Newbie needing advice

[Elsbells]

Hello all! 

 

Me and my partner are looking into buying a wide beam to live in permanatly, but are complete beginners. He used to live on a stationary boat years ago, but it will obviously be pretty different.

 

Can you get a mortgage for a boat or is it best to save and pay outright for it? 

 

What roughly would you say your annual expenditures are for a wide beam? 

 

What are the best locations and moorings? 

 

Any other advice or your experiences going from a flat to the water are very very welcome! :)

 

Tia, 

Ella

[Tony Brooks]

1. A very few companies say they offer a marine mortgage on such boats so normally a personal loan.

 

2. Without a lot more information about how you intend to use it and where almost impossible to say but as a very rough guide about the same as living in bricks and mortar unless you intend to bend the rules and potentially live in close to squalor.

 

3. Depends on what you want. Posh London marina moorings costing an arm and a leg to a bankside mooring up north. Proper legal moorings that allow residential use are like rocking-horse dung. Moorings where you can live aboard and keep under the radar are a bit easier to find.

[Pie Eater]

As Tony said, more information is needed about where you are looking for etc.

[Alan de Enfield]

41 minutes ago, Elsbells said:

What are the best locations and moorings? 

 

There is a huge difference between prices and facilities in (say) Yorkshire and Central London.

 

No use us telling you that Widebeam boats are suitable for Yorkshire waterways and the prices of moorings are 50% of those 'down South'  if you intend to be in Oxford, Bristol or London.

 

Tell us more about your life :

 

Do you need to be in a certain area for work, children at school, elderly parents etc etc.

[LadyG]

Try the search facility, every week someone asks the same question. 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, Elsbells said:

Hello all! 

 

Me and my partner are looking into buying a wide beam to live in permanatly, but are complete beginners. He used to live on a stationary boat years ago, but it will obviously be pretty different.

 

Can you get a mortgage for a boat or is it best to save and pay outright for it? 

 

What roughly would you say your annual expenditures are for a wide beam? 

 

What are the best locations and moorings? 

 

Any other advice or your experiences going from a flat to the water are very very welcome!

 

Tia, 

Ella

 

Definitely more information needed in order for the forum to help.

 

In particular

 

where you plan to moor (if you do)

 

Where you plan to cruise permanently (if you don't)

 

These factors will make a huge difference to costs, not having a mooring can substantially reduce your costs but the need to cruise continuously can become onerous to impossible depending on work/school/family commitments.

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Try the search facility, every week someone asks the same question. 

 

And every week somebody comes up with an equally unhelpful response.

[Tony Brooks]

22 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

And every week somebody comes up with an equally unhelpful response.

 

 And often more frequently than that we get asked the same question so naturally get a bit fed up with it.

[LadyG]

Not sure how it is unhelpful, but you are welcome to answer the OP. Sniping at me is why you are on permanent ignore. 

Edited March 31, 2021 by LadyG

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

 And often more frequently than that we get asked the same question so naturally get a bit fed up with it.

 

 

I do think though the forum needs to put together a FAQ for newbie boaters with some information, much like what get's posted in response to this type of question. Then that could be quickly linked to when the question comes up, if the newbie asking hasn't seen it.

 

It's clear more and more people are considering the 'boating life' as an alternative to land based living particularly during and after the pandemic.

3 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Not sure how it is unhelpful, but you are welcome to answer the OP. 

 

I already have.

 

It's unhelpful because as I have explained to you before they may not be familiar with how to use a forum search facility, given they are new. A slightly more helpful response would have been to tell them where the search facility is (Top right of the home page) or even do a search for them using 'newbie' as the search term.

 

Like this

Edited March 31, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, LadyG said:

Not sure how it is unhelpful, but you are welcome to answer the OP. Sniping at me is why you are on permanent ignore. 

I wonder how many times its been posted on here how to draw the water from the bottom of your diesel tank

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wonder how many times its been posted on here how to draw the water from the bottom of your diesel tank

 

Its a good job I'm from the Fens, using my fingers and toes I'm up to 23 (one to go)

[Elsbells]

3 hours ago, LadyG said:

Try the search facility, every week someone asks the same question. 

Apologies, I'm very new to this and have not used forums before. 

[ditchcrawler]

Just now, Elsbells said:

Apologies, I'm very new to this and have not used forums before. 

Dont worry about it, the search facility is not very user friendly in my opinion.

[Elsbells]

3 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

 

I do think though the forum needs to put together a FAQ for newbie boaters with some information, much like what get's posted in response to this type of question. Then that could be quickly linked to when the question comes up, if the newbie asking hasn't seen it.

 

It's clear more and more people are considering the 'boating life' as an alternative to land based living particularly during and after the pandemic.

 

I already have.

 

It's unhelpful because as I have explained to you before they may not be familiar with how to use a forum search facility, given they are new. A slightly more helpful response would have been to tell them where the search facility is (Top right of the home page) or even do a search for them using 'newbie' as the search term.

 

Like this

Yes that would be very helpful! I've never used forums before so wasn't sure how to work it all. Thankyou for explaining ?

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Elsbells said:

Apologies, I'm very new to this and have not used forums before. 

 

 

Don't worry the good lady takes some getting used to.

 

Keep asking, but it would help if you could answer some of the questions asked after your initial post.

 

(where do you plan to use the boat, have a mooring, work commitments etc)

Edited March 31, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Elsbells]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

There is a huge difference between prices and facilities in (say) Yorkshire and Central London.

 

No use us telling you that Widebeam boats are suitable for Yorkshire waterways and the prices of moorings are 50% of those 'down South'  if you intend to be in Oxford, Bristol or London.

 

Tell us more about your life :

 

Do you need to be in a certain area for work, children at school, elderly parents etc etc.

So we are currently living in Essex, we don't need to be in any specific area just preferably away from big cities ?

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Elsbells said:

So we are currently living in Essex, we don't need to be in any specific area just preferably away from big cities ?

 

So you'd be happy having a boat in North Wales, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire etc etc ?

[Elsbells]

Yes definitely ? 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Elsbells said:

So we are currently living in Essex, we don't need to be in any specific area just preferably away from big cities ?

 

If you are intent on having a wide beam and it genuinely doesnt matter where you are then I would give serious consideration to coming up North. In particular the North East part of the system. Moorings are generally cheaper for a kick off. You will have an extensive cruising range which can be extended significantly to include the River Trent when you have the right experience (assuming a suitable boat).

 

The waterways up here are huge and accomodate the widest of widebeams with no problem. We used to moor at Lemonroyd Marina and then Pollington and shared our bases with wide boats including ex working barges converted for living on.

[Alan de Enfield]

Ok. If you are definatley wanting a wide beam the country is split into two,

 

There is is section across the middle (sort of across from Birmingham to Leicester) so if you have a boat in the South the only way you can go North (or vice-versa) is lifting it out going on the back of a truck.

 

So initially decide if you want to be North or South.

 

North is better for a 'fat boat'.

 

Moorings tend to be cheaper in the North  (Say £3k-£5k per annum compared to London at £10k-£15k)

Less big cities means that there is a much better 'environment' more rural stuff etc etc.

 

Are you planning on having a boat built or buying 'pre-loved' ?

It is always suggested that buying a used boat is much better, it will give you time to find what you NEED compared to what you WANT, if you have a boat built with what you want you will find out that after a year what you thought you needed isn't what you really need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Elsbells]

That is soo helpful! Thank you very much! Yes - we've been looking at pre-loved to start off with 

26 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

If you are intent on having a wide beam and it genuinely doesnt matter where you are then I would give serious consideration to coming up North. In particular the North East part of the system. Moorings are generally cheaper for a kick off. You will have an extensive cruising range which can be extended significantly to include the River Trent when you have the right experience (assuming a suitable boat).

 

The waterways up here are huge and accomodate the widest of widebeams with no problem. We used to moor at Lemonroyd Marina and then Pollington and shared our bases with wide boats including ex working barges converted for living on.

Thank you very much for your advice, we will have a look into the North East :)

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Elsbells said:

Thank you very much for your advice, we will have a look into the North East

 

 

Just to avoid confusion - the North East of the Canal system is 'sort of' Sheffield, Leeds, Lincoln, as opposed the the North East (of the country) Durham, Newcastle etc

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Elsbells said:

That is soo helpful! Thank you very much! Yes - we've been looking at pre-loved to start off with 

Thank you very much for your advice, we will have a look into the North East

 

Please note I did say the North East part of the system. This isnt the big navigible Rivers of the North East of the country eg the Tyne and the Tees.

Edited March 31, 2021 by The Happy Nomad

[Tracy D'arth]

Find out where you can put before you buy it.