Newbie

[Vanessa1402]

Hi all!

 

After a few turbulent years, I’ve decided I need to pursue a dream I’ve had for a long time-to own a narrowboat.

 

My current housing is insecure and I’ve decided to live with my parents and save up for a narrow boat. 
 

I’m 52 btw, single and intending to stay that way!

 

What do I need to know? I’ve done some googling about maintenance etc but what’s it really like living on a narrowboat?  

[mrsmelly]

Its dreadful, dont do it!!

[Vanessa1402]

Ok  

[bizzard]

52, approaching the age of 57, the age of a tin of Heinz baked beans.  There's nothing to it me'deario, it's a doddle, as long as your reasonably fit.  Its not like going to sea in a beautiful pea green boat. Humping bags of coal and gas bottles about is a nuisance, other than that I'd just peruse this forum for information. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by bizzard

[The Dreamer]

13 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Its dreadful, dont do it!!

Not so much dreadful as much as a dream that could become a nightmare.  Do it, by all means, but be sure you know that it will cost as much as bricks and mortar (either rented or owned), and will become all consuming.  There is always a job to do, or a gas bottle to be changed, or a loo to be emptied, a water tank to be filled and so it goes on and I guess more so if you haven’t got a partner to share the load.  Nevertheless, we wouldn’t have it any other way, and maybe you won’t either ? 

[Vanessa1402]

Thank you  

I am in pretty good health and the  marina ive got my eye on is close enough to my place of work to allow me to carry on in a job I love whilst giving me loads of time off-I work in schools. 
 Not to be too gloomy - my partner took his own life and after the shock it made me reassess what’s important and what I want to experience before my time’s up too!

ill lurk on here and learn as much as I can  

[system 4-50]

See Youtube "Cruising The Cut" (if you can stand the excitement). 

[Vanessa1402]

Thanks, I’ll have a look  

[mrsmelly]

In reality its my 31st winter aboard this winter. We wouldnt want it any other way but fate means I am soon having to spend much more time in a poxy house. Go for it just be aware its far from cheap ?

[Vanessa1402]

Hoping to save quite a bit so I can buy my boat and have a bit of savings for maintenance etc!

i live near Harrogate which is hellishly expensive for bricks and mortar so no matter how much it costs it’s got to be better than a house! 

[MtB]

10 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Hoping to save quite a bit so I can buy my boat and have a bit of savings for maintenance etc!

i live near Harrogate which is hellishly expensive for bricks and mortar so no matter how much it costs it’s got to be better than a house! 

 

Welcome to the forum. My condolences about your partner, hard to know what to say about such a revelation. Hope you are coping ok, you sound like you are. 

 

Anyway, to what you posted about. The thing about boat life is you need to be either very practical, or have very deep pockets, or the decent quality boat you might buy will go downhill and turn into a dilapidated wreck in about decade or so. Boats are cheaper than houses to buy but they cost much the same or more more to run on a monthly basis. On a boat you need to maintain it, paint it feed it with diesel, coal and expensive bottled gas, pay four figure annual licence fees, insurance and four figure mooring fees too. It is often said a boat costs about £5k a year to own, in broad brush round figures. Is that 'better' than living in a house? 

 

The people who make it cheap generally (but with exceptions) manage to do so do so by bending the rules, having no mooring and allowing the boat to fall into disrepair, so beware of that trap. 

[Vanessa1402]

Thank you. It’s been a little while now since he left us and I keep as positive as possible - life goes on .

 

Costs wise- I’m looking at a minimum of £700 rent for a tiny property in this area and that’s  before council tax and all the other bills- so around £11,000 a year? And that’s lining somebody else’s pockets with rent with zero to show for it. Hopefully living on a boat would be a bit cheaper? Plus I get long hols-I’m a school librarian-and was hoping to travel a bit in the boat ? 
my dad knows a lot about boats, although he’s getting on a bit now! Hoping to be able to take him out for jaunts in it  

[bizzard]

28 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Hoping to save quite a bit so I can buy my boat and have a bit of savings for maintenance etc!

i live near Harrogate which is hellishly expensive for bricks and mortar so no matter how much it costs it’s got to be better than a house! 

Harrogate! you could go there to bathe and save water.

[Vanessa1402]

In the sulphur water??? Blaugh, smells to high heaven! 
I shower for free at the gym most days , so that saves a few quid! 

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Thank you. It’s been a little while now since he left us and I keep as positive as possible - life goes on .

 

Costs wise- I’m looking at a minimum of £700 rent for a tiny property in this area and that’s  before council tax and all the other bills- so around £11,000 a year? And that’s lining somebody else’s pockets with rent with zero to show for it. Hopefully living on a boat would be a bit cheaper? Plus I get long hols-I’m a school librarian-and was hoping to travel a bit in the boat ? 
my dad knows a lot about boats, although he’s getting on a bit now! Hoping to be able to take him out for jaunts in it  

 

Well its always difficult balancing capital expenditure against monthly outgoings. The reason for that £11k a year figure is you haven't put any lump sum into the pot. Shell out £200k for the 'tiny property' and you won't have to pay the £11k a year, just the £2k a year council tax and fuel bills. Shell out £50k for a reasonable boat and you'll have to stump up just £5k for fuel, annual costs and maintenance.

 

Yes no problem with jaunts in summer. Or winter even. Canals are quiet in winter and some lovely cruising is there to be had...

 

 

[bizzard]

1 minute ago, Vanessa1402 said:

In the sulphur water??? Blaugh, smells to high heaven! 
I shower for free at the gym most days , so that saves a few quid! 

I visited Sochi in Russia once, the whole place stank of sulpher. A big spa town where Russian folk go to wallow in sulphur.The sulphury rivers run down from the Caucus mountains. Folk were bathing in the rivers, under fountains, and there are many sanitoriums and clinics for sulphur treatment.

 The Sulphur rivers end up in the Black sea and is what makes that sea look black, well its not black but is a miserablr grey colour all the time even when the suns shining. The sand on the beaches is also contaminated with sulphur and looks a dirty grey colour.

 The great aunt in Arthur  Ransomes book  Picts and martyers  took to the spa baths in Harrogate as well.

[Vanessa1402]

Plus I have accommodation with my parents so it’s really a “bolt hole” for when I need my own headspace! I won’t be looking for an enormous boat, 30ft will do me just fine - although I guess this doesn’t necessarily make maintenance costs hugely cheaper? 

[ditchcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

 

 

Yes no problem with jaunts in summer. Or winter even. Canals are quiet in winter and some lovely cruising is there to be had...

 

 

One of the best times

[Vanessa1402]

2 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I visited Sochi in Russia once, the whole place stank of sulpher. A big spa town where Russian folk go to wallow in sulphur.The sulphury rivers run down from the Caucus mountains. Folk were bathing in the rivers, under fountains, and there are many sanitoriums and clinics for sulphur treatment.

 The Sulphur rivers end up in the Black sea and is what makes that sea look black, well its not black but is a miserablr grey colour all the time even when the suns shining. The sand on the beaches is also contaminated with sulphur and looks a dirty grey colour.

 The great aunt in Arthur  Ransomes book  Picts and martyers  took to the spa baths in Harrogate as well.

I’ve never bathed in it, but I’ve had a taste...really does taste like bad eggs! I guess “ something that tastes this bad must be doing me some good” is the logic! 

[bizzard]

2 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Plus I have accommodation with my parents so it’s really a “bolt hole” for when I need my own headspace! I won’t be looking for an enormous boat, 30ft will do me just fine - although I guess this doesn’t necessarily make maintenance costs hugely cheaper? 

No, but the licence and mooring fees will be a lot cheaper that what all the folk pay for who own full lenth huge juganaught narrowboats and you'll be able to park it and turn it around much easier.

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Plus I have accommodation with my parents so it’s really a “bolt hole” for when I need my own headspace! I won’t be looking for an enormous boat, 30ft will do me just fine - although I guess this doesn’t necessarily make maintenance costs hugely cheaper? 

 

Ah now that is a totally different proposal. If you need a boat as your only home, the you need stuff like a washing machine and all the expensive stuff to generate and store the leccy to run it. This means a pricey boat with a modern well specified engine, batteries, inverter etc and a really steep and long learning process to get to know how to use it. If you can do your washing at your parents' place, then you need none of that!!

 

And yes maintaining a 30ft bote IS gonna be cheaper than say a 57ft bote, as will be the licence, mooring, insurance and all the rest. In fact I possibly know someone with just the thing for you for sale!!

 

 

[Vanessa1402]

Just now, bizzard said:

No, but the licence and mooring fees will be a lot cheaper that what all the folk pay for who own full lenth huge juganaught narrowboats and you'll be able to park it and turn it around much easier.

Yes, easier to move about was on my mind!

ive rented narrow boats for the day a couple of times, really enjoyed it but it did take me a bit of time to get it to where it was supposed to be! 

[bizzard]

4 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

I’ve never bathed in it, but I’ve had a taste...really does taste like bad eggs! I guess “ something that tastes this bad must be doing me some good” is the logic! 

Its supposed to be good for arthritis and rhuematism. Although the folk looked worse when they emerged from them.

[Vanessa1402]

2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Ah now that is a totally different proposal. If you need a boat as your only home, the you need stuff like a washing machine and all the expensive stuff to generate and store the leccy to run it. This means a pricey boat with a modern well specified engine, batteries, inverter etc and a really steep and long learning process to get to know how to use it. If you can do your washing at your parents' place, then you need none of that!!

 

And yes maintaining a 30ft bote IS gonna be cheaper than say a 57ft bote, as will be the licence, mooring, insurance and all the rest. In fact I possibly know someone with just the thing for you for sale!!

 

 

I wish I was ready to buy now! I need to save up a bit 1st- I’m giving notice on my house in the new year and my steep rent is going into the savings pot until I can afford to buy! Going to learn as much as I can in the mean time  

[David Mack]

Working in Harrogate and living on a boat is going to severely limit your cruising range.  Easier if its a weekends only boat, but still potentially quite a lot of travel at the beginning and end of the weekends.