New boat mooring clarification

[manxmike]

Having read the answers above I can't help wondering if your proposed move afloat is the best idea at the moment. You mentioned you wanted to move because of noise?

Perhaps the best bet at the moment would be to sell the house and downsize to a bungalow/apartment in a quieter neighborhood. Then when the weather improves start looking for a boat and moorings, perhaps when you decide to give up the day job or become able to work remotely.

One advantage of downsizing will be to work out how little you actually can get by with to live comfortably/happily - that might give you an idea of the space limitations on board any boat.

Lumpy water mooring for live aboard at this time of year would show you to be a) very brave or b) totally insane.

Good luck!

[StuartHannam]

A fair comment but it’s the freedom to move onwards at some stage and having more of an outside/indoor living environment that is our long term wish. The noisy neighbours is just one element of wanting to move out of the terraced housing life, the advantages of boating far outweigh anything that permanent house home offers. 

[magnetman]

@manxmike does make a very good point about space available. 

 

Do you have cupboards with things in them? An attic? 

 

The point is that boats are completely different to houses. There may be physically enough room in theory but it is not the same type of space. 

 

Living in a house constrained by not being able to move is nothing like a serious as living on a boat. 

 

It might seem like a wonderful escape but it doesn't always work like that. I have always lived on boats because that is my thing but I know of people who thought it might be a Good Idea but it went terribly wrong. 

 

One of the elephant in room problems is the relentless rise in the cost if housing. This does not affect me as I have no interest in owning property but people selling houses and buying boats can feel the impact of reality. 

 

I'm not saying this always happens but be very careful thinking that living in a house is the wrong idea. It might actually be the right idea. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

23 minutes ago, StuartHannam said:

A fair comment but it’s the freedom to move onwards at some stage and having more of an outside/indoor living environment that is our long term wish. The noisy neighbours is just one element of wanting to move out of the terraced housing life, the advantages of boating far outweigh anything that permanent house home offers. 

I still can't work out whether you are looking for a salt water mooring or the nearest canal mooring

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I still can't work out whether you are looking for a salt water mooring or the nearest canal mooring

 

Or even a non-tidal river mooring. The talk of EA rules makes me think this is a possibility, but I think on balance the OP wants a mooring close to Brightlingsea so at probably tidal or local marina.

[StuartHannam]

Due to work commitment I need to be around Colchester Essex area and I don’t think there is anything canal wise nearby enough.  We are narrowing down the boats we are looking for to be a Dutch barge type. It’s new to us completely and the internet will only tell you so much which is why I am on here gaining from actual peoples experience. 

[Tony Brooks]

2 minutes ago, StuartHannam said:

Due to work commitment I need to be around Colchester Essex area and I don’t think there is anything canal wise nearby enough.  We are narrowing down the boats we are looking for to be a Dutch barge type. It’s new to us completely and the internet will only tell you so much which is why I am on here gaining from actual peoples experience. 

 

I think that you have exhausted what help there is here. This forum is mainly peopled by inland boaters, so not many with the experience of the area you need.

[magnetman]

It looks like once a boat has a mooring the 'value' can be similar to a house.

 

https://houseboats.apolloduck.co.uk/regions.phtml?rid=79

 

(houseboats in Essex). 

 

It seems to me you are constrained by work arrangements and for this reason a cheaper alternative boat life may not in fact be viable. 

[StuartHannam]

Agreed, I am just making the effort to respond to anyone who has taken the trouble to comment. Thanks everyone for further information in case you read this later on. 

[magnetman]

 

 

it is understandable to be drawn to boats by the perceived benefit of it all being rather cheap but unless you are on inland waterways it actually isn't cheap at all. 

 

What you basically get in coastal areas is 4 things. 

 

People with leisure boats who have spare cash and set the market rate for marina moorings. 

 

Large houseboat berths generally already occupied and sold with boat already in situ. 

 

Club type creek moorings where you need to know the right people. 

 

People on smaller boats able to deal with the arduous conditions of living on tidal water. Most of these probably go somewhere nicer for winter. 

 

Other than that I do think the options are limited and you might find it is a lot more expensive than you expect. 

 

[Tony Brooks]

Just been onto the YBW Motorboat, East Cost, and Live Aboard forums and you do not seem to have asked there. They are much more likely to have real local knowledge.

[rusty69]

@Bargebuildermay know of somewhere if he's still about.

 

Somewhere like Blackwater marina may have somewhere. 

 

I always fancied the moorings at Rowhedge, but believe they are hard to come by. 

 

As for a swinging mooring, unless you can walk ashore when the tide goes out, it will be extremely hard work. 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

As for a swinging mooring, unless you can walk ashore when the tide goes out, it will be extremely hard work. 

 

 

You are lucky with your drying mooring at Wells it's clean sand - imagine trying to walk ashore in 2 feet of sticky mud, and then on your return from work, having to sit in the car for a number of hours until low water and then struggling back thru the mud to the boat.

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

You are lucky with your drying mooring at Wells it's clean sand - imagine trying to walk ashore in 2 feet of sticky mud, and then on your return from work, having to sit in the car for a number of hours until low water and then struggling back thru the mud to the boat.

Yeah, it's not possible in Essex or Suffolk. It's mostly mud, we used to Moor there for years on a, swinging mooring. Wells/Blakeney is really the first place there is sand. 

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Yeah, it's not possible in Essex or Suffolk. It's mostly mud, we used to Moor there for years on a, swinging mooring. Wells/Blakeney is really the first place there is sand. 

 

 

I don't think the OP fully understands the implications of what he is wanting to do, and despite virtually every reply explaining the difficulties (even for experienced boaters) he seems to be adament he is having a boat based where he can commute to work.

 

No one has yet suggested he changes job (location) so he can achiev his aspirations.

 

Options as I see them :

 

Change job, get a boat.

Stay in existing job until retirement, then get a boat.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[rusty69]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I don't think the OP fully understands the implications of what he is wanting to do, and sepite virtually every reply explaining the difficulties (even for experienced boaters) he seems to be adament he is having a boat based where he can commute to work.

 

No one has yet suggested he changes job (location) so he can achiev his aspirations.

 

Options as I see them :

 

Change job, get a boat.

Stay in existing job until retirement, then get a boat.

Living on a swinging mooring is not particularly easy. We do it for months at a time, but only during the summer months. 

 

Fresh water is one of the biggest problems. Water is not light, so unless there are shower facilities ashore soon become a pita. 

 

Chuck in heating, effluent removal and gas, and unless you take the boat alongside every few weeks and have a large water tank (preferable two), I wouldn't fancy doing it

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by rusty69

[howardang]

1 hour ago, StuartHannam said:

Agreed, I am just making the effort to respond to anyone who has taken the trouble to comment. Thanks everyone for further information in case you read this later on. 

for what it’s worth, I do wonder if you have  really thought about the actual small details of day to day living. For example, where does the toilet waste go? If not allowed directly overboard (which is the norm in most canal and river locations) how do you get rid of it ( tank?) and how frequently.? Ditto with day to day waste? Ditto, diesel, coal, fresh water replenishment? Groceries if you are on a swinging mooring? All the above can be difficult/impossible in bad weather, at a time when you might also be going stir crazy because you are stuck on board for the same reason. You don’t mention if you are used to boats but if not you really ought to try to get some practical knowledge before making such a serious move like the boat purchase you are suggesting. 

Howard

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Living on a swinging mooring is not particularly easy.

 

We had a Summer on deep water swinging moorings in Plymouth, it wasn't so bad as there was a boat-taxi, just call on the VHF and they'd come and pick you up, go out to the pub / shops etc and when you come back, the taxi had finished for the evening now how to get back to the boat ?

 

But as you know we are 'retarded' so don't have to be anywhere or do anything at a certain time - nothing to do and all day to do it in.

 

 

4 minutes ago, howardang said:

All the above can be difficult/impossible in bad weather, at a time when you might also be going stir crazy because you are stuck on board for the same reason.

 

And having to go ashore to work every day (as the OP does) becomes impossible.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[rusty69]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We had a Summer on deep water swinging moorings in Plymouth, it wasn't so bad as there was a boat-taxi, just call on the VHF and they'd come and pick you up, go out to the pub / shops etc and when you come back, the taxi had finished for the evening now how to get back to the boat ?

 

But as you know we are 'retarded' so don't have to be anywhere or do anything at a certain time - nothing to do and all day to do it in.

There used to be one of those at West Mersea.

 

[rusty69]

There also used to be moorings by the tide mill in woodbridge on the Deben

[ditchcrawler]

Pin Mill, several live aboards there 

[Bargebuilder]

I've cruised the East coast for 25 years and lived aboard a barge in tidal waters, rising and falling 10 feet or so twice each day without issue, but we were in a mudberth with access to fairly solid ground. 

 

In your area, large tides are always around lunchtime or early afternoon, so don't coincide with the daily commute for most people and don't imped ones path across a salt marsh.

 

Outside of marinas, pretty much everyone flushes their toilet directly into the sea, as there are no pump-out facilities that I am aware of within a day's sailing of Brightlingsea: a tiny minority use composting toilets. Liveaboards in marinas use marina toilets when convenient and sail out of the marina to pump out their holding tank into the sea. 

 

When using a sea toilet, your fresh water onboard lasts MUCH longer, but if on a swinging mooring, taking a large steel vessel into a marina for water when you need it will be nerve wracking, with very little room for manoeuvring amongst some very expensive plastic boats.

 

There are local swinging moorings for a few hundred pounds a year, but you are responsible for your own ground tackle. There are even mudberths a mile's walk from the nearest car park for less than £100 a year, but neither are convenient or suitable for liveaboard use.

 

 

[blackrose]

Stop using the word "residential" when you talk to marinas and moorings operators and paradoxically you may find somewhere to live - assuming you don't mind doing it unofficially.

 

One of these threads should be pinned in the living afloat subforum as it seems to come up on a weekly basis.

Edited December 12, 2023 by blackrose

[Willonaboat]

On 11/12/2023 at 18:28, howardang said:

for what it’s worth, I do wonder if you have  really thought about the actual small details of day to day living. For example, where does the toilet waste go? If not allowed directly overboard (which is the norm in most canal and river locations) how do you get rid of it ( tank?) and how frequently.? Ditto with day to day waste? Ditto, diesel, coal, fresh water replenishment? Groceries if you are on a swinging mooring? All the above can be difficult/impossible in bad weather, at a time when you might also be going stir crazy because you are stuck on board for the same reason. You don’t mention if you are used to boats but if not you really ought to try to get some practical knowledge before making such a serious move like the boat purchase you are suggesting. 

Howard

 

 

Not to mention dangerous at times. Been there, done that, when GetHomeItis meant I took more risks than was sensible... arrived at the boatyard unexpectedly late, in the dark, wind against tide, weather worse than forecast, dinghy tied to pontoon already bouncing around with water inside, bailed out, loaded food and bags, wet-weather gear and lifejacket on, I set off into the darkness for the swinging mooring. Arrived at boat wet, cold, managed to unload self + bags and food onto a boat bucking like a bronco, before finally raising the dinghy. Cold, tired and hungry I contemplated that if anything had happened to me no one would have known until my body was found. It was June.

 

Living onboard on a swinging mooring in winter? Not for me, thanks.

 

Try Essex Marina on the Crouch. There's a long outside pontoon there with some large liveaboard boats alongside. Also try North Fambridge Marina who operate the alongside moorings at Fambridge Yacht Station. Blackwater Marina (on the river Blackwater) has liveaboards and the berths are (slightly) cheaper because they dry out. Not sure if Heybridge Basin might be worth a try. If you go for something smaller Tollesbury saltings might be worth a try.

 

But as others have suggested, are you sure you know what you're getting into? And if you have a partner, does he/she? It wouldn't be the first time one half of a partnership finds they can't hack it and the relationship falls apart. Living on a boat in good weather in the long lazy days of summer and the cold, desolate, short days of winter can be like heaven and hell. Good luck.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by Willonaboat

[magnetman]

I feel the boat size is a key indicator here. They are going for quite a large boat because they presumably want to emulate a house. A boat will never be similar to a house under any circumstances where there is a financial motive for living on a boat. 

 

Obviously if you have endless money you can get a nice boat but then most people would get a nice house, and a boat. 

 

Tollesbury saltings is nice. I noticed there were a couple of wide beam canal boats there. Probably quite good to have a flat bottom in places like that.