Newbie looking for advice on residential mooring for modern dutch houseboat

[selena]

Hi All

 

Visited the Crick boatshow this weekend just gone and happened upon the euro floating home stand.  I'm extremely interested in buying one of the floating homes they construct (https://tinyfloats.nl/tiny-four/) but genuinely have no idea how to go about looking for a residential mooring that would accomodate something like this. 

 

After several google searches, this forum came up again and again as a good source of advice well informed advice and information.  Hoping someone on here can point me in the right direction for a residential mooring in the west midlands.  Better yet, if someone has bought one of these, how they find living on it etc.  

 

Many thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions

[mrsmelly]

Sawley marina accomodate such things. Give em a ring re availability. Not really west midlands but in fairness its a tiny country so east and west midlands are more or less same place.

Edited May 29, 2019 by mrsmelly

[ditchcrawler]

Northwich has some and you can even cruise the River Weaver

[mrsmelly]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Northwich has some and you can even cruise the River Weaver

I wouldnt want to try cruising anywhere on the link the op has given 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

I wouldnt want to try cruising anywhere on the link the op has given 

 

For the benefit of those who CBA to click the link...

 

 

[dmr]

Why don't you buy a BOAT, it would be so much more fun, you could cruise along the canals and go to lots of lovely and interesting places, you could even go onto some rivers.

There's a  bit of trouble in Manchester right now because somebody built something a bit like this in a marina, marina decided they wanted boats, not sheds, in their marina and evicted it. Its now parked in the canal outside the marina, too big to go under the bridges, so stuck, and causing much resentment from boats that are really struggling to get past it.

 

.............Dave

[Alan de Enfield]

27 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Sawley marina accomodate such things. Give em a ring re availability. Not really west midlands but in fairness its a tiny country so east and west midlands are more or less same place.

Kings Marina are in the process of applying for planning permission for 'dozens' of the things. they plan to make the whole of A pontoon into 'Floating Homes'.

So that'll be about 50-60 NB's and cruisers moved.

 

The 'bottom' pontoon in the picture (they have removed their picture of the planned developments from the website)

 

 

 

BWML have applied for (and granted 4/12/19) Planning permission to build a Hydro-Electric scheme at Nether Lock Weir feeding back to Kings Marina

 

Proposed new intake on the riverbank just upstream of Nether Lock Weir, adjacent to an existing British Sugar abstraction, and protected by a 150mm bar, screen and floating boom, an Archimedes Screw turbine within a new concrete channel bypassing the weir, a short tailrace channel returning the flow to the toe of the weir, also modifying a highways drainage outfall, a powerhouse building, 5.25m x 5.6m in plan, enclosing the gearbox, generator and control panel, a brush-type eelpass within a protective steel enclosure, fitted to the external wall of the Screw channel, a set of armoured power cables, laid 900m from the hydro control shed back along the access track to the switchboard at Kings Marina.

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[selena]

 Wow!  Thank you all so much for the advice.  You've made my day

6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Kings Marina are in the process of applying for planning permission for 'dozens' of the things. they plan to make the whole of A pontoon into 'Floating Homes'.

So that'll be about 50-60 NB's and cruisers moved.

 

 

Thank you so much for your reply to my post - I've had a look on Google Maps re Kings Marina and Sawley Marina but unfortunately they're too far away - I work in the West Midlands and there's no possibility that I can relocate my job.  Such a shame - they both look ideal.  

 

9 minutes ago, dmr said:

Why don't you buy a BOAT, it would be so much more fun, you could cruise along the canals and go to lots of lovely and interesting places, you could even go onto some rivers.

There's a  bit of trouble in Manchester right now because somebody built something a bit like this in a marina, marina decided they wanted boats, not sheds, in their marina and evicted it. Its now parked in the canal outside the marina, too big to go under the bridges, so stuck, and causing much resentment from boats that are really struggling to get past it.

 

.............Dave

I haven't discounted buying a boat completely but I am very taken with the tiny home units - I am going to try before I buy (assuming I can find a mooring) and will be staying on one that's currently rented out as an Airbnb.  That's good to know re the Manchester marina.  I think the unit I'm looking at doesn't quite fit the 'shed' look but I take the point; the Tiny Four is most definitely not a boat.  

 

 

[dor]

It's not what came to mind to me as a Dutch houseboat...

Looks more like a caravan to me; why not just buy a small mobile home?

[dmr]

A big concern is that this is a marina only "boat" so if you fall out with the marina (and marina management changes often and can be tricky) then you are looking to find a new home and pay for cranes and lorries. With a boat you just drive it away. At the very least get some good terms and conditions and a guarantee that the mooring price will not zoom up in a years time, though this is probably hens teeth and flying pig stuff.

 

Why not just stick one of these at the bottom of your garden and dig a little pond to look at?

 

A nice 57 foot narrowboat with big glass doors at the front opening onto a longer well deck would do everything that this does and much much more.

 

................Dave

[MtB]

29 minutes ago, dmr said:

A big concern is that this is a marina only "boat" so if you fall out with the marina (and marina management changes often and can be tricky) then you are looking to find a new home and pay for cranes and lorries. With a boat you just drive it away. At the very least get some good terms and conditions and a guarantee that the mooring price will not zoom up in a years time, though this is probably hens teeth and flying pig stuff.

 

Why not just stick one of these at the bottom of your garden and dig a little pond to look at?

 

A nice 57 foot narrowboat with big glass doors at the front opening onto a longer well deck would do everything that this does and much much more.

 

................Dave

 

I can see it developing into the same sort of mooring contract as mobile home parks often have. Where you can only sell to the site owner at a price they determine, should you wish to get rid. Then the site owner sells the unit complete with mooring contract, tenant assessment hoops to jump through, and a security deposit to pay in case of rent arrears given the thing cannot move. 

 

'Onerous' barely covers it. 

 

And I agree with your general point. Rent a nice corner of a field somewhere from a nice farmer, put your modern dutch houseboat there and its all pretty much the same as in a marina, but with no cheek-to-cheek neighbours or nasty mooring contract. 

 

Is it pump-out or cassette? Just wondering....

[dmr]

I think a real issue with all this living on the water trend is that in general water is a limited resource, so renting 20sq metres of water is going to cost a lot more than renting 20m2 of land. It also means that your neighbours are likely to be crammed in only a few feet away from you either side. Assuming you want a bit of a view from those patio doors you are also needing to "rent" some open water in front of you.

 

A potential extra issue for the OP is that she wants to be in the west midlands which is dominated by "narrow" canals so the marinas will be set up for boats just 7 feet (2,.1 metres) wide. The Manchester "shed" is actually very similar to this thing but is clad in "burned" dark wood because thats quite fashionable just now. That's on a broad canal but still causing an obstruction.

 

I suppose we could have residential "lakes" but then these water houses would be in direct conflict with the fisher people. It does seem pretty daft to use marina space for non navigable houseboats but then there is a surplus of marina spaces at present. As mtb infers, the marinas will find these things quite attractive as they are a captive audience that can be financially exploited. OP needs to be careful not to buy a 25 year Lease that she needs to renew everytime the marina changes hands  .

 

...............Dave

[Tumshie]

Hi @selena and welcome to the forum. 

 

I really like your little pontoon housie, it looks a bit like a floating static caravan but that's why it's kinda cool. However, these beasties are designed and build for places like the Netherlands where there are already lots of well established floating villages. Places like Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland which have huge open areas of water and the much larger city canal areas on continental Europe are ideal for these pontoon houses, but unfortunately less so over here. Now that doesn't mean there aren't places in Britain where you can have one but it just means that if you want a very specific area then you might find it harder than others. The inland canals might not accommodate such large living pods but estuaries might be a good place to look. 

 

 

[matty40s]

Icknield Port Loop (just NW of city centre) is being redeveloped in a massive way on the BCN network in Birmingham. I am sure some overtures to the Urban Splash group currently starting the developments could lead to some fruition.

https://www.urbansplash.co.uk/regeneration/projects/port-loop

[dmr]

There is currently a lot of interest in pontoon houses so I reckon before long some suitable marinas will have to spring up else there will be loads of very frustrated pontoon boat owners. One company sells a set of floats and self assembly steel frame for just a few thousand beer tokens. All you have to do is find a bit of water, buy a secondhand container, get container craned onto the pontoon, and do a sailaway style fitout, no gunnels or tumblehome to test your skills.

 

"Floating shipping container houses, a Jetty made from shipping containers, containerised barges, floating bridges, gift shops or cafes to name but a few. You could even add in one of our container canopies and have yourself a high capacity floating barn or aircraft hangar."

 

Wow....how long before we see a floating aircraft hanger on the K&A?  A project foe NickNorman.

 

https://www.budgetshippingcontainers.co.uk/sales/shipping-container-pontoons/

 

.................Dave

 

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, selena said:

Hi All

 

Visited the Crick boatshow this weekend just gone and happened upon the euro floating home stand.  I'm extremely interested in buying one of the floating homes they construct (https://tinyfloats.nl/tiny-four/) but genuinely have no idea how to go about looking for a residential mooring that would accomodate something like this. 

 

After several google searches, this forum came up again and again as a good source of advice well informed advice and information.  Hoping someone on here can point me in the right direction for a residential mooring in the west midlands.  Better yet, if someone has bought one of these, how they find living on it etc.  

 

Many thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions

which modern dutch house boat would that be?

[Tumshie]

12 minutes ago, dmr said:

There is currently a lot of interest in pontoon houses so I reckon before long some suitable marinas will have to spring up else there will be loads of very frustrated pontoon boat owners.

Which if you think about logically is all very pointless you would be as well with a residential caravan park, except there's less stigma to having a static pontoon house than a static caravan. 

 

................................

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

which modern dutch house boat would that be?

This one 

2 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

For the benefit of those who CBA to click the link...

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by Tumshie

[ditchcrawler]

30 minutes ago, dmr said:

There is currently a lot of interest in pontoon houses so I reckon before long some suitable marinas will have to spring up else there will be loads of very frustrated pontoon boat owners. One company sells a set of floats and self assembly steel frame for just a few thousand beer tokens. All you have to do is find a bit of water, buy a secondhand container, get container craned onto the pontoon, and do a sailaway style fitout, no gunnels or tumblehome to test your skills.

 

"Floating shipping container houses, a Jetty made from shipping containers, containerised barges, floating bridges, gift shops or cafes to name but a few. You could even add in one of our container canopies and have yourself a high capacity floating barn or aircraft hangar."

 

Wow....how long before we see a floating aircraft hanger on the K&A?  A project foe NickNorman.

 

https://www.budgetshippingcontainers.co.uk/sales/shipping-container-pontoons/

 

.................Dave

 

Its been done https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces-a-floating-home-made-from-shipping-container-puts-houseboat-living-in-50876.html

[Bee]

Its all about the mooring. There is not really a tradition of houseboats in the UK, there are isolated spots here and there but nothing like there is in Holland. There is though a huge demand for residential moorings but I don't think the market can fill the gap because of planning rules, navigation authorities, environmental stuff, (black water (sewage) grey water (stuff down the plughole) and lots of other stuff that will upset the environment agency. Its the same with residential caravans, cheapish to buy but getting a site is a nightmare and caravan sites are often run by people who you might not choose to be your landlord. Even if you were to get a mooring there is unlikely to be much, if any, security of tenure and a houseboat without a mooring has no value. Sorry to be so negative but a proper boat is a better bet and there are difficulties with that too. Personally I think that companies that sell huge widebeam boats and houseboats should be duty bound to supply a mooring to avoid heartbreak.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Bee

[Tumshie]

1 hour ago, Tumshie said:

Which if you think about logically is all very pointless you would be as well with a residential caravan park, except there's less stigma to having a static pontoon house than a static caravan. 

Actually perhaps with climate change going the way it is there might be some sense in it after all. 

 

 

[Jo_]

Is it cassette or pumpout?

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, Jo_ said:

Is it cassette or pumpout?

See Post #11

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, Tumshie said:

Actually perhaps with climate change going the way it is there might be some sense in it after all. 

 

Indeed. We will see a lot more "aquatecture" in the future. With rising sea levels and a wetter climate it's going to be the way to build homes in many areas.

 

It might be difficult to find places to put such a thing at the moment, but it won't be long before the govt, councils and developers with be encouraging people to live in homes like these.

5 hours ago, dmr said:

Why don't you buy a BOAT, it would be so much more fun, you could cruise along the canals and go to lots of lovely and interesting places, you could even go onto some rivers.

 

 

It might surprise you Dave, but not everybody wants to live on a boat! ?

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, Tumshie said:

Which if you think about logically is all very pointless you would be as well with a residential caravan park, except there's less stigma to having a static pontoon house than a static caravan. 

 

................................

This one 

 

I  was being ironic, weep...................

Edited May 29, 2019 by LadyG

[Tumshie]

I'm thinking the toilet is the least of my worries.... how do you heat it, I can't find anything on the website about insulation or heating. I assume if you can have a sewerage tank you can have a water tank but it doesn't mention electric hook up. I wonder what the life expectancy of the pod home is and what it would need in the way of maintenance. They look lovely but I've yet to see one that doesn't have a kitchen the size of a postage stamp. 

 

@selena   When you talked to the sales people at Crick did they explain any of these things, because the pods you see on the website look lovely but not very practical when you want to live in them full time. I know you like the pod but if you look at boats you can get an awful lot more boat for your £45 grand.