Jump to content

clyde

Member
  • Posts

    15
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Oregon USA
  • Occupation
    Chaplain

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

clyde's Achievements

Gongoozler

Gongoozler (1/12)

0

Reputation

  1. What kind of boat is Fuzzy? Like your new cover.
  2. Thank you Ken. That's really good information. I did notice that. Plus it seems like there are a lot more available. Thanks for the confirmation. That boggles my mind. Guess it's all about the money, isn't it?!
  3. Thanks Ken. Our very original idea was to do the French canals and try to get a long-term visa from France. COVID changed all that. Sam and her sons spent some time on a narrowboat years ago and loved it. That started this search. You're absolutely right about the availability and prices in the Netherlands. From the input we've received, it sounds like we may have to shorten our stay from 9 months to 7-8. That's doable. I've checked into the ICC and CEVNI. Seems ironic that any tourist, myself included, can charter almost any boat in France without a license, but an owner has to be licensed. Thanks again. Thanks!! Thanks. They are hard to find!
  4. Good information. Thank you.
  5. Same here. There's a year wait for a good kayak! And expensive motorhomes are the only thing keeping the auto industry alive. Great map! Thank you.
  6. Thank you Alan. I just emailed Rat Race. And thanks for acknowledging the "visa" issue. If we could stay in the UK year-round this would be a completely different conversation. We may be trying to bite off more than we can chew, especially adding France into the mix. But that stretches our holiday from 6 months to 9 months. That's why I'm turning to you folks for advice. Just for clarification, we will not be wintering in Europe. We have a 31' Prout catamaran (thank you again UK) in Florida. So, we're basically staying somewhere in Europe from March through November. Our weather in Oregon is similar to your weather. Our tentative plan is to do this for 3-5 years. That should give us enough time to at least make a dent in your waterways. Anybody have any direct experience with the Wilderness 23' Beaver? Thanks again to all of you for your insightful input. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!...clyde Love the Hardy 25. Great boat.
  7. Beautiful photos, Matty!! How long have you been cruising?
  8. Thanks Dave. That definitely seems to be the consensus.
  9. Several members have commented on the many miles of rivers and wider canals and the extra comfort of a wider boat. That was definitely one of our options. And a wider boat would have no problem in France. But then we remembered that the original purpose of this trip/adventure was to cruise the canals. Sam and her sons spent a short time on a narrowboat several years ago. So, we do keep returning to the canals. We do spend a lot of time on rivers though. I'm looking at the Columbia River as I type this. But no comparison to what you have in the UK!
  10. Thank you. This is what I was hoping to find. Several years ago, I had a 27' sailboat in Lake Tahoe, California. I wanted to ship it to Pensacola, Florida (2300 miles). The shipping companies wanted over $6000 US but since I had a trailer, I hired a commercial driver (boat and trailer weighed over 12,000 pounds). He only charged me $1000 US. What would be a ballpark price to tow a Wilderness 23 to France? Thank you again.
  11. My fault. I should have explained myself better. Your idea makes wonderful sense except that we live in Oregon, on the west coast of the US and we're trying to minimize travel costs while maximizing the time we spend on the boat. Since we can spend 6 months in the UK and 3 in France, our thought was to combine them both. We've even considered 6 months in the UK and then 3 in France. Leave the boat in France and fly home. Return in 3 months and then spend another 3 months in France and then 6 months in the UK. Our goal is to do this for 5 years, plus or minus. It's the time limits that create the issues for us. It's not like Thailand where you can walk across the bridge to Myanmar, get your passport stamped and then return to Thailand for another 60 days. Of course, I understand from fellow sailors that the US is one of the most difficult countries to visit for any length of time. I apologize and hope this explains our situation a little better. Much gratitude to everyone who gave suggestions. I especially liked the one about selling to Londoners. We have the same situation in Portland and Seattle.
  12. We're Symantha (Sam) and Clyde, a couple of boaters from the US and have a 5 year plan. This plan includes cruising the UK for six months a year (thank you UK) and France for three months, starting next March/April. We've lived several years on small sailboats (three years on a NorSea 27), so are somewhat accustomed to the tight spaces. All have been GRP and they've had gas or diesel inboards or outboards. Both our current boats have outboards. We've alternated our options between a 30'-40' steel narrowboat, a 25'-30' GRP river cruiser (love the Albin 25), and a 25'-30' GRP narrowboat. All these boats have their pros and cons. We're probably in the $20k-$30K market but we could do more if we fell in love with something. We're relatively handy and tend to purchase fixers. However, this time, since we're not familiar with the market and availability of supplies, transportation, etc (and COVID), we would probably prefer something that needs more cleaning/painting than major repairs/remodeling. In a perfect world, we would be able to cruise the canals and rivers in the UK and then trailer/ship it to France. Our needs are relatively simple and we believe it's more about the journey than the destination, so we tend to move slowly. (We will be driving the 3700 miles from Oregon to Florida in a Toyota Sienna van, and sleeping in it.) So, the other day, we came across a Wilderness 23' Beaver. It's quite small but the layout is very good. Too bad they don't make a 25'-27' boat. So, the question I would like to pose to this group of very experienced and knowledgeable people is; Are we out of our minds for considering this boat?? Your input and opinions will be greatly appreciated. We hope to meet many of you next year...clyde PS: Sorry for the length of this question.
  13. Hard to argue with that statement. I love both my boats but the Prout 31 is my favorite. The other is a classic 1964 Cal 28. Fun to sail..and it's in fresh water! One of the things I'm looking forward to with the canals!
  14. My name is Clyde and my partner is Symantha (Sam). We're technically not new to boating but we are to this lifestyle, so we do consider ourselves newbies. We have a small Prout catamaran in Florida and a small sailboat on the Columbia River in Oregon. I lived on the Prout for many years, so we're somewhat used to close quarters. We're retiring/semi-retiring in November and hope to purchase a NB in the spring and spend 6 months a year in the UK. We're looking forward to experiencing this lifestyle and meeting many of you wonderful people. Thank you, in advance, for all your advice, support, and encouragement.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.