DanielBiggin

I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the help and opinions and advice. I have really started to get a grasp on what I need and am going to have a look at a few moorings. I have found what I think may be the boat for me (pending the survey) and a couple of others in the back of my mind. Hopefully I will be joining you all in the narrowboat community this year. Thanks again and I hope to get to know more of you in the future.

I certainly wouldn't leave valuables in open view but I think its really interesting what you say about not making it look TOO secure We used to use these very expensive cases for some of our musical gear on tour and they were solid as a rock, the only problem is people quickly cottoned onto the fact that if you have a £500 case then what's inside it must REALLY be worth stealing. I use a strong but very tatty case these days and it never gets a second look.

Well, really the location isn't HUGELY important for me in practical terms with regards to me still being able to work. When I go away we fly out and we have members of the band and crew that fly in and out from everywhere so aside from being close-ish (a half hour or so taxi ride away) to a town with a train or coach station then I don't mind. We have guys that fly from Manchester, Birmingham/East Midlands or Bristol airports and then often all fly in from those outer airports to Heathrow before heading off proper so if I can jump on a train or end up close to a regional airport then I am fine. As for preference I do like to be somewhere peaceful and quiet and love nature more than cities.

Hi Everyone, Thanks so much for all of your responses and opinions so far. I think it has helped answer a few questions and put my mind at rest a bit. I will have a mailing address as far as bank, drivers licence etc. is concerned so that I suppose would be considered my "legal" residence and hopefully if I can find a mooring somewhere then I shouldn't be considered as needing a 'residential mooring' because I will be away for about half the time. I think my panic started to set in because some of the mooring vacancies I read suggested that spending a month there was a big no no (one even said you could only spend the occasional weekend there which seemed a bit much if you were paying a few thousand pounds a year for the mooring which I believe in that case was £3000 or thereabouts). Obviously if I am home for a month or so then I would fully intend to be cruising as much as possible and it shouldn't really be an issue. I guess my perspective is a little different this year because where I am normally away for over half the year this year and the COVID-19 has meant all the concerts, tours and festivals I do have ALL been cancelled so I haven't left the UK at all since Feb. So once again, thank you ALL so so much. Just one last question I guess that I may have briefly mentioned in my original post (and I am sure this is a rabbit hole we could go down forever but) how do you all feel about security IF and when you are away from your boat for a few weeks? (I know many of you may live aboard full time so this may not be an issue). Thanks again

Hi Everyone and pleased to meet you all, I am new to the forum and am looking at purchasing my first boat. Now, please bare with me as a complete newbie and beginner but I am asking this question because I was always told 'if you don't ask, you don't know' and I am struggling to find the answer online or at least a CLEAR answer. I hope you can all help. I am always ready to listen and ready to learn. I have spent the last 15 years travelling non stop to every corner of the globe as part of my career and am looking at slowing down and a slight change of pace and joining the wonderful narrowboat community has been something I have been interested in for years. I have travelled all over the world and seen next to nothing of the country I live in and this seems like a perfect way to do that. I have been reading and researching as much as possible and can't quite find a clear answer to my question about what type of mooring I need and should look for. What counts as residential and leisure and what's applicable with MY specific situation. I understand the principles of both but wanted to reach out to the real experts, the people who do this all the time, you men and women of the forum. I won't be quitting my touring and musical work straight away, just slowing down. For me my average work cycle would be: Away working for 4 weeks, home for 2 weeks OR Away working for about 8 weeks, home for 4 weeks. I am trying to work out what sort of mooring you all would suggest for someone in my situation where I would be away from the boat for one or two months but MAY be home for a month or so. I guess the real parts of the question of mooring are about boat security and safety when away for potentially two months BUT ALSO if I am home and on the boat for 4 or 5 weeks in one go then does that mean I have to try to find a residential mooring? Again, I apologise for the questions and LONG message but I am hoping to join all of you in this community and see you all as experts. Thank you Danny