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BW and continuous charging, erm..i mean cruising

philandiz

By philandiz
in General Boating

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philandiz Engager

philandiz

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RANT.....In a nut shell.....We have a boat that i am currently turning into a home.2 children, 2 dogs and and a desire to not get old, regreting having NOT doing something when i was younger.. So after years of travelling this blue globe, we took the plunge and got our boat!Now...the thing is, I chose not to put a tender in...for a start our boat is 70 X 12 and only a couple of moorings were actually long enough, but more to the point - after reading these forums for a while it seems to me that there are LOTS of people upset by BW. I currently work full time in a well paid job, and could (if i wanted to..) offer some silly price for what might not be a very good mooring. However, this would be fundamentally unfair to all those boaters that have lived afloat for years- that might not be able to afford the price hikes.Ours is currently on the river Ouse and we are now deciding where to get taken to via road.....due to the size, we need to use haulage to get to parts of the country we are interested in.Basically, once in, we plan to cruise for a while but then....stop! Like somebody on the forum said about are boat...it is the sort of vessel that wants to find a nice quiet backwater somewhere and mature like a fine wine (Carlt maybe?).Now, a friend of mine told me that once BW clock that you are not cruising on a cruising license, they previously would send you a letter asking that you state your intention. At that point if i say i wish to stay and offer a mooring fee for this imaginary spot,what are they likely to do?Would they really revoke licence and then ask me to remove boat from their water? With 2 small kids, our home, and me offering to pay them mooring fees?Thing is i phoned BW and put it to them that the 47 new tenders offered were way to few, plus due to our size i was severley limited, so i asked what they recommend i do - considering i must move the vessel by end of Feb.......they told me to get private mooring.....tried that i said, no vacancies....cant help you then, they said!! So i basically feel that we are just going to go for it and see what happens. Im not going to be participating in the tendering process. No doubt some readers will come back with some comments about me choosing NOT to play by the system..and yes...you are right, Im not. This system of tenders is rubbish. BW appear to be way out of touch with a number of the 15000 livaboards they mention on their website.I have heard about a couple of unions on the water that i will be joining, and if need be, will go SO public, using my families dillema to raise awareness if need be.....Please...no comments about our kids suffering due to my attitude, from the plastic fantastic white floating palace brigade that prowl this forum - i pre empt your misguided critisism and just say this....you`re wrong!

 

i await the onslaught.......

 

Legal disclaimer

All comments made by Philandiz on this website are purely fictional, and in no way reflect the authors lifestyle, habits, or intentions with regards to residing, or not, upon a boat within the British Waterways Jurisdiction.

Edited by philandiz
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sueb Veteran II

sueb

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Posted
Good Luck........only thing I've heard.......try The Ribble. May, or may not be the place, room etc. I know of a large boat similar to yours that resides there for ..........wait for it.....a tenner a year.

 

This from the horses mouth a year or two ago.

 

BW isn't responsible for people choosing to live on boats. If you want to continuously cruise, go for it. If you don't you can only blame yourself for the position you are in. BW don't have to provide moorings.

Sue

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philandiz Engager

philandiz

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No you are right.We are up for the challenge. Nobody made us choose to live in squats when we were younger either. Its something we chose to do in response to the outrageous number of empty properties in the capital.Equally nobody made us choose to travel the country by road, and no body makes the horsedrawn folk choses their way of life.Seems to me that the whole notion of being ABLE to chose to live on the water (especially when someone is offering to pay to the cash strapped organisation managing the water)is being threatened by the system in general.I feel truly sorry for any remaining bargee families out there.Like i said..i´m up for the challenge.

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greywolf Community Regular

greywolf

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I have thought wilst reading the various blogs and notices in the canal forums that it would be far simpler to charge one fee for having your boat on the canal and be done with it then within reason you could tie up anywhere, if you need the extra bells and whistles then you can pay extra for them.you could after all have the restrictions as to length of stay. Or is this just a non boat owner being daft ? :rolleyes:

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Chris Pink Veteran II

Chris Pink

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I have thought wilst reading the various blogs and notices in the canal forums that it would be far simpler to charge one fee for having your boat on the canal and be done with it then within reason you could tie up anywhere, if you need the extra bells and whistles then you can pay extra for them.you could after all have the restrictions as to length of stay. Or is this just a non boat owner being daft ? :rolleyes:

 

Strangely, that's exactly what it says in my terms and conditions on my licence. So no, not daft.

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