How hard is it really?

[mark99]

Ta Brian.

 

Any locality?  West End, East End etc.

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, mark99 said:

Ta Brian.

 

Any locality?  West End, East End etc.

Sorry cant say, they all seem to know where each other are and talk about the different moorings I am not that conversant 

[Alan de Enfield]

53 minutes ago, mark99 said:

Can you expand on that? Boat crime?

If you look at 'street crime' in January 2019 there were 163 reported crimes within 700 metres of the K&A at  Bathgate Road Bridge (Near Tesco Express)

(Not just Boaty crimes).

 

December 2018 = 163

November 2018 = 159

October 2018 = 193

September 2018 = 179

 

And that is just within a 700m radius of the canal (at the centre of post code BA2 6DH) - not a place I'd live to live.

 

 

[Nick B]

Not sure that I'm 100% right on this, but it may be difficult to get children into a school if you're not a resident and paying council tax in that area, so a permanent mooring might be essential? We moved into a marina to have our soon-to-be-six years old at a local primary and be resident here

[mrsmelly]

7 minutes ago, Nick B said:

Not sure that I'm 100% right on this, but it may be difficult to get children into a school if you're not a resident and paying council tax in that area, so a permanent mooring might be essential? We moved into a marina to have our soon-to-be-six years old at a local primary and be resident here

I doubt anyone needs to be paying council tax for kids to be in school? surely kids have to be educated by law and if not home schooled?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

25 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I doubt anyone needs to be paying council tax for kids to be in school? surely kids have to be educated by law and if not home schooled?

Or send them to Eton?

[Nick B]

I believe that you have to apply to the county council in which you're ordinarily resident and pay council tax, and proof may be required. Where the school is over-subscribed they may use the distance from the school to decide which child is most eligible. Otherwise there are things like the travelers' education service or you can of course apply for Home Schooling - but it's a while since I looked at all this and it may vary between areas

[frahkn]

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Or send them to Eton?

Yea but mooring on the river is a sod.

[blackrose]

On 24/03/2019 at 00:39, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

I took the OP to be fully loaded given their plan to buy a brand new 70ft widebeam. I doubt they will get what they describe for less than about £250k and they'll have to pay for it before they sell the house so they have to already have the dosh in the bank. 

 

You could pay £250k I suppose, but I guess you could pay that for a narrowboat too if you really wanted to.

 

I paid £55k for my 12' widebeam and finished fitting it out for about another £20k. It's 57' long but I can't see an another 13' in length costing an additional £175k?

[blackrose]

9 minutes ago, frahkn said:

Yea but mooring on the river is a sod.

Only for ditch dwellers who don't know what they're doing. I've been mooring on different rivers for the last 9 years and I wouldn't want to go back to mooring on canals.

[frahkn]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

Only for ditch dwellers who don't know what they're doing. I've been mooring on different rivers for the last 9 years and I wouldn't want to go back to mooring on canals.

I had considerable difficulty mooring at Windsor because the "meadow" moorings were not available to me and the moorings on the other bank were full.

 

If I could have moored on the meadows then I would have been able to get on. I thought that I couldn't because my boat is deep (31 inches) and I have a dog which won't walk down the gang plank.

 

However I may have been wrong and the reason why I couldn't moor was that I'm a "ditch dweller who doesn't know what he's doing".

[MtB]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

You could pay £250k I suppose, but I guess you could pay that for a narrowboat too if you really wanted to.

 

I paid £55k for my 12' widebeam and finished fitting it out for about another £20k. It's 57' long but I can't see an another 13' in length costing an additional £175k?

 

 

The OP says nothing about fitting it out themselves, it reads as though they want to buy a finished boat. And I bet a decent quality 70ft x 12ft widebeam by a good builder is £200k at least. 

 

And you shell was by a bargain basement builder back in about 1932, IIRC. Prices have rocketed since your was built!

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

The OP says nothing about fitting it out themselves, it reads as though they want to buy a finished boat. And I bet a decent quality 70ft x 12ft widebeam by a good builder is £200k at least. 

 

And you shell was by a bargain basement builder back in about 1932, IIRC. Prices have rocketed since your was built!

 

 

 

There is a 2nd hand (just a few years old) fat boat (60 x 12) for sale in our marina - asking price £230k.

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, frahkn said:

 

However I may have been wrong and the reason why I couldn't moor was that I'm a "ditch dweller who doesn't know what he's doing".

 

Probably. If you make a general statement that mooring on the river is a sod based on one experience then I'm not sure what else to conclude.

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

The OP says nothing about fitting it out themselves, it reads as though they want to buy a finished boat. And I bet a decent quality 70ft x 12ft widebeam by a good builder is £200k at least. 

 

And you shell was by a bargain basement builder back in about 1932, IIRC. Prices have rocketed since your was built!

 

 

 

 

There are still budget builders knocking them out. Perhaps I missed it but I didn't see anything in the OPs post about a high end boat. Plenty of people live on Collingwood boats perfectly fine. I'm not sure why it has to cost £200k ? (I see your initial estimate of a quarter of a million has been reduced). 

 

I think a Collingwood 60 x 10 comes in at about £100 - £110k fully fitted depending on the spec. That's still about the same price that Liverpool boats were selling them for back in 2005 when I had mine built. I don't know if Collingwood would build a 70ft boat but if they did I can't see it being more than about £150 - 160k.

 

Anyway 70 x 12' is a silly size. Even I think that's too big and I like widebeams.

Edited April 30, 2019 by blackrose

[Wanderer Vagabond]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

Probably. If you make a general statement that mooring on the river is a sod based on one experience then I'm not sure what else to conclude.

I think that the reason for considering that mooring on a river is a sod, is that they have this irritating habit of occasionally going into flood. Would I want to moor anything on a 'red boarded' River Thames in high flood? probably not, I think I'd rather stick it somewhere that's not on the river.

[blackrose]

33 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I think that the reason for considering that mooring on a river is a sod, is that they have this irritating habit of occasionally going into flood. Would I want to moor anything on a 'red boarded' River Thames in high flood? probably not, I think I'd rather stick it somewhere that's not on the river.

 

Yes, you need a safe mooring on a river in flood. That's a given. You need to keep an eye on the weather and on river conditions and be at that safe mooring well beforehand. You certainly shouldn't be trying to moor on a river in flood - that definitely would be a sod, although I have had occasion to do it. Plenty of people moor on rivers all year round without a problem. It really depends on one's ability and whether you can handle it or would just rather not.

 

Rivers are dynamic waterways and they're more "alive" than most canals, but they're not for everyone.

Edited April 30, 2019 by blackrose

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Just now, blackrose said:

 

Yes, you need a safe mooring on a river in flood. That's a given. You need to keep an eye on the weather and on river conditions and be at that safe mooring well beforehand. You certainly shouldn't be trying to moor on a river in flood - that definitely would be a sod! But plenty of people moor on rivers all year round without a problem. It really depends on one's ability and whether you can handle it or would rather not.

Would I want to sit up all night on anchor watch to make sure that my mooring holds? yes you are right, I'd rather not. Could I handle it? probably, would I want to? probably not.

[blackrose]

6 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Would I want to sit up all night on anchor watch to make sure that my mooring holds? yes you are right, I'd rather not. Could I handle it? probably, would I want to? probably not.

 

I've moored on the Thames and Warks Avon in flood over several winters and only lost a few hours sleep. You only worry on the first night. After that you just get used to it. I would rather moor on rivers despite the risk of flooding than go back to the canals. As I said, it's not for everyone. That's why I like it.

Edited April 30, 2019 by blackrose

[Wanderer Vagabond]

17 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

........Rivers are dynamic waterways and they're more "alive" than most canals, but they're not for everyone.all boats

Small correction for you here. In a boat with the power to deal with a river, there isn't that much to worry about. A narrow boat with it's power to weight ratio, isn't something ideally suited to a strong flowing/tidal river. In honesty, I'd rather be out at sea in a small boat, than on a river in flood since, on a river, the things to hit are start out a lot closer.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Wanderer Vagabond

[frahkn]

On 30/04/2019 at 19:54, blackrose said:

 

Probably. If you make a general statement that mooring on the river is a sod based on one experience then I'm not sure what else to conclude.

Well you could conclude that you haven't read my post in context.

 

I posted in reply to "sending the kids to Eton". So naturally Windsor was the obvious mooring spot!

 

Only a humourless pedant would have thought otherwise. But it's a big world - where would we be without some humourless pedants.

[wiltshirewonderer]

On 25/03/2019 at 08:08, StrawberryQueen said:

Yep. Hubby and I have had a serious think and talk over the weekend and we’re going to carry on with oh original plan of moving inland, closer to civilisation and things to do, then buy a weekend and holiday boat to bore the kids with and then look into live aboard in 13 years. We currently live in north Devon with no canals or anything really to do here. Yes you all probably think Devon is amazing and why would we move from here but when you live here it’s not like being on holiday. 

 

I’m guessing boating is going to be vastly different in 13 years anyway. Depends how much the government screws us over in the next few weeks/months. 

Yep. Exactly the same applies when you live on a canal boat on the K&A - looks very pretty but we all bugger off to Devon to escape it. A friend of mine has a 60 x 10 ft three bedroom widebeam for sale on the K&A, a 70 x 12 will be hell to shift around on this canal.