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Living on River Severn or Kennett & Avon


daveswoodensigns

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8 hours ago, daveswoodensigns said:

No my aim is to ditch the car. Use public transport! Cars and canal boats don't really mix well in my thinking, less stress.  My boat, widebeam 60x10, will probably be electric with adequate solar, (6.5 kw) and only moving every two weeks.

Whoa. 

This suggests to me that you are not an experienced boater, and you expect your boating to be easy, you are wearing rose tinted glasses. 

Best thing, buy a small boat, second hand, see how you get on. Depreciation can be high with new boats, though no one can predict anything these days: a self contained portable habitation might suddenly be much more attractive than a London house

You don't need a 60x10 to live on, but you will need megabucks to buy one, were you going to buy a sail away to save money, tee hee 😍

Edited by LadyG
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9 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Perversely when its busy, this can work in your favour. Pair up with another boat through each lock and they are highly likely to work it for you, if you make it clear you are single-handing.

Easier to pair up as a narrowboat, unless we are talking the big locks found on commercial waterways. 

I am not familiar with the K&A of course, but even if I were young and fit, I'd find it difficult to envisage this single-handed lifestyle, moving religiously every 14 days in order to comply with rules and regulations, seems to me far removed from an ideal freedom lifestyle. Sitting on a boat, no matter how wide for thirteen days, its a strange idea for a single hander. I can understand it for those with children at school. 

Edited by LadyG
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3 hours ago, LadyG said:

Whoa. 

This suggests to me that you are not an experienced boater, and you expect your boating to be easy, you are wearing rose tinted glasses. 

Best thing, buy a small boat, second hand, see how you get on. Depreciation can be high with new boats, though no one can predict anything these days: a self contained portable habitation might suddenly be much more attractive than a London house

You don't need a 60x10 to live on, but you will need megabucks to buy one, were you going to buy a sail away to save money, tee hee 😍

Your right in some points, I have never owned a boat but have been looking at many YouTube channels on living and working on the canals for at least 5 years. Nothing you choose in life is always perfect.

 

I will have enough money to buy a decent ten feet wide beam and have enough knowledge to transform it into an all electric boat. I plan on having about 100 kw of batteries and about 6.5kw solar panels. With diesel engines being cut out in a few years time more boats will go electric, that I have no doubts about. It will only be a mater of time as fuel will become less available and even more expensive than it is now.

 

Living in a building is getting more difficult and expensive and I want a different way of life. I am semi retired but will be working on my boat doing wooden signs and other things too.

Edited by daveswoodensigns
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9 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

Your right in some points, I have never owned a boat but have been looking at many YouTube channels on living and working on the canals for at least 5 years. Nothing you choose in life is always perfect.

 

I will have enough money to buy a decent ten feet wide beam and have enough knowledge to transform it into an all electric boat. I plan on having about 100 kw of batteries and about 6.5kw solar panels. With diesel engines being cut out in a few years time more boats will go electric, that I have no doubts about. It will only be a mater of time as fuel will become less available and even more expensive than it is now.

 

Living in a building is getting more difficult and expensive and I want a different way of life. I am semi retired but will be working on my boat doing wooden signs and other things too.

Dont forget the composting toilet ;)

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When I was younger (15 or so years ago when I was 55)  we took Parglena (61x11) down the K&A it was very hard work and not really fun at all. We didn't get past Newbury before we decided that it wasn't worth doing.  Six years earlier we took SM (33x7) to Bath and back with ease. This was before the K&A became overun with towpath shufflers so mooring was easy.

Personally I wouldn't attempt it in a big boat 😱

 

 

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25 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

I will have enough money to buy a decent ten feet wide beam and have enough knowledge to transform it into an all electric boat. I plan on having about 100 kw of batteries and about 6.5kw solar panels.

 

I'm really doubtful about your degree of electrical knowledge given you are not even getting the units right. And can you really get 6.5kW of solar onto the roof of a 10ft widebeam? You realise the harvest from 6.5kW of solar will be closer to 0.65kW in winter?

(And then only for 4 hours per day.)

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4 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

I was thinking the same about the K&A, now too crowded, but I would like to stay in the south. 

 

I am also looking at the southern broads but they have length limits and you can only stay 48 hours on most moorings.

There is a reason why many/most liveaboards do it in the UK on narrowboats. Our system simply makes it far far more " Doable " I lived aboard for 30 odd years until last year on 8 different boats. One seagoing, six narrow and one wide. The widebeam boats are immeasureably better to live on comfort wise, and indeed superior in every way, but you cannot hop North to south etc etc with ease. To some extent you have missed the boat ( lol ) it was a great lifestyle 30 years ago, the whole of the K and A was virtualy empty for instance. I had a mooring near bath in 93/4 and there were only a few boats between Bath and BOA for instance. The K and A is classed as a wide canal, but in reality its a narrow, shallow, muddy ditch far more suited to narrowboats. Dont believe too much you see on you tube, the vast majority of them are newbies finding their feet. In my opinion a full length or nearly narrowbeam centred on the South Oxford where there is still oodles of room would suit you better.

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14 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I'm really doubtful about your degree of electrical knowledge given you are not even getting the units right. And can you really get 6.5kW of solar onto the roof of a 10ft widebeam? You realise the harvest from 6.5kW of solar will be closer to 0.65kW in winter?

(And then only for 4 hours per day.)

 

spoilsport !!    😉

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6 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

There is a reason why many/most liveaboards do it in the UK on narrowboats. Our system simply makes it far far more " Doable " I lived aboard for 30 odd years until last year on 8 different boats. One seagoing, six narrow and one wide. The widebeam boats are immeasureably better to live on comfort wise, and indeed superior in every way, but you cannot hop North to south etc etc with ease. To some extent you have missed the boat ( lol ) it was a great lifestyle 30 years ago, the whole of the K and A was virtualy empty for instance. I had a mooring near bath in 93/4 and there were only a few boats between Bath and BOA for instance. The K and A is classed as a wide canal, but in reality its a narrow, shallow, muddy ditch far more suited to narrowboats. Dont believe too much you see on you tube, the vast majority of them are newbies finding their feet. In my opinion a full length or nearly narrowbeam centred on the South Oxford where there is still oodles of room would suit you better.

Funny enough, I was thinking of the Oxford as an alternative. I don't really want to try cover the whole network, just a suitable stretch of canal where I can comply with the rules and run my two businesses.

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3 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

You may like to look at this company https://thamessolarelectric.co.uk/

Heating and cooking in winter would be by means of a stove or onshore electric link. Too be decided.

 

where will you find an "onshore electric link" when you are continuously cruising (sorry - when you are shuffling around every 14 days) ?

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There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum. I appreciate that life on the water is not always wonderful, neither is living on the land. If you look at the history of the canals it was a hard life but some chose to do it.

 

Today, technology is just about changing everything in life. Some new technologies which are being developed as I write, are incredible but a simple life is still possible provided you don't want everything.

 

There are new developments in solar technology which will provide greater output even in winter, not great, but better than what we have now. By the time I move onto a boat these I hope will be available.

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2 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum. I appreciate that life on the water is not always wonderful, neither is living on the land. If you look at the history of the canals it was a hard life but some chose to do it.

 

Today, technology is just about changing everything in life. Some new technologies which are being developed as I write, are incredible but a simple life is still possible provided you don't want everything.

 

There are new developments in solar technology which will provide greater output even in winter, not great, but better than what we have now. By the time I move onto a boat these I hope will be available.

 

"hope springs eternal"

 

good luck.

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8 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum.

 

Yes, that is the culture on this forum, although a lot of it is meant in a jovial ribbing fashion, but this often doesn't come across in text form to newcomers. Just ignore it and don't mistake the negativity as bad advice......the advice has all been good on this thread. 


I think what you propose is possible......https://www.ortomarine.co.uk/ build electric narrowboats, and from what I hear they are entirely practical (in summer at least). 

Edited by booke23
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2 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Yes, unfortunately that is the culture on this forum, just ignore it and don't mistake the negativity as bad advice......the advice has all been good on this thread. 


I think what you propose is possible......https://www.ortomarine.co.uk/ build electric narrowboats, and from what I hear they are entirely practical (in summer at least). 

 

Ah yes, checking the website, electricity generated by diesel power. Very green! 

 

Oh, I see your point....

 

:giggles:

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Yes, unfortunately that is the culture on this forum, just ignore it and don't mistake the negativity as bad advice......the advice has all been good on this thread. 


I think what you propose is possible......https://www.ortomarine.co.uk/ build electric narrowboats, and from what I hear they are entirely practical (in summer at least). 

 

it might be relevant to check the number of posts made by the "negative" minded posters and then the number of posts made by those who wear rose-coloured glasses.

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15 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

 

it might be relevant to check the number of posts made by the "negative" minded posters and then the number of posts made by those who wear rose-coloured glasses.

 

"Those that can do, those that can't teach.......and those who can't teach talk about it" 

 

P.s. I mean that in a jovial ribbing fashion! 

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51 minutes ago, daveswoodensigns said:

There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum.

Negativity or realism? You have watched a lot of YouTube videos but you admit you have no experience. And you propose to CC on a wide boat on a river and on the canal which is one of the busiest in terms of use by liveaboards.

 

The videos probably don't point out that continuous cruising is a concession available only on CRT waterways, and that other navigation authorities don't generally permit it, requiring you to have a permanent mooring for anything other than a short term visitor licence. A narrow boat will allow you to CC over the whole of the CRT network, wide and narrow, and there are plenty of narrowboaters doing just that. But of the waterways accessible to your southern-based wide boat, extended stays are ruled out on the Rivers Thames, Wey, Avon (Warwickshire), the Bristol Harbour section of the Bristol Avon and the Basingstoke Canal. So that leaves you with the Grand Union Canal (up to Birmingham), Paddington Arm, Regents Canal and Rivers Lea and Stort to the east, and Kennet and Avon, Bristol Avon (above Saltford), River Severn and Gloucester & Sharpness Canal to the west.

And the K&A/Bristol Avon and G&S/Severn are only connected by the tidal passage of the Severn Estuary, waters which present a whole lot more risk for the inexperienced boater.

The G&S on its own is probably too short for extended CCing without coming under the radar of the CRT enforcement officer, yet the Severn above Gloucester has few moorings and is prone to flooding. The banks are all private and you can't expect to just rock up somewhere and moor. And if you do find a suitable wild mooring somewhere it will certainly not have any access to shops, public transport or other signs of civilisation.

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1 hour ago, daveswoodensigns said:

There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum. I appreciate that life on the water is not always wonderful, neither is living on the land. If you look at the history of the canals it was a hard life but some chose to do it.

 

Today, technology is just about changing everything in life. Some new technologies which are being developed as I write, are incredible but a simple life is still possible provided you don't want everything.

 

There are new developments in solar technology which will provide greater output even in winter, not great, but better than what we have now. By the time I move onto a boat these I hope will be available.

I hope you are not banking on fusion technology!

 

You tube can give you a very distorted view of canal life.  Go and live on one for 2 weeks then come back and tell us the truth,

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1 hour ago, daveswoodensigns said:

There does seem to be a lot of negative thoughts from people on this forum. I appreciate that life on the water is not always wonderful, neither is living on the land. If you look at the history of the canals it was a hard life but some chose to do it.

 

Today, technology is just about changing everything in life. Some new technologies which are being developed as I write, are incredible but a simple life is still possible provided you don't want everything.

 

There are new developments in solar technology which will provide greater output even in winter, not great, but better than what we have now. By the time I move onto a boat these I hope will be available.

 

I most strongly advise that you base your plans on current technology that is available now rather than some amazing technological advance that is just round the corner. In the world of software this sort of thing is known as "vapourware". On the other hand nuclear fusion is only 30 years away (still only 30 years away 😀 )  On that subject you will be ok to get a widebeam, I believe there are plans to construct a link to remove the North South divide and its going to happen reeeeeealy soon.

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