Moving aboard - your experiences of hindsight

[Chagall]

45 minutes ago, northern said:

Thanks for the input.  Appreciated.

 

My boat's just under 50ft, tug-style with a large deck, and an engine room, so you'll understand there's not a great deal of living space.  In fact, it's actually not really best suited to living aboard only for this reason.  It has every bit of equipment you could ever want or imagine though.  The engine room will be ideal for storing awkward items like clothes maiden/buckets etc.  And there's a reasonable storage area under the deck too for lesser used items.  Despite it not being the most suitable boat to liveaboard, there's only going to be me on it, and I loved it as soon as I saw it.  I bought it subject to survey within a few hours of the broker advertising it.  Just over a week later it was surveyed (already had one booked for a month to look at a different boat) and paid for in full.

 

Anyhow, I'm not a fan of clutter and crap, which is fortunate.  Clothing will make up the bulk of what's coming aboard and some of this will have to live under the fixed seating in the saloon.  The wardrobe isn't large enough.

 

I've a decent amplifier and Quad 11L speakers with stands but there's no room for these and they'll be replaced with some smaller bluetooth Ruark speakers which seem well rated enough.  

 

I cleared the loft and de-cluttered most of the house 6 months ago when I found a boat I intended to buy and move on to but it fell through.

 

There's very little in the way of objects and possessions that I use and couldn't live without, so reckon there'll be nothing I miss.

 

I don't have to worry about batteries as I'll be marina based and will only be able to cruise at weekends and annual leave.  There's 700 watts of solar and I rarely moor in the same sport for more than 2 days as I get bored.  I've nothing which is power hungry - just a laptop and the dehumidifier will only be run in the marina - and there's travel power if I want to run the washer.

 

Oh, and I chopped my car in at the weekend.  Shame as I really enjoyed it but can't moan since Cazoo gave me more than I paid for it.  I've now something far more unassuming which I'll worry about less when sat in the marina's car park.  Needs must - the boat was out of my budget but I wanted it and so the car had to go.  I wanted to move aboard debt free, with the annual marina fees, licence, RCR and insurance all paid up for the year in advance, and didn't want to borrow money to bridge the gap.

 

I'll be on board a week tomorrow. 

 

Thanks again. 

Try not to overthink it all, just enjoy the powerful rush of emotion you will feel as you take the tiller and move off in your own complete world, whatever you think you ought to have or forgot will disappear in the bliss of achievement. 

 

Nothing else really matters after that. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Chagall said:

 

 

Nothing else really matters after that. 

 

Unless youve forgotten the wine....

[roland elsdon]

When i moved aboard I lost my bd2 turntable, mission acoustics 770s, and  Rogers valve amp. On the second boat I got the turntable and amp re installed and a pair of bbc speakers.

This year after 39 years i got the speakers back having sold my parents old house where i had installed them  in 1984.

I hooked them up to my current denon amp, fired up ‘wish you were here ‘ by the floyd.

There was a horrible noise and virtual silence. Removed the fronts and both base and mid units were completely rotten.

moral of story get rid while its still worth something.

I think years of classical music killed their souls!

[GUMPY]

10 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

hooked them up to my current denon amp, fired up ‘wish you were here ‘ by the floyd.

There was a horrible noise and virtual silence. Removed the fronts and both base and mid units were completely rotten.

Same thing happend to my old  Tannoy Devons, took them to Lockwood Audio who put new cones in both and replaced the tweeter in one. Now as good as new.

Reconing speakers is not difficult, just takes a bit of time. 

 

Lockwood used to build BBC monitors

http://www.lockwoodaudio.co.uk/page1.htm

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Loddon
adding linkette

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Same thing happend to my old  Tannoy Devons, took them to Lockwood Audio who put new cones in both and replaced the tweeter in one. Now as good as new.

Reconing speakers is not difficult, just takes a bit of time. 

 

Lockwood used to build BBC monitors

http://www.lockwoodaudio.co.uk/page1.htm

 

 

I LURVE all my Tannoy dual concentric speakers. I've been collecting them for 20 years. I find the foam surrounds rot away on the Tannoy Devons though, rather than the whole cones. Fiddly but cheap to replace the foams and my lugholes can't hear the difference between me replacing the foams and Lockwood reconing them. Never tried replacing the whole cones myself. 

 

Currently got my pair of Chatsworths (12" Monitor Golds) plumbed in to my Quad 34 preamp and Quad 22 valve power amps. They sound a bit thin to my ear compared to my Lancaster enclosures with 15" HPDs .  

 

 

[GUMPY]

8 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I LURVE all my Tannoy dual concentric speakers. I've been collecting them for 20 years. I find the foam surrounds rot away on the Tannoy Devons though, rather than the whole cones. Fiddly but cheap to replace the foams and my lugholes can't hear the difference between me replacing the foams and Lockwood reconing them. Never tried replacing the whole cones myself. 

 

Currently got my pair of Chatsworths (12" Monitor Golds) plumbed in to my Quad 34 preamp and Quad 22 valve power amps. They sound a bit thin to my ear compared to my Lancaster enclosures with 15" HPDs .  

 

 

I love a good anorak 😉

The foams had gone on the HPD385 in my daughter's Devons (they are no longer mine since I left) it was easier to get Lockwood to sort it.

Now reduced to Quad 34/405-2 and a pair of Quad 11 no turntable as I don't have any vinyl, again it's all my daughter's now☹️

Being honest my hearing is now well below the standard of the system.

[doratheexplorer]

13 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Accept that sinking dreams will part of your nightly routine for the first few monthsevermore

FIFY

[roland elsdon]

Looked at cone replacement in some detail, but decided against as life is downsizing . Put them on eBay, not a squeak. You can guess the outcome.

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

I love a good anorak 😉

The foams had gone on the HPD385 in my daughter's Devons (they are no longer mine since I left) it was easier to get Lockwood to sort it.

Now reduced to Quad 34/405-2 and a pair of Quad 11 no turntable as I don't have any vinyl, again it's all my daughter's now☹️

Being honest my hearing is now well below the standard of the system.

 

As we're having a good nerd-out, the Devons have 12" drivers rather than 15", so I think yours will have HPD315s not the HPD385s. Totally different! Or perhaps your cabs are not actually Devons but something larger? The HPD385 is the best drive unit Tannoy ever made back in the 70s, a superior drive unit to the older and more valuable Monitor Golds in my personal opinion, sounding 'richer' with more detailed bass and accurate top end. The market for vintage Tannoys as a whole disagrees with me though, with Monitor Golds and Monitor Reds selling for far more money. 

 

Another recommendation from me is the later and smaller hexagonal-enclosure Tannoys, the 600 series with a dual concentric driver and a second, passive driver. These are cheap second hand but sound wonderful. I have a pair of these 611s in the boat. Here's an identical pair on ebay, starting at £91, no bids. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313724362281?hash=item490b6dde29:g:zbIAAOSw~85hb6sD

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by MtB

[GUMPY]

I suspect they are 12" and I just got my numbers squiddled. The cabinets were made when I worked at Turbosound from original Tannoy plans so not actually Tannoy Devons but exact copies. The speakers were purloined I'm not prepared to say where from 😱

 

Like the look of the 611 but no place to put them on the boat where I would get a decent stereo image........

 

When I first moved onboard I had a pair of Grot Boxes (Auratone C5?) They were used as studio near field monitors. Seems they may be back in production 😉

 

Still find it bizarre that people want to use Bluetooth to listen to music, a cassette tape has better frequency response 😯

[BlueStringPudding]

Post.

Change everything you can to electronic correspondence (like bank statements and the like) and what remains will be things you might need to read urgently (like medical appointments) or things you might need as a hard copy or tangible item (online orders, parcels, P60, voting slip or whatever). Then work out how you will receive those things.

Does the marina have mailboxes that can receive letters and packages?

Will you be collecting parcels instead from your nearest town, which limits you to items sent by Royal Mail postal  services if collecting from a Post Office or Delivery Office, they don't usually accept other couriers. There's the Post Restante service (which technically is for a maximum of 3 months but that seems to be at the discretion of the staff) or you can rent a PO Box address if you have had a local residential address recently.

Or there are other mail locker services like Mail Boxes Etc - these things charge a rental fee.

Amazon collection points and lockers when ordering online (not all Amazon sellers will post to those) 

EBay click and collect (not all EBay seller's will post to those).

Hermes or DPD or Collect Plus locations (there are lots around but again it limits the online shops you can buy from)  

You can pay for a boaters mail service like Boatmail. They give you an address in Gloucestershire (if you're not in Gloucestershire yourself, you'll find there are endless conversations with councils or NHS or any government department  you liaise with, about why your correspondence address isn't local) but Boatmail will either forward your post to your nearest Post Office or scan it and email it to you for about £3 a letter, or instead a monthly or annual fee. 

Do you or a family member have a house whose address you can use instead? 

 

Lots of options but all have either cost implications, or limit from whom you can purchase goods, or mean schlepping about to collect your mail. That's just part of boat life. 

Edited October 29, 2021 by BlueStringPudding

[peterboat]

I am on my second boat so after 6 years on the first one I disposed of all the crap I didn't need! Somehow over the years I have collected it all back again 😟 it just happens I need to go through the boat again if its not been worn in a year its rags if its good charity shop.

I have found that tools however don't come into that category make room for them because soon as you get rid you will need it!!!

[Bristolfashion]

We moved on to a tiny 28' yacht as our first boat - things that have worked really well for the minimal lifestyle include a good ebook reader/tablet and membership of the free libraries, a tough, small travel/parlour guitar and a strict approach to chucking out/selling anything that wasn't earning it's keep.

 

Good luck. 

[Grassman]

We moved aboard 9 years ago after having lived on the same house for 35 years. It took 6 months to get rid of all the possessions/junk we'd accumulated over that time, but once I got into the mindset I actually found it quite liberating. However I must have been too ruthless because after moving aboard we actually found we had some storage room to spare. That didn't last long of course, but there were a few items I'd disposed of but realised I could have kept.

 

A good idea is to rent some short term storage and then if after 6/12 months get rid of anything you haven't needed in that time.

[MHS]

On 27/10/2021 at 23:11, northern said:

Thanks.  I'm heading down to Kilworth this Saturday to get stuff aboard for the boat mover who's taking it to Great Haywood for me, and I'll be taking it from there.  I'll be making sure there's enough gas, fuel and a full tank of diesel for him.  And more than enough spare for me to take it from GH to Nantwich. 

 

It'll be marina based in Nantwich so no worries with much of the sort of stuff you mention and I'm really familiar with water points and chandlers etc on the SU.  Also, Chamberlin fuel boat is moored very close by and does the circuit and I'll be buying all I can from them rather than a marina.

 

Oh, it's a drop-through toilet too, so no daily carrying and emptying.  It wasn't my preference but it's a used boat so didn't have much choice.

Hope all goes well for you.
Do make sure you have a look at any stoppages that may delay your planned trip. There are plenty at this time of year on many routes. 
 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices?start-date=31%2F10%2F2021&start-date_submit=31%2F10%2F2021&end-date=31%2F03%2F2022&end-date_submit=31%2F03%2F2022&type[]=1&order-field=startDateTime&order-direction=descending#form

[northern]

Thanks for the replies.  I got the keys yesterday afternoon and spent my first night aboard.  With there being no handover from the previous owner, fortunately I've a very limited knowledge of how things might work and managed to get everything up and running fairly quickly.  It was still nerve-wracking, trying to figure out something very new on your own, with the battery isolators off, all switches on the DC panel off, gas bottle isolated, inverter off etc, and no shore power.  I think had it been my first boat it would have been a cold, miserable first night.

 

I spent 30 minutes looking for the shower pump switch only to learn it's an automatic.  And much longer trying to figure out how shore power connects; I found there's a household 3 pin plug coming out of the mains cupboard, which then plugs in into the transformer, to then feed through the pigeon box in the engine room, and into shore power.  I'm assured that's fairly normal for this sort of boat!  🙂  

 

The Morso got the front of the boat up to nearly 40 degrees at one point - I'm sure I'll master it eventually - and even when under control provided some heat towards the back cabin.  The fire was out by the time I was up but I'm sure I'll find a way of keeping it lit overnight.

 

The boat's now on its way to Great Haywood for me to meet the boat mover by weekend.  There's no planned closure that I can see and I've used Canal Plan to plot the route and there's no mention there too.

 

I've got to be out of the house by the end of November but I'll be arranging a temporary small storage locker.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by northern

[northern]

Oh, I'll start off a separate hi-fi thread at a later date.  I won't buy anything without demoing either.  The bookshelf Quads I've got don't even get out of first gear - I lived in a new build, back to back terrace so can't make any real use of them without being inconsiderate to neighbours.  They're just going through an integrated amp and used as TV speakers mainly.

 

These seem well regarded...

 

https://www.richersounds.com/ruark-mr1-mk2-walnut.html?nosto=nosto-page-search1

[Ange]

Looking good! Best of luck, I'm so envious - I'd love to relive our moving aboard experience. Wishing you all the best.

[MtB]

10 hours ago, northern said:

And much longer trying to figure out how shore power connects; I found there's a household 3 pin plug coming out of the mains cupboard, which then plugs in into the transformer, to then feed through the pigeon box in the engine room, and into shore power.  I'm assured that's fairly normal for this sort of boat!  🙂  

 

 

Oo a Hudson, very smart! 

 

Well done for figuring all the stuff out but a couple of comments.

 

1) There is no such thing as "fairly normal" for any sort of boat. There is a massive spectrum of ways of doing almost anything on a boat and assuming something has been done a particular way will catch out any of us sooner or later.

 

2) More specifically, the shoreline setup you describe sounds dead flakey and possibly dangerous. You mention a transformer which bothers me. There is no need for a transformer, perhaps you mean an inverter. But its the way you describe that 3-pin plug. What "mains cupboard"? Is it on the bank or in the boat? Are the pins on the pug live when the shoreline is plugged into the bankside power supply? Hopefully not but if they are, this is NOT "normal" and calls into question the safety of everything else the previous owner might have done to the 230Vac installation. 

[northern]

Just now, MtB said:

 

 

Oo a Hudson, very smart! 

 

Well done for figuring all the stuff out but a couple of comments.

 

1) There is no such thing as "fairly normal" for any sort of boat. There is a massive spectrum of ways of doing almost anything on a boat and assuming something has been done a particular way will catch out any of us sooner or later.

 

2) More specifically, the shoreline setup you describe sounds dead flakey and possibly dangerous. You mention a transformer which bothers me. There is no need for a transformer, perhaps you mean an inverter. But its the way you describe that 3-pin plug. What "mains cupboard"? Is it on the bank or in the boat? Are the pins on the pug live when the shoreline is plugged into the bankside power supply? Hopefully not but if they are, this is NOT "normal" and calls into question the safety of everything else the previous owner might have done to the 230Vac installation. 

 

Thank you.

 

It's probably my poor explanation and I can't think of a better way of writing it.  It's had shore power from new (it's a 2012 boat) as there's mention of it in the RCD folder.  I don't believe the previous owners' have modified it in any way.  In fact, they left some notes on board for the new owner and they specifically mentioned that almost never used it as the constantly cruised and found the 700w of solar gave them enough power almost all year round.

 

I'll post some photos which will hopefully be clearer once I get the boat back.

[MtB]

18 minutes ago, northern said:

 

Thank you.

 

It's probably my poor explanation and I can't think of a better way of writing it.  It's had shore power from new (it's a 2012 boat) as there's mention of it in the RCD folder.  I don't believe the previous owners' have modified it in any way.  In fact, they left some notes on board for the new owner and they specifically mentioned that almost never used it as the constantly cruised and found the 700w of solar gave them enough power almost all year round.

 

I'll post some photos which will hopefully be clearer once I get the boat back.

 

Yes photos would be a Good Idea when you get the boat handed back over to you. 

 

Thing is, ANYTHING involving a 3-pin plug in the shoreline supply sounds flaky and DIY, so be careful of it until you are sure the 230Vac is properly designed, earthed and safe. It probably is safe given it's an unmodified Hudson, but on the other hand I would not expect you to be needing to plug 3-pin plugs into things to connect a shoreline.  

Edited November 1, 2021 by MtB

[northern]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Yes photos would be a Good Idea when you get the boat handed back over to you. 

 

Thing is, ANYTHING involving a 3-pin plug in the shoreline supply sounds flaky and DIY, so be careful of it until you are sure the 230Vac is properly designed, earthed and safe. It probably is safe given it's an unmodified Hudson, but on the other hand I would not expect you to be needing to plug 3-pin plugs into things to connect a shoreline.  

 

Shall do.

 

The surveyor I used is massively picky and detailed and there was no mention of it from him.  He's picked up a lack of earthing on other boats he's surveyed for me too.  So fingers crossed it's my crap explanation that's ringing alarm bells. 

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, northern said:

 

Shall do.

 

The surveyor I used is massively picky and detailed and there was no mention of it from him.  He's picked up a lack of earthing on other boats he's surveyed for me too.  So fingers crossed it's my crap explanation that's ringing alarm bells. 

 

A point occurs to me. By "3-pin plug" I am imagining a white, domestic 13A 3-pin plug. The correct, weatherproof, blue, exterior grade shoreline plugs are also "3-pin" when you look inside. Mebbe this is what you have!

 

I'm sure your surveyor would have flagged up any doubts about the shoreline so you're prolly fine. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

48 minutes ago, MtB said:

You mention a transformer which bothers me. There is no need for a transformer,

Could be an isolation transformer? Or just possibly mistaking a galvanic isolator for a transformer? Agree, pictures required!

[northern]

Definitely not the galvanic isolator.  I'll have a go at explaining it again...

 

From the cupboard which houses the DC board, out comes a 3 pin domestic plug which is wired in.

There's a separate extension lead / gang which the above plugs directly into

The extension / gang has the transformer at the other end

The shore power cable goes from the shore power, through the pigeon box, and then connects to the extension lead/gang and plugs into the transformer socket