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Living on the Irish Waterways?


Tony1

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On 29/01/2023 at 18:29, Tony1 said:

 

My understanding is that 'top of the morning' is no longer legally mandated as a greeting in Ireland.

I could be wrong (it has been known), and it seems safe to continue using it (of course in a simulated Irish accent) until we have certainty. 

 

However, as a flight of fancy, imagine having coffee on a Spring morning looking out over miles of the beautiful Lough Erne, or from the Shannon, from the very spacious saloon/lounge of this 45ft GRP beauty: 

 

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/aquafibre-ideal-45-for-sale/684771

 

 

 

1.  Don't forget the rain. When we had a yacht on the Shannon for a couple of weeks, I think it rained every day. The greeting that tickled us was "a lovely soft day" be it drizzle or raining hard.

 

2. We crossed Loch Ree to Athlone and believe me, it is vast and shallow.  I imagine with a bit of a blow, large waves would soon kick up. In fact, I think barges have been lost because of that.

 

3. That boat is almost certainly ex hire and I suspect under powered for the Shannon, especially in inclement conditions.

 

Anyway, nice dream.

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14 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

1.  Don't forget the rain. When we had a yacht on the Shannon for a couple of weeks, I think it rained every day. The greeting that tickled us was "a lovely soft day" be it drizzle or raining hard.

 

2. We crossed Loch Ree to Athlone and believe me, it is vast and shallow.  I imagine with a bit of a blow, large waves would soon kick up. In fact, I think barges have been lost because of that.

 

3. That boat is almost certainly ex hire and I suspect under powered for the Shannon, especially in inclement conditions.

 

Anyway, nice dream.

 

Thanks Tony, I wondered if it might be ex hire.

So do those broads hire cruisers' engines get a thrashing, would you think? The hired narrowboats I see seem to go everywhere flat out, but I've no idea how people cruise on the Broads.  

It seems like most of the larger GRP craft suitable for canals are probably ex hire broads cruisers. I would ideally look for one with a fairly recent engine replacement, but that wouldn't be easy.

People take narrowboats over there but they seem a bit wary of cruising in anything over a light breeze, which is why I would get a river cruiser type of boat. I think its a great point about the engine. You would avoid cruising in high winds, but what if you have to move for some kind of emergency? 

Maybe my dream boat for the Irish waterways would be  bit smaller, but with a beefier engine. 

 

I can sort of cope with a certain amount of rain... I think before seriously considering a boat, I would have to spend a few weeks there in the rainy season, to see if I could hack it. 

 

 

Edited by Tony1
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22 hours ago, Tony1 said:

 

I know that some travel/health insurance providers now make it much more expensive for older people to get health insurance for travel around  Europe, but I would have thought the UK/Irish CTA (with its reciprocal health agreement) superseded the need for health insurance in Ireland- which tbh was why I was thinking of Ireland anyway.

I can no longer afford health insurance cover for long term travel within Europe, so I was hoping Ireland would be the affordable option to spend longer periods of time abroad.

Oh God, how small have our travel horizons become when we cant afford a trip to Dublin.

 

Check out the GHIC which has replaced the EHIC. I found the following explanation:

 

The GHIC, like an EHIC, covers you for emergency medical treatment when you’re in the EU. It covers the treatment of a chronic or pre-existing medical condition that becomes necessary during your visit.

 

The GHIC can also cover oxygen and kidney dialysis, but you will need to pre-book these treatments before you depart for your trip.

 

It’s also important to remember that each EU country’s healthcare system is different and you may have to contribute to some of the cost of your care – like locals do.

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24 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

1.  Don't forget the rain. When we had a yacht on the Shannon for a couple of weeks, I think it rained every day. The greeting that tickled us was "a lovely soft day" be it drizzle or raining hard.

 

How utterly charming...!! 

 

I'm sorely tempted to emigrate....

 

 

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50 minutes ago, sueb said:

The EHIC only pays for treatment. It doesn't pay to get you back to the UK or your partners expenses. We went on holiday with a healthy elderly friend. He had a heart attack. His bill ended up in six figures so don't underestimate the cost.

 

Correct. That is why you need travel insurance, unless you are very wealthy. Repatriation costs are not covered.

 

I do believe you can be cremated in a foreign country though if you die there. And your ashes can be brought home. That would be a cheaper option than bringing a body home.

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19 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

I can sort of cope with a certain amount of rain... I think before seriously considering a boat, I would have to spend a few weeks there in the rainy season, to see if I could hack it. 

That will be any time of year, we have kids over there and often when we go over we might get one dry day in two weeks.

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22 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

Thanks Tony, I wondered if it might be ex hire.

So do those broads hire cruisers' engines get a thrashing, would you think? The hired narrowboats I see seem to go everywhere flat out, but I've no idea how people cruise on the Broads.  

It seems like most of the larger GRP craft suitable for canals are probably ex hire broads cruisers. I would ideally look for one with a fairly recent engine replacement, but that wouldn't be easy.

People take narrowboats over there but they seem a bit wary of cruising in anything over a light breeze, which is why I would get a river cruiser type of boat. I think its a great point about the engine. You would avoid cruising in high winds, but what if you have to move for some kind of emergency? 

Maybe my dream boat for the Irish waterways would be  bit smaller, but with a beefier engine. 

 

I can sort of cope with a certain amount of rain... I think before seriously considering a boat, I would have to spend a few weeks there in the rainy season, to see if I could hack it. 

 

 

 

I suspect more of a thrashing than on the canals because although there are speed limits, I bet many hire customers ignore them. Then they have to push tides and I suspect there is no effective speed limit on Breydon water. I think the boat linked to was designed for "go faster" appeal rather than sea kindliness.

 

Have a look at Broom Skippers, about 35ft (from memory) and seem to be laid up like a brick built wotsit. The ex hire ones often had BMC 1.5s but I would think for river and lake work you would need something a bit beefier.

 

I don't think there was a day that we did not also get sun.

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The favorite saying by Liam in the Shannonharbour pub/shop when it was rainy was that it’s a bit misty. Our boat had an HB 2 and it was never short of power but as I said watch the weather. All the damp makes it very humid at times. I was asked one day what I thought of Ireland and I said I’d worked out what Ireland was for as a wind break for England, got a good laugh. Lots of the lakes and on the Shannon Erne waterway have buoyed channels and the system is a bit confusing so many boats particularly hire boats get the wrong side and go aground. 

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2 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I suspect more of a thrashing than on the canals because although there are speed limits, I bet many hire customers ignore them. Then they have to push tides and I suspect there is no effective speed limit on Breydon water. I think the boat linked to was designed for "go faster" appeal rather than sea kindliness.

 

Have a look at Broom Skippers, about 35ft (from memory) and seem to be laid up like a brick built wotsit. The ex hire ones often had BMC 1.5s but I would think for river and lake work you would need something a bit beefier.

 

I don't think there was a day that we did not also get sun.

 

Obviously this is more of a flight of fancy than a serious plan, but I do find it interesting to take an early look at the feasibility of such wild ideas, and I can get a steer on whether it stays on the 'crazy but possible' list, or gets booted to the 'just too difficult' list.

The advantage of something like a Broom with a decent engine is that if you get a couple of very calm days, you might be able to take it across the Irish Sea, although getting it shipped over would be vastly less stressful of course. 

My suspicion is that the used boat market in Ireland is significantly smaller than in the UK, and maybe the prices reflect that (ie higher prices)- as well as maybe a more limited availability of craft.

 

 

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When we were there a man at Shannon Harbour made his living buying second hand hire boats from the broads, doing them up and selling them on and there were some old springer NB s as well. The vast majority of the boats were old GRP cruisers but Ireland has got wealthier since and now there are plenty of modern Dutch steel Cruisers .The photo is of a rally at Shannon Harbour

D2200D86-EA13-457C-A797-1DCFAF12DC24.jpeg

Edited by Dav and Pen
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10 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

The advantage of something like a Broom with a decent engine is that if you get a couple of very calm days, you might be able to take it across the Irish Sea, although getting it shipped over would be vastly less stressful of course. 

 

We used to have a mooring in Holyhead and it was a regular (3 hour) run Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire on a Friday evening and have the weekend in Dublin.

Taking the train from Dun Laoghaire to Dublin I always had to smile at the ticket prices, and descriptions compared to 'the mainland' .

 

Individual ticket

Couples tickets

Family ticket (a) 2 adults and 4 children

Family ticket (b) 2 adults and 6 children

 

'Mainland' Britain 'family tickets' were "2 adults & 2 children"

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1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I think that I can see two Broom Skippers in that photo

 

There a 1976 Broom skipper on apollo duck at the moment, for sale in Ireland and under £30k. 

 

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/broom-30-skipper-for-sale/721342

 

I would want to do the canals into Dublin as well, so the offshore type boats with high flying bridges and deeper drafts might not be suitable. The Broom would do it. In fact it looks like a proper go anywhere craft, given the right weather and engine. 

If I'm not careful I'll talk myself into doing it this year! 

 

 

8 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

We used to have a mooring in Holyhead and it was a regular (3 hour) run Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire on a Friday evening and have the weekend in Dublin.

Taking the train from Dun Laoghaire to Dublin I always had to smile at the ticket prices, and descriptions compared to 'the mainland' .

 

Individual ticket

Couples tickets

Family ticket (a) 2 adults and 4 children

Family ticket (b) 2 adults and 6 children

 

'Mainland' Britain 'family tickets' were "2 adults & 2 children"

 

That did tickle me, but I'm guessing that was probably a couple of decades ago? 

I bet the child numbers on tickets have reduced a bit since then,  

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

We used to have a mooring in Holyhead and it was a regular (3 hour) run Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire on a Friday evening and have the weekend in Dublin.

Taking the train from Dun Laoghaire to Dublin I always had to smile at the ticket prices, and descriptions compared to 'the mainland' .

 

Individual ticket

Couples tickets

Family ticket (a) 2 adults and 4 children

Family ticket (b) 2 adults and 6 children

 

'Mainland' Britain 'family tickets' were "2 adults & 2 children"

I met an Irish woman who had 15 siblings. They know how to get on with it. 

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1 hour ago, M_JG said:

I do believe you can be cremated in a foreign country though if you die there. And your ashes can be brought home. That would be a cheaper option than bringing a body home.

That is all my insurance covers if I snuff it overseas, not to bring the body home

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22 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

That is all my insurance covers if I snuff it overseas, not to bring the body home

That only applies if the body is dead. You may want to come back to the UK if you are alive but incapacitated. A specialist plane with medical staff doesn't come cheap.

  

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