Advice needed! Do I purchase a narrowboat?

[Emmyjoy]

Just now, dmr said:

Have a look at New Islington, its a good trendy spot right in the middle of Manchester, not a clue what it costs but I suspect its a lot.

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

Have a look at New Islington, its a good trendy spot right in the middle of Manchester, not a clue what it costs but I suspect its a lot.

 

 

Or make the move to Oxford, where everything gets a whole lot easier !

[Emmyjoy]

Just now, MtB said:

 

 

Or make the move to Oxford, where everything gets a whole lot easier !

I’m originally from that area so will hopefully end up back there in the future. Very beautiful area!

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

 

I think you will find that residential moorings (if you can actually find one) will be somewhere around 2x those prices.

Not particularly relevant but London Residential moorings are between £10,000 and £15,000 per annum.

 

Other cities (Birmigham, Manchester etc) are not that bad, but certainly are at a 'premium' price compared to 'out of town moorings'.

[dmr]

6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Or make the move to Oxford, where everything gets a whole lot easier !

I dunno, the Thames round there is getting rammed, and rivers do tend to get nasty in winter. You have to get a fair bit out of Oxford before the South Oxford Canal gets good and the rail link is not so easy.

So, if you have a boat and can go and live anywhere then where should that be?  😀

(Cambridge is rather nice but the waiting list is 100 years long)

12 minutes ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

 

That is an amazingly good price, many people pay twice that to keep a leisure boat in a marina out in the sticks. I assume New Islington is at least "unofficial" residential?

[Jak]

Hi. This isnt so daft. I know a few students who have found boat life works for them. When you are young and love the waterways. Hassle around toilets, water, waste, mainenance, etc. can be manageable. Just allow for it vs. the cost of usual, (read boring), student accomodation. 
 

if you are serious, I know of a circa 25k boat with BSS, good hull recently blacked and decent electrics that might suit. Please PM me for more information. 
 

Cheers, Jak. 

[blackrose]

23 minutes ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi, i’d be looking for a permanent mooring. I wouldn’t cc for a few years.

 

When you visit marinas to ask about moorings don't say "residential mooring" because the answer will be"No". Be discrete and ask if they allow moorers to live on their boats unofficially or if there's a high intensity boat usage option.

 

If the answer is yes then usually that means you can't use the marina as your residential address, you can't get post delivered there and you will need a separate address for banking, etc.

 

Some moorings will turn a blind eye to non residential liveaboards who keep a low profile, and if you want to maintain that discretion you need to be aware that your have no residential rights and ideally you shouldn't refer to the boat as your home in writing or when talking to people. 

[Jak]

This very true. I know a people happily living on CRT leisure moorings for many years. If you keep to yourself it seems that CRT really dont care. We have no electrics, though elsan and waste are very close. All down to battery management off grid again. See 100s of previous posts on this 😱

[Emmyjoy]

1 minute ago, Jak said:

Hi. This isnt so daft. I know a few students who have found boat life works for them. When you are young and love the waterways. Hassle around toilets, water, waste, mainenance, etc. can be manageable. Just allow for it vs. the cost of usual, (read boring), student accomodation. 
 

if you are serious, I know of a circa 25k boat with BSS, good hull recently blacked and decent electrics that might suit. Please PM me for more information. 
 

Cheers, Jak. 

Hi Jak,

 

thanks so much for your response! Very reassuring! Over the last few years i’ve felt more drawn to boatlife and spend a lot of my time around castlefield and new islington admiring the boats. I’m really not a fan of city living and, since I privately rent rather than have student accommodation, hate the prospect of paying off someone else’s mortgage each month when I could be investing the money onto a boat I own and love. I don’t really mind the hassle around emptying toilets, bins etc. I’m also very aware of the costs and added costs with this lifestyle. As I mentioned in my original post, this has always been something that i’ve wanted to do, so a lot of research has gone in before this post. I wouldn’t be looking to purchase for a few months. But, if i haven’t found one i’ll get back in touch. 

 

Thanks!

[Jak]

I am old. But have friends who have helped their student sons / daughers onto boats for uni. And its worked. Serious about the boat. You have seen the comments about 25k boats. You should take a look, it might be an option. All the best eitherway and good luck. Might be a good plan 👍👍

Edited January 30 by Jak

[blackrose]

20 years ago £25k might have bought you a decent boat but now at that price they're a few and far between. I'm afraid you'll need to set aside the best part of £600 or possibly more to take any prospective boat out the water for a hull survey. If you want to make it as cheap as possible then just get a hull survey and maybe find someone knowledgeable from the forum that could check the engine, stern gear, etc, and the internal fit out, particularly the insulation.

 

You could buy a boat without a survey but on a sub £25k boat it's a big risk as lots of them are worn or corroded. You could just rely on a seller's existing survey if a recent one exists, but that's also a risk so it's better to use an existing survey as the basis on which to commission your own. 

Edited January 30 by blackrose

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

8 hours ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

That’s cheap😂

[BilgePump]

9 hours ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

That doesn't sound too bad at all. I'm currently paying £87 per month for just a 26' long CaRT leisure mooring on the Macclesfield canal. Water and bins there but nothing else. Not the easiest access to public transport either and no free parking close by. True residential moorings are like hens' teeth but some places like New Mills marina have an intensive use option and is next to a train line into Manchester.

[Bee]

My advice (Not always great!) is to start looking at boats and see what you might be able to buy - this part is free! Carry on  looking till you find something that looks possible and then ask for advice about that boat - this is when reality about corrosion, leaks (above and below the waterline) and cost of repairs and costs of moorings and suchlike will hit. Boats really are expensive to live on. In my time I have lived on boats for years but I would not do it now, however I would consider living in a van. Sooner or later most of us end up in a house of some sort, a period of cheap living is pretty much essential to do that, if you can save while you are young that is really important, if you can come out of uni debt free then that is vital, the chips are stacked against you though these days. Good luck!

[ditchcrawler]

11 hours ago, Emmyjoy said:

Hi,

 I know New Islington quite well as I frequently go for walks around there. Last I heard it was around 150-200 per month so quite a lot.

You will be lucky to find a residential mooring under £2500 a year lots of leisure moorings are heading that way now 

[GUMPY]

13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

You will be lucky to find a residential mooring under £2500 a year lots of leisure moorings are heading that way now 

Even down the Nene it's up at that rate.

And the Nene was cheap.

[Tracy D'arth]

You are considering a narrow boat for the wrong reasons.  They are a nice vessel to cruise on, enjoy the open countryside and stay on as appropriate.

They are not cheap housing to be moored up permanently on expensive moorings.

[Jak]

I am paying £2500 for an online leisure mooring with basic facilities. No security. No electric.  But a short walk / trip from bins, elsan & water.  Leisure, not residential. But CRT are turning a blind eye to a few boats that are obviously permanent homes.

 

edited to add that there is a residential mooring available in the centre of Aylesbury. No good for you. But out of interest thats buy it now for £4700 with electric and water on site. 
 

Edited January 30 by Jak

[Crewcut]

Dunno if you've seen the waterside moorings site but there's a residential mooring at the bottom of this list in Horbury for £3500pa for up to 57feet. I don't know Horbury at all or whether there are transport links that you could use but that's a pretty good price for an official residential mooring. You'd pay council tax with it being residential, so band A for the local area, single person discount if you're on your own, call it another £1k. That's your rent and council tax for  £375/month. Your bills will be quite high in the colder months for heating (work on up to a couple of hundred) but really quite small in the warmer months. Then there'll be your license fee, insurance and ongoing maintenance costs like engine servicing - much cheaper if you can DIY & it's not rocket science. Try to have a contingency fund of a few thousand and start learning about diesel engine maintenance and troubleshooting, basic 12v electrics, etc.

Somebody else already said but I'll repeat, go see some boats to start getting an idea what you can get, definitely go and have a look at the one Jax mentions. Good luck with it all...

[booke23]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

You are considering a narrow boat for the wrong reasons.  They are a nice vessel to cruise on, enjoy the open countryside and stay on as appropriate.

They are not cheap housing to be moored up permanently on expensive moorings.

 

You're right, but I fear the various voices of reason and caution in this thread are whistling into the wind. Just like most other posts like this, the OP has already made up their mind. 

[LadyG]

OP does say it has been a dream for a while, so that's a mega bonus, as dreams last longer than reality when it comes to living on a narrowboat in winter,  plus there is a plan, rather than an instant decision, so I think that though it is a risk, it might be a risk work taking,  there is a reasonable chance it will work out.

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

You are considering a narrow boat for the wrong reasons.  

 

The OP's reasons for buying a boat may seem wrong to you but may be entirely right for her. She's already stated a long held interest in boats, the waterways and the countryside and I don't see what's so wrong about that?

 

It's tempting to pass judgment on new people's motivations when they announce they're interested in buying a boat, but young people are the future and they'll be the ones on the waterways after we're long gone. For many of them combining a home and a hobby is the only feasible way into boat ownership and it may allow them to learn to appreciate both aspects and generate a greater interest in boating.

[LadyG]

16 hours ago, dmr said:

Have a look at New Islington, its a good trendy spot right in the middle of Manchester, not a clue what it costs but I suspect its a lot.

Worth going there and checking out, there may be a suitable boat there already, so possible to jump the queue, walk round, chat to the manager, there may be a For Sale sign on a boat, best to have a look inside a few before buying  one....

[jonathanA]

I would agree with Bee - start looking at boats for sale in the north rather than inflated southern prices. I saw a nice 36 foot boat go for less than 18K before christmas - lovely little boat not 'ancient' think its was less than 15 years old.  there is project boat near me, 57 foot, recently reconditioned BETA engine, asking a very optimistic 30K, think that will go for  nearer £20K personally - but does want a lot doing both these are private sales from 'for sale' in the windows, rather than via brokers.   so get out and have a look around on the towpath/marinas if only to get an idea of whats available at what price. 

 

 

[Annie cariad]

If you have to ask and question this crap DONT Do IT