Living aboard for a season?

[TheShipsCat]

I have this dream/fantasy that's been nagging at me that is likely not very possible, but I'd like some perspectives from the community abut it.

 

I want to live aboard a narrowboat for 3-6 months.  We are not in a position to own one, being foreigners with a ten hour flight to the UK.  I understand that long-term hires do happen, but there is at least one problem:  My wife would not spend time away from home of that amount of time for numerous reasons.  Thus, I am talking about a (mainly) solo experience.  This puts a few beetles into the pudding:

* I don't think that any well-run hire company would hire out a boat for that long (or for any length of time) to a solo boater.

* I have never single-handed.  I'm up for getting training to increase my skill level, but I doubt that hiring concerns would accept that.

 

The way that I've considered doing this might be to advertise for guest crew to share the boat for some days at a time to help get through locks and whatnot, and to have rotating company.  I enjoy meeting and working with new people (and yes, that might be a mixed bag).  I'd like to taste the live-aboard life, but less so the boat-hermit existence.  I would probably take on one guest at a time, or maybe the occasional couple, but I'm not looking for big parties.

 

And still, I just don't know if anybody would hire out a boat to me under circumstances like that.

 

I'd appreciate any thoughts from the gang.  

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, TheShipsCat said:

I don't think that any well-run hire company would hire out a boat for that long (or for any length of time) to a solo boater.

 

Why not just ask them ?

 

Escape the Rat Race

[Mike Hurley]

Take someone else's wife.

[TheShipsCat]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Why not just ask them ?

 

Escape the Rat Race

Well, I did, thanks.  Clearly it's not just me.

[Tony1]

 

This would be quite an expensive method I suspect, but you could consider a series of successive hires from different bases. 

I didnt realise they dont like hiring out boats to solo people, I must say - but there always seems to be the odd exception.

If you try using the search function here, with varying combinations of the words 'solo' and 'hire', plus some common synonyms (e.g. single-handed), you might uncover a company somewhere who'll hire a boat to you. 

 

I wouldn't be concerned about solo boating through locks etc, other than its more faffing and more work than it is with a crew.

If you can get a forum member here to cruise with you for a day though some locks, learn some basic boat handling and lock techniques etc, you'll probably be good to go yourself. Lets face it, most new hire boaters take off roaring down the cut after an hours instruction, and some of that time is learning about the boats systems, not driving it. When I hired 10 years ago the guy teaching me stood on the stern as I pulled away, watched me steering for a few hundred yards, then jumped off and went back to the hire base. 

Either I'm a boating genius, or they dont care all that much.  And I cant provide any evidence that I'm a boating genius. 

 

In terms of having people aboard with you, you can advertise on facebook groups and on here. You probably wont fill every available day, but there are probably a fair number of people who are seriously thinking about boating and would be keen to join for a day or two, maybe more- especially if you're paying for the boat hire and the fuel.

You'll need to vet the buggers carefully though, you might end up with a complete thug like me. Or even worse, Peterboat.

 

[Adam]

We do something similar - we have a 60ft narrow boat (our own) in the Midlands, we cruise it Nov-Apr and return home (6hours ish) to work all summer.

 

We have the boat lifted and left on hard standing over the summer when we are not on board, it saves on the license fee and hard standing is cheaper/ more secure than a marina/ online mooring. 

 

We bought ours and tried one winter with the intention of selling it if it wasn't for us, this is our third season - maybe you might want to come back after your initial trial?

[DandV]

We met another Kiwi couple who arranged a buy , buy back arrangement, I think on an initial agreed number of years, and at an agreed buy back price. 

The vendor retained a mooring where the boat wintered over, and the vendor kept an eye on it and arranged for any agreed maintenance to be carried out.

So the couple owned the boat and were responsible for insuring and all licence fees for the period.

[Momac]

3 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

The way that I've considered doing this might be to advertise for guest crew to share the boat for some days at a time to help get through locks and whatnot, and to have rotating company. 

http://www.narrowboatcrew.co.uk/

 

 

[TheShipsCat]

2 hours ago, Tony1 said:

 

This would be quite an expensive method I suspect, but you could consider a series of successive hires from different bases. 

I didnt realise they dont like hiring out boats to solo people, I must say - but there always seems to be the odd exception.

 

I wouldn't be concerned about solo boating through locks etc, other than its more faffing and more work than it is with a crew.

 

In terms of having people aboard with you, ...  You'll need to vet the buggers carefully though,

 

Indeed, successive fortnight hires sound like not just expensive, but a pain in the prat. If I can find a long term hire so that I can just have the same boat all the way, I would much prefer.  I admit I'm assuming a lot, coming mostly from what I read in the brochures, about resistance to hiring to single-handers.  When you think about it, given the aptitude and demeanor of plenty of the couples they typically hire to, never mind the big parties of yahoos, if it were my boat I'd sooner hire to the old lone wolf.  It is indeed worth checking around.

I have a total of five weeks of piloting under me, which ain't much, but I've demonstrated that I am a decent pilot. I'll have another four to six weeks at least by the time I'm ready to do something like this.  I'm really not super trepidatious about single-handing, just haven't done so, and would like to learn.  On an experience of the kind I'm thinking of, at worst I wouldn't mind tying up before a lock and waiting for some other kind boater to come by and lend a hand.  I do think I can handle some of the easier single locks on my own.  I would not at this point try to single-hand the Liverpool & Leeds for all the mucking swing bridges.  Yet again, I would like the opportunity to meet and work with folks.  I would fully intend on paying for the boat and exchange the free ride for help.

 

For vetting I've only thought of meeting people by video call first for screening.  I don't know what else I would do.  Pull a credit report?  Post a mug shot: "Do you know this boater?"  Run a police report?

 

[Ianws]

A police report "DBS check" wouldn't be an option, as it wouldn't come under the criteria to apply for one. 

I don't want to be a doomsayer but I imagine any boat hiring company's terms wouldn't allow unconnected third parties to accompany you. From their point of view it would make sense. 

[TheShipsCat]

2 hours ago, Ianws said:

A police report "DBS check" wouldn't be an option, as it wouldn't come under the criteria to apply for one.

I was joking about the police report. 

[Stroudwater1]

Perhaps  hire a boat for 2-3 weeks together then see what your wife thinks of doing a longer trip the next year? She may find it hard to decline.  There are house sitters and the like who could help at home? 
 

I’m not sure a firm will hire to a singlehander TBH. Long term hires that spring to mind as a possibility is Oxfordshire narrowboats, Union Canal carriers and Canal Cruiser Co. Ltd.  of Stone or Rose Narrowboats. Others could do longer too? 

[LadyG]

9 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

I have a total of five weeks of piloting under me, which ain't much, but I've demonstrated that I am a decent pilot. I'll have another four to six weeks at least by the time I'm ready to do something like this.  I'm really not super trepidatious about single-handing, just haven't done so, and would like to learn.  On an experience of the kind I'm thinking of, at worst I wouldn't mind tying up before a lock and waiting for some other kind boater to come by and lend a hand.  I do think I can handle some of the easier single locks on my own.  I would not at this point try to single-hand the Liverpool & Leeds for all the mucking swing bridges.  Yet again, I would like the opportunity to meet and work with folks.  I would fully intend on paying for the boat and exchange the free ride for help.

 

 

 

I believe Rose Narrowboats do longer hires, but essentially yours is not very long, so as long as you can hire outside of school holidays you should find something.

I have done the L&L myself, I think some of the swing bridges are accessible for agile singlehanders, but more often, I just waited for another boat to come along and open it for me

I sometimes ask interested passers by if they would like  to assist, I'd rather do that than have several guests who may or may not be compatible. 

I think another option is to ask hire company if they have an employee who could travel with you for a couple of days, with the plan to travel as far as possible in two days,  drop off the hired hand and make your way back singlehanded.

Edited November 12 by LadyG

[Mac of Cygnet]

16 hours ago, Adam said:

We do something similar - we have a 60ft narrow boat (our own) in the Midlands, we cruise it Nov-Apr and return home (6hours ish) to work all summer.

 

We have the boat lifted and left on hard standing over the summer when we are not on board, it saves on the license fee and hard standing is cheaper/ more secure than a marina/ online mooring. 

 

We bought ours and tried one winter with the intention of selling it if it wasn't for us, this is our third season - maybe you might want to come back after your initial trial?

Perhaps you could come to some arrangement with the OP - from his other posts on here he seems a competent and reasonable person.  

[TheShipsCat]

8 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Perhaps  hire a boat for 2-3 weeks together then see what your wife thinks of doing a longer trip the next year? She may find it hard to decline.  There are house sitters and the like who could help at home? 

Oh we started canal boating and have done all of our trips together and have more planned on our share boat.  She's never happier than on the cut and loves the UK at least as much as I do.  She just can't handle being away from her pets and garden for more than about two weeks at a time. 

 

I, for one, would be inclined to expatriate from these trumpified shores and retire to a narrowboat for as long as I could bodily and legally manage.  But I'm not abandoning Jenny, and this idea of a live-aboard 3-6 months is a compromise to allow me a taste of a life that we can't manage.  I'd encourage her to come share the boat with me for as much time as she can stand.

[TheShipsCat]

On 11/11/2024 at 10:11, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Why not just ask them ?

 

Escape the Rat Race

So I asked them.  Their reply didn't seem to bat an eye at my mention of a single hand hire or soliciting crew.  They quoted me some pretty reasonable prices for long term hires.  I'm curious about the quality of their boats, but if these guys are on the up-and-up, they sound like a possibility.

 

If anyone has any experience with or scuttlebutt on Escape the Rat Race or Laughing Dog Boats, I'd be much obliged for a DM.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

So I asked them.  Their reply didn't seem to bat an eye at my mention of a single hand hire or soliciting crew.  They quoted me some pretty reasonable prices for long term hires.  I'm curious about the quality of their boats, but if these guys are on the up-and-up, they sound like a possibility.

 

If anyone has any experience with or scuttlebutt on Escape the Rat Race or Laughing Dog Boats, I'd be much obliged for a DM.

 

No personal exoerience but the 'gravevine' suggest they are approachable, flexible, good to deal with and their boats of a more than reasonable standard.

[Tony1]

That's great news, really glad to hear you've got a likely company in the frame. 

You'll already know that the summer is quite busy on certain canals, so for a bit of an alternative experience, I wonder if it would be worth hiring for part of time during the Spring, or the late Autumn, when it is a little bit less busy? Just a thought really.

Your wife could join you during the warm weather part, and you would be solo (with the odd guest) for the other part.

The weather is always highly unpredictable (but it can be very mixed in summer too)- so during say March or October you'll need to be ok with the possibility of getting 5 days of solid rain, or some pretty chilly mornings etc. And stretches of muddy towpath. 

But seeing the canals in the colder months can be a lovely experience.

Personally I enjoy winter just as much as summer, but for different reasons. Yes the days are short, and its bloody freezing (and windy) for a lot of the time.

And when its not very cold, its usually dark grey skies or rain.

But you do get some bright days, and it is so peaceful cruising in winter- and the countryside has a unique feel to it in that season. 

I cruised from Hinckley to Hawkesbury junction yesterday, and I didnt pass a single moving boat. Not everyone's cup of tea, of course, but I love it.

 

Edited November 13 by Tony1

[Mikexx]

Most commercial holiday narrowboats are stuck at their base outside of their holiday season so would have thought a 6 month hire October to end April would have been doable, especially as some hire-bases have limited moorings. The downside would be the winter stoppages limiting travel, in addition to to unplanned closures.

Edited November 19 by Mikexx

[ditchcrawler]

45 minutes ago, Mikexx said:

Most commercial holiday narrowboats are stuck at their base outside of their holiday season so would have thought a 6 month hire October to end April would have been doable, especially as some hire-bases have limited moorings. The downside would be the winter stoppages limiting travel, in addition to to unplanned closures.

And not all are really well set up for winter living

[MtB]

18 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

And not all are really well set up for winter living

 

I'd suggest for the really good real winter living aboard experience, a boat with a solid fuel stove in the saloon is essential.

 

There's nothing like hunkering down for an evening in a cozy warm boat in front of the fire in an isolated location on a freezing cold dark winter's evening with a bottle of good red or a single malt.

 

Then waking up at 3am freezing cold having fallen asleep and let the stove go out! 

 

 

 

[IanD]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I'd suggest for the really good real winter living aboard experience, a boat with a solid fuel stove in the saloon is essential.

 

There's nothing like hunkering down for an evening in a cozy warm boat in front of the fire in an isolated location on a freezing cold dark winter's evening with a bottle of good red or a single malt.

 

Then waking up at 3am freezing cold having fallen asleep and let the stove go out! 

 

 

Or you could have diesel central heating which gives a boat which is warm throughout (admittedly with no fire -- but also no dirt or attention...) and keeps it at a comfortable lower temperature overnight... 😉 

 

There are good reasons houses moved away from fires/stoves in "the old days" to central heating nowadays... 🙂 

 

Other opinions are also available 🙂 

Edited November 20 by IanD

[Francis Herne]

On 11/11/2024 at 18:09, TheShipsCat said:

* I don't think that any well-run hire company would hire out a boat for that long (or for any length of time) to a solo boater.

I know that Cheshire Cat at Overwater have done precisely that, because I met a single chap with minimal experience last spring who'd just started hiring one for a year.

 

Canal Cruising Co. in Stone can be very flexible -- one of theirs is the only hire boat I've heard of making an estuary passage Bristol-Sharpness.

 

I'd also try Union Canal Carriers in Braunston, another old-school hire company run by pragmatic old boaters. Their Barney boats would be much more suitable to live on for a while than a typical hire boat fitout.

Edited November 20 by Francis Herne

[MtB]

7 hours ago, IanD said:

Or you could have diesel central heating which gives a boat which is warm throughout (admittedly with no fire -- but also no dirt or attention...) and keeps it at a comfortable lower temperature overnight... 😉 

 

 

Or best of all, have both!! 

 

 

[IanD]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Or best of all, have both!! 

 

 

Fine so long as you have the space for the stove, and are willing to plumb both into the radiator system, and don't mind the mess, and don't mind having bags of coal or logs stored somewhere (on the roof?).

 

Many people do this and are perfectly happy as a result. Others would rather just be warm anytime without the space, bother and mess of solid fuel. Neither is right or wrong, best or worst, it's purely personal preference... 🙂