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Paul&Helena

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Hello everybody we are Paul and Helena as a couple we have thought about giving up caravaning (touring) and maybe buying a narrowboat with the view of renting out our home and living aboard. Now that probably sounds familiar however the nearest we have ever got to a narrowboat is either 1. The towpath or 2. Watching Dave (cruising the cut) on YouTube. So with that in mind heres a question I'm 6"6 tall I know most boats have a ceiling height of around 6"3 so other than that issue does anything else come to mind? we have done some research and are looking at a 57' ish reverse type layout around 2010 ish year build any advice other than "Duck" would be great 

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Do your research well, try a holiday for a week or two to see what you like or you will end up with lots of things which you thought were good when you first looked at the boat but you grow to dislike the more you live with them. 

If you have a healthy budget look at brokers like https://www.abnb.co.uk they have a reputation for selling good boats and when we bought our latest boat through them they were very good. They have reverse layout boats on their lists at the moment ranging from £40K to £100K asking price. 

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4 minutes ago, Paul&Helena said:

Hello everybody we are Paul and Helena as a couple we have thought about giving up caravaning (touring) and maybe buying a narrowboat with the view of renting out our home and living aboard. Now that probably sounds familiar however the nearest we have ever got to a narrowboat is either 1. The towpath or 2. Watching Dave (cruising the cut) on YouTube. So with that in mind heres a question I'm 6"6 tall I know most boats have a ceiling height of around 6"3 so other than that issue does anything else come to mind? we have done some research and are looking at a 57' ish reverse type layout around 2010 ish year build any advice other than "Duck" would be great 

Welcome.

 

Most older boat have low ceiling heights (some as low as 5' 6") but later boats are much higher.

Boats have to have a certain weight to be stable and to achieve this traditionally scrap iron, concrete, paving slabs have all been used under the floor to provide that weight.

 

'Old' boats tended to have anything from 4mm - 8mm thick base plates so needed a lot of ballast under the floor meaning the floor height was raised.

More modern boats have 10mm (and increasingly 12mm) base plates meaning that there is little need for ballast as the base plate can weigh almost enough on its own, this has mean that floors can be considerably lower.

 

My No1 Son is 6' 4" and has always had sufficient clearance, but you do need to remember that due to the curvature of the roof, the sides will be a couple of inches lower than the centre. It is normally the 'best' (centre height) that is quoted in any sales details.

 

A quick look at the base plate thickness will give you a reasonable indication of interior height.

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Some deeper draughted tug style boats are likely to have more headroom and may be worth a look, depending on your tastes. The traditional engine room will also make maintenance easier for a taller person.

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I would suggest that before you do anything you hire a boat for a couple of weeks and see how you get on.
Then you can get into the argument about what sort of toilet to have, pump out or cassette, but at least as caravanners you'll be used to cassettes!
And one thing you will find is that a 57' boat has a lot more room than say a 16' caravan.

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Hello Paul and Helena

 

There is nothing particularly wrong with your plan, many have done it before you, but renting and then unrenting a house is probably not much fun for anyone involved so having a pretty good idea about the less idilic parts of boating might be a good idea before going full time. 

 

Now that it's winter this is probably a good time to don your Peter Storms and get to know what the canals are like when it's cold and wet, what it's going to be like buying shopping and getting it back to the boat, what are you going to do with your car and if you keep it where will you park it when you move your boat; it's the little things that can make or break a lifestyle for someone. Don't get me wrong, none of these things are insurmountable, people do so all the time but it's worth thinking about the things they don't show you on YouTube before you rent your house, you can always sell the boat if you don't like it but how quick can you kick your tenants out.

 

As almost everybody has replied hire a boat for a holiday first, being caravaners will help with the practical side of things but there are some marked differences too. 

 

P.S. At this point what toilet you may or may not have is the least of your worries. 

 

Good luck. 

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6 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

Hello Paul and Helena

 

There is nothing particularly wrong with your plan, many have done it before you, but renting and then unrenting a house is probably not much fun for anyone involved so having a pretty good idea about the less idilic parts of boating might be a good idea before going full time. 

 

Now that it's winter this is probably a good time to don your Peter Storms and get to know what the canals are like when it's cold and wet, what it's going to be like buying shopping and getting it back to the boat, what are you going to do with your car and if you keep it where will you park it when you move your boat; it's the little things that can make or break a lifestyle for someone. Don't get me wrong, none of these things are insurmountable, people do so all the time but it's worth thinking about the things they don't show you on YouTube before you rent your house, you can always sell the boat if you don't like it but how quick can you kick your tenants out.

 

As almost everybody has replied hire a boat for a holiday first, being caravaners will help with the practical side of things but there are some marked differences too. 

 

P.S. At this point what toilet you may or may not have is the least of your worries. 

 

Good luck. 

Yes all what you have said makes sense I have thought about the car situation and probably wont bother with one. I have owned a vehicle repair mot garage for the past 22 years and have had enough of cars in general and there only getting worse from a repairing point of view. So more likely to use public transport and taxis for any needed road trips we just need to plan alot more than we currently do I guess. We know toe paths grass banks etc can be rather grim in the winter months but surly the spring summer and indeed autumn makes up for that after all theres down sides to whatever paths we take cheers for the reply much appreciated 

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Welcome.

 

Most older boat have low ceiling heights (some as low as 5' 6") but later boats are much higher.

Boats have to have a certain weight to be stable and to achieve this traditionally scrap iron, concrete, paving slabs have all been used under the floor to provide that weight.

 

'Old' boats tended to have anything from 4mm - 8mm thick base plates so needed a lot of ballast under the floor meaning the floor height was raised.

More modern boats have 10mm (and increasingly 12mm) base plates meaning that there is little need for ballast as the base plate can weigh almost enough on its own, this has mean that floors can be considerably lower.

 

My No1 Son is 6' 4" and has always had sufficient clearance, but you do need to remember that due to the curvature of the roof, the sides will be a couple of inches lower than the centre. It is normally the 'best' (centre height) that is quoted in any sales details.

 

A quick look at the base plate thickness will give you a reasonable indication of interior height.

Thank you for your reply very interesting and informative top man

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1 hour ago, captain birdseye said:

Do your research well, try a holiday for a week or two to see what you like or you will end up with lots of things which you thought were good when you first looked at the boat but you grow to dislike the more you live with them. 

If you have a healthy budget look at brokers like https://www.abnb.co.uk they have a reputation for selling good boats and when we bought our latest boat through them they were very good. They have reverse layout boats on their lists at the moment ranging from £40K to £100K asking price. 

Thanks for the info much appreciated 

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3 minutes ago, Paul&Helena said:

We know toe paths grass banks etc can be rather grim in the winter months but surly the spring summer and indeed autumn makes up for that after all theres down sides to whatever paths we take cheers for the reply much appreciated 

There are down sides to most lifestyle changes, the thing is that the down sides for one person will not necessarily be the same for the next person. Yes, the tow paths will be much "better" in the summer (though I rather like them in the winter too), but that wasn't really the point I was making. The point I was trying to make is that yes there are lots of wonderful aspects but just to be realistically aware of the less wonderful. Lots of people live on narrowboats and would never go back to a house but there are also loads of people who think they are going to love it so invest heavily and then realise with in the year it's not for them. I'm not trying to rain on your dream but it's easy to imagine the fun stuff and forget about the less fun stuff, I'm just suggesting that being aware of it is a VERY good idea. 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

There are down sides to most lifestyle changes, the thing is that the down sides for one person will not necessarily be the same for the next person. Yes, the tow paths will be much "better" in the summer (though I rather like them in the winter too), but that wasn't really the point I was making. The point I was trying to make is that yes there are lots of wonderful aspects but just to be realistically aware of the less wonderful. Lots of people live on narrowboats and would never go back to a house but there are also loads of people who think they are going to love it so invest heavily and then realise with in the year it's not for them. I'm not trying to rain on your dream but it's easy to imagine the fun stuff and forget about the less fun stuff, I'm just suggesting that being aware of it is a VERY good idea. 

 

 

TBF

 

 

Image result for less of the negative vibes

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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37 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

There are down sides to most lifestyle changes, the thing is that the down sides for one person will not necessarily be the same for the next person. Yes, the tow paths will be much "better" in the summer (though I rather like them in the winter too), but that wasn't really the point I was making. The point I was trying to make is that yes there are lots of wonderful aspects but just to be realistically aware of the less wonderful. Lots of people live on narrowboats and would never go back to a house but there are also loads of people who think they are going to love it so invest heavily and then realise with in the year it's not for them. I'm not trying to rain on your dream but it's easy to imagine the fun stuff and forget about the less fun stuff, I'm just suggesting that being aware of it is a VERY good idea. 

 

 

Thank you for your input much appreciated 

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2 hours ago, captain birdseye said:

Do your research well, try a holiday for a week or two to see what you like or you will end up with lots of things which you thought were good when you first looked at the boat but you grow to dislike the more you live with them. 

If you have a healthy budget look at brokers like https://www.abnb.co.uk they have a reputation for selling good boats and when we bought our latest boat through them they were very good. They have reverse layout boats on their lists at the moment ranging from £40K to £100K asking price. 

Thanks for that great advice 

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Winters can be long and muddy that's for sure. and personally I find it difficult to find things to do without a shed or workshop of some sort, there is a limit to the number of books that you can read in a winter. You also need to look at the cost of boating, its not cheap any more. There are lots of things that you can have on a boat but one thing that you cannot have is unlimited electricity, you can have hundreds of amp hours of battery capacity but then you have to charge the things for hundreds of hours. If I lived on for 12 months a year I would have a small diesel generator. So many compromises!  We actually find 3 months a year of pretty solid travelling works for us and we don't rent the house out, its complicated , you pay tax on the earnings and things can go wrong but then we do our boating in France, Belgium and Holland mostly. Its considerably cheaper but then after brexit its anybodys guess what will happen.

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Welcome.

I'll only comment on the height issue. 

At 6' 2" I'm not that tall. I did however have VS built with an extra 1" headroom. Did I need to? Not sure.

I do however have a cottage in Devon where the livingroom ceiling is, in places, 5' 11". The front door and the kitchen door are both about 5'  9". I cope with this as does my 6' 4" nephew when he stays there. It's amazing how I adjust by day 2. It's just day 1 that's painful?

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