Countryfile magazine

[dor]

Don't think this has been mentioned...

 

Countryfile magazine, published by the BBC, is doing a "Waterways Special" in the Spring issue of the magazine. I don't know if it will also feature in one of the Sunday night programmes.

 

The main editorial feature will be concerned with buying and running a narrowboat. They see this as a way of inspiring their readers to consider buying a narowboat rather than a holiday home in 2011, which if nothing else sums up how they see the recession is hitting their readership!

 

No doubt it will make more people don their rose-tinted specs and buy a boat without proper research. There is a world of difference between owning a boat and being a boater!

Edited February 15, 2011 by dor

[carlt]

There is a world of difference between owning a boat and being a boater!

Is there?

 

You make it sound like either a religious experience or an activity requiring a PhD.

 

There isn't a world of difference between owning a (modern) narrowboat and a holiday home (or a car, for that matter).

[dor]

There isn't a world of difference between owning a (modern) narrowboat and a holiday home (or a car, for that matter).

 

Exactly!

[canaldrifter]

The 'world of difference' the OP surely meant was between how life afloat is perceived and how it actually is.

 

Tone

[carlt]

The 'world of difference' the OP surely meant was between how life afloat is perceived and how it actually is.

 

I never noticed any of my land dwelling friends being truly amazed at how different, to normal life, living on a boat is, when they first visited.

 

I sometimes think these tedious programmes/articles actually debunk the myth that there is something radically different, between the two lifestyles.

[canaldrifter]

Visiting a boat on a sunny day in summer is vastly different to living aboard through all seasons, is it not?

 

There are many different kinds of boater to be. It is rare that the retired couple who sell their house in order to have their floating dream home made, are made aware of the less glossy side to boating. The plethora of fairly newish boats for sale would demonstrate that.

 

Tone

[RichardH]

 

No doubt it will make more people don their rose-tinted specs and buy a boat without proper research. There is a world of difference between owning a boat and being a boater!

 

If individuals choose to spend their money on a boat and then find it isn't for them and then sell it, is there a problem with that?

[Teakbank12]

The main problem with living onboard a canalboat is the limited width & storage space.

Similar to living in a caravan you have to be willing to de-clutter.

Of course being able to survive being frozen in will be a shock to some people.

There are many boaters like caravan owners who rent a flat or go abroad for the cold winter season.

 

Before i spent £100k on a custom built boat i think i'd make sure boating was for me

[real_vibes]

I brought a boat as my first ever investment of scale. And it is not always as easy as living in a house. I didn't have the money to holiday on a boat before hand and took a massive leap of faith to trust that my research and gut feeling would be correct. And so far it has, I think I paid too much for the boat but not much too much, and I am so happy I don't even mind. Does this make me a boater? Was I therefore a boater before I brought the boat? Or will I be a boater in 10 years? I don't know the answer, but I know winter was fine because I wanted it to be fine and I worked hard to be comfortable!

[Graham Davis]

I think we should actively encourage themm to buy boats instead of second homes, as this might allow poorly paid locals to be able to actually live in their home areas at reasobale prices

[sharpness]

I think we should actively encourage themm to buy boats instead of second homes, as this might allow poorly paid locals to be able to actually live in their home areas at reasobale prices

There is another view. Just remember it was those "locals" who sold off the properties as second homes that their offspring, neighbours, friends, other locals cannot now afford to buy. Presumably their conscience was reduced by the price they could get from the incomers.

 

Steve

[Graham Davis]

There is another view. Just remember it was those "locals" who sold off the properties as second homes that their offspring, neighbours, friends, other locals cannot now afford to buy. Presumably their conscience was reduced by the price they could get from the incomers.

 

Steve

 

Possibly true Steven.

 

(I went to KLBGSchool in Wooton)

Edited February 16, 2011 by Graham Davis

[choogh]

I brought a boat as my first ever investment of scale. And it is not always as easy as living in a house. I didn't have the money to holiday on a boat before hand and took a massive leap of faith to trust that my research and gut feeling would be correct. And so far it has, I think I paid too much for the boat but not much too much, and I am so happy I don't even mind. Does this make me a boater? Was I therefore a boater before I brought the boat? Or will I be a boater in 10 years? I don't know the answer, but I know winter was fine because I wanted it to be fine and I worked hard to be comfortable!

 

 

Sensible chap