Planning to become a narrowboater

[SirCy]

Hey folks!

 

I've lived near rivers most of my life, recently living near a marina too, and for the last year or so have been getting pretty into watching various boating channels on Youtube. Needless to say, it feels like the boater life is calling to me and it is a call I am more than happy to listen to. However I don't have a huge deal of experience living or owning boats currently, just watching them with awe from afar, so I am hoping to find some information.

 

First, I'm wondering what kind of chores you undertake that are less common or even nonexistent for someone living on land? I realise most people making Youtube content probably won't document their mundane day-to-day activities too much, but I like to know what I'm getting myself into.

 

Second, what kind of skills or qualifications are needed to live on a boat? I've heard about a few courses that seem more geared towards ocean-going vessels, but is there anything specifically required for narrowboats? Do you need a license the same way you do for a car, or are they slow enough to justify not having one?

 

Thanks~

[john6767]

No licence or qualifications are required for you.  You pay a licence for the boat equivalent to the road tax on your car.

 

As to chores, the difference it that you are not connected to mains supply for water, sewage, electricity, gas, although in a marina you may be connected to electricity.  So you have to deal with these things, eg filling the water tank, emptying toilet tanks etc.

[LadyG]

Welcome, you'll be fine as long as you can cope with living in the 1950's

Willow Training will give you a hands on course, they have youtube skills vlogs.

From my salty water days, of which there were many, I transferred a few skills, but mostly the confidence that I could handle anything will dash and decorum.  It  turns out that at times I emulate Pru and Tim, those renowned boat-bashers, but not to worry, a well built boat can take a few knocks.

I would however recommend buying a narrowboat that is a bit shorter than mine, (57foot), and if you look at the Rugby boat videos, you will see that it is possible to have all you need in a well designed 52footer.

In my humble opinion you need a bed, not a sofa bed , but a normal boat bed, which is 4ft 6by 6ft, assuming you may want to share your magic space from time to time.

The maintenance of a solid fuel stove is offset by that warm cosy glow on dark winter nights.

The maintenance of your effluent is tolerable, but a culture shock for those with limited experience of portable toiletting.

If you are going to stay in the North East you could consider a wider boat as the canals are wide enough, and many of them are commercial, and have powered gates. The instructions are clearly written, just take your time, often, in summer, you will buddy up with someone, taking it in turns to get each other through alternative locks, you need two sets of BW keys for this.

The BW key, £6.99 from inland chandlers opens many gates, doors, and anti vandsl devices on the locks. Keep them on a cork float as you need them every day.

I find housekeeping a bit tedious, and more hands on than on land, that's the main difference day to day. You have to generate your own electricity and store it in your own batteries, so you need to think about management issues like that, food, fuel, water have to be planned for, not usually a big deal.

I also found living in a marina full of other people to be a nightmare, but that is another story.

Cruising the Cut has quite a few 'fireside chats', discussing costs and housekeeping, types of boats, heating etc, again the emphasis is on narrowboating, but that is not your only option, wider boats are easier to live on and will probsbly handle better.

If you have a cat you will be woken at all hours of the night for playtime and a reminder to top up the kibble dish.

One important thing is income, if you are going to pay for your boat and keep it up to scratch you need money, that may mean staying in a marina, see C t C for continuous cruising v static life. It is not a cheap option, buying the boat is only the first payment, the first of many.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by LadyG

[David Mack]

The biggest chore for most boaters that land dwellers give barely a thought to is generating your own electricity. 

[Mike Tee]

If I can add to ^^^^ David Mack - generating electricity efficiently without seriously damaging expensive batteries 

[roland elsdon]

6 hours ago, David Mack said:

The biggest chore for most boaters that land dwellers give barely a thought to is generating your own electricity. 

And / or learning to live without it.

[Ally]

Welcome.

You don't need a licence to be in charge of a boat, but you do need to licence your boat annually,  to be on the water.

An inland helmsman course is advisable but not necessary. 

Perhaps think about hiring one over a winter period first, see how you get on with it.

Tasks to get used to will be toilet emptying, either pump out or cassette,  unless you have a composting toilet. They still take dealing with though to a lesser degree.  Hauling solid fuel (for most boats), gas cannisters, shopping etc to the boat. Learning a different way of electrical power, both usage, and type, dont expect to freely use every electrical appliance you might in a house.

You will need to either pay for a mooring,  or continuously cruise, stopping no longer than 14 days in one place.

You will need to rethink what your essentials are, and get rid of excess things you have in a house, whilst getting different essentials like a good torch, good humour, windlass, 12v devices etc etc.

It helps if you have skills with engines, batteries and electrics etc.

You will be cleaning out a stove on most boats (including flue sweeping, from the roof or gunwales) emptying toilets, dealing with condensation/leaks etc, but quite possibly loving it all. You will need a reasonable bank balance at times.

4 yearly you will need to have a safety examination of the boats systems.

Approximately 2 yearly you will need to pull the boat out for blacking, unless 2 pack, which needs less frequent attention. Cabin painting or touching up maintenance is another job, but from the bank.

A cuddlesome dog is a wonderful thing on a boat! For many, the most necessary piece of "equipment " 

 

There is a host of information on here, have a good browse through, ask about anything you can't find an answer to.

Edited November 8, 2020 by Ally

[OldGoat]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

The biggest chore for most boaters that land dwellers give barely a thought to is generating your own electricity. 

And keeping the boat warm

And performing maintenace chores

And dealing with your personal fluid wastes

And learnign how to drive it

and working with lines (ropes)

And

and

Edited November 8, 2020 by OldGoat

[Tracy D'arth]

For some, coping with the solitude is a challenge. Hence the popularity of pets on boats.

There are some very strange people on the water, mental problems, anger outbursts, and a few out and out nutters. A cornucopia of weirdoes. 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

For some, coping with the solitude is a challenge. Hence the popularity of pets on boats.

There are some very strange people on the water, mental problems, anger outbursts, and a few out and out nutters. A cornucopia of weirdoes. 

That is so true, You have to take people as you find them

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

For some, coping with the solitude is a challenge. Hence the popularity of pets on boats.

There are some very strange people on the water, mental problems, anger outbursts, and a few out and out nutters. A cornucopia of weirdoes. 

Who are you calling a nutter!! ?

[Tracy D'arth]

2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Who are you calling a nutter!! ?

So far there are 9 on my list, 4 serious ones and 5 pains in the posterior.

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

So far there are 9 on my list, 4 serious ones and 5 pains in the posterior.

You claimed to have more that that in your 'previous lives' on here.

[SirCy]

4 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

If I can add to ^^^^ David Mack - generating electricity efficiently without seriously damaging expensive batteries 

I figured generating your own would be important, though I'm curious what you mean by "efficiently without damaging batteries". I've heard about batteries getting damaged by leaving them charging when they're already full, and letting them completely empty, but the sources for both these claims was always vague.

 

2 hours ago, Ally said:

snip

Lots of fantastic information, thank you Ally!

Toilets, hauling and power-consumption are things I've seen mentioned a lot in videos, but I've not heard too much about the essentials, what would you consider  to be unnecessary on a boat compared to a house? I've heard boaters don't use tumble-dryers due to the power they need, and washing machines are a hit-or-miss depending on who's asked, anything else in particular?

 

2 hours ago, OldGoat said:

And learnign how to drive it

Is this particularly difficult to do? Part of the reason I asked about licenses was that I figured it would take at least some training to drive a boat, or at least lots of practice.

 

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

For some, coping with the solitude is a challenge. Hence the popularity of pets on boats.

There are some very strange people on the water, mental problems, anger outbursts, and a few out and out nutters. A cornucopia of weirdoes. 

That does seem to be a contradiction I've heard a lot of; its a life of solitude yet one of community. I think my biggest concern of that is that I was considering continuous cruising, but realised that means I won't be in one place for too long and therefore not have much chance to meet friends. I can see why pets are so popular now. Though with my previous work as a reenactor, I like to think I'm good at making new friends at shows who I'm likely to never meet again (at least not for a few months/years).

Is there any particular reason you think that boating might attract that negative type of person so much?

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, SirCy said:

I figured generating your own would be important, though I'm curious what you mean by "efficiently without damaging batteries". I've heard about batteries getting damaged by leaving them charging when they're already full, and letting them completely empty, but the sources for both these claims was always vague.

 

Lots of fantastic information, thank you Ally!

Toilets, hauling and power-consumption are things I've seen mentioned a lot in videos, but I've not heard too much about the essentials, what would you consider  to be unnecessary on a boat compared to a house? I've heard boaters don't use tumble-dryers due to the power they need, and washing machines are a hit-or-miss depending on who's asked, anything else in particular?

 

Is this particularly difficult to do? Part of the reason I asked about licenses was that I figured it would take at least some training to drive a boat, or at least lots of practice.

 

That does seem to be a contradiction I've heard a lot of; its a life of solitude yet one of community. I think my biggest concern of that is that I was considering continuous cruising, but realised that means I won't be in one place for too long and therefore not have much chance to meet friends. I can see why pets are so popular now. Though with my previous work as a reenactor, I like to think I'm good at making new friends at shows who I'm likely to never meet again (at least not for a few months/years).

Is there any particular reason you think that boating might attract that negative type of person so much?

There are many many points to cover but on the highlighted bit alone you will get differing replies. Much depends on the fitout and equipment. My present boat has a dedicated laundry room with washing machine and tumble dryer ( we binned the tumble dryer recently as we dont need it ) but we have the equipment levels to support such items that do not come cheaply. As a for instance over and above the twelve volt system my boat has several thousand pounds worth of mains kit ( approx 6 grands worth ) and some stuff costs much more than this.

[Tracy D'arth]

The dregs of society are either in jail, mental hospitals or living on boats because they ( usually single males ) think its cheap and they can be socially inactive, arrogant, dirty and disrespect everyone else.

[dmr]

2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

The dregs of society are either in jail, mental hospitals or living on boats because they ( usually single males ) think its cheap and they can be socially inactive, arrogant, dirty and disrespect everyone else.

You forgot to mention aggressive and continually stoned/drunk.  There is unfortunately some truth in your observation but its still a very small minority, and a few of them even take to boating life and rejoin civilisation.

 

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

[SirCy]

11 hours ago, LadyG said:

If you are going to stay in the North East you could consider a wider boat as the canals are wide enough, and many of them are commercial, and have powered gates. The instructions are clearly written, just take your time, often, in summer, you will buddy up with someone, taking it in turns to get each other through alternative locks, you need two sets of BW keys for this.

Not planning on remaining here. Something that strikes me about boating is that you can move around. Not fast from what I understand, but you're able to pack up and leave for another town at your own discretion... assuming you're not tied to a marina. Perhaps that's what drew me to this, my desire to not be tied down to one place? From what I've seen of the canals map, the northeast does have the Tees Barrage and I know Durham and Newcastle/Gateshead have pretty major rivers running through them, but they don't appear to connect to the rest of the country, so I'd be trapped up here. I've asked before and from what I understand its not really possible to take a canalboat along the coast unless you're an expert and have clear skies above you.

 

11 hours ago, LadyG said:

One important thing is income, if you are going to pay for your boat and keep it up to scratch you need money, that may mean staying in a marina, see C t C for continuous cruising v static life. It is not a cheap option, buying the boat is only the first payment, the first of many.

I figured as much it would be costly, but anything is within reach if you plan for it.

My career path is in programming; pays pretty decently, is quite suitable for remote working, and I found most of the time you get a breakthrough when you're not at your computer... normally at 4am which is why I sleep with a notepad and pen next to me now. I think my biggest concern here however would be power-consumption from running a computer and internet connection.

 

Anyone who is Continuous Cruising, how is connectivity out there? I've heard people using their mobile phones as a tether, but is that really reliable?

[Graham Davis]

20 minutes ago, SirCy said:

Is this particularly difficult to do? Part of the reason I asked about licenses was that I figured it would take at least some training to drive a boat, or at least lots of practice.

If it was that difficult and needed "training" there would be no hire boat trade.
Anybody can go and hire a canal boat and with the minimum of training, sometimes nothing more than being sent a DVD, and can happily steer a 68' boat around the system.

[Ally]

7 minutes ago, SirCy said:

 

 

Lots of fantastic information, thank you Ally!

Toilets, hauling and power-consumption are things I've seen mentioned a lot in videos, but I've not heard too much about the essentials, what would you consider  to be unnecessary on a boat compared to a house? I've heard boaters don't use tumble-dryers due to the power they need, and washing machines are a hit-or-miss depending on who's asked, anything else in particular?

 

 

Well, anything that is heavy on power. Not to say you can't have them, but they come at a cost to charging and maintaining battery power, especially if off grid. Give your iron away for starters, few aboard use them. Dishwashers are pretty unnecessary too imo (except the partner type)

The knack with electrical appliances is to look for alternatives. Is there a 12v version,  9r a lower powered whatever, and do you really need it at all? Desktop computers become laptops or tablets, ideally charged on 12v if off grid. Hairdryers become drip or towel dry, you get the picture.

But its also about decluttering. What you will have space for. Clothes usually need to be minimised, things like big vinyl collections, kitchen equipment,  huge book collections,  just all that "stuff" that collects in houses. Even in the best widebeams with the most storage,  there isn't an attic. You need to keep what you need, or is very highly emotionally attached for you.

You may already be a minimalist, but as an exercise, wander round your home, what haven't you used or enjoyed over the past year say? Those are things you may want to think of losing. Look in cupboards and drawers,  where did all that stuff come from and do you regularly use it?

Some keep a lot more than others, but boats have a safe "carry on" weight, too much weight, your outlets get too close to the waterline. 

 

We all need different things, what is important in my boat might not be in yours and vice versa. I have no need of electric coffee machines, a rowing machine and 4 tablecloths, you may have (not literally but you get my drift) so hard to say, but if this is seriously in your mind, start looking at excess in your life, because you will be adding other things pertinent to boats but not houses when you do go onboard.

[SirCy]

2 minutes ago, Ally said:

We all need different things, what is important in my boat might not be in yours and vice versa. I have no need of electric coffee machines, a rowing machine and 4 tablecloths, you may have (not literally but you get my drift) so hard to say, but if this is seriously in your mind, start looking at excess in your life, because you will be adding other things pertinent to boats but not houses when you do go onboard.

Sounds like an exercise in knowing what is truly essential in your life then?

I tend not to keep much clutter but I think if I moved onto a narrowboat I would quickly realise just how much I have.

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, SirCy said:

I figured as much it would be costly, but anything is within reach if you plan for it.

That is absolutely correct.

You can have as much electrical stuff on your boat as long as you have planned for it and had the boat built around your requirements.

 

Its' not the usage of electricity thats the problem, it is the replacement of it.  You cannot run your engines between 8pm and 8am (to recharge your batteries) so you need methods of charging to fit around your usage.

The cost of electricity generation on a boat is around 15 times the cost of buying from the 'grid' so you also need to take into account the generation costs.

 

The 'average' boater will use around 100Ah per day from the batteries because they have adapted from 'house living' with unlimited electric to boat living with very limited electric.

 

Lets look at the usage of some 'domestic appliances' that you would power from your battieroes via an inverter :

 

2Kw electric kettle would use 200Ah for each hour of use, so 12 mugs of tea at 5 minutes per time = 100Ah (as much as a 'boater' uses a day using everything)

Immersion heater = 100Ah for each hour of use

Electric toaster = 200Ah for each hour of use

Microwave = 150Ah for each hour of use

 

These things are only run for a short period but it all adds up.

 

If you have a super-poweful gaming computer you will be using lots of leccy.

 

Many people (us included) use a phone as a hot spot and the majority of the time the signal is 'OK' sometimes there just isn't any signal. I woukld be very reluctant to have to rely on using internet on a boat (of no fixed abode) if my job depended on it.

Edited November 8, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[Ally]

just to come back to the computer part, having read your follow on post.

We use EE (others are available)  and route it round the boat. The speed is reliably higher than it was when I was recently on land at my mothers for some time, on a broadband connection, but it does depend where you are, and good lines of sight. You will need a decent power set up but in theory can use any computer system, so long as you have the back up power and charging ability. Solar will help massively spring to autumn, badly over winter. But its all doable with thought. We are completely off grid, partner does an amount of programming too. Not to the extent you do i doubt. You can get Internet booster aerials.

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

For some, coping with the solitude is a challenge. Hence the popularity of pets on boats.

There are some very strange people on the water, mental problems, anger outbursts, and a few out and out nutters. A cornucopia of weirdoes. 

I am perfectly normal, at least that's what I say every day, once when I get up, and twice when I go to bed.

Edited November 8, 2020 by LadyG

[Tracy D'arth]

27 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I am perfectly normal, at least that's what I say every day, once when I get up, and twice when I go to bed.

You are of course perfectly entitled to your opinion.  Self confidence is vital.  Believe in yourself even if you are a minority of one. Are you looking for confirmation?