Moorings

[Louis Beaumont]

I’m looking for moorings for a longboat as near as East  Grindted as possible, Wanted by a teacher and his wife from South Africa. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Louis Beaumont

[Tracy D'arth]

I don't think C&RT allow Viking longboats on the canal, the draught is too great and the oars damage the banks.

Narrowboats and even wide beam boats are OK, no horses though.

East Grinstead?

[ditchcrawler]

14 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I don't think C&RT allow Viking longboats on the canal, the draught is too great and the oars damage the banks.

Narrowboats and even wide beam boats are OK, no horses though.

East Grinstead?

What about the ones that traded up from Gloucester

1 hour ago, Louis Beaumont said:

I’m looking for moorings for a longboat as near as East  Grinstead as possible, Wanted by a teacher and his wife from South Africa. 

Welcome to the forum, more information required, do they require a residential mooring, do they want to cruise the main canal system?

[Louis Beaumont]

Some people think they’re being very funny!  In “longboat “ I mean a BARGE. 
thank you anymore useful comments would be appreciated, 

[Louis Beaumont]

A residential mooring is what my son is looking for. 

[magnetman]

East Grinstead. Known as EG back in the day. We used to have a large country house in Upper Hartfield. 

 

The closest river was the Medway but it is only a few feet wide there. 

 

good luck with the canoe. 

 

 

Nice Waitrose in EG. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

The nearest navigable waterway to East Grinstead is the River Medway, but that is at least twenty miles away.

A recent topic on the subject here:

Getting a boat to the river will involve either a tidal Thames estuary traverse, or a lorry and crane. Below a certain point, the river itself is tidal.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The nearest navigable waterway to East Grinstead is the River Medway, but that is at least twenty miles away.

A recent topic on the subject here:

Getting a boat to the river will involve either a tidal Thames estuary traverse, or a lorry and crane. Below a certain point, the river itself is tidal.

Which is fine if they just want to live on it and not go anywhere 

[Louis Beaumont]

They only want to live on it, 

[magnetman]

One could look further south. the river Arun is not terrible far away also there is the Royal Military Canal.

 

I noticed someone was selling freehold land beside the RMC not long ago. It is accessible via Rye but it seemed a bit bleak.

 

Its a rum thing me harties.

 

 

Great Steiner school in Forest Row. Michael Hall. Don't ask me how I know its so great I spent several yars of my life there !

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by magnetman
correction

[Graham Davis]

Don't think there are any moorings on the Royal Military Canal

[MtB]

4 hours ago, Louis Beaumont said:

A residential mooring is what my son is looking for. 

 

Your son and about 5,000 other people too, probably.

 

"Hens' teeth' hardly covers it...!

 

 

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Your son and about 5,000 other people too, probably.

 

"Hens' teeth' hardly covers it...!

 

 

 

More like snakes armpits.

[magnetman]

9 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

Don't think there are any moorings on the Royal Military Canal

 

There were mooring plots for sale there recently. Just above the sluice.

 

 

 

Actually you are right. It is the river Rother not the canal but it is non tidal above the Scots sluice. Here 50.98136478490678, 0.7576850771441568

[Peanut]

As you gather, there is no water that you can moor a live-aboard boat on, anywhere near East Grinstead.

Narrow boats are narrow. 6ft wide inside. Broad beams are wider, up to 12ft or more wide. Barges, are usually larger still, have a look on Apollo-Duck to see the difference.

Then, maybe they already have something. The mooring will have to be large enough to accommodate the boat they end up with.

You can sometimes buy a boat with a transferable mooring.

There are proper residential moorings on the Medway, best of luck getting one. Some people are stuck there, and would like to get away, if they could ever find a residential mooring somewhere else.

Non-residential moorings are much harder to live on, it is not permitted, and so you can be moved on at any time. You may have to move to get water, empty your toilet tank, may have no shore power, no parking or security.

Rented accommodation, on land, is much easier, comes with all mod cons, is secure, available, and for teachers, would be affordable, when all costs are considered, probably no more expensive than living on water. It could be found near to East Grinstead, without all the faff of living on a boat and commuting to work. My top choice for your friends.

[magnetman]

7 minutes ago, Peanut said:

As you gather, there is no water that you can moor a live-aboard boat on, anywhere near East Grinstead.

 

We had a large pond in our garden in Upper Hartfield. A hammer pond.

 

It was quite near the road so one could theoreticall lift a boat into the pond and live on it.

 

It was actually quite a nice pond. Good privacy could be achieved living in a boat on a pond.

 

 

 

 

[Peanut]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

We had a large pond in our garden in Upper Hartfield. A hammer pond.

It was quite near the road, so one could theoretically lift a boat into the pond and live on it.

It was actually quite a nice pond. Good privacy could be achieved living in a boat on a pond.

 

Regrettably, you no longer have it, and to be legal, you would need planning permission for a new residence.

 

There is a much bigger pond, at Weir Wood, not far away, but no chance of living there.

 

 

 

[magnetman]

Yes we used to go sailing at Weir Wood reservoir. Right near my school Michael Hall.

 

 

[JungleJames]

On 15/11/2023 at 16:51, Graham Davis said:

Don't think there are any moorings on the Royal Military Canal

It's none navigable.

Never seen a vessel on it.

Pretty stuck if you did put one on it. 

 

[blackrose]

On 16/11/2023 at 16:10, Peanut said:

Broad beams are wider, up to 12ft or more wide. Barges, are usually larger still, have a look on Apollo-Duck to see the difference.

 

Non-residential moorings are much harder to live on, it is not permitted, and so you can be moved on at any time. You may have to move to get water, empty your toilet tank, may have no shore power, no parking or security.

 

Some odd statements here. 

 

Any flat bottomed canal boat wider than 6'10" is considered a barge in the UK. It doesn't have to be wider than 12ft. Also, although we tend to laugh or shake our heads when we hear newbies calling narrow boats barges, it could be argued by strict definition that narrow boats are also a type of barge. 

 

I've lived on several different non-residential moorings over the last 25 years. It's not take difficult at all in my experience. While it's true that one has no security of tenure I've never known anyone to be moved on apart from a couple of people who got into an argument with the moorings manager and wanted to leave anyway. 

 

Living on non-res moorings is not permitted but many marinas and mooring managers turn a blind eye because they're often happy to have people there all night keeping an eye on the place. If you want to broach the subject with a prospective marina manager the best way is to discreetly ask "What's your policy towards liveaboards at the marina?"

 

If they don't mind liveaboards all you have to bear in mind is that most non-res moorings don't allow you to have post sent there (some do), and just avoid referring to your boat as your home in written or spoken conversation with moorings staff, passersby unless you know them and especially the waterways authority (CRT, EA, etc). Yes they know what you're doing but they will appreciate your discretion and not making their jobs more difficult.

 

Lastly, just try to get on with your neighbours and the moorings/marina staff. You're in a grey area and despite what some demanding types may think, in this situation you have very few rights. So it all comes down to people skills when you want something done or have a problem with a fellow moorer which is bound to happen sooner or later. I've complained to the moorings manager in the past about things including other pain in the arse moorers but I always ask rather than demand and I try to preface my complaint with an apology for bothering them about petty matters. It generally seems to work.

Edited November 18, 2023 by blackrose

[Jen-in-Wellies]

40 minutes ago, blackrose said:

So it all comes down to people skills when you want something done or have a problem with a fellow moorer which is bound to happen sooner or later. I've complained to the moorings manager in the past about things including other pain in the arse moorers but I always ask rather than demand and I try to preface my complaint with an apology for bothering them about petty matters. It generally seems to work.

On the other hand, if you don't get on with your neighbours, you can just untie their boat and they'll drift away. Can't do that with a house. 😀

[Peanut]

5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Any flat bottomed canal boat wider than 6'10" is considered a barge in the UK. It doesn't have to be wider than 12ft. Also, although we tend to laugh or shake our heads when we hear newbies calling narrow boats barges, it could be argued by strict definition that narrow boats are also a type of barge. 

 

I've lived on several different non-residential moorings over the last 25 years. It's not take difficult at all in my experience. While it's true that one has no security of tenure I've never known anyone to be moved on apart from a couple of people who got into an argument with the moorings manager and wanted to leave anyway. 

 

Living on non-res moorings is not permitted but many marinas and mooring managers turn a blind eye because they're often happy to have people there all night keeping an eye on the place. If you want to broach the subject with a prospective marina manager the best way is to discreetly ask "What's your policy towards liveaboards at the marina?"

 

If they don't mind liveaboards all you have to bear in mind is that most non-res moorings don't allow you to have post sent there (some do), and just avoid referring to your boat as your home in written or spoken conversation with moorings staff, passersby unless you know them and especially the waterways authority (CRT, EA, etc). Yes they know what you're doing but they will appreciate your discretion and not making their jobs more difficult.

 

Lastly, just try to get on with your neighbours and the moorings/marina staff. You're in a grey area and despite what some demanding types may think, in this situation you have very few rights. So it all comes down to people skills when you want something done or have a problem with a fellow moorer which is bound to happen sooner or later. I've complained to the moorings manager in the past about things including other pain in the arse moorers but I always ask rather than demand and I try to preface my complaint with an apology for bothering them about petty matters. It generally seems to work.

I can't be bothered with the argy-bargy of the technical definition, I do know that boats up to about 6ft 10ins are commonly known as narrow boats, wider than that as Broad Beams, Barges are normally larger still, this can be seen in listings on Apollo Duck, and other websites. Common usage.

 

I know well that many live on Leisure moorings, I do.  But that doesn't mean that it is plain sailing, and you won't have a post code, may have problems with a doctor and a bank, the address for your driving licence, loans a mortgage and your credit rating. Yes, all who do it find a workaround.  Not the same as a residential mooring where you may be plugged in to a shore line and water and the other problems go away.  For two teachers, with no water suitable for mooring nearby, then my contention that a house would be the best option for them, still stands.