Best route from Gloucester to Lechlade/Devizes

[dmr]

OK, despite your horrendous lack of good research you sound determined.

Go and have a good look at the K&A, the overcrowding, the shanty boats, the constant low level crime. We spent a lot of time there and loved it, but I would not live there now.

I also like the Thames a lot but can never fully relax, it can be quite hard and so stressful to find a mooring spot in the busy season, you can't just stop like you can on a canal.

As you have a job you might need to negotiate a couple of miles of very muddy towpath in the winter to get to a road or train. With your job you really need a car which adds a whole new dimension of trouble in finding parking spots. It can all be done, and is, but its not as idylic as its made out to be.

The current high mortgage rate is only a blip, and owning a house is much more lucrative (financially) than living on a boat.

Like you we moved to a boat at about 50 but were able to get a little modern house to rent out. Two people and a large dog can live in luxury on a 70 foot narrowboat and many of the best canals are narrow.

Go and look at the K&A then hire a narrowboat for a week on the Trent and Mersey/Macclesfield/Peak Forest canals.

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, 999 Neets said:

(thankfully my partner is great with engines, electrics, plumbing etc)

This could save you a lot of money compared with getting a boatyard to sort out every little problem. But just be aware that boat electrics and plumbing aren't the same as house electrics and plumbing. There's plenty of advice on here about how to do things right, but it might be worth your partner having a look through the Boat Safety Scheme Checklist, as that will give you an idea of the things that have to be done a certain way to keep you legal and licensable.

Edited August 1, 2023 by David Mack

[IanD]

17 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

I think it's a bit late for that. The time to get out was this time last year. They were saying on the R4 today that prices have slipped 3.4% in the last year. I think that's rubbish, I'd have put it more like 20% around here. Reading/Newbury way. 

 

I think one more BR rise will see us at bobbling along at the bottom for a couple of years, another 5% down perhaps. Then a decade of creeping up again (much to my annoyance).

 

 

 

Actual data from the land registry... 😉

[MtB]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

 

Actual data from the land registry... 😉

 

 

Quite so, and when your charts are populated with data up to 1/8/23 when I posted my comment, I'll be shown to be right. (Broadly!)

 

But in addition, LR data is completions, a trailing indicator. What counts for people considering today whether to sell of keep is 'sales agreed'. And sales agreed today only show up in the LR data two months later, and LR is only ever available two months in arrears too. So those charts are less than useless to the OP in making their decision to sell, or not. 

[IanD]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Quite so, and when your charts are populated with data up to 1/8/23 when I posted my comment, I'll be shown to be right. (Broadly!)

 

But in addition, LR data is completions, a trailing indicator. What counts for people considering today whether to sell of keep is 'sales agreed'. And sales agreed today only show up in the LR data two months later, and LR is only ever available two months in arrears too. So those charts are less than useless to the OP in making their decision to sell, or not. 

 

I'll bet you as many pints as you want that "20% around here (Reading/Newbury way)" is a *massive* overestimate, even if you wait two months... 😉

[Dinz]

On a different point. Does boat have a wheelhouse or not.?

Looked at a great boat on G&S then realized would jam at first brige on K&A as was fixed, not collapsible. Just a thought is all!

[Francis Herne]

On 01/08/2023 at 09:48, 999 Neets said:

What else would you suggest? Did everyone on here have stacks of experience before buying their first boat? 

I bought my first and current - boat a couple of years ago.

 

At that point I had a little experience with plastic cruisers on rivers, and had built and paddled around in a canoe, but pretty much no experience of narrowboats on canals.

 

I'd done quite a bit of research, am fairly practically-minded, but still managed to make a fool of myself quite a bit in the first few weeks and occasionally after that.

 

There's a steep learning curve but asking questions (and listening to the answers!) goes a long way. Learn from your mistakes, but also watch/read and learn from other people's mistakes because you don't have time to make all of them...

 

I wouldn't buy a widebeam to live on down south for the reasons various people have gone into. As a first boat, a big heavy thing near the limit of the waterway dimensions will be very unforgiving. Easy to get stuck or cause damage, hard to find places to moor, especially on the K&A which is extremely crowded with liveaboard boats already ("continuous moorers", as some on here describe the mile-every-two-weeks style).

Also as above, a boat currently on the G&S may not fit through bridges on the K&A at all.

You have a lot fewer options for moving the boat around on water, and road transport will cost an arm and a leg.

 

Boats, except brand-new ones, depreciate quite slowly if taken care of. A lot of the market actually went up in price over the last few years, but I suspect that's over. If you buy a used narrowboat now and decide to upsize later it won't be a huge loss.

 

It does sound like you're quite naive about some of the issues. Everyone is to begin with.

Asking here is a good start, but there's really no substitute for going down your preferred bit of canal/river and seeing what it's like. Ideally by boat, but doesn't have to be.

Don't commit to things too early. I think committing to a particular boat without a minimal understanding of where you can take it or what cruising with it will be like is very much so.

 

You'll find the forum (on average) is very cynical about people who are interested in boats as a cheap home first and boating a distant second.

Parts of the waterways (especially big cities and the K&A) are lined with mostly-static boats, populated by people who've never been more than a few miles to satisfy CRT and don't intend to. They tend to have minimal knowledge of the canals and their history and not engage with the wider boating community.

That's definitely the first impression you gave and I'm not sure it's inaccurate - widebeam, Bristol/London area, mile-a-fortnight is the archetypal combination.

Please do consider whether you're in it for the actual boating or not, and make choices accordingly.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Onewheeler]

Having only just seen this thread, my advice would be cc'ing in the places you are interested in with a widebeam will be difficult. If you are set on a wide boat, find a marina. Many (most?) are tolerant to people who 'spend a lot of time on their boats' so long as you are good neighbours.