“ average “ timeline of boat ownership ?

[Cardboard_Frog]

I find it rather interesting to hear about people’s boat owning / gongoozling timeline , things like when you first got into the community , when you had your first on board experience , if applicable how long did it take you to end up owning your own boat , or even how long you stuck with life afloat before heading back to land life ! Everyone’s experiences are so unique , from people looking around for multiple years to jumping into ownership ... I’d love to hear your experiences ! 
hope everyone’s doing alright on this rather windy and soggy day ... 

[GUMPY]

lots of odd boats canoes and dinghys  from 1960 - 1992 some were mine some were not

 

Mahe 42ft Springer 1992-1993 Cruising boat

Idleness 60ft tug liveaboard 1993-2002

Slow Motion 33ft NB 1997-2002 used for cruising away from home area 

Parglena 61ft Barge livaboard 2002 -2012

Cervinia, Snapdragon 747 sailing boat 2009/10 based on river Blackwater

Magnette, Freeman 22NB 2011-2013 based at St Ives on River Gt Ouse

Loddon 60ft NB livaboard 2012-2019

No name sailing dinghy 2017 discovered I wasn't fit enough 

Gumpy,  Norman 22      2018/19 runabout on River Nene.

Loddon 60ft NB 2019-2020 now based on River Nene  just used for recreational boating.

 

That's about it for recent years

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Loddon
Dates

[Ray T]

Hired our first boat with Andersen of Middlewich, as the late first Mrs T wouldn't sail offshore which was my passion, about the late 1980's.

Over subsequent years hired from Andersen, again, Shire Cruisers, Sowerby bridge, Black Prince at Acton Bridge, Kate Boats, Nelson Lane Warwick.

 

Hired with the current Mrs. T, Black Prince, Wigrams and Stoke Prior (both venues, several times) and Shire Cruisers  from 2006 - 2009.

Also in this time hired a Middlewich Boat which at the time was a disaster as the boat was a shambles, poorly prepared and very tired, took the boat back after 48 hours!

 

We then were in a position to purchase our current boat a Reeves 45 footer in 2009.

 

Had her ever since, done a lot of work, spent £ thousands on her and will keep her 'till our boating days are over.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Ray T

[Rob-M]

My parents owned boats from when I was 4, went boating most weekends and school holidays until I was about 17. Then had a lengthy break until Mrs-M suggested we had a boat holiday which got us back in to boating, then hired once, twice or three times a year for a few years until we bought our own boat.

[Captain Pegg]

A bit similar to Rob-M.
 

I was familiar with the canal from birth and used to spend every Thursday morning as a toddler at Sutton Stop with my granddad who lived there. Both my mother and father grew up adjacent to the canal and I grew up a couple of hundred metres away. We did annual family hire boat trips from when I was 7 through to 15 and was always a fairly regular visitor to Sutton Stop which was often for the purpose of a meal at the Greyhound. Then other than visits to canal events, museums, reading literature and occasional hire with my folks the boating side wasn’t really rekindled until I had my own family. Five years of one or two hires a year was followed by membership of volunteer heritage boat groups and then buying my own boat 5 years ago (at age 45).

 

JP

[tree monkey]

Never been on a narrowboat, hardly knew canals existed, I was in a bit of a sticky housing situation and was desperate to find somewhere I wanted to live and could afford.

I was sat in a car park having my snap on a work day and out of the blue came the thought narrowboat, drove to a book shop bought every narrowboat magazine I could, 6 months later I was stood on the back of my boat thinking "WTF" and smiling 

15yrs later still on the same boat still thinking WTF and smiling

[cuthound]

My first boating experiences were a couple of holidays on the Rivers Cam, Great and Little Ouse with my grandparents in the esarly sixties, when I was 5 or 6. Hired from Bantams in Cambridge and I think one boat was called Iolanthe. 

 

Then nothing until I was 19  when I had my first canal experience on an ex-working boat (Kimberly?), hired from UCC, courtesy of a mixed venture scout group.

 

Then hired pretty much continuously until 1992, when we bought a share in an Ownerships boat. This was follwed by another Ownerships shareboat, until we bought our own bost in 2014.

Edited August 25, 2020 by cuthound
Clarification

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

Never been on a narrowboat, hardly knew canals existed, I was in a bit of a sticky housing situation and was desperate to find somewhere I wanted to live and could afford.

I was sat in a car park having my snap on a work day and out of the blue came the thought narrowboat, drove to a book shop bought every narrowboat magazine I could, 6 months later I was stood on the back of my boat thinking "WTF" and smiling 

15yrs later still on the same boat still thinking WTF and smiling

 

Good thing you didn't ask online or the grumpies might have scared you off!

 

My take on random boat-as-affordable-housing decisions is that some people get the bug hard and become some of the better boaters out there, and the ones that shouldn't have done it are gone within a year or so anyway...

[tree monkey]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Good thing you didn't ask online or the grumpies might have scared you off!

 

My take on random boat-as-affordable-housing decisions is that some people get the bug hard and become some of the better boaters out there, and the ones that shouldn't have done it are gone within a year or so anyway...

I couldn't afford the new fangled internet dongle so by the time I found this place it was too late

 

I have always said how I got here was almost exactly how the general forum consensus says you shouldn't but it worked for me.

 

Unfortunately I don't actually do much boating anymore because of personal and work issues but I wouldn't change the life for anything 

[Machpoint005]

Family holiday on the Grand Union on a hire boat in the early 1960s.

Second family holiday 1967 - completed the Thames ring on a hire boat.

Bought first narrowboat (60' trad) mid-1990s.

Sold 2001 but got a 26' cruiser in px.

New share boat (58' Ownerships) 2003- 2006. Got out before they went bump.

Bought current 48' 6" cruiser stern narrowboat 2007.

Still Bunging Out Another Thousand with that one.

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

2 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Unfortunately I don't actually do much boating anymore because of personal and work issues

 

... and the bleedin' virus.

 

We'd have worked you hard enough at Spring Bank Holiday to make up for your lack of moving the rest of the year!

[tree monkey]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

 

... and the bleedin' virus.

 

We'd have worked you hard enough at Spring Bank Holiday to make up for your lack of moving the rest of the year!

And I looked forward to it, always happy to work hard for the team

[LEO]

Always liked boats, first boating holiday Sept 1975. with a pal on his 16ft Dolphin. Marlow to Newbridge (Upper Thames) and back- see pic, muscle bound hero mid left!

 

Spent various holidays on that boat and a 21ft Norman he bought.

 

1988 had some money left over from a divorce (yep, unusual situation I know) so bought Keb a 30ft nb. after making sure current partner liked boating.

 

We ran Keb for 16 years and sold her and bought Albion Mills a 48ft boat with a Gardner engine (something I have always wanted).

 

Always been based at Cowroast. always kept a boating logbook.

 

 

[LadyG]

I built a canvas and timber sea canoe from a kit age 13.

Gifted a pram dinghy age 14 to 15

Crew, Gull dinghy 16-17

Holidays 4 years, on 1966 Boat Show  19 foot Registered Yacht age 19 to 23, built in wood with Stuart Turner  engine.

Offshore racing and cruising on a Fastnet Yacht 34 foot,  age 33 to 50

Single handing on my own Comfort 30 [1973's blue water cruiser/racer] age 50+

Now on a 57ft narrowboar cc, I am more than four times older than the boat!

PS strangely, I don't have a passion for boats/houses I can afford/ cars, it's just something I do!

The boat has to have nice lines, and be functional, it took me a while to find that 'look' in a narrowboat, lol.

Edited August 26, 2020 by LadyG
b

[bizzard]

9 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I built a canvas and timber sea canoe from a kit age 13.

Gifted a pram dinghy age 14 to 15

Crew, Gull dinghy 16-17

Holidays 4 years, on 1966 Boat Show  19 foot Registered Yacht age 19 to 23, built in wood with Stuart Turner  engine.

Offshore racing and cruising on a Fastnet Yacht 34 foot,  age 33 to 50

Single handing on my own Comfort 30 [1973's blue water cruiser/racer] age 50+

Now on a 57ft narrowboar cc, I am more than four times older than the boat!

 

What about the train spotting?

 

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I built a canvas and timber sea canoe from a kit age 13.

Gifted a pram dinghy age 14 to 15

Crew, Gull dinghy 16-17

Holidays 4 years, on 1966 Boat Show  19 foot Registered Yacht age 19 to 23, built in wood with Stuart Turner  engine.

Offshore racing and cruising on a Fastnet Yacht 34 foot,  age 33 to 50

Single handing on my own Comfort 30 [1973's blue water cruiser/racer] age 50+

Now on a 57ft narrowboar cc, I am more than four times older than the boat!

 

 

[GUMPY]

14 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I built a canvas and timber sea canoe from a kit age 13.

PBK?

His book

A Life full of Hobbies

is worth a read, sadly it only had a short print run so is now getting expensive.

[koukouvagia]

I'm sure the germ of narrow boating was planted in me at a very early age  when my grandmother used to take me to watch the boats working through North Lock, Leicester.

As for a time line, it took about 25 years to restore one historic boat and another twenty to do the same for the butty.  (Concurrently, not consecutively, I might add).

Has anyone taken longer?

 

[Hudds Lad]

first experience of a narrowboat was about 1981ish, a trip boat on the Hudds Broad when i was about 9 that i think ran from Aspley Wharf?

nothing much after that, unless you count half-drowning in Elland basin whilst doing my Canoeing badge in scouts (big lad, small kayak, capsize drill)

 

over the years have walked and cycled the Hudds Broad & Narrow countless times and always loved the peace of it.

 

then in 2015 out of the blue my good wife randomly booked a week on the L&L with Silsden Boats for us, our daughter & the inlaws as something different to the usual week abroad. So on August 22nd 2015 i found myself along with my Father-in-law crammed in a small office with lots of other people watching an instructional video on the world's smallest tv, and an hour later we were let loose on the L&L with 56ft Molly's Drum heading for the Bingley Five Rise. We were hooked.

July 2016 saw another week on the L&L on 57ft Drummer Boy, and after some searching on Feb 4th 2017 we bought a 12th share in Streamline, and in June 2018 due to serendipity/stupidity we bought another 12th share.

 

for the last year or so we have been looking for a boat to own outright, but i think we are leaning further towards having one built...

[Big Bob W]

Grandparents had a bungalow and a small launch on the Soar at Zouch in the 50's so I was on the water more or less from birth.

Spent a lot of time in boats as a youngster, again, mainly on the Soar around Loughborough. My uncle built his own Steam launch - I remember trailering it down to a steam boat rally at Windsor with him, my Dad and Grandad in the late 1960's.

Had a bit of a break then for a few years. 

After getting married in 1982, we started hiring regularly. Looking at prices for narrowboat hire nowadays, I really can't remember it being anywhere near as expensive as it is today. 

Then we bought a share in a 60ft boat. Great, but its really not your own boat.

Eventually we bought Dougal 4 years or so ago. 

 

 

[Richard T]

Started canoeing and sailing with the Scouts. Hung around the Soar at Kegworth.

First holiday was 1974 Larch from Middlewich Narrowboats,

1976 took a party of Scouts on Lindsey from UCC up the Ashby

Then around 1980 started hiring generally in October half term this lead to hiring twice a year. We hired from Middlewich Narrowboats, Union Canal Cruisers, Teddesley, Valley, Associated at Wolverhampton, Braidbar. We also got involved with Ed Mortimer when he was at Macclesfield and had some long trips on the Star class boat Auriga.

August 2002 the opportunity came to set up a private share of a boat which we were part of until late 2012 when we bought our own boat which was Millstream and renamed it 2012. I learnt a lot about boats and how to maintain them from the shared boat.

I've also owned a couple of sailing dinghies a Solo and a Miracle. I still sail regularly with the Scouts and canoe at the Leicester Outdoor Pursuit Centre usually on their litter picks. I also hold the RYA Safety Boat certificate which means that I can drive a high powered rib!!

[dor]

First boat,  1995 -2000     Colecroft  62ft semi-trad

Second boat  2000 - 2007   Liverpool 50ft cruiser stern

third boat   2007 - now     Wedgwood 57ft semi-trad sailaway

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by dor

[Cardboard_Frog]

Cheers everyone for the replies ! ( Usually like to reply to everyone but don’t want to bung up the page with quotes and responses ) it’s been a great read so far ! 

On 25/08/2020 at 17:28, Loddon said:

lots of odd boats canoes and dinghys  from 1960 - 1992 some were mine some were not

 

Mahe 42ft Springer 1992-1993 Cruising boat

Idleness 60ft tug liveaboard 1993-2002

Slow Motion 33ft NB 1997-2002 used for cruising away from home area 

Parglena 61ft Barge livaboard 2002 -2012

Cervinia, Snapdragon 747 sailing boat 2009/10 based on river Blackwater

Magnette, Freeman 22NB 2011-2013 based at St Ives on River Gt Ouse

Loddon 60ft NB livaboard 2012-2019

No name sailing dinghy 2017 discovered I wasn't fit enough 

Gumpy,  Norman 22      2018/19 runabout on River Nene.

Loddon 60ft NB 2019-2020 now based on River Nene  just used for recreational boating.

 

That's about it for recent years

 

 

 

Corr! That’s amazing ! I’ve always been a sucker for smaller boats , the jump from 33ft to 61ft must have been something : o)