canalflower

Hi all, I know the moorings topic has been done to death, but I have a query which my search of the forum didn't really answer! We are getting ever closer to the point where we may be able to buy our boat, and move on board. We're signed up for the vacancies from BW, but I'm also looking at marinas, and other private mooring arrangements.. Does anyone have any local knowledge about which marinas may take liveaboards. We can be relatively flexible this year but need to be fairly near any of these towns, Rugby, Northampton, Banbury or Oxford. Also need some advice about how we can find out about end-of-garden type moorings, I see plenty on 'our patch' (Stockton - Braunston - Rugby), but not sure how we could go about finding something which might be available, again does anyone have any local knowledge they'd be willing to share, Apollo Duck mooring searches don't usually yield much. Really grateful for any advice, we'd like to get this nailed before we get the boat! Sarah

Hi all, We're planning on painting Tamah (mum's boat) this summer, she's been allowed to get pretty tatty by the old owners, so we need to give her a new lease of life! How do we start, clearly we'll rub her down, but do we go back to bare metal? Then what, primer, undercoat, top coat? How many coats? What are good brands of paint? What equipment, will a roller do or should we use a brush?.. Are these stupid questions.. can I find the answers elsewhere? Thanks in advance, Sarah

We saw you, we were drinking at Admiral Nelson at Braunston, my little girl waved but I think you were busy boating to notice. She looks very cute, good you're home safely! Sarah

I'm firmly in the non-ironing camp.. I iron things only if they are REALLY screwed up and I'm going to work, otherwise, out of washing machine then hang straight to dry.. Saving the environment one screwed up t-shirt at a time...

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, it's certainly all food for thought. Just got back from a beautiful day on mum's boat and it's really useful to come home to some honest replies after a completely perfect idyllic day on the cut! I think I was a bit enthusiatsic about moving onto a half finished boat, thinking about it properly this feels like a bad idea, so thanks for that reality check! In terms of layout, we want a reverse layout (not that non-standard) but it makes perfect sense to us, we plan to cruise a fair bit and this feels like a much more sociable layout, we have spent plenty of time on mum's 45ft cruiser and know what we DON'T want, and a lot of thought has gone into going for a 70foot boat we've looked at plenty of 55ft and they just aren't enough for our needs, I work from home a fair bit and we have a daughter who will need space, if we wnat to explore the canals we can't get to in a big boat we can use mum's little one! We don't want a house! We are planning to invest in bricks and mortar but to let it out/sell on not to live in. I don't want to live in a house, we want to live in a boat for lots of reasons, but mostly because we love narrowboats, we love canals and we're never happier than when we're on the canal network, no matter what the season.. I've rambled but thanks again, this is a huge help to us at this early decision making stage, we still have a way to go.. Sarah

We also had a really lovely day, also knackered, but the baby went to sleep very quickly tonight so might be worth the entrance fee again tomorrow!We fell in love with nb Imagine, although OH wasn't enamoured by the pink paintwork!!Pretty pleasant day all round, popped to Braunston for a drink on the way home... I NEEEED a boat!Sarah

Well until yesterday the plan was to buy a fairly tatty secondhand boat and do it up a bit (we want to live aboard). Then we went to Crick. We've realised that our layout requirements are not all that standard and even if we bought a secondhand boat in roughly the layout we want then we'd potentially still have quite a lot of re-jigging to do. So now I'm researching sailaways. We want 70ft, and we'd like to do most of the work ourselves. My fiance is a painter/decorator and refurbishes flats and houses for a living (fitting kitchens and bathrooms etc) we know lots of tradesmen - electricians, plumbers and carpenters, so although we have NO experience fitting out a narrowboat we feel we could do a fairly good job... So my questions (I've had a bit of a search on the forum but just couldn't get all the answers): 1. How long does it take to fit out a sailaway? We'd be doing it pretty much 7 days a week, and moving on when it was liveable (galley, bathroom, mattress on the floor) 2. How much does it cost? We reckon we would have a budget of about £10,000 is this feasible? 3. Would it be cheaper/easier to rip out the interior of a secondhand boat?? 4. Is it possible to get financing for a sailaway? I'd be so grateful for any advice, we're deadly serious about doing this and it's literally only today we've thought about doing a DIY fitout so I know these aren't well researched questions, but would love some frank opinions! Cheers, Sarah

We'll be going as well, either tomorrow or Sunday, maybe both days! We're the ones with the bright orange buggy and cute baby, say hello if you see us! Sarah

If I ever find my glasses (hint: don't leave your glasses in a place your daughter can reach them and then hide them) then I'll pop down. Was hoping to make a trip down tomorrow but the lack of vision whilst driving is probably not ideal... I'll be mostly spending the last few days of my two weeks off moving every piece of furniture in the house in pursuit of lost glasses.. I'm already planning on retraining so I no longer have to commute to London.. if only the civil service could relocate to Banbury..... Hi SwissArmyWife, I'm glad I'm not alone in the thud to reality, from lookning at amazing boats priced about 4 times my budget, but I pretty much fall in love with every boat I look at!