Live aboard costs

[chris w]

What gives you the gumption to be such a pompous prick?

 

Well I'm not an "alcoholic and substance user" for a start. Was it lack of willpower and resolve that got you into those dark corners too?

 

Chris Ha Ha ha

[Chris J W]

Well I'm not an "alcoholic and substance user" for a start. Was it lack of willpower and resolve that got you into those dark corners too?

 

Chris Ha Ha ha

 

Grow up.

[Stourbridgeguy]

Sorry Chris W but I have to say that comment was out of order

[magnetman]

You could argue that someone who's main drive is the desire to acquire wealth and possessions lacks willpower because greed is a natural animal instinct (foxes and chicken heads) which is easy to follow but in theory can be bypassed and thus mark humans out as a 'thinking' race.

 

You could argue that someone who's main drive is the desire to acquire wealth and possessions lacks willpower because greed is a natural animal instinct (foxes and chicken heads) which is easy to follow but in theory can be bypassed and thus mark humans out as a 'thinking' race.

[chris w]

Sorry Chris W but I have to say that comment was out of order

 

I agree with you that his comment about my being a "pompous prick" was out of order. It's not even true either.

 

Chris

[carlt]

I agree with you that his comment about my being a "pompous prick" was out of order. It's not even true either.

 

Chris

Oh come on Chris! Even you know it's true!

 

Edited to say:

I would add that we're far better off, since moving back into the house!

Edited April 2, 2008 by carlt

[Bones]

I agree with you that his comment about my being a "pompous prick" was out of order. It's not even true either.

 

Chris

 

Bones strolls in (no-one has cut the skeletal hands off yet) and sticks a 'no buns for you' sticker on chris w's lapel.

 

You are a naughty naughty person. Go straight to jail and DO NOT pass go.

 

I hope you will write your lines ' I must be nice and enjoy boating' in your best handwriting 100 times before returning.

[DHutch]

All abusive comments our out of order and most unrequired.

 

- This is a perfectly legitimate thread and it would be a shame to close it so can we just move on?

 

 

 

Daniel

[Jon]

ENOUGH.

 

This is yet another thread pulled apart by petty bickering. I really wish those people so insistant on arguing would go elsewhere and leave those who want to have a serious discussion to do so in peace.

 

I agree with Daniel, I don't want to close the thread as it is a valid discussion, however if it continues to be a school playground then I will close it and suspend the members involved, warning or no warning.

 

You have been warned....

 

Jon

[goldtone]

Well I'm not an "alcoholic and substance user" for a start. Was it lack of willpower and resolve that got you into those dark corners too?

 

Chris Ha Ha ha

 

 

 

Please read my replies before commenting. I said recovered user!! There is a fantastic book available on amazon and throughout the world. It's called Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly referred to as 'the big book', it will give you all the information you need to discover that any addiction has nothing to do with willpower. This book is backed up by the medical field, heavily sponsored by Carl Jung.

 

Addiction is both a physical and mental illness, likened to an allergy, whereby against all self knowledge and experience of what taking that first drink may lead to, the user imbibes anyway. Once imbibed a physical reaction takes place where the power to stop is lost, even against the highest desire not to drink further. Alas it is still viewed by many as a lack of willpower. If you like, I can forward you the book online. I'm being serious now. I've been clean and sober for 6 years, 4 months and 2 days all due to AA, and I really think the general public needs to understand more about it.

 

The above may have been, but the following is NOT off topic:

 

Chris I regret replying in the way that I did, I'm afraid that you managed to offend me by judging (perceived) a number of things dear to me. Namely my personal situation, and my recent life choice and the driving force behind it. In my future correspondence with you I will endeavour to treat you with love, tolerance and understanding.

 

Love and light to you all

 

 

 

ENOUGH.

 

This is yet another thread pulled apart by petty bickering. I really wish those people so insistant on arguing would go elsewhere and leave those who want to have a serious discussion to do so in peace.

 

I agree with Daniel, I don't want to close the thread as it is a valid discussion, however if it continues to be a school playground then I will close it and suspend the members involved, warning or no warning.

 

You have been warned....

 

Jon

[StoneHenge]

I don't understand all the bickering. It's a yopic about the general costs of living on a boat, and to me the values added to the topic have been how people have perceived those costs and how it has changed their lifestyles and expectations of what life on the cut (or in the cut a lot in my case) is really all about.

 

Some people love to live on land, some love to live on water (salty or dirty) and some love to have the best of both. Live and let live.

 

I love my floating life, I try to enjoy every day of the short life offered to us. I have learned a great deal since living aboard including how to economise, be clever with small spaces, be more environmentally aware of my surroundings and what effect I have on them, and how I have been privileged to meet some amazing people as well.

[Bones]

I think, for me, liveaboard costs are much easier to manage than those in a house, just because of my temperment and nature as a person. If I have the money I buy coal, if i don't I don't. I have done well this year, and despite having some added unexpected expenditure, I am still finding that I am saving money. I have upped my usage of coal, and have used about 28bags this winter, and I have been very warm indeed. the price of coal went up about 60p over the course of the winter months, which isn't too bad. Diesel has gone up quite a lot, but I have had a winter mooring and thus not used any diesel.

 

Other unexpected costs were re-doing of my diesel and exhaust systems when it became clear they were a complete disaster! this cost me about 500pounds including disposal of the 25gallons of diesel that leaked into the engine bay (it didn't get into the cabin space thankfully). I also needed to replace my alternator when someone pointed out it wasn't actually doing anything - I hadn't noticed, but I have a solar panel. I use my fridge when I move the boat, and all the time in summer, but in winter I use the bilges to keep things cool, and use the fridges in the shops for the meat. The alternator was about 90 quid including fitting.

 

Other than that, I can't think of any unexpected costs (which is what this was all about in the first place), there are the long term ones of suddenly finding the entire water system needs sorting out - and you may get an idea about some disasters by reading some of WriggleFingers posts after she bought her new boat last year (or the year before).

 

Laundrettes are increasingly more expensive. I don't have a washing machine aboard, and I find that all clothes tend to air well, have several sides; back to front, inside out etc etc, , and I am also extremely fortunate because I know people who like to invite me, and my washing, to dinner parties.

 

Overall, I have spent the last couple of months marvelling at how cheap it is to live aboard with these added expenditures in comparison to what I had expected. that was until I decided to open a pay cheque (a rare occurance for me) and spotted I have had a pay rise -

 

I was bought up in a big old drafty rambling pile with single brick walls, no heating, no insulation and buckets of hot water. We used to wear more clothes going to bed than during the day, and we never bothered with using lights. It always seemed natural to me to only use a light when I was either reading or using sharp things. I had a large garden and much of my life was spent creating, making and adventuring. We borrowed a television once for something or the other but that was it. Music was made by the family, friends and various waifs if we wanted some, and there was a wind up gramaphone floating around for when we were teenagers. I wear clothes until they wear out, and shop for new ones every three or so years. I go through shoes like no-ones business but I buy expensive ones which seem to last longer, and wear paraboots the rest of the time.

 

I realise the way I live is a bit chaotic, and off shore; I do have a regular job that has a shower in the basement which I am periodically sent to , and I can wear what I like most of the time. I do wear smart clothes when I see patients, but I spend an evening with the flat iron and bread board sprucing up some fancy stuff. A friend of mine is a professional and he says he would struggle to keep all his shirts and trousers delicious without a proper iron, electric and washing/tumble dryer.

 

Overall, I can't think of any other outlandish unexpected things - someone has just discovered their electrical consumption isn't as small as they thought it was, and has shelled out for a new generator, but I don't know the cost.

Edited April 3, 2008 by Bones

[Tusses]

Thanks Bones - thats just about how I imagined it would be

 

 

 

 

 

oh ... except the coal thing ... I imagine I would try to find more free wood as I do at home

 

just use a bit of coal to stop the fire dieing out inbetween loading with wood.

[Bones]

i only did the coal thing as an experiment,albeit an extravagant one, and I like the coal man. I collected a tonne of wood when I was in Surrey, and will burn that next year! Coal keeps the fire in overnight, and a good log will keep it in during the day.

[Chris Pink]

I imagine I would try to find more free wood as I do at home

 

You have to roam a bitty wide these days with vehicle to get wood, the bankside is pretty efficiently cleared.

[Tusses]

hmm... a trailer attachment to a push bike might come in handy then. shopping , coal ? wood hunting ....

[carlt]

You have to roam a bitty wide these days with vehicle to get wood, the bankside is pretty efficiently cleared.

I collared a work gang cutting back the trees, in Newbold, a few years ago, who dropped off a tug hold full of logs, for £20. It saved them transferring them to their truck for disposal, and it gave me a winters worth of warmth.

 

A couple of years before that I helped BW clear an oak that had fallen across the entrance to Braunston tunnel so they cut it down to Rayburn sized rounds, for me (sadly they weren't allowed to leave the 3' diameter, 30' long straight trunk intact). Another free, warm winter.

 

As long as you keep your eyes open and aren't afraid to ask, tree surgeons will often give their wood away, rather than tip, or chip, it.

[Chris Pink]

(sadly they weren't allowed to leave the 3' diameter, 30' long straight trunk intact

 

Well that's OK, we don't have to think about sustainable resources, how long it takes to grow that kind of wood, it's true value than kind of thing.

 

They did the same with a 200 year old beech round here a year or so ago.

 

Speechless.

[sueb]

Well that's OK, we don't have to think about sustainable resources, how long it takes to grow that kind of wood, it's true value than kind of thing.

 

They did the same with a 200 year old beech round here a year or so ago.

 

Speechless.

 

I embarrassed hubby one year by asking men what they were doing with the stakes they were removing from the small trees. Well it was Hyde Park! The men found a black sack for the smaller pieces and we dragged the larger lengths back to Paddington basin.

Sue