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Hi fellow boaters, New to living aboard and my first scare last night. I was moored in Berkhamsted and in the middle of the night I awoke to find my boat was sitting heavily angled in the water. I worked out that I must have been sitting on silt whilst the water levels dropped. It transpired the lock downstream had a panel left open, hence why the water levels dropped in the pound I was moored in. I was wondering, is there any tips for mooring in silted up areas? Do people probe the water before deciding to moor in certain areas or is there a way to moor so you're sitting further away from the canal edge?? Cheers! George x P.S I later passed a boat which had been flooded due to the drop in water as well! ?

Hi Are there ground mooring rings on the towpath at Sale Bridge on the Bridgewater Canal. Anyone moored there over night? Anyone had any issues? Thanks

Well I've gone and done it and yes I know for many it's the wrong option but I've put the deposit down on a lined sailaway with additions that comes within my budget and now I've got to wait 12 months ... but in the meantime my thoughts or rather concerns now turn to where to moor the boat long term whilst I start on the fit out. I'd like to be near Atherstone on the Coventry I'm seeking your advice - given that I'm looking at the beginning of 2020 then is it too soon to start knocking on marina, wharf and boat yard doors ? Is it usual for such places to take a holding deposit or reserve a mooring or is it pay in full even if the boat won't be there? I also need a mooring that will tolerate me working on the boat and I've assumed that this would be acceptable but having walked past many moorings I've rarely seen any activity, more like cemeteries than marinas - is this frowned upon ? Any suggestions for suitable long term moorings in and around the Atherstone area ? Thanks in anticipation Martin

OK, so we've had the boat for the best part of eight years and these came with it - in amongst the mooring pins, nappy hooks, ropes etc. I've always known that they were to moor with so on a recent trip I used one to moor to Armco. Fell out straight away. Don't laugh - what the Hell are they and how do you use them??? Diagrams/pictures welcome.... Doh!

Inland Mooringshttps://inlandmoorings.com My name is Martin editor of a brand new website called Inland Moorings. Inland Moorings will be a website that over time (and hopefully with help from you) aims to collect a list of online and offline moorings plus associated businesses from all around the UK Canal & Rivers, categorising them and to give as much information on these moorings and businesses as possible.This will give users of the waterways a reference and be more informed as to the best (and worst) spots to visit, or avoid and know what to expect and required before taking the journey. This is the intention anyway. If you take a look https://inlandmoorings.com you will notice the site is a little bare, as the site only opened this August 2018. I am hoping to tap into your vast knowledge and experience of the UK waterways and for anyone to upload any popular (and not so popular) mooring sites from around the waterways that they feel needs a special mention. I really hope you use and enjoy the site. Also looking for feedback ref the site what do you think generally. I will be here if you have any questions. Many thx for your time (Post was OK'ed by RichM) Share your views and discuss in the topic linked below:

Just trying to get an idea of what the typical fee for a farmers field mooring with no facilities is ? Looking at an offside mooring no facilities as such other than a water tap ! And trying work out what a reasonable fee would be we're talking north here on the L&L not inflated prices southern folk pay ? Thanks

Hi everyone, If you're reading this, thank you! I have just stumbled across this site while investigating this evening, and as I am struggling to find information elsewhere I would really really appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice and tell me whether this idea I've had is viable. At the end of next year, I will (hopefully!) be off to University. This has been quite a scary thought for me for some time, mainly because I am really something of a recluse and the idea of having a kitchen and living space and in some places a bathroom and bedroom shared with strangers frightens me. I am also very attached to my pets, and I don't like the thought of leaving them behind as one is required to do in student accommodation. When my parents were young and still together, they lived aboard a canal boat with my older brother as well. While I was born later when they'd moved into a house and so have never lived aboard a canal boat, I've heard a lot about it from the three of them and from my dad's friends who live on the canal, and about a week ago I realised that this could be an option for me when I go to university. I've done some research and found that you can get a smaller boat for under £10,000, sometimes only £6000. However, I've struggled to find out about moorings - my dad mentioned two week free moorings that he could use when he had his boat, but that was twenty years ago and there is no mention of that online. A lot of the moorings I find as well seem to only be for holidays; while I would go home at the end of term, the boat would really be my main residence. I'd really like to know more about mooring costs or whether it is possible to moor a boat in some places for free. Also, other living costs; would I have to spend a lot on fuel and electricity and such? Particularly useful would be information about moorings near universities of Warwick (Coventry), York, Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham, Nottingham, Durham and Lancaster, so if anyone lives around there I would love to hear from you! And just generally, I'd like to know more about what it's like to live aboard a canal boat. What are the most challenging things about it, and what are the things you enjoy the most? Thank you. Rosie

Hi all, So it's coming up to winter and we've decided we want a mooring after cruising for a year and a half (And the CRT breathing down out necks). Does anyone know of any vacancies around Manchester? Anywhere close to Manchester, Ashton, Hyde, Marple, New Mills, Whaley Bridge, furthest away Macclesfield. Any information appreciated!

Early stages of now looking for a mooring I'm buying a widebeam so clearway need marinas as well as canals that will fit. looking for marinas that have residential mooring ideally something rural. Just looking for marina names as there doesn't seem to be a simple way of finding a list of marinas that offer residential as well as suitable for widebeam If people live on the marinas even better Thanks

I am currently a liveaboard CCer (have a 32ft GRP narrowbeam cruiser) but will start a PhD in Bath in September, and I think really the only feasible option for my relocation to Bath will be to have a permanent mooring (or the boat will have to go -my funding won't stretch to mooring my boat somewhere else and renting in Bath...although I have had it suggested by more than one person that I should just crane the boat into the university's ornamental lake ) Not expecting to find an officially residential mooring, as long as I can get away with being a 'stays a lot' type (I will in all likelihood be going between boat and places elsewhere a fair bit of the time anyway) but need to be relatively close to Bath as I will be relying on bus or train to get into uni. I'm aware of a few marinas round there, but I've not had a mooring before, so I really don't have much of an idea of how hard it will be to actually secure one (things I read about the K&A make it sound like they're in short supply) and when I should start looking etc (in an ideal world, I would love one sorted for end of August as I am about to embark on a pre-PhD grand canal journey that I am looking forward to, but PhD comes above everything, so if it was a case of needing to start looking ASAP and snap one up as soon as it came along, I will do that). I would really appreciate any advice anyone could give regarding mooring availability in that part of the world and the best approach to take to finding one.

Hi! So I've been living on my boat for about 6 weeks now. We usually travel round canals, but are thinking of heading up onto the Avon and Severn soon. We've been on the Severn from Stourport to Worcester, and did this in an afternoon. However, I don't really know anything about mooring on rivers. We have Pearson maps, and there were visitor moorings in Worcester marked on the Severn, but when we approached, it seemed you were supposed to pay 4 quid a night and pay and display. Obviously, we didn't stop there but carried on up the locks into Worcester and moored on the canal. What's your experiences with mooring on rivers? Does this happen a lot, that you have to pay to moor on rivers? Or are there places you can moor?

As Atherstone lock 11 is officially due to be open tomorrow,after winter stoppages, can anyone tell me if that is still the case, also where is the best place to moor around there, and are there mooring spaces available, or is there lots of boats waiting.? Thanks..

Hello all, I was hoping you guys can help me with this one before I send a very angry email to our dear Environment Agency (EA). One of our boats is moored on the Great Ouse navigation, on a private (paid) mooring with the EA, around 7 months ago or so we had a big Freeman boat moor on the 24 hour public moorings located next to our private mooring, we never saw the owners but I was sure it was a vessel that was usually moored further down the bank. It had moored fairly close, in fact it is encroaching on our paid mooring, making mooring up difficult for us relatively new boaters, but being a 24 hour mooring we presumed it would be gone within the day. The next week it was still there, and by the following week EA enforcement notices had been stuck to it stating it was unlicensed, had been moored there for too long, had no BSS, no insurance etc etc. This has created huge issue for us as although we are infrequent boaters, moored behind us is a very expensive sunseeker speedboat which we have to try to avoid when trying to 'parallel park' our vessel on our mooring. This continued for the past 7 months with new notices just being stuck on the boat, no signs of the owners, only curious members of the public coming to check the notice, no enforcement action seems to be being taken against the vessel or its owners, the last notice dated 9/12 stating it was now being considered abandoned and would be moved! Fast forward to yesterday when my father visited our boat to find the other boat was STILL there and worse still that the moorings for this 'abandoned' boat had loosened and the vessel was now colliding frequently with our own, how long it had been doing so is impossible to say, I haven't seen the damage myself yet but I am understandably furious. Edit: My father remoored the other boat to prevent further damage, I forgot to mention we had moved and tightened its moorings previously. My question is where do we stand with this, do we claim against the environment agency for damages due to the lack of action in the 7 months to date? Do we have to claim against the owners of the other boat (if we can find them)? Your help is appreciated.

In planning my cruise on the Thames in August this year I asked BWML about a visitor mooring in Limehouse Basin. Guess how much per day . . . . . I was truly shocked . . . . now I know why BWML want to install more pontoons in Limehouse. If you do feel strongly about this matter, you must go online and register your objection. How much per day? £73.95 so the invoice was for £369.75 for 5 days mooring. OCM said no in certain words I can not use on this forum.

I expect to get shot down, so sorry for asking, but having gone past on the train a few times and seen boats that appear to be moored in the occasional longer spaces between locks on this flight, I'd ask, is this permissable? ie acceptable, within CRT rules and an okay thing to do? If not, I won't. Thanks in anticipation. Jon

I'm trying to get a grasp of what the rules are for CRT home moorings. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone has answers to my questions. My plan was to get a home mooring from the CRT and regularly travel to nearby cities (say 20 to 40 miles away) staying away for maybe a couple of weeks or more (maybe) before coming back and 'recuperating' on the home mooring for several days or a week in-between my adventures. I read a CRT document "cruising-while-away-from-a-home-mooring.pdf" and it states, "every time you return to your home mooring (provided that this is not merely for a nominal period in an attempt to circumvent the rules), your cruise ends and “the clock” is effectively re-set. " "However, shuffling between two locations close together, neither of which is your home mooring, for an extended period is not permitted as that shuffling is not "cruising." My questions are, Is regularly sleeping overnights on a home (leisure) mooring allowed? If I am using my boat as a live-aboard, would my plans be classed as 'circumventing the rules'? Would it be better to just forget about having a home mooring and become a continuous cruiser instead?

Hi everyone, I have been lurking around the forum for a while now and I hope you all don't mind but we are in need of a bit of advice! Me and my partner are looking for our first boat and we plan to live aboard in London. I've read around about how difficult it is to find a residential mooring in London and that generally if you want one you buy a boat on the mooring already (we would prefer a residential mooring as I don't think we could CC and work in our jobs without quite a bit of stress). The dilemma we're having is that we've found a boat we like the look of in London but the family is concerned that it isn't good value for money as its a bit older etc (which really they're right but I assume thats the deal with getting a boat on a mooring in London). Would you say that this boat is worth it to buy or would it be worth hunting around London for a mooring and buying a boat without one? http://london.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=473888 We would like to be living on a boat in the next year (although sooner if possible!), so my concern is that waiting for a mooring in London could take several years! By London we mean anywhere as far out as Hampton Court ish area - beyond that the train gets so expensive to travel in plus the long journey just makes it not worth it for us. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you don't mind me asking! I hope to be joining you all on the water very soon

Hi, We have just joined as recommended by another boater on the cut. We are hoping someone can help or advice us as we are on our way to Hounslow where I have a 3 month work contract and need a mooring within commuting distance by car to Hounslow. We are currently on route and should arrive in Hounslow about the 16th December. Many thanks Prakash

Does anyone know where you can moor safely on the River Thames for 7 days near Staines? All the information I can find suggests that you can not stay for longer than 24 hours.

Hi I have a 45ft narrowboat in Bucks that I don't use anymore but do not really want to sell. Mooring and waterway fees are too high too keep it without using it. I just wondered if anybody knows where I could moor it or take it out of the water for a long period with reduced costs in case I would like to use it again in a few years. Thanks

Does anybody on here have any experience of this marina? It's at Rufford on the Rufford arm of the Leeds and Liverpool. It seems like a really lovely place but it would be nice to hear from anybody that has stayed there, or is there now. Thanks.

Hi I'm coming up the Trent and Mersey heading for Lancashire. Going on Bridgewater Canal and Leigh Branch. Can anybody suggest good sites to moor when in the more built up areas around Manchester and Wigan ? Many thanks Mike

My partner and I are in the process of buying our first live aboard Narrowboat. We're looking for a residential mooring in the Hertfordshire area however we're having real trouble finding one, all the marinas we've contacted are full and have basically told us there's no point going on the waiting lists as they're so long. Does anyone know of any residential moorings or have any tips on how to go about getting one? Many thanks for any advice ?

Hello all, I'm new to the world of boating, but I've fallen for the live-aboard concept, and it looks like it will fit perfectly to my lifestyle. I spend most of my time working away from home (I'm only really home a couple of nights a week at most.) It seems mad to pay so much for rent when all I need is a peaceful place to sleep and relax. I've done a fair amount of research, and I've put together a budget of roughly £15,000 to spend on a boat (it seems like there are a few in reasonable condition at that price, I plan on renovating much of it myself.) My question is mainly about the mooring type I should look for - I figure I need to find somewhere to put it before I buy! Would my situation require a dedicated residential mooring or would I get away with a recreational one? I have a dedicated office-space elsewhere that I can use as a permanent address and work/stay whenever I need so I don't need a postal address. I plan on using solar power as I won't need much power, and I can use mobile internet. All I really need is a dedicated parking spot, a water supply and the freedom to stay for a few nights a week. I'm hoping to avoid paying council tax as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my situation. Many thanks, Louis

Hello, Totally new to boating and looking for a permanent (non residential) mooring on the Bridgewater Canal (preferably close to Manchester) but can't find any information. Have been unable to get a response from bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk and wondered what everyone else's experience was? Is it usual to have trouble gaining info about this sort of thing? Have seen mwebb@peel.co.uk suggested many times, but he has now retired. Finding it very frustrating. Thanks in advance for any help or advice, it would be very gratefully received! Amelia