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[daz ford]

hello every 1 my is daz and i have just bought kishti a 50ft wide beam, i use her as a liveaboard

 

[John V]

Hi Daz !!!

Welcome to the site. We're mostly friendly on here and if you have any questions just ask and someone will answer, usually surprisingly quickly........John

[Phil Ambrose]

Hi Daz, for a moment I thought you had moved in behind me as that boat is also called Kishti

Phil

[Minnie]

Hi, we have recently bought a Narrow boat, and hopefully it will be ready for use in May. I am a complete novice and was wondering if there are any lessons for beginners?

[Phil Ambrose]

Hi, we have recently bought a Narrow boat, and hopefully it will be ready for use in May. I am a complete novice and was wondering if there are any lessons for beginners?

Welcome Minnie, yes there are plenty of boat handling courses that you could take, usually 1 or2 days and if you are a complete novice they will give you a very good grounding plus the confidence. Being in charge of a big, long lump of steel can be a bit daunting at first but it doesn't take long to get over that.

One piece of advice I was given was " just go slow and steady with all manoeuvres, gives you time to think plus if it does go wrong then a slow speed gives a good chance of pulling it back with minimal impact"

Phil

[patty-ann]

Hi Minnie, Welcome to the forum. There are courses as Phil says above and I have been on a couple..if you can get someone to do a helmsman course using your boat I feel you could benefit more...also if not book your course so that you then go straight off and practise on your boat..I was so excited about having a boat I booked one almost a year before and the other about 3 months before, consequently found I had forgot most of taught. Fortunately guy who fitted out my boat ensured I knew difference between pointy end and blunt end and accompanied me on long chugalong time.

Enjoy, good luck

patty

[Minnie]

Thanks Phil, must make enquiries into courses before I venture into the canal world. Wasn't a good idea to google Narrowboat disasters! Doesn't instil much confidence.

[alex violin]

Hi all!

 

I am thinking of taking the plunge and trying out living on a boat but am on a budget. I am looking for a boat that needs working on, so as to save money. I will be cruising so will need a good engine, am looking for something sound but in need of renovation...any suggestions?

[Liz Harding]

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm totally new to boating, I needed somewhere to live & thought a narrow boat is the best option. I've read up loads, done research, talked to a few people - problem is I have a very short timescale so... I've seen 2 boats and have made an offer on the 2nd, I'll tell you know that I am an impulsive person - was a similar experience when we bought our house and I have no regrets about that.

 

The boat is about 20 yrs old, 45ft, trad stern... looks pretty sturdy and well maintained - going by instinct & my very limited knowledge, the survey should come back okay (don't mind a bit of work but if the hull's crumbling to bits...) and I'll have a home

 

My main concern is the license - blooming expensive! Now, my plans are to stay put (I've got a long term mooring if I want it) for at least 3 months because I'm working & need to commute but after that, who knows... What would you guys recommend? Buy a 3/6 month long term license & then see or can I buy an annual license and swap it for a cruiser at any point?

 

Very, very excited to be part of the boating community - no longer standing on the shore waving...

 

Cheers

Liz

[Liz Harding]

Hi Minnie - I'm in the same boat (er, sorry), I've booked myself onto a one day Helmsman's course in Hemel Hempstead (Canal Experience) this Saturday. I have a little experience of boating and feel fairly confident so the lovely lady I spoke to said I'd be fine on a 1 day - it's £170 a day so not having to do the 2 days saves a lot of money.

 

Good luck, Liz!

[cuthound]

Hi Minnie - I'm in the same boat (er, sorry), I've booked myself onto a one day Helmsman's course in Hemel Hempstead (Canal Experience) this Saturday. I have a little experience of boating and feel fairly confident so the lovely lady I spoke to said I'd be fine on a 1 day - it's £170 a day so not having to do the 2 days saves a lot of money.

 

Good luck, Liz!

Welcome to the forum Minnie and Liz.

 

I am sure you will find the forum very useful for any questions you may have, however you are probably better posting in "General Boating" or "New to Boating", as many more people look at these threads, and therefore your questions will be answered quicker.

 

Enjoy your boating.

[Liz Harding]

Thanks Cuthound - nice doggy!

[Bewildered]

Hi All,

 

I have been interested in narrow boats since I was a kid in the 1970’s, Sunday lunchtimes, more often than not, involved being taken out by my dad and granddad on a pub crawl of various small country pubs and being left outside with a bottle of coke. Of all the pubs we went to, the most enjoyable was the Shovel on the GU at Cowley. I loved watching the boats locking up and down.

I came close to buying a boat in my early 20’s when I split from my last girlfriend and needed to find somewhere to live; unfortunately the necessities of life just kept getting in the way. Every few years since I have looked into the idea of following a dream and buying a boat, but my girlfriend has always put a damper on the idea; she likes her garden.

However now I have finally convinced her to give it a try. Her only dream is to move to the countryside in a nice little village. I pointed out to her that we could do that now; if we sold our house we could move but then we would need to find work and work in the countryside is scarce compared with the cities. We could of course wait a few more years until we can afford the move but by that time we may well be too old to fully enjoy it. I explained that buying a boat is a move to the countryside and when you are bored with the view you just move on until you find another view.

So I outlined a simple plan; buy a boat and rent out our house and live off of the income from the rent. This way if she finds she doesn’t like life on the water we only need wait until the term of lease on the house has expired and we can move back home. As she is getting fed up with her job, and the fact that after 20+ years of working, all we do is work towards the next holiday, with no long term goal in sight, she finally gave into the idea of life on the water. I get my dream of living on a boat and she gets her dream of living in the countryside; the only thing missing is her garden. But hey we get great swathes of the UK for a garden; and each garden has ducks in it J and a waterside view.

 

I initially had trouble validating my account on this site and I had so many questions I was burning to ask. In retrospect this isn’t such a bad thing as I have had a few weeks to read through various threads and found that most of my questions have been already asked and answered; hopefully I don’t need to keep asking the same old stuff.

 

So the plan is to save for the next year to get enough capital to buy the boat and stash some emergency funds in the bank. Biggest headache is what type of boat to get? I seem to change my mind every few days as to what I want. The only constant is that it has to be a 57ft narrow beam; I want to have the option to go anywhere should I so choose (more to the point if I can talk the other half into going there in the first place)

 

I have considered a sail away; I am confidant that I can do a good fit out. I have spent the last 30 years working on low voltage electrical/mechanical installations and I’m a fairly good all-rounder with most trade skills.

The problem is, is this a false economy? Spend 20-25k on a boat and another 15-20k to fit it out, plus a year or more of hard graft to end up with a boat that is worth what? Its worth what someone is willing to pay for it based on the quality of the work put in. could be that it isn’t worth a great deal more than it cost to do and you’ve spent a year or more doing a lot of work.

Or I could just buy a used boat; if I can find one I like.

 

Sorry if this has been a long winded introduction but I’m at work and I’m bored

I will no doubt have plenty of questions to ask as I get nearer to buying a boat

[Tony Brooks]

I notice that you refer to low voltage insulations. I want to make sure that you area ware that the electricity supply industry seem to have a very different idea of what low voltage is when compared with (say) our bit of the marine or the automotive industry. The biggest trap for teh 12 or 24 volt stuff is the comparatively huge currents and the potential for large voltage drops.

 

If you go for a sailaway of a very full refit please double or tipple the time you think the work will take, four times would not be out of the way and infinity seems true in far too many cases.

 

If going for a sailaway please make sure you understand all the ramifications of the Recreational Craft Directive and the limitations if you do not build to it.

 

I bought a 10 year old Ex hire boat from a reputable fleet about 15 years ago for about 21K and such refitting piecemeal as we decided what we required and am happy with the result. I would hope to get only a little less now but it would have cost me the price of the new equipment. However some of that was dictated by the failure of the original and that would have had to be replaced anyway.

[Phil Ambrose]

The one thing Tony forgot to mention is that fitting out a boat while living in it is hard, doing it while on the cut is even harder. Best option if fitting out is to find a marina which will allow you to do the work.

Phil

[WhatNoCheese]

Hello!

 

I am new to the narrowboat world!

 

Got my first boat, a 38ft springer cruiser just last week.

 

Loving the forum so far so thought I would say hello!

 

Jeffrey

[Phil Ambrose]

Hiya Jeffrey, glad you found us and welcome aboard. This a good place to help you on a steep learning curve, any questions asked will be answered pretty quickly so don't forget to check back. There is also a good search function, button st top of the page.

Phil

[Larentia]

Hi, I'm Lisa, I recently discovered this site. I'm looking to buy a boat and liveaboard but will continue to rent a house for a while too so I can adjust blah blah! I live a few minutes from a canal and became interested in boats last year as I spend lots of time photographing, walking, running and cycling along the towpath.

[MtB]

Yo LIsa, welcome to the site!

 

I'm a bit worried about you running on the towpath. Walking and cycling is GRATE but running is bad for you. That American bloke who wrote the book about jogging died of jogging, didn't you hear? Stop it while you can!

 

Nice wine, this.

 

MtB

[Phil Ambrose]

Welcome Lisa, oh and Mike doesn't whine all the time.

Phil

[Laurie Booth]

Hello!

 

I am new to the narrowboat world!

 

Got my first boat, a 38ft springer cruiser just last week.

 

Loving the forum so far so thought I would say hello!

 

Jeffrey

Well done for buying a decent boat.

[StarUKKiwi]

Hi Lisa, congratulations from a fellow springer owner

[Larentia]

Thank you all for the welcome Had a good day at Devizes today, they have a lock or two over there... Hey Mike, running is ok, even at my age so long as you go s-l-o-w enough though.

[MtB]

They call that 'walking' around here!

 

[b0atman]

Springers are good boats if looked after we did the basic design on a piece of scrap paper (whilst in the pub) and convinced my friend that a 25 ft springer could easily be lengthened .Job done now a 45footer with a very nice internal fit out. All metal work was sound for welding joints there is no bend in the boat and it has done many canal hours with its original 850cc vetus engine.