Canalboats In Cornwall ?

[Tony Brooks]

29 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

It was indeed the Devon bank near Bere Alston and a very pleasant 18 month sojourn it turned out to be Tony! Enjoyed mixing it with the nuclear subs and other warships down at Devonport when I got bored with the fit out and felt like a bit of boating. Great way to run a diesel engine in properly pushing a good spring tide! And yes, I made the rooky mistake of specifying Mag anodes which soon disappeared. Beached it on a sandbank on a very high tide before I left to replace them, and re-blacked the bottom before floating free on the next spring.

 

Up in Scotland now, 22 years later, which is quite a contrast!

 

Do you know if the farmer still has the Dock he dug for you, if its in use by someone else or if he may want a tenant.

[Sea Dog]

16 hours ago, Cara said:

Hi there we was thinking about torpoint it is too expensive in gweek and they want a lot of money upfront.

 

 

My first move would be to ask all of the other folk living in a boat like yours in Plymouth or Torpoint. I've lived down here for 40 years and never seen any though, which possibly speaks volumes...

 

Note @gatekrash comments about conditions in the Hamoaze - I've been in and out of there more than most and have met with some pretty inclement conditions. You might be ok up one of the creeks, but you probably be drying out between tides.

 

Note also @Alan de Enfieldabout the cost - most 60 boats down here are either very high end yachts or Princess cruisers and the like, all owned by the well heeled. It strikes me that few would be here because they baulked at the prices in Gweek. 

16 hours ago, Cara said:

Hi there we was thinking about torpoint it is too expensive in gweek and they want a lot of money upfront.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Sea Dog
Double post

[Up-Side-Down]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Do you know if the farmer still has the Dock he dug for you, if its in use by someone else or if he may want a tenant.

I've had a look on Google Earth but I can't really see any evidence of it now Tony. Here is the drying mooring (or 'harbour' as it was laughingly known as) I started off in: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bere+Alston,+Yelverton/@50.4638805,-4.2273527,260m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x486c8ce184536335:0x85439ff4b5a45e7a!8m2!3d50.481561!4d-4.186218 and my own wee 70ft canal was somewhere to the south on the same Devon Bank. I guess the farmer (shamefully I can't remember his name but he was far, far more interested in sailing than farming) is long gone but the farm buildings just to the NW of the 'harbour' are still cluttered up with yachts so his successor is clearly of a similar persuasion! The 'harbour' worked well for a 60ft narrowboat but my move was due to making access to the slip somewhat tight for bluewater boat retrieval.

[Up-Side-Down]

3 minutes ago, Up-Side-Down said:

I've had a look on Google Earth but I can't really see any evidence of it now Tony. Here is the drying mooring (or 'harbour' as it was laughingly known as) I started off in: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bere+Alston,+Yelverton/@50.4638805,-4.2273527,260m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x486c8ce184536335:0x85439ff4b5a45e7a!8m2!3d50.481561!4d-4.186218 and my own wee 70ft canal was somewhere to the south on the same Devon Bank. I guess the farmer (shamefully I can't remember his name but he was far, far more interested in sailing than farming) is long gone but the farm buildings just to the NW of the 'harbour' are still cluttered up with yachts so his successor is clearly of a similar persuasion! The 'harbour' worked well for a 60ft narrowboat but my move was due to making access to the slip somewhat tight for bluewater boat retrieval.

Not being able to recall any details accurately my starting point would be: https://www.southhooecounthouse.com which lies just to the NE of the farm. They would be bound to know if, indeed, they're not in fact the same people!

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

My first move would be to ask all of the other folk living in a boat like yours in Plymouth or Torpoint. I've lived down here for 40 years and never seen any though, which possibly speaks volumes...

 

Certainly when we asked around Plymouth area no marina (we asked) allowed liveboards and were not overly happy at 'extensive use'. They seemed to want you to pay for 12 months and either never use the boat, or clear off for weeks at a time to the Carribean (or Falmouth), rather than stay 'local cruising' and coming back into the marina every few days spending a few nights in the marina and then off again.

 

Must admit that the Visitors moorings (£30 a night) are excellent  and because of our beam we were put on the outside next to the Princess 'PDI' Pontoon.

Visitors get their own (individual) toilet / bathroom complex with basin, toilet bath and shower, and its yours alone !!. All the leccy you want and a tap every few yards along the pontoon.

 

 

Were we moored the cat,  parallel to the Princess boats, 2nd pontoon in from the RH side of the picture

 

 

 

[Cara]

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Certainly when we asked around Plymouth area no marina (we asked) allowed liveboards and were not overly happy at 'extensive use'. They seemed to want you to pay for 12 months and either never use the boat, or clear off for weeks at a time to the Carribean (or Falmouth), rather than stay 'local cruising' and coming back into the marina every few days spending a few nights in the marina and then off again.

 

Must admit that the Visitors moorings (£30 a night) are excellent  and because of our beam we were put on the outside next to the Princess 'PDI' Pontoon.

Visitors get their own (individual) toilet / bathroom complex with basin, toilet bath and shower, and its yours alone !!. All the leccy you want and a tap every few yards along the pontoon.

 

 

Were we moored the cat,  parallel to the Princess boats, 2nd pontoon in from the RH side of the picture

 

 

 

Interesting comments and now wish we had a sea boat as it does not look like it is feasible for us really and glad I asked here first.

Thanks for all the valuable advice I think we need to rethink and maybe sell to move there.

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, Cara said:

Interesting comments and now wish we had a sea boat as it does not look like it is feasible for us really and glad I asked here first.

Thanks for all the valuable advice I think we need to rethink and maybe sell to move there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit to add a 'thought' :

Are you needing to work or are you free to roam ?

 

 

The benefit of having a 'boat' instead of an enlarged 'sewer tube' is that during the nice calm Summer (that we used to get) you can just motor along the coast and anchor up in any little coves, swim in (or take your tender) to the sandy beaches, BBQ drink your G&T and its all free. You don't pay to anchor up, but some places will offer mooring buoys and you pay a small sum (maybe £5) but you get the extra security of having a firm, fixed mooring instead of a potentially dragging anchor.

 

We also have a mooring in a marina in North Wales for our other boat (Motor Cruiser) and we use it this way.

Cruise out from the marina, find a nice cove, spend a few days there, paddle boarding, swimming, taking the tender to the beach, then move on and repeat.

Water lasts us about 10 days and batteries kept topped up by solar (run the fridge and freezer) all self contained.

This is us anchored off Pilots Cove (Anglesey) and then the tender on the beach looking back to the boat.

 

 

To access by road it is about a 4 mile walk from the car-park so not many people get there, unless they are boaters.

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[magpie patrick]

6 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

You can take a narrowboat to Bude.

 

Here's how (not) to do it:   http://judgefamily.synology.me/scholargypsy/articles/Ilfracombe.pdf

How did you get back...? 

[gatekrash]

They do occasionally handle widebeams down here, but they're usually going the opposite direction...

 

https://www.facebook.com/316668171797298/posts/2114435712020526/

[Scholar Gypsy]

8 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

How did you get back...? 

 

I'm not sure how they managed it. I think I did see this boat at Limehouse a year or two later.