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Has this cold spell put anyone off living aboard?

weeble

By weeble
in Living Afloat

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Midnight Rider Rising Star

Midnight Rider

Posted
Posted

Well --- I must be a bit of a wimp.

 

I love boating, but I'm not that keen on living in a metal coffin for long periods during the winter. It's the closed doors & hatches that make it feel like that.

 

We are fortunate to have a static caravan to escape to & as we have not had to worry about water, pump outs etc, it has been the base since Christmas.

 

Best wishes to all those aboard & roll on the spring.

 

Tony

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Posted
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Well --- I must be a bit of a wimp.

 

I love boating, but I'm not that keen on living in a metal coffin for long periods during the winter.

 

We are fortunate to have a static caravan to escape to

 

Same thing??? nay....

 

just a tad bigger. :lol:

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ditchcrawler Veteran II

ditchcrawlerDonate to Canal World

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That's a pretty reasonable question and one we've asked ourselves in the past so we hired last Nov to get a bit of a feel for winter boating, and it was windy but not really cold. We did however love it.

 

We are (Hoping to be) on the Ashby for 1 week from the 6th Feb just to add to our winter boating experience and to confirm what it is likely to be like if we live aboard. Of course if it's as bad as it is this week and last we are unlikely to be out on a 'iced in' hire boat so we are unlikely to feel what it's really like to be iced in on the cut at -10 and lower but we hope to confirm we are likely to be able to cope with winter boating

 

- we reckon summer boating is easy, doing it in the winter is a little more challenging.

 

Lets not lose track of the fact though that this is an extreme situation - not witnessed for many a year so to answer your original question, no it's unlikely to dissuade Jan and I from becoming live-aboards. If we experience a similar winter after we have become so I reckon we would just about cope as others are doing on here.

But lets be fair you are going about it the right way, you are trying different boats at different times of the year on different waterways. How about those that have never been on a boat, go to Crick, spend £150K, sell the house and then see if they like boating.

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

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How about those that have never been on a boat, go to Crick, spend £150K, sell the house and then see if they like boating.

 

How else is the New and Used craft market supposed to stay solvent!!

 

Mate of mine picked up a bargain 9 month old luxury boat commisioned by a BBC producer, who sold as soon as he realised that he would have to move it once his pump out tank was full.

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Mate of mine picked up a bargain 9 month old luxury boat commisioned by a BBC producer, who sold as soon as he realised that he would have to move it once his pump out tank was full.

 

Which of course if you are iced in will be a massive challenge and one of the things we'd have to cope with...

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

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Which of course if you are iced in will be a massive challenge and one of the things we'd have to cope with...

 

 

which is why I crap everywhere but the boat!!!!!!

 

 

by that I mean Waitrose when shopping, pub when drinking, work when working, station when waiting to go work.........

 

although not all on the same day mind :lol:

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Lesd Rising Star

Lesd

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We're moored about half a mile from where we can safely park the car. Last night at about 9pm I was pushing a wheelbarrow full of shopping along the frozen snowey towpath when the bloody wheel fell off........for maybe a millisecond or two I might just have missed the ability to park on th drive outside the house like I used too !!!!!!

:lol:

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tillergirl Experienced

tillergirl

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put us off? you must be coco! curretly looking forward to huge gas and leccy bills. we've boated at different times of the year including an ice breaking hol on the leeds/liverpool in february. boat was far warmer than our house and indeed we all ended up full of cold on our return home because the house was so much colder. sounds like some of the CCers have the right idea |(as we were once told) keep eye on weather forecasts and choose your spot to get iced up in.......... :lol:

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Teakbank12 Collaborator

Teakbank12

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"Personally I prefer a toilet"

 

 

 

Does reming me of Alans recent comment about frozen logs on the roof

 

Just remember when scavenging for that kindling..it is just that & not dog doo do as its a bugger when melting on the fire :lol:

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Water Woman Contributor

Water Woman

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Posted (edited)
We're moored about half a mile from where we can safely park the car. Last night at about 9pm I was pushing a wheelbarrow full of shopping along the frozen snowey towpath when the bloody wheel fell off........for maybe a millisecond or two I might just have missed the ability to park on th drive outside the house like I used too !!!!!!

:lol:

 

Yes those are the moments. I cannot park near the boat and ended on my ar%e this morning with a diesel can and three bags of shopping. That thought passed through my head for a moment. But now I am sitting in the boat, lovely and warm and peaceful and would not be anywhere else. It is a matter of making the most of what you have such as Tesco toilets when shopping to save on the pump out in this weather and work where you can fill up water containers. Perfect.

 

Edit because it did not make sense!

Edited by Water Woman
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FrigateCaptain Proficient

FrigateCaptain

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Not at all! I'm still loving it :lol:

 

But it has made me realise I should have got the stove in before exmas and that I should probably start checking the weather before getting frozen in somewhere crap.

 

 

Indeed, i would of moored a hose pipe length from the water point,

Where you to now chap?

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Amwris Contributor

Amwris

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which is why I crap everywhere but the boat!!!!!!

 

 

by that I mean Waitrose when shopping, pub when drinking, work when working, station when waiting to go work.........

 

although not all on the same day mind :lol:

 

 

blimey that would have been some sort of curry

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weeble Community Regular

weeble

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Interesting replies. I agree about how warm and cosy it can be when the fire's going well and you shut yourself away from the world -- lovely! The point I was trying to make in the OP was that the advice about some of the 'hardships' to be expected when living aboard over winter given to newcomers have certainly been bourne out this year, and might make some sit back and take a hard look before taking the plunge.

 

Although I said in my OP that I was a fair weather boater, I do manage to get in about 3 months cruising a year in chunks of 2-3 weeks at a time; and have cruised during the winter and had to break the ice in the past -- but never to the stage where the water taps or elsan point freeze up -- maybe I'm just a big soft Southerner :lol:

 

stay safe!

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Smelly Veteran

Smelly

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The impending coal drought in Brum is becoming a bit tiresome.

 

I went to our usual supplier yesterday but what smokeless they had they just about refused to sell me as it was rubbish and they're sending it back. The away boat only has a couple of bags left until, hopefully tuesday, and although there's talk of a delivery one van is iced in so I'm not hopeful of that, and the other is rnowned for being very difficult to pin down.

 

Fair to say Sherborne have a big pile of taybrite but I don't like taybrite. It may well fall to beggars and choosers soon though.

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