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Vanessa1402

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11 hours ago, AWETHEAYET said:

 

 

Good luck with your search and all the best for your future adventure, don't listen to any who try to be "glass halve empty" on your chosen path, its yours, embrace it. Life throws up many "challenges" and you know that more than most, so I'm sure getting a narrow boat you will take to it like the ducks on the cut .

 

 

 

Quite right.  Two subsequent posts exemplify this, both by the same person with appropriate initials.  I think Vanessa has the intelligence to assess opinions here.

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30 foot is a bit short to live on, though a friend of mine did so for twenty years before moving to a 50 footer.  It does all depend on the layout, and how much of the boat is cabin rather than open space at front and back.

Mine's 40 foot and I lived on it for a couple of years, but the cabin is only 27 foot - coal and much stuff got stored at the pointy end, the cruiser stern is just a waste of space for living on, though great for a hobby boater.  A small boat isn't claustrophobic because there's so much space outside, but you have to think carefully about how much stuff you need and where you're going to put it.

I couldn't live long term on mine as I have too many books and instruments to fit, but it was a great experience and I loved it.  And it was certainly a hell of a lot cheaper than living in a house (although I was on a farm mooring, not a marina).

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4 hours ago, Laurie.Booth said:

You better start looking for a new job. I'm very worried about a paperless library, where I believe you work.

Dear me, if you think being a Librarian is all about issuing , discharging and shelving stock then you have been severely misinformed!

Librarians assist in sourcing reliable information - mostly using on line resources. They also encourage the enjoyment of literature - organising book groups (yes, kindles are allowed!) author events, read to children, help customers complete on line forms , such as application for Universal Credit, provide a safe and welcoming haven in which to enjoy peaceful activities -as well as read. None of these necessarily require paper. You are aware that libraries provide e-books and audio books I suppose?
However, I am a school Librarian. My job involves even less paper. I run reading schemes whereby my students complete on line quizzes on books they have read - enjoyable for them but provides me with plenty of diagnostic information which I can use to justify reading interventions or SEN provision. I also teach, running both lessons for struggling students and intensive study to prepare our older students for exams. 
All things considered, I think my job will be quite safe if paper books do disappear. Thanks for the concern though ;) 

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2 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Quite right.  Two subsequent posts exemplify this, both by the same person with appropriate initials.  I think Vanessa has the intelligence to assess opinions here.

Thank you :) I like to think I’m a smart cookie. 
I bought an MR2 to learn to drive in at the age of 46. The howls of disapproval and laughter from men who insisted I would die at the wheel due to my inexperience - and dare I say it, gender-were deafening. ( I joined a few on line owners groups )

I passed my test and I drove that beautiful, lethal little sports car for years until she became too costly for me. Never had so much of a bump. 
I never listen to “ no you can’t” 

Watch me :) 

23 minutes ago, Iain_S said:

Unless free, most have gone up to two bob or so.

Tsk, sign of an uncivilised society having nowhere decent to “go” without having to pay. 

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18 hours 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! 

Hi my neighbour is a lovely lady of 50 something she manages very well, her first boat was a springer waterbug [small], she has now upgraded to a 55 foot trad narrowboat. She has been boating about 15 years now deffo a year longer than me, would she change? not on her life, even in the floods last month she still claims that its the best life she could ever want, I agree with her, I could not imagine living on land. As for marinas how about something around Ripon? As for boats you will know when you find the right one I did straight away, fingers crossed for you

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5 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Hi my neighbour is a lovely lady of 50 something she manages very well, her first boat was a springer waterbug [small], she has now upgraded to a 55 foot trad narrowboat. She has been boating about 15 years now deffo a year longer than me, would she change? not on her life, even in the floods last month she still claims that its the best life she could ever want, I agree with her, I could not imagine living on land. As for marinas how about something around Ripon? As for boats you will know when you find the right one I did straight away, fingers crossed for you

Thank you ! I’ll get there :) 

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42 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Err are you sure about that?

 

Another of your 'only half the story' posts Alan!! 

 

 

 

 

I don't think you get a reduction if it is only half-full

 

 

16 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Not always £20 a time. That’s for a fitted tank. If you were to have a cassette type of loo it’s free.

 

I did say TANK and NOT cassette.

The devil is in the detail !!

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1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I don't think you get a reduction if it is only half-full

 

 

 

I did say TANK and NOT cassette.

The devil is in the detail !!

 

No, but a lot of people use the term 'toilet tank' when talking about their cassette, and you elected to phrase your advice in a way that give the impression that cassettes cost £20 too.

 

Why otherwise did you choose not to use the usual and unambiguous term "pump out tank"? 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No, but a lot of people use the term 'toilet tank' when talking about their cassette, and you elected to phrase your advice in a way that give the impression that cassettes cost £20 too.

 

Why otherwise did you choose not to use the usual and unambiguous term "pump out tank"? 

 

 

Because he wants to present the worse case scenario to a newbie in order to crush her dreams. Not very Christmassy is it? 

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3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

No, but a lot of people use the term 'toilet tank' when talking about their cassette,

You are struggling to find something to criticise today "most people" ???

 

I know of no-one who refers to their cassette as a 'toilet tank'.

1 minute ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Because he wants to present the worse case scenario to a newbie in order to crush her dreams. Not very Christmassy is it? 

Not at all - MtB just like to pick arguments and start wind-ups,

The correct term for a 'tank' is 'tank' and the correct term for a 'cassette' is 'cassette'.

 

Merry Christmas and best wishes for your new (boating) year.

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The price for a pumpout can be £20. We have actually paid £20 for a pumpout, the operator when asked for a rinse wanted more money. He didn’t get more money and we didn’t get a rinse.

 

However, even though many places now charge £20 for this service it’s not everywhere. Braunston Marina is presently £15.  And a bloomin good pump it is too. 
 

To pay £20 every three weeks or so isn’t too bank account clearing is it. 

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You are still young enough to try the narrow boat life, who knows you might like it. What is your budget?( if you dont mind me asking)

I think 40ft is a good size, in any case am sure you will change your mind once you start viewing them.

Don't mind posters who you find discouraging, they do for every new poster who wants to buy a boat(you can check old threads, not targetting you because of your gender). Its a significant investment for majority of people here, and many of them are of pension age, it makes sense to be super careful when taking big decisions. Everybody is in different situation, not everything people say will apply to you.

best of luck.

Edited by restlessnomad
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14 minutes ago, restlessnomad said:

You are still young enough to try the narrow boat life, who knows you might like it. What is your budget?( if you dont mind me asking)

I think 40ft is a good size, in any case am sure you will change your mind once you start viewing them.

Don't mind posters who you find discouraging, they do for every new poster who wants to buy a boat(you can check old threads, not targetting you because of your gender). Its a significant investment for majority of people here, and many of them are of pension age, it makes sense to be super careful when taking big decisions. Everybody is in different situation, not everything people say will apply to you.

best of luck.

Thanks - I was thinking £30K tops? But that would be the absolute most for my first buy! 
In a way I don’t want to look too hard until I’ve got the money saved up, in case I fall in love before I’m ready to buy :) 

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8 minutes ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Thanks - I was thinking £30K tops? But that would be the absolute most for my first buy! 
In a way I don’t want to look too hard until I’ve got the money saved up, in case I fall in love before I’m ready to buy :) 

You can see 40ft one advt'ed around 25k on apolloduck(and you can bargain a bit). I too think one should not spend too much on first boat.

Winter seems to be a good time to get bargain, so may be aim for next winter?

btw I dont have a boat, am still at dreamer phase, so dont listen to anything I say. :)

 

Edited by restlessnomad
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4 minutes ago, restlessnomad said:

You can see 40ft one advt'ed around 25k on apolloduck(and you can bargain a bit). I too think one should not spend too much on first boat.

Winter seems to be a good time to get bargain, so may be aim for next winter?

btw I dont have a boat, am still at dreamer phase, so dont listen to anything I say. :)

 

Yes, it’ll be at least a year until I’m ready to shop so I’ll be a dreamer too for a little while yet :) 

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4 hours ago, Vanessa1402 said:

Yes, it’ll be at least a year until I’m ready to shop so I’ll be a dreamer too for a little while yet :) 

We spent some 18 months looking for what became our boat.

We toured most of the boatyards / marinas in the Midlands, some on more than one occasion.

Worth having a good look until you are in a position to buy as you will than have a feel for the market and what you want in a boat. 

 

The route we took was to buy a slightly neglected boat, but had a good survey, and then spend money, still spending, to put our "stamp" on the boat.

Edited by Ray T
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Hi Vanessa,  sorry for being late to the party but I've been off doing Christmassy things!  On the subject of sexism - it's very much a thing in the boating world.  There are lots of older single male boaters who imagine they are sort of like David Essex in that TV series for years back and therefore irresistable to all women.  In fact they are more like Rab C Nesbit.  They always think that being sexist is something that other boaters do, but they are not like that at all!  This forum is no exception and I've heard about a female boater who was on this forum before my time and was driven off by this sort of thing.  Be prepared to fight your corner even if you then get labelled for it.

 

Moving on, you ought to go and look and some boat for sale to get a feel for what you want.  A 30ft boat is going to be very small inside and you'll have to compromise somehow - either you'll have to make up a bed from a sofa everynight or you'll have no proper living room (or maybe no bathroom).  Once you get to about 50ft you can have a boat which feel much more spacious and has a proper kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom, with proper storage for all your things.  You'll pay more for the boat, and the licence but you've got to live in there and not feel like a prisoner.  At this time of year, when it's dark at 4, you can end up feeling really cooped up.  A longer boat will often handle better and has some advantages when going through locks too.

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