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Which liveaboard is best?


VincePam

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4 minutes ago, VincePam said:

Always very useful comments. Thanks. I will now have to start viewing some of those boats 

 

I'd strongly suggest that whilst you are VIEWING boats that you find the availability of a properly residential mooring, in a suitable location, and put a deposit on it.

It was not so long ago when the general recommendation was to 'buy your mooring before you buy the boat' - the type of mooring you are looking for is not common, add into the mix that it must be in a specific location makes the chance of you finding one 'not easy'.

 

If you have bought a boat and then find you cannot get a mooring you are then stuck with a boat you cannot use.

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10 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This to me suggests that if you want a boat you should buy the very best you can afford so hopefully other than routine maintenance you don't need to do anything to it. That way if it doesn't work out you will still have a valuable asset to sell. Buy something that needs work and investment and it doesn't work out, if work has started on it it will be a lot harder to sell and a lot less valuable, so you could lose a lot.

Is a good point. Thanks

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41 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

This to me suggests that if you want a boat you should buy the very best you can afford so hopefully other than routine maintenance you don't need to do anything to it. That way if it doesn't work out you will still have a valuable asset to sell. Buy something that needs work and investment and it doesn't work out, if work has started on it it will be a lot harder to sell and a lot less valuable, so you could lose a lot.

Would something like this make any sense or is just to high or too big of an engine? https://uk.boats.com/power-boats/1990-stevens-1040-8489466/
And also any Aquafibre has to be discarded? it seems a lot of them are on the market, with some that look isolated (but need to check if that is true or just looking like)

 

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33 minutes ago, VincePam said:

Would something like this make any sense or is just to high or too big of an engine? https://uk.boats.com/power-boats/1990-stevens-1040-8489466/

 

That boat is quite similar to my Crusier (don't worry about the engine - I have two of those in my boat) It is only 10' 10" feet beam and whilst the photos make it look huge, it is actually only just over 3 feet wider than a narrowboat.

Eberspacher warm air heating is good (I have the same) but the boat will not have any insulation fitted. The blown air heating is a heavy user of electricity (mine is a continuous 10 amps so if you have it on 24 hours you need a battery bank of at least 500 Ah AND the means to recharge the batteries (every day) - OK, whilst connected to 'the mains', but will need (probably) around 7 + hours of engine running to recharge JUST the Eberspacher batteries, then you have , pumps, lights, fridge, freezer, computer use, phone charging etc etc etc. to consider as well.

 

The engine will use around 4-5 litres of Diesel per hour.

 

It is way too big for the canals so you would be limited to staying on the 'Anglian Waterways' but I do not know those waterways well enough to comment as to its suitability re bridges etc. 

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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1 hour ago, VincePam said:

Would something like this make any sense or is just to high or too big of an engine? https://uk.boats.com/power-boats/1990-stevens-1040-8489466/

For all that it's a wide beam the interior looks quite poky. There aren't a lot of places where you can stand up and someone else can pass. It looks too high to fit through the Middle Level, so you would be limited to the Ouse and tributaries or the Nene. And as its in Sunbury its either a lorry trip or round the coast of East Anglia to get it nearer to Cambridge.

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I've been thinking about sizes for the Anglian Waterways.

In order to do it all including up to Bedford but excluding the top of Brandon Creek the biggest boat you can have is

Length 62ft restriction is at Salters Lode

Beam 10ft4" restriction is from St Ives to Bedford.

Air draft 6ft5" restriction is at Upwell

 

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2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I've been thinking about sizes for the Anglian Waterways.

In order to do it all including up to Bedford but excluding the top of Brandon Creek the biggest boat you can have is

Length 62ft restriction is at Salters Lode

Beam 10ft4" restriction is from St Ives to Bedford.

Air draft 6ft5" restriction is at Upwell

 

You can of course do Salters on the level but that requires good timing,  Just another thing to think about.

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22 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I've been thinking about sizes for the Anglian Waterways.

In order to do it all including up to Bedford but excluding the top of Brandon Creek the biggest boat you can have is

Length 62ft restriction is at Salters Lode

Beam 10ft4" restriction is from St Ives to Bedford.

Air draft 6ft5" restriction is at Upwell

 

To make life a little easier I would stick at 60 X 10.

Reach Lock with front and rear fenders down will have you trying to watch both ends at once or keeping in gear to hold the front against the gate.

Cardington Lock at 10ft 4in and at right angles to the river will be bugger to enter from upstream, especially if any stream running.

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1 minute ago, pearley said:

To make life a little easier I would stick at 60 X 10.

Reach Lock with front and rear fenders down will have you trying to watch both ends at once or keeping in gear to hold the front against the gate.

Cardington Lock at 10ft 4in and at right angles to the river will be bugger to enter from upstream, especially if any stream running.

Agree totally but if I had said 60x10 someone would have pointed out it is 62'x10'4" 🤔

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20 hours ago, VincePam said:

:D I have a house mortgage free. Don't want to spend in it the rest of my life :) 

Remember to work out how you will get back on the bank when you eventually have to.  Boat dwelling is great when lugging around a bag of fuel, a gas bottle or a toilet cassette are easy things to do.  There always comes a time when these things first  become more difficult and then become a major problem. At that point you may *have* to leave the boat.

 

You also need to consider illness and injury.  It is easy to slip and wrench something, or even. break a leg.  Much easier to deal with the aftermath if you have a shore side bolthole to recuperate in.

 

Too many people sell the house,.  buy a boat with the proceeds and live happily on the water.   Then they  find that they have got older and somewhat decrepit, (or one of them becomes chronically unfit)  but there is no way out.  Houses seem to generally get dearer and dearer whilst boats are, over time, a depreciating asset. You should not expect to be able to easily re-enter the housing market after a few years with only the proceeds of a boat sale, even if it was once a top-notchàa new wide beam with all the bells and several whistles.

 

 Good Luck with your new adventure. You are asking sensible questions and engaging with the answers.  Many people live happily on  inland water, but it ain't as easy as the colour supplements would imply.

 

  N 

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2 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Remember to work out how you will get back on the bank when you eventually have to.  Boat dwelling is great when lugging around a bag of fuel, a gas bottle or a toilet cassette are easy things to do.  There always comes a time when these things first  become more difficult and then become a major problem. At that point you may *have* to leave the boat.

 

You also need to consider illness and injury.  It is easy to slip and wrench something, or even. break a leg.  Much easier to deal with the aftermath if you have a shore side bolthole to recuperate in.

 

Too many people sell the house,.  buy a boat with the proceeds and live happily on the water.   Then they  find that they have got older and somewhat decrepit, (or one of them becomes chronically unfit)  but there is no way out.  Houses seem to generally get dearer and dearer whilst boats are, over time, a depreciating asset. You should not expect to be able to easily re-enter the housing market after a few years with only the proceeds of a boat sale, even if it was once a top-notchàa new wide beam with all the bells and several whistles.

 

 Good Luck with your new adventure. You are asking sensible questions and engaging with the answers.  Many people live happily on  inland water, but it ain't as easy as the colour supplements would imply.

 

  N 

 

I don't think they werre intending to sell the house. If they were and it is a house in Cambridge I think the choice of boat would probably not involve considering 1970s fibreglass broads cruisers.

 

 

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5 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

You can of course do Salters on the level but that requires good timing,  Just another thing to think about.

You can also do Salters Lode in a longer boat when the levels aren't quite equal, with someone's finger on the 'close' button for the hydraulics at the landward end, with the gates holding the water the wrong way!  That's how we got through on the way to the IWA National at St Ives in 2007.

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5 hours ago, pearley said:

To make life a little easier I would stick at 60 X 10.

Reach Lock with front and rear fenders down will have you trying to watch both ends at once or keeping in gear to hold the front against the gate.

Cardington Lock at 10ft 4in and at right angles to the river will be bugger to enter from upstream, especially if any stream running.

Thanks. Very useful

5 hours ago, Loddon said:

Agree totally but if I had said 60x10 someone would have pointed out it is 62'x10'4" 🤔

Very very useful. Thanks

5 hours ago, pearley said:

To make life a little easier I would stick at 60 X 10.

Reach Lock with front and rear fenders down will have you trying to watch both ends at once or keeping in gear to hold the front against the gate.

Cardington Lock at 10ft 4in and at right angles to the river will be bugger to enter from upstream, especially if any stream running.

 

4 hours ago, BEngo said:

Remember to work out how you will get back on the bank when you eventually have to.  Boat dwelling is great when lugging around a bag of fuel, a gas bottle or a toilet cassette are easy things to do.  There always comes a time when these things first  become more difficult and then become a major problem. At that point you may *have* to leave the boat.

 

You also need to consider illness and injury.  It is easy to slip and wrench something, or even. break a leg.  Much easier to deal with the aftermath if you have a shore side bolthole to recuperate in.

 

Too many people sell the house,.  buy a boat with the proceeds and live happily on the water.   Then they  find that they have got older and somewhat decrepit, (or one of them becomes chronically unfit)  but there is no way out.  Houses seem to generally get dearer and dearer whilst boats are, over time, a depreciating asset. You should not expect to be able to easily re-enter the housing market after a few years with only the proceeds of a boat sale, even if it was once a top-notchàa new wide beam with all the bells and several whistles.

 

 Good Luck with your new adventure. You are asking sensible questions and engaging with the answers.  Many people live happily on  inland water, but it ain't as easy as the colour supplements would imply.

 

  N 

Thanks and hopefully see you soon afloat :) 

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5 hours ago, pearley said:

 

Reach Lock with front and rear fenders down will have you trying to watch both ends at once or keeping in gear to hold the front against the gate.

Yup! Our Imray map gave the width, depth and headroom of the lock at Upware, but not the length. We found out that when the bow was here:

Ouse16.JPG

the stern was here:

Ouse15.JPG

 

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59 minutes ago, VincePam said:

That is big and spacious Brian!  I will have a look at it and see if fit all the rest I was learning in the past few days 

 

 

It doesn't it is 12 feet beam.

 

A thread above explains that the max beam for the waterways you are looking to be on around Cambridge is 10 feet beam.

 

It is also extremely ugly - what is commonly known as a '3-bagger' (two bags to cover the boat and one to go over your head so you cannot see it if the other bags rip).

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

It doesn't it is 12 feet beam.

 

A thread above explains that the max beam for the waterways you are looking to be on around Cambridge is 10 feet beam.

Not so much about Cambridge its the Bedford to St Ives bit that is 10ft.

Which is why I have always said the BMK waterway is a waste of time without changing the Gt Ouse locks. 

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2 hours ago, David Mack said:

You can also do Salters Lode in a longer boat when the levels aren't quite equal, with someone's finger on the 'close' button for the hydraulics at the landward end, with the gates holding the water the wrong way!  That's how we got through on the way to the IWA National at St Ives in 2007.

Its a long time ago now but I think you can go down at any time in a longer boat but not up (two sets of gates?). I remember that we went down and out into the mud and then waited for the tide to come in. We were travelling with another full length boat so we waited in the mud just outside the lock, the other boat waited in the lock.

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17 minutes ago, dmr said:

Its a long time ago now but I think you can go down at any time in a longer boat but not up (two sets of gates?). I remember that we went down and out into the mud and then waited for the tide to come in. We were travelling with another full length boat so we waited in the mud just outside the lock, the other boat waited in the lock.

First time I went through  three of us sailed out one behind the other on the level, no locking.

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19 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

First time I went through  three of us sailed out one behind the other on the level, no locking.

Tides are complicatewd things 😀 I suspect it depends on the height of the tide (position within the spring-neap cycle). Maybe on some tides the lock never makes a level, or makes a level when the flow is too strong? Luckily the lock keeper understands all this stuff.

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12 minutes ago, dmr said:

Tides are complicatewd things 😀 I suspect it depends on the height of the tide (position within the spring-neap cycle). Maybe on some tides the lock never makes a level, or makes a level when the flow is too strong? Luckily the lock keeper understands all this stuff.

Being first time I thought it was the norm

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2 hours ago, dmr said:

Its a long time ago now but I think you can go down at any time in a longer boat but not up (two sets of gates?).

Yes there are 2 sets of gates at the landward end facing in opposite directions. But a 70 footer only fits between the guillotine and the landward pair, so in normal use a 70 footer can lock down to the tidal Ouse, but not up. In our case high river flows plus some mud which hadn't been dredged or scoured out meant that at low tide the Ouse was still a few inches higher than Well Creek, so after locking shorter boats than us up to the Ouse in conventional manner using the gates provided for the purpose, we had to use the landmost pair of gates the 'wrong' way to get through.

 

The 2 pairs of inner gates. Photo from canalplan.

c0_m4u.jpg

Edited by David Mack
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On 11/01/2023 at 00:38, David Mack said:

Yes there are 2 sets of gates at the landward end facing in opposite directions. But a 70 footer only fits between the guillotine and the landward pair, so in normal use a 70 footer can lock down to the tidal Ouse, but not up. In our case high river flows plus some mud which hadn't been dredged or scoured out meant that at low tide the Ouse was still a few inches higher than Well Creek, so after locking shorter boats than us up to the Ouse in conventional manner using the gates provided for the purpose, we had to use the landmost pair of gates the 'wrong' way to get through.

 

The 2 pairs of inner gates. Photo from canalplan.

c0_m4u.jpg

Yes, I got that I should stick to 60 X 10 which is what I am now looking for, flat as much as possible provided I can stand up anywhere. With the upper corners narrower, if possible, than the base. Insulated and well heated, no water in, no heat out, toilet with holding tank. GRP problematic for insulation, unless exceptions (also less character honestly), sliding decks to be checked for proper sealing, possibly simple hydraulics, if at all. I am adding as short as possible, provided enough space to work and live comfortably in 3. That is what I got about the limits thanks to your help.  I also learned that I will need to learn a huge amount about the water systems as they are a lot more dynamic than I thought. I will come back on that :)  

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2 minutes ago, VincePam said:

I also learned that I will need to learn a huge amount about the water systems as they are a lot more dynamic than I thought. I will come back on that :)  

Good starting point for water and a lot else try www.tb-training.co.uk in the maintance notes.

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