topping yourself. 😢

If the OP needs planning permission, for a residence, then for practical reasons forget it. A container or boat on dry land I think will be a nightmare. Don't know the OP's circumstances or area, but once after a relationship breakdown I was practically destitute. Sold everything I had and managed to buy a very cheap old house. (It was £7000) If the OP Googles Rightmove in the area wanted, and find the cheapest properties. Don't know if it's any use to the OP, but Stoke On Trent seems to be the cheapest, as mentioned by TacyD'arth. There are flats for sale for as little as £5000, and houses for £10000. Just to give the OP something to think about.

Brilliant! Patent the idea and you'll make a fortune.😝 But make sure you use bio degradable sudso or you will upset the fishers.

Just had a look, and you're right.Some nice looking houses very cheap. Is there some reason that property in Stoke On Trent is so cheap?

Yes, there are cheap perfectly livable houses available usually in old industrial areas.There are usually a good selection on Facebook and RightmoveThe old run down textile towns in Lancashire and mining towns of Yorkshire seem to be the cheapest. A careful choice might avoid high crime and drug areas, but I once had a very cheap house in a run down area of Huddersfield, and the worst I experienced was some cheeky sod pissing in my front garden.

You missed out wearing sackcloth and ashes,walking around with stones in your sandalls and voting Lib Dem. No need to go to extremes to live aboard, just a few adjustments to your lifestyle. 😝 A folding bike will be ok as quite a lot of the times you need it, it will be used as a sort of wheelbarrow.You will probably carry your cassette, your groceries and possibly a gas cylinder, on it (not all at the same time)

Had two GRP cruisers both made in the seventies with no sign of osmosis on either. Perusing other boaty forums, it seems to be a rare occurance but takes the form of 'bubbles' in the gel coat.The repair seems to be cutting these 'bubbles' off, allowing the hull to dry out and use gel coat filler, sand and paint. General opinion has it that these 'bubbles'are caused by poor build quality control, possibly moisture in the initial layup.Scratches in the gelcoat if untreated can cause osmosis by allowing water into the fibreglass, and if a large enough area, can weaken the structure. Had two GRP cruisers and a steel narrowboat so am giving my opinion. I cruise singlehanded so that has coloured my opinion. In the GRP boat, you moor at the lock landing, climb out, set the lock, back to the boat, climb in, into the lock, climb out, fill or empty the lock, climb in, out of the lock, climb out, close lock gates, back to the boat and climb in. This is fine for the first dozen or so locks, but does become quite fatiguing.I did have 'mounting blocks' but it was still necessary to step up and down. The narrowboat was much easier in that you only needed to step on and off. The other reason I thought the steel narrowboat was a better vehicle for narrow canals (apart from them usually being better equipped with creature comforts) was the handling. All boats are of course affected by wind, but the GRP boats being more on the water than in it, and light weight for their size, in windy conditions you couldn't take your attention off the steering for long as they tend to wander.The narrowboat, once underway was much more directionally stable due to it's weight and deeper draught.

It all comes down to costs. GRP boats are much cheaper to buy and maintain than steel boats.If you live aboard, a steel narrowboat is a much better bet, as they will (usually) come equipped with hot water, heating, insulation and standing headroom, plus they are easier to get on and off than most GRP cruisers.Looked at one GRP boat with a view to buying, (a Mayland Saphire) but the gunwale was almost chest high and I thought I would need a block and tackle to get out when single handed. A GRP cruiser I think is fine for hobby boaters and to me at least look much nicer than a skip with a pointy end, but I will readily admit that a steel narrowboat is a superior vehicle for cruising the narrow canals. The OP said they would prefer a modern GRP boat, but the old Normans and other boats from the sixties and seventies were built from thicker layups than modern ones, and as GRP lasts indefinately an old GRP boat can be a good buy.

A lovely old pub, but too far to walk across a muddy field and a very steep hill from the HNC. No, we would go as far as lock 5E,wind there,my boat was only 30ft, return and moor just beyond lock 4E at Longroyd Bridge and have a beer or two in the aptly named "Bridge" pub.A rather scruffy down at heel pub with good beer.It has a covered smoking area overlooking the canal at the back, and you could keep an eye on your boat. On the way back we would tie up on the lock landing for lock 3E, there's loads of room, and walk the hundred yards or so up the hill to the "Rat And Ratchet" for another beer. This used to be a good day out, but sadly it looks like those days have gone. As it's at the bottom of a long lock flight,it shouldn't be a problem. There seems to be several sources of leaks on the bottom pound that CRT are unable or unwilling to fix.

When CRT first locked the paddles on lock 1E, they used a combination lock on the chain. A couple of us used to have day trips up the Narrow for a couple of beers and back, but having to book 48 hours in advance rather spoilt our days out. So two of us "helped" a boat through lock 1E and when the CRT bod wasn't looking made a note of the combination number. A few days later a few of us piled into a boat and feeling rather smug, went up the cut for a beer returning the same day. About a week later we did the same thing but.... the rotten bastards had changed the combination! Spoilt the freedom to come and go as you choose.

The last slippage fee I paid was £30 two years ago! You are not supposed to launch on a CRT canal except on a recognised slipway, but if you have a breakback trailer, it may be possible to launch from the canalside, but if CRT hear about it you may receive a stern letter.

Although most yoghurt pots are built using polyester resin, (don't know about RN minesweepers) to repair damage it is best to use epoxy resin as polyester doesn't stick very well.

Yes I know.Had a long chat with him when you were moored in Huddersfield Uni. He's not much of a conversationist, but he's a very good listener. 😝

There are some thieves that specialise on nicking outboards. Their method to bypass outboard locks is to simply cut the outboard out of the transom with a battery angle grinder. Not enough room to swing it. Some good pokes in the face with a handy windlass might be a better way to persuade someone they were not welcome.

The best pint of dark mild I have ever had was Church End Gravedigger Dark Mild. It was a guest beer in a local pub, but can't remember which one.