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Best place in England / Mooring- for having a midlife crisis!


Robby789

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6 minutes ago, Tam & Di said:

London is horrendously expensive and potentially problematic, but given what you are looking for the River Medway could be a possibility.

 

Tam

But getting to the Medway from the main canal system involves passage of the tidal Thames Estuary - not something for a novice (and your insurers may not permit it). The alternative is a lorry and a crane at each end which will cost...

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Your options are Continuous Cruising, an official residential mooring or living aboard unofficially on a leisure mooring.

CCing is cheapest, but you do have to keep moving every couple of weeks over a reasonable area. There are no precise rules about how much you have to move, but as long as you don't take the p*ss you should be fine - there are lots of liveaboard CCers out there.

Official residential moorings with planning permission, all mains services, car parking, a postal address you can use for official purposes and receive mail and courier deliveries etc. are few in number, don't come available very often and are usually expensive.

Which is why many liveaboards occupy leisure moorings. The mooring operators know this is going on but generally look the other way. Having people about is good for security, but acknowledging it can cause problems with planning authorities and council tax, so everyone just keeps their head down. Disadvantage is that you usually can't use the address for official purposes or receive mail.

If there are no facilities on site you will need to go boating to empty the toilet, fill up with water, buy gas and diesel, dispose of rubbish etc.

If there is no mains power on your mooring then the biggest practical issue you will face is generating and storing enough electricity. Some combination of solar panels (good in summer but near useless in winter), your main engine and a separate generator will be needed. The other side of the coin is minimising your electricity demand. You also need to learn how to look after your batteries. Many newbies knacker their first set of batteries through inadequate charging.

Lots on the forum about all these issues, but a bit harder to find amongst all the chaff.

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Quite interesting on the Merdeway, Midway, Mudway, Medway or whatever it is.

 

Somewhere with a funny little road called Unicumes Lane there was some land sold to private owner who then split it all up and sold to anyone with a boat and some spare cash. I think it was railway land originally. Usefully it had a Byway Open to All Traffic alongside. People bought lengths of riverbank and did inappropriate development. Councils got involved and apparently put enforcement notices on. Moorings sometimes come up for sale there. You can moor your boat there but not build structures. it was about a grand a foot I think which is actually not bad value. 

 

There are some other bits of the Merdeway which are quite interesting too. 

Edited by magnetman
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I think you need to give serious and early consideration to whether to look for a mooring in a marina, or be out on the cut. Even if you take a CRT mooring out on the cut, it will not have an electricity supply like a marina generally will.

 

This difference is crucial because out on the cut you will have to generate ALL your own electricity and this can turn out to be a total deal breaker if you underestimate the task. Learning how to generate (and store) enough leccy in a socially responsible way is a long, steep and expensive learning curve that defeats many eventually, and these boaters either give up or take marina mooring with a shore supply. Marinas generally have all manner of facilities that make living aboard easy (showers, washing machines, pump-out and Elsan, water supply to every boat, car park) but about from the cost this ties you to living in a marina which might not be the 'life of freedom' you envisage.

 

So think about it at this stage, and consider in detail how you will generate and store your leccy if you decide to reject the marina way of life. 

 

 

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It might help if you could get some sort of assessment of the boat and it's potential as a liveaboard. Living on board in winter without a good stove, good insulation, and maybe a Webasto type diesel heater as back up could be pretty desperate. 

The cost of living on board and the extra hassle factor in winter can indeed be a deal breaker. It's easy enough in summer when daylight is not a limiting factor and temperatures are moderate. 

When people buy a boat they usually get a hull survey which means it has to be hauled out in order to measure the integrity of the hull, this might be a starting point before you buy anything for this vessel. The surveyor could be tasked with reporting on the fit out and it's potential.

When I mention potential, I am including the potential for draining your savings!

There are lots of Youtube vlogs, which will give you some ideas. 

There are some fit out vlogs: if you have to do any major work, the general thinking is that it will cost twice as much as you might think and take three times as long. No matter how much money you spend on an old boat, it will never morph in to a new boat.

 

 

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@Robby789

https://web.archive.org/web/20190922190727/http://jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm

This web site is a map of the system, you will see there are large areas of the country that are not covered by canals, or the canals there are not connected to the main system.

Dependant on the width of your boat, then anything over 7 foot 3 inches wide, will not be able to go fully north-south, or around Birmingham.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/go-boating/a-guide-to-boating

This is another website that needs reading, and understanding.

You say you are in the "Midlands", if anywhere close to Rugby, we could meet up.

 

Bod

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Best compromise is a leisure mooring where the management is a bit "Laisez Faire"

I know one 'oop North' with leccy, pump out/Elsan,shower, waste disposal, diesel and coal and chandlery, plus several pubs within easy staggering distance.They also allow mail to be delivered.

Don't want to compromise them,so if you PM me, I will tell you where it is.

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Have a boat on a CaRT leisure mooring up north here and there is at least one middle aged guy  lives on his narrowboat full time. He'll be paying about £170 per month for a 60ft ish mooring for the pleasure of not having to comply with the continuous cruising rules. Boat is nice and it does go out up the cut or just the 200 yards to fill up with water at times, but we only have water and bins available on this towpath mooring. Electric, washing machines, wifi, showers - we have none. It's a very pleasant spot and shops, train stations etc are reasonably close by bike or boat. Obviously nothing like the on-hand facilities (or postal address provision) of a full service residential mooring but nothing like the price. Friendly chap and it's good to know that there's usually a pair of eyes and ears there a lot of the time.

 

An electric bike obviously takes some charging but engine and solar can both make enough given sufficient output and time. It would also work well on moorings like ours where the nearest free parking is hundreds of yards away on a road. There is a council run paid car-park closer but it's not long-term so no real use to someone living aboard or wanting to take a leisure boat out for a few days. Most marinas will have some form of off road parking for their moorers but most will be for leisure and expecting occasional visits, weekends, a week or two, but not there every night. A couple of marinas I've been in have turned a blind eye to under the radar liveaboards, where they didn't have excessive demands, one even formalised it into an 'intensive use' scheme which wasn't a king's ransom.

 

True residential moorings are like rocking horse manure and a load more expensive than leisure and there is no getting around the fact that doctor, dvla, bank, voter reg etc will all need a family/friend to help with a land address on a leisure mooring, but there are a lot of people have done it for years, and the ones I've met haven't done it at the inconvenience of those not living aboard their boats.

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I live in a marina which has an "intensive user" category. Around the Midlands many marinas seem to have this category.  As others have said the biggest practical restriction is that whilst you can stay on the boat as long as you want you cannot use the marina as an address. This is for around normally by using a friend/ relatives address for those things that require it.

 

 Assuming you are happy to pay for a marina / CRT mooring my criteria for choosing would be:

- does it have electrical hook-up ( makes life easier, especially in winter)

- closeness to a town you like.

- good public transport links if you don't own a car.

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Hi @Robby789, I think your plan sounds perfectly feasible - familiarise yourself with the resources that @Bod mentions - the C and RT site also has a very useful list of available moorings and the prices which might help you to decide where you want to be.

 

Another factor - you mentioned getting a "little" job like supermarket etc. - look for a mooring near an Aldi, they are supposed to be one of the best payers and one of the best to work for

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19 hours ago, Robby789 said:

SO.. in theory i can go anywhere in England (midlands at the moment ) with my canalboat

Sticking a pin in a map...any suggestions ? of course, each to their own, personally, i would like to be not far from the coast / a nice large enough town / I was looking at Bristol but also thinking the opposite side of the map Kent - around that area? 

Make sure that the map you use is a canal/river map, as you cannot literally go anywhere. Kent has the Royal Military Canal and the River Stour. Neither is connected to the main system. The RMC is, to the best of my knowledge, used only by rowing boats and kayaks with no big boats or moorings. The Stour is connected to the sea at Pegwell Bay and in theory is navigable to Fordwich near Canterbury. Plenty of boats moor on the Stour, but I don't know about residential. 

If you are thinking about boat life because it is (or would become) your passion, then that's great. But if you think it's a cheap way of living, you are likely to find that it is often an unpredictably expensive life. During the colder and wetter months it can be very challenging. 

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thank you so much for the replies, the postitive and the negative.  Just when i read something that ushers in sense of actual reality - i also read some more positive views.

 

The position i am in, means i have to go against my natural instinct ( glass half full ) and grasp nettles and just go for it.  I am continuing to read/research/learn.

 

Chester / thereabout may be where i end up. For the first year I would feel more comfortable in having a residential mooring..to get used to it all..and hopefully get a agency job ..see how it goes.  

 

Reading your views. Im thinking...even with a residental mooring ( assuming i can get one )...maybe i could put my parents address, midlands...or...is that not allowed..when applying for a job...sorry for the non-canalboat question..could google i suppose...just wondering really...possible to put down parent address and yet work miles away living on a canalboat? Just..curious..food for thought...looking at options.

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4 hours ago, Robby789 said:

thank you so much for the replies, the postitive and the negative.  Just when i read something that ushers in sense of actual reality - i also read some more positive views.

 

The position i am in, means i have to go against my natural instinct ( glass half full ) and grasp nettles and just go for it.  I am continuing to read/research/learn.

 

Chester / thereabout may be where i end up. For the first year I would feel more comfortable in having a residential mooring..to get used to it all..and hopefully get a agency job ..see how it goes.  

 

Reading your views. Im thinking...even with a residental mooring ( assuming i can get one )...maybe i could put my parents address, midlands...or...is that not allowed..when applying for a job...sorry for the non-canalboat question..could google i suppose...just wondering really...possible to put down parent address and yet work miles away living on a canalboat? Just..curious..food for thought...looking at options.

I lived on the boat on a farm at at Croughton just outside Chester many years ago. The moorings are still there,  not sure if people are still allowed to live on.

I am unconvinced you are actually serious about all this. How big is the boat you've acquired? If it's just you, it doesn't matter much. If it's you, partner and kids it becomes rather important. What's the engine? Is there solar? Heating? It doesn't seem as if you know any of this. And a boat is a money pit. Unless you're an engineer, maintenance will cost you three times what you envisage, and it comes in walloping big lumps, like about ten grand when the water starts coming in through an old hull, or a couple of thousand to fix the gearbox.

The other thing that strikes me as odd is how little research you've done. You'll get some info here, but the crucial stuff is to read and digest the stuff CRT supplies. The licencing rules, safety exam rules, insurance etc, and you seem to know nothing of any of these.

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Naivety is no excuse for ignorance.  You must get to grips with the fundamentals of boat life.

Have you ever been on a narrowboat? Have you ever boated anywhere? Have you ever spent the night afloat? Have you ever read a boating magazine? 

Are you aware of the problems of being no fixed abode with no bank account, no postal address, no credit cards, no driving licence or passport, no registered doctor or dentist, no employer will accept no address etc.?

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happy memories 

(There's another thread somewhere when I was trying to figure out the Morso Squirrel - we ended up totally in tune with it, keeping it in day and night during the winter was so much easier than spring and autumn when you find yourself constantly making it up and closing it down.)

 

 

Edited by Ange
To close brackets. Open brackets without closure bothers me
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3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Naivety is no excuse for ignorance.  You must get to grips with the fundamentals of boat life.

Have you ever been on a narrowboat? Have you ever boated anywhere? Have you ever spent the night afloat? Have you ever read a boating magazine? 

Are you aware of the problems of being no fixed abode with no bank account, no postal address, no credit cards, no driving licence or passport, no registered doctor or dentist, no employer will accept no address etc.?

If you're feeling helpful, good advice but you are so negative. I was such as newby and we climbed the steep learning curve and had an amazing 8 years o n the cut

 

.

 

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Thanks Ange for the support. I appreciate all views and knowlege on this, and yes Arthur,Tracy i can understand through my posting that I might not be coming across 'serious'.  

 

Aside from youtube videos, i am yet to delve deep into the sites mentioned here let alone maps and routes. I thought first port of call is to seek out a forum, and post under the 'New to Boating' topic.  The many replies i have received, and many being very honest with the reality check, are very welcome and I appreciate the time taken to reply. 

 

Each to their own in regards to learning, understanding, myself i like to see the pros..and more the cons..and the bigger picture. So, this is all helping.

 

Again, without bogging the thread down, hence inital  lack of posting personal details, i was just putting the question out there - but i am very serious about all this, it's a viable option, as mentioned before, a run down villa in Italy i would prefer but thats a lotto win away!  Right now house to sell, some of the pennies will allow me to board my parents 'unused/hobby' canalboat. Been on it a couple of times, its..up the to job..a lot to learn.

 

I would be living on it on my own. I am not a particularly confident, outgoing person, so some of the 'community' things..or the reliace on others makes me think twice so to speak, not unfriendly in any way, but given the choice, happier to be out of the limelight. A bit of hard, messy work, hands on, does not scare me in the slightest and i actually welcome it, once i know what i am doing. I would be looking at a few courses taken by 'experts'. The appeal of not stuck in a rut like i have been, from personal to work and the 'opportunity' of the canalboat option appeals because I will..for a while at least feel a little bit freer /  a change albeit with the many problems and issues outlined in this thread wants me to give it a go. I am well aware 'wanting a change' may sound to some as  foolhardy considering canalboating is a way of life and not to be taken lightly -  and perhaps should just rent a small flat near a bus stop. But, i am very determined not to do that, been there had the flat etc No. I can really see myself doing ok on a canalboat, it would just be the right fit I think. But without doubt, questions raised on this thread, are important to me and a real plan needs put in place.

 

As the title states, mid-life crisis, im under no illusion here.

 

One worry is i do not drive. And although i could learn..i doubt I would. I am no stranger to lugging bags of shopping around, i was 'saved' by my partner many years back, car, house etc - but as mentioned - changes - and seems life is a cycle indeed. 

 

A mooring site where washing machine etc and a town a bike ride/bus line away is 'the dream' for me right now.  Keen to avoid Brum only because for many years lived there, moved well away, coming back..pin in the map idea clearly isnt the way forward then going by the replies...Onewheeler mentioned Lancaster canals which i will take a look at,likewise around Chester area.

 

Paul C. you mentioned parent/council tax. Im going to use that word again 'naive' to all this. Parents, retired, own house. Thats it. I would be moored a very good distance away - some families closers than others lets say.  Other comments about no address, postal, doctor ( i havent seen a doctor for 20years! and keen to keep it that way!! but , yes, knocking on..so whats the odds ). SO, can i put down parents even if stacking shelves a good distance away? or will it be ok then with that Residential mooring for a year or two? ( again, have to re-read all replies here, a lot on my mind ).

 

It does appear ( in my mind, despite what some have said ) - please correct me if i am mistaken here - I can 'simply' look around, find a 'residenital mooring site', pay a 'few thousand' for the privledge of having onsite facilities for a year..ok...clearly be more than a year to find my feet..2 yrs!  Bike into a job, agency, tesco etc , battle with some hardships of the maintence of the boat.  A few times venture out onto the canal ( assuming I need to get bottles of gas, water etc..unless they come to you whilst docked?....and see how it goes from there. Build up some confidence ( hopefully ) and then, perhaps, down the line I move on to another spot..or maybe not.   Aware, inital money will run out, hence job from the very start, to keep things going ok..packet noodles as one mentioned does not appeal! but beans on toast or even cold beans on bread if the elec./gas a problem will suffice time to time!  SO, am i far off the mark here?  some said do-able - so..will stick with that.

 

Whittling on, but just hopefully answering a few of the posts re. being doubtful -which again, totally get. Asking silly questions i know, but thats always been how i learn best.

 

Thank you all once again, not dishearted by some comments, seems like theres a lot too it.

 

I was hoping that some things like the way water/gas/elec/batteries/engines may of...improved over the years, being 2022  as a kid in the 70's, a bit of caravaning, things are still very hands on and same old issues.  Please don't think i am disallusional i am not, but maybe  i have viewed too many youtube videos with  posh canalboats, the white ceilings, spotlights..no wood paneling in sight!  'My' canalboat has the panalling, but with the few quid i would have as a starter, i would be looking at a few things to make maintence easy, aka, better life batteries, wall panal / press a button for heating etc..thats all for another thread perhaps in the future!...the Capt's steering wheel appeals but even i can see the cost of fitting that ( if possible ) I'd be stretching it a bit!!

 

 

Edited by Robby789
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My advice would be to get aboard and test every single function on the boat, and if something doesn't work as expected, take a dozen pics of it from different angles and post here for advice on how repair/replace the parts affected. 

There's a huge amount to learn, and you can save yourself a lot of money by learning some key things early- e.g. read up threads here about how to maintain lead acid batteries. Its possible the ones you have might do a job for a year or two if you look after them carefully. If not, there's £400 instantly to add to the bill. 

Check the stove works too- you're certainly going to be needing that in winter.

Check the engine and oil levels, date last serviced, also getting hot water from running the engine, cold water, test all the electrics everything. 

As Arthur says, one major item needing a fix could blow your entire budget for 2 years, but hopefully most things will be running ok.  

If anything isn't working post some pics of it here and the incredibly helpful experts will be able to tell you what type it is, and probably how to get it fixed or replaced as needed. 

Once you know what works and what doesn't you'll be able to draw up an initial fixing up estimate, so at least you'll know where you stand financially, and whether you can even afford to take the boat on. 

Hopefully all will be well, but its worth finding out at the start if there are any repair bills looming.

Just as one example, if the boat hasnt been blacked for the last couple of years, it may well need that doing this summer, and that costs at least £500 to £1000, depending where and how it gets done. 

Check the paperwork as well- when is the next Boat Safety inspection due, and when does the CRT license need paying, when does the insurance expire, etc. 

Insurance is not too bad, but the license is another £1000 depending on boat length, although you can pay that monthly. 

But all the info is in threads that you'll be able to find here. 

 

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17 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

Just as one example, if the boat hasnt been blacked..

 

Tony1 - the boat has recently been blacked - thats about the height of my knowledge mind you - but yes thats ones sorted. I will be noting all this valuable advice.

Edited by Robby789
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16 minutes ago, Robby789 said:

 

Have you actually got this boat that you have been given and been on it.  Is it fully fitted out ready to go. You keep mentioning residential moorings but they are like hens teeth, the best you can hope for is a leisure mooring that let you live on 24/7 but you may need to take the boat out for the odd week or two to keep them happy. That way you may have a washing machine and showers/toilets, almost certainly electricity on a meter and water. If you have a pumpout that will be something extra to pay for but a portapoty you will be able to empty for free.

 

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