Jump to content

Which liveaboard is best?


VincePam

Featured Posts

5 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

Bit of a long shot admittedly, but is this the sort of thing that might suit?

 

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/narrow-boats-widebeam-for-sale/718643

 

It would leave almost 20k of your budget for the inevitable upgrades and repairs, and it has a solid fuel stove, so not as cold as some of them during the winter. There are no details there about the engine though. 

 

 

As mentioned above there are likely to be insulation problems with this sort of craft and therefore very fast heat loss. Yes it does have a fire in there but if there is no actual insulation then it could end up being a very costly fire to run and you would get shed loads of condensation..

 

I think this will be a damp boat. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

As mentioned above there are likely to be insulation problems with this sort of craft and therefore very fast heat loss. Yes it does have a fire in there but if there is no actual insulation then it could end up being a very costly fire to run and you would get shed loads of condensation..

 

I think this will be a damp boat. 

 

Indeed. It also has a sea toilet by the look of it, so that would need addressing. 

 

Nice of @Tony1 to try and find something for the OP though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

As mentioned above there are likely to be insulation problems with this sort of craft and therefore very fast heat loss. Yes it does have a fire in there but if there is no actual insulation then it could end up being a very costly fire to run and you would get shed loads of condensation..

 

I think this will be a damp boat. 

 

1 minute ago, booke23 said:

 

Indeed. It also has a sea toilet by the look of it, so that would need addressing. 

 

Nice of @Tony1 to try and find something for the OP though.

 

 

Guys, I totally get the need to sort out insulation (and a toilet), but for me personally that's something to examine and try to solve, not a reason to abandon the idea immediately. And this is a very personal and biased take on the dilemma- but I would try as hard as I could to make the idea of a wide beam GRP work, if that was an option. 

I have a narrowboat because it is the only way I can visit lovely canals like the Llangollen, but if I were stuck around Cambridge for a few years, I'd do everything possible to make a widebeam work.

The sense of space and comfort on those things is just brilliant. In fact, at some point when I'm not fit enough to do locks and general canal shenanigans, I might well consider retiring from the cut to live aboard one of those broads cruisers, and I will host parties of jealous narrowboaters, and lo, I shall mock their metal tubes. 

Don't crush my dream, guys.  Lie to me.

 

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did 12 yars of solitary in narrow boats 32ft up to 72ft, have had a big boat and finally settled on having two steel boats a bit wider than narrow boats but not very big. 40x9 and 30x10ft6. 

 

 

The situation with the OP is a need to rent the house out and get money AND accommodate parents and an older offspring in a boat. Presumably this is a cost cutting measure and quite understandable. 

 

The point with GRP boats is they are usually made for summer use. If there is no suitable insulation, which is possible, how are you going to heat the boat? This is assuming it is large enough to accommodate two adults and a teenage offspring unit. 

 

Insulating a boat after the event is a serious bit of work. 

Edited by magnetman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, VincePam said:

75k is achievable if can be re-sold fairly easily if wife and kid appear not be be comfy

This comment is ringing alarm bells for me.

It leads me to think that wife and kid have not bought into this new style of living 100% and its something hubby wants to do.

Means it could well end in disaster, I have seen it happen multiple times.

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

I did 12 yars if solitary in narriwboats, have had a big boat and finally settled on having two steel boats a bit wider than narrow boats but not very big.

 

 

The situation with the OP is a need to rent the house out and get money AND accommodate parents and an older offspring in a boat. Presumably this is a cost cutting measure and quite understandable. 

 

The point with GRP boats is they are usually made for summer use. If there is no suitable insulation, which is possible, how are you going to heat the boat? This is assuming it is large enough to accommodate two adults and a teenage offspring unit. 

 

Insulating a boat after the event is a serious bit of work. 

 

My current plan is to invent a nuclear fusion reactor that will fit inside a morso squirrel, and use that to heat the boat to such a temperature that damp will be too frightened to enter. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Loddon said:

This comment is ringing alarm bells for me.

It leads me to think that wife and kid have not bought into this new style of living 100% and its something hubby wants to do.

Means it could well end in disaster, I have seen it happen multiple times.

 

 

I often wonder what proportion of "really nice" boats end up on the market due to issues within the couple. 

Just now, Tony1 said:

 

My current plan is to invent a nuclear fusion reactor that will fit inside a morso squirrel, and use that to heat the boat to such a temperature that damp will be too frightened to enter. 

 

 

This is a very admirable aim and I would like to extend my best wishes to you and your fellow scientists with regards to the successful completion of your prototype. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

9 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

You do know what a sea toilet is don't you ?

 

Indubitably.

Surely the only serious issue with replacing it is to seal off the hole in the boat's skin. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, VincePam said:

Hi all

 

I recently joined this community as I am keen to move asap on a liveaboard fed up as we are of the usual routine. I live in Cambridge at present and have a wife and several kids, the last one of which still living with us and going to college. We both work mostly remotely from home. I am a long term sailor but know very little - literally a newbie on canal and river boats.

We are looking for one where to live full time, including my college son, and work from. So needs to be comfortable enough to allow us to stick together for longer that a week, but hopefully not too big to be requiring to much maintenance time and money. We will be living in a marina, so electricity should be available.

As soon as we started looking for which is best, we got confused. Potentially narrow boats are less attractive either because too narrow or too expensive. We stumbled upon various cruisers on the web, but I am really unable to tell which could be a good choice, being a reliable one, low maintenance, with enough space for a relatively low budget (up to 50k). We saw some good priced options, including ex rentals, but I haven't got a clue what the dark side of any river boat is.

 

Grateful if you can help me navigating this opportunity and making the right choice!

 

Thanks

 

You said "not requiring much maintenance" and also "low maintenance".

 

Be under no illusions, unless you can afford to pay people to do the work, if you live on a boat there's ALWAYS going to be LOTS of maintenance irrespective of the type of boat you choose. If you choose a steel boat they'll probably be more maintenance than GRP but that's just my guess as I've never owned a GRP boat.

Edited by blackrose
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

 

 

Indubitably.

Surely the only serious issue with replacing it is to seal off the hole in the boat's skin. 

 

You are allowed to use it in that neck of the woods. I don't think composting lavatories are all that popular in those postcode areas. 

Edited by magnetman
Of not if
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

As mentioned above there are likely to be insulation problems with this sort of craft and therefore very fast heat loss. Yes it does have a fire in there but if there is no actual insulation then it could end up being a very costly fire to run and you would get shed loads of condensation..

 

I think this will be a damp boat. 

 

True as is, but it seems the cabin sides are just the GRP with "Fablon" stuck onto them. If you look the windows are all but flush with the side. If the OP had the inclination he could batten around the windows, stick Kinspan/Celotex to the cabin side and cover with thin ply. If he used 50mm foam it would probably be better insulated than many steel narrow boats. fFre resistant expanded polystyrene is another option if cost is an issue. This would alas give easy fixing for thin "Perspex" double glazing.

 

I think there is a good chance the roof is a GRP - balsa wood - GRP sandwich so insulated to a degree.

 

I also think that it has at least two individual bedrooms so they could be the first things done as one wall is  against a passage.

 

I am NOT trying to suggest the OP buys it, but with flat cabin sides the adding of insulation may not be as much of a problem as things like narrow boats that would normally need the cabin lining removing to add/alter insulation.

Edited by Tony Brooks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fair enough if you did it properly it might work but it would be quite a bit of work to do it properly and would also take up some internal space. 

 

Worth considering I suppose. I think what would probably happen is that people would just end up burning more coal and accepting the slightly unsatisfactory conditions in the boat. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, pearley said:

But not necessarily if moored in a marina.

 

I imagine the marinas have a different policy but do they insist on boarding the vessel and putting a tie in the seacock? 

 

Fair point. 

 

In this instance it would be best to leave the heads in place and have a cassette or composting setup as well as the real thing..

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

 

As mentioned above there are likely to be insulation problems with this sort of craft and therefore very fast heat loss. Yes it does have a fire in there but if there is no actual insulation then it could end up being a very costly fire to run and you would get shed loads of condensation..

 

I think this will be a damp boat. 

I think is will be cold and dripping water in winter, and blistering hot in summer. It's also very ugly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

True as is, but it seems the cabin sides are just the GRP with "Fablon" stuck onto them. If you look the windows are all but flush with the side. If the OP had the inclination he could batten around the windows, stick Kinspan/Celotex to the cabin side and cover with thin ply. If he used 50mm foam it would probably be better insulated than many steel narrow boats. fFre resistant expanded polystyrene is another option if cost is an issue. This would alas give easy fixing for thin "Perspex" double glazing.

 

I think there is a good chance the roof is a GRP - balsa wood - GRP sandwich so insulated to a degree.

 

I also think that it has at least two individual bedrooms so they could be the first things done as one wall is  against a passage.

 

I am NOT trying to suggest the OP buys it, but with flat cabin sides the adding of insulation may not be as much of a problem as things like narrow boats that would normally need the cabin lining removing to add/alter insulation.

 

There was a kernel of seriousness in my joking about, which is that the OPs missus might still need to be convinced that it is a pleasant life. And that sales pitch will be a lot easier to do in a living space that feels spacious, with big windows and lot of natural light, with views out onto the waterway. 

Let's be realistic, there is not a large proportion of women who are happy to make the compromises that are needed to live on a narrowboat, and particularly in this situation where they are not travelling the canals (for a few years anyway). 

I was downplaying the insulation issue, but I do appreciate that it is very serious. But it is something that I personally might decide to tackle head on. It all depends how critical the living space issue is to you personally. And it could well be that in 5 or 10 years, I'll be more than ready for a 12 ft wide living room. 

Once I've done most of the narrow waterways, I might well be happy to retire to a more restricted cruising range based in the EA waterways- after all, you can still cross the wash and end up on the L+L, and the other eastern waterways.   

The guy who sold my boat to me near Ely was replacing it with a widebeam, and he cruised his new boat along the L+L and over the wash, and on to the Great Ouse. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

There was a kernel of seriousness in my joking about, which is that the OPs missus might still need to be convinced that it is a pleasant life. And that sales pitch will be a lot easier to do in a living space that feels spacious, with big windows and lot of natural light, with views out onto the waterway. 

Let's be realistic, there is not a large proportion of women who are happy to make the compromises that are needed to live on a narrowboat, and particularly in this situation where they are not travelling the canals (for a few years anyway). 

I was downplaying the insulation issue, but I do appreciate that it is very serious. But it is something that I personally might decide to tackle head on. It all depends how critical the living space issue is to you personally. And it could well be that in 5 or 10 years, I'll be more than ready for a 12 ft wide living room. 

Once I've done most of the narrow waterways, I might well be happy to retire to a more restricted cruising range based in the EA waterways- after all, you can still cross the wash and end up on the L+L, and the other eastern waterways.   

The guy who sold my boat to me near Ely was replacing it with a widebeam, and he cruised his new boat along the L+L and over the wash, and on to the Great Ouse. 

 

 

 

If I was in the OP's situation I would give serious consideration to that a boat as long I could assure myself that what looks as if it could be a sliding wheelhouse was either not, or properly fixed and sealed. I think it may well have a hydraulic drive with transverse engine so I would want to be sure the drive has not lost efficiency through wear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

If I was in the OP's situation I would give serious consideration to that a boat as long I could assure myself that what looks as if it could be a sliding wheelhouse was either not, or properly fixed and sealed. I think it may well have a hydraulic drive with transverse engine so I would want to be sure the drive has not lost efficiency through wear.

A lot of those did have hydraulic drive for efficient engine bay packaging. Loads of problems with those things and quite a good chance of trouble getting parts if it goes wrong. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, magnetman said:

A lot of those did have hydraulic drive for efficient engine bay packaging. Loads of problems with those things and quite a good chance of trouble getting parts if it goes wrong. 

 

I am not sure about loads of problems getting parts. We used standard Hydraulic motors and pumps. We had to make sure the motors have thrust bearings in the. Gear pumps, vane motors. We accepted the reduced efficiency for the robustness of the equipment and availability. It all  depends upon how that boat's system has been designed and implemented. We ended up with a remote reservoir so pump changing was easy when required. I met one about 40 years after build and the owner was happy with it, although the engine seemed smokey to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This one is outside the OPs budget at £75k, so mainly for interest (although it was valued at £50k and has had some work done since that doesn't really increase its  value to £75k).

 

This one has had a lot of rebuild and refit work done, including apparently both floor and wall insulation, and some form of extra glazing for insulation. 

 

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/wilds-bahama-42-for-sale/720095

 

Not perfect by any means, and they've under specced a few of the components (only a 1.6kw inverter for example, which might be a bit feeble for a family situation). 

Also it has bottled gas heating, which could be very expensive, and a SF stove might be better? 

But its an example that there are at least a few examples out there of wide beam GRPs that have been fixed (or could be fixed) to address the insulation issue. 

I wouldn't fancy a 1975 perkins diesel, even if reconditioned in 2017, so that is a significant issue in my eyes.

But its had a shedload of work done, and (with some limitations) its probably almost ready to just turn the key and cruise. 

 

 

Edited by Tony1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, M_JG said:

 

It is usefull but be aware it is a guide only based on lock width. Sections between locks can often be be quite narrow making passing other boats sometimes very tight in a widebeam.

 

On some canals eg the Erewash the width through some of the locks is affected by the profile of some of the accompanying bridges.

A lot to learn for me. Not as simple as thought. But great note thanks

2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

And that brings us to the boat profile. A flat floor Caribbean style cruiser is likely to fit under bridges that a fly-bridge cruiser will not, but on others the almost vertical cabin sides may hit the sides of the arch where a narrower but taller boat could pass..

One more thing to think of. I now need to understand what that means :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.