I've an idea to live on a boat.

[kevinl]

29 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

You're not comparing like for like. If you compare in terms of cubic area heated I think you'll probably find boats are more expensive to heat than houses or flats.

That's the point, I'm sat in my kitchen (at home), it's about the same dimensions as my GRP boat but with twice the headroom so in air volume terms more like my narrrowboat.

In cubic area the kitchen is a fraction of the  whole house so only a fraction of my home heating  bill.

K

[WulfNut]

The main thing people who are interested in moving on to a boat have to realise is how inconvenient it is.   Yes this has changed a bit over time, hence solar is more popular now but Spidermans uncle could have said "with great power comes only a little bit more convenience" for his last words.  It wasn't that long ago that the only thing that ran off electricity on the average boat was some 12v lights.  When they went dim you knew it was time to start the engine, move the boat and get ready for a shower as the water was going to magically warm up at the same time.  Internet was a thing that people on land could enjoy, but a boater was more likely to be caught reading a book or listening to the radio.  Some people still enjoy that way of life, but now even those people tend to have a smart phone and the book has turned into a kindle.  It was a cheap way of life because it was almost impossible to find a way to spend money without trudging along a muddy tow path and walking for miles to find a shop or pub.  These days you can spend money simply by touching a screen, so maybe spidermans uncle could also have warned "with that greater convenience comes a spend it now button"  because that is the real end result. 

 

They make adverts on the telly, telling you of poor people in far off countries, asking for your money because someone has to walk for miles to get a jug of water, when they are hungry they have to walk all day to buy some food, they can't read at night because the electricity has gone off, when they are ill they can not get to the doctors and they have to share a cesspit with the rest of the village.  On the plus side they don't pay council tax. 

 

What am I trying to say?

Well we choose. We can live very cheaply or we can live very conveniently.  Either way you are going to have to do some hard work somewhere along the line.  There is no cheatcode that enables us to sit staring at a screen passing the time away and the only job we have is to press the buy it now button.  Everything comes at a price of some sort. 

[1st ade]

51 minutes ago, WulfNut said:

It wasn't that long ago that the only thing that ran off electricity on the average boat was some 12v lights.

And the water pump. My Father (Magpie the Elder) and also father of @magpie patrick organised his school to hire four 12 berth boats from Willow Wren in the 1970's. Each boat, two teachers and ten kids. One day someone left the tap running and Dad had to quietly explain that as the water tank was now empty, there would be no bath or shower, no washing up and "Dinner" from whatever could be cooked without water. Not a problem for the loo of course, that was politely known as "Bucket and Chucket..."