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1 hour ago, Rich2019 said:

Thanks to you all for the warm welcome ? when we bring our boat up from bristol to kelston next thursday where do I find the tide times along the journey dont want to get stuck on our maiden voyage ?

Am no expert but having done this trip several times in the last few weeks recall reading that this stretch of water is only tidal when tides overtop Netham weir at 12.6m.  The predicted highest tide for next Thursday is 12.5m

 

https://marine.meteoconsult.co.uk/marine-weather-forecast/tide-times-avonmouth--port-of-bristol--1597-0.php

Edited by Tim Lewis
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Hi

 

This is a bit of a misnomer, since neither my wife nor I are boaters yet; it is something we are exploring (planning ahead).

 

The reason for registering on here is to be able to seek advice in terms of impact, costs, feasibilities, etc; and getting the answers from those already in the know.

 

Both my wife and I are teachers (I work at secondary level teaching maths, computer science and science through to A level; my wife works with sixth form students with special educational needs), we have two dogs (lab/collie cross and a golden retriever), two grown up sons (in their 20s) with one married and the other living with his girlfriend; they all live in London.

 

We currently live in Bexhill, East Sussex but am not restricted in terms of where we end up.

 

Anyway, nice to meet you all virtually; hopefully meet some of you in reality at some point soon.

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11 minutes ago, garynewport said:

The reason for registering on here is to be able to seek advice in terms of impact, costs, feasibilities, etc; and getting the answers from those already in the know.

Welcome.

 

The costs will very much depend on where and how you intend to use your boat.

 

If you are not committed to working / living in a specific area (but intend to liveaboard) you can do what is known as 'continuously cruise' which means you don't need to pay for a mooring - but you have to move about and not stay in one area.

 

If you are simply looking for a 'leisure' (non-residential) mooring the costs will vary between (say) £8,000 in London to £2000 in the 'North'

 

If you are looking to liveaboard, moorings will vary between (say) £15,000 in London to £4000 in the North.

 

 

Running costs are very 'spikey' with big chunks of maintenance every few years - the generally accepted figure is about £5000 per annum (averaged out) overall.

 

Like a car, you need to have a Boat licence (£800 - £1000 depending on length), Insurance £200-£600, and an 'MOT' (BSS = boat safety scheme) every 4 years 

 

Boats are not a cheap way of living.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi I'm Steve, my wife and I are keen to change our lifestyles and looking to move onto a boat for an adventure. We are based in Milton Keynes so have the grand Union on our doorstep. Looking at the various boats available my wife would like a 60-70ft narrow boat but I would prefer a widebeam. Now looking at wide beams a Norfolk Broads cruiser looks to have similar dimensions for the canal and are also reasonably priced. I've seen this one https://www.norfolkboatsales.co.uk/used-boats/alphacraft-42-romany-1-761.asp

Any thoughts appreciated. 

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14 minutes ago, Welsherfarr said:

Looking at the various boats available my wife would like a 60-70ft narrow boat but I would prefer a widebeam.

Look at where the 7 feet wide locks are before choosing a widebeam.  Your adventure might end up being more restricted than you would like with a 12 foot wide boat.

 

No question it would be a better living space, but it depends where you want to be living ...

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26 minutes ago, Welsherfarr said:

............ I would prefer a widebeam.........

Wide beam boats are very restricted in canals they can use.  Also finding moorings is harder.

Just an observation and no data to back it up, but I have seen a ‘lot’ more wide boats appearing on the g&s canal over the last few years, and quite a few now have for sale signs.  Probably not helped by the fact that being a cc is not possible on the g&s canal as it is too short, you can go up the Severn, but the canal exits are all too narrow to exit and there are few public moorings on the river, So even with a mooring, so no worries about enforcement, your range is very limited.  So think carefully about what you want to do and where you want to go.  Then pick the boat.

Edited by Chewbacka
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6 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

being a cc is not possible on the g&s canal as it is too short, you can go up the Severn, but the canal exits are all too narrow to exit

?

16 and a bit miles on the G&S plus 29 miles of river to Worcester where you can get in the basin and another 14 miles up to Stourport where you can get in the lower basin.

 

That's three times the annual minimum CRT will accept for CCing these days.

 

I do agree it would be a pain to do, but it's certainly not too small an area.

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12 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Wide beam boats are very restricted in canals they can use.  Also finding moorings is harder.

Just an observation and no data to back it up, but I have seen a ‘lot’ more wide boats appearing on the g&s canal over the last few years, and quite a few now have for sale signs.  Probably not helped by the fact that being a cc is not possible on the g&s canal as it is too short, you can go up the Severn, but the canal exits are all too narrow to exit and there are few public moorings on the river, So even with a mooring, so no worries about enforcement, your range is very limited.  So think carefully about what you want to do and where you want to go.  Then pick the boat.

This post is referring to the Gloucester and Sharpness canal across the country from you and a cc is continuous cruiser although I have heard other expansions?

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That is a GRP holiday hire boat and may well not be very well thermally insulated so winter cruising might be a but cool. The sliding wheelhouse may be draughty. Even with the wheelhouse down that boat may have problems with the profile of some bridges. Not absolute maximum height but the comparative shapes of boat and bridge.

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19 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

?

16 and a bit miles on the G&S plus 29 miles of river to Worcester where you can get in the basin and another 14 miles up to Stourport where you can get in the lower basin.

 

That's three times the annual minimum CRT will accept for CCing these days.

 

I do agree it would be a pain to do, but it's certainly not too small an area.

Some boater are complaining on FB that they have to go on the river to comply with the licence requirements from the G&S. PS you can also get onto the Avon

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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Some boater are complaining on FB that they have to go on the river to comply with the licence requirements from the G&S. PS you can also get onto the Avon

Yes, but you need the ANT licence as well for that so I left it out of the CCing comment.  I would certainly do the Avon quite often if I was trying to stay down that way - we really enjoyed our month on it this year.

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10 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Thinking about it, take a widebeam 2 days up the Avon, moor in Stratford Basin and get logged there and CRT's computer will think you have gone all the way round ...

It would take careful planning to do Tewkesbury to Stratford basin, ensuring you are there to ge spotted and return to Tewkesbury on a 7 day licence

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Welsherfarr, you mentioned the Grand Union at Milton Keynes but the subsequent discussion went off at a tangent to discuss another canal altogether. That sort of thing happens often on here! But yes, a boat over 7 feet wide, such as those cruisers designed for summer holiday use on the Norfolk Broads, would limit where you could reach. The GU has wide locks and bridges all the way up from Brentford to almost the centre of Birmingham, but most of those canals it joins to are narrow, so your first real exit from it is the Paddington Arm in London.

I'm not sure whether a Broads cruiser could get through all the varied bridges on the GU without scraping its roof on an arch somewhere.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone... I'm a bit of a greenhorn I guess so here goes the intro... 

Due to health concerns (not life or death... yet!) I've recently moved my sorry arse and my business back to the UK after 15 years in the Middle East. I travel a lot so the thought of being tied to a house doesn't sit well so I decided a NB would suit. It's cost effective as I can work from the boat when chilling out between trips to far away places. In a nutshell living in the UK on a boat means I can work less and save more if I manage things well enough.

 

After much research and many marina visits I've gotten myself a 43ft trad which is on the limit for smallness for liveaboard but i'm new to boating and it's a 2010 build with a simple interior fit and a vetus engine. I'm alone most of the time and I'm used to living in small spaces in harsh climates so I know i'll be comfortable; I can always upgrade in the future. I will be moored in Barton Marina from mid September and am looking forward to a UK winter... 

 

Now is the time to put the theory into practice... all assistance welcome and I look forward to being part of the bigger boating family in the months and years ahead.

 

TTFN

Baghdaddy

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Baghdaddy, I reckon you sound like the sort of person who will do fine, and starting off in a marina for the winter is probably a wise move if you're new to living aboard a canal boat. But of course a UK winter can be a harsh climate at times, in a very different way to the heat of the Middle East. I assume this boat does have a stove or some other form of heating?

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4 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Baghdaddy, I reckon you sound like the sort of person who will do fine, and starting off in a marina for the winter is probably a wise move if you're new to living aboard a canal boat. But of course a UK winter can be a harsh climate at times, in a very different way to the heat of the Middle East. I assume this boat does have a stove or some other form of heating?

 

A good time to come to the UK ?

 

https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/09/brits-urged-to-prepare-homes-for-worst-winter-in-decades-10713163/

 

 

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32 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

That "worst winter for as years ..." story gets trotted out every year.

 

Sooner or later they are bound to get their prediction right. ?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello to everyone

 

Myself Sean and my partner Darcey decided to buy and move onto a boat. Needless to say we got more than we bargained for. Ended up being more of a project than we initially thought but nevertheless we are still extreamly excited and enjoying ourselves. We're currently heading up to the Trent & Mersey cannal from Staffordshire and whorchester cannal all the way to the midlevels Darcey does Dreadlock maintenance also so we was gunna try set up a little business on the water?.

It's been really good meeting people, everyone on the cut has been so helpfully and love the sound of our petter engine. 

 

Were both absolutely and completely clueless when it comes to boats, I mean I don't even know where the bildge pump is ?

 

 

Meredith our cannalboat is 70ft, and we have engaged on a massive journey. Were going Coventry way to the lower navigations. So any help or advice would be massively appreciated. We have got a permanent morning at a marina. So we can hunker down for the winter for our first year. 

 

Thank you

Sean and Darcey

 

 

 

Edited by SmokyBandit
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  • Greenie 1
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  • 2 weeks later...

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