Running costs for a newbie

[Laurie Booth]

Cheers I can cope with the running costs of a two bed flat. Sorted Where about are you guys on sharpness ? Its a cracking canal nice and wide

Just like the M5

[Chickadee]

And just like the M5 you can still have accidents lol. BF managed to plow the boat into a bush not long after we'd got her. Still don't know how he managed it when the canal is so wide. We also seemed to end up with all the insects off the bush in the boat too!

[Bobbybass]

Depreciation....

Big depreciation..

Once you have lived on it for a few years...you will never have enough to get back on the 'housing ladder' if you 'wanted' to.

Anyone got an idea of the figures...roughly...?

I thought about £5k drop per year to add to your running costs...

 

I seem to think that each year...I will escape with just running costs...but there always seems to be somehting extra that costs £500 !!

Stern gear problem that entails the boat out of water...£500...Travelpower stops working...£500...Battery bank replacement..£500...Stove has cracked...£500 !!

 

And just like the M5 you can still have accidents lol. BF managed to plow the boat into a bush not long after we'd got her. Still don't know how he managed it when the canal is so wide. We also seemed to end up with all the insects off the bush in the boat too!

Don't be so hard on him...my wife 'brushed' something on the bottom and it caused this....

[Chickadee]

Depreciation....

Big depreciation..

Once you have lived on it for a few years...you will never have enough to get back on the 'housing ladder' if you 'wanted' to.

Anyone got an idea of the figures...roughly...?

I thought about £5k drop per year to add to your running costs...

 

 

Surely that depends on how old your boat is. I'm sure if you go for a new build the drop will be quite big but we got our boat 4 years ago and looking about still seems to be holding her price. Obviously we've kept up the blacking and servicing as needed so shes in as good of a condition as when we bought her.

[lesrollins]

When the house is sold there,s enough to buy a decent boat which we hope to be on for at least ten years and with a little bit of saving and the rest of the money off the house we will get a two bed place to rent out. Then the rent will help pay for the running of the boat and we are both working. Think of it as spending the kids inheritance. lol

 

I know there,s things to go wrong on the boat but also a house as the same problems your boiler packs up there,s a few bob unless you have insurance to cover it, separate from the buildings and contents. And i,m sure if things are maintained correctly oil changes, grease etc it all helps.

 

To the guys in the marina tell dave " dun truckink " hello from the one legged brummie I keep meaning to pop in and see him but i,m sure I will have time once i,m on the boat. And no, just because I only have one leg and hopefully soon to be a boat owner I don,t want a bloody parrot.

[Chickadee]

Surely that depends on how old your boat is. I'm sure if you go for a new build the drop will be quite big but we got our 1990's boat 4 years ago and looking about still seems to be holding her price. Obviously we've kept up the blacking and servicing as needed so shes in as good of a condition as when we bought her.

Edited January 14, 2012 by Chickadee

[bottle]

and being classed as a continous cruiser no mooring fees.

 

and we are both working.

 

Not impossible but very hard to do within the guidelines required by BW.

[lesrollins]

So what are the guidlines ? Travelling from sharpness around to the K & A and commuting to work wouldn,t be staying in one place and besides Gloucester to Sharpness is 15 miles long and if you didn,t have a river licence how could you travel up the severn. And if you had a widebeam you would be limited from sharpness to stourport unless you went across the severn to Bristol.

Edited January 14, 2012 by lesrollins

[ditchcrawler]

So what are the guidlines ? Travelling from sharpness around to the K & A and commuting to work wouldn,t be staying in one place and besides Gloucester to Sharpness is 15 miles long and if you didn,t have a river licence how could you travel up the severn. And if you had a widebeam you would be limited from sharpness to stourport unless you went across the severn to Bristol.

You don't need a river licence to go up the Severn and you need to go up there to get to the K and A unless you go down to Bristol, it can be done.

You are right about a wide beam but you wouldn't be able to CC on the G&S with a wide beam would you.

[bottle]

So what are the guidlines ?

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/bl_Licence_terms_and_conditions_from_October_2008.pdf Page 11 of this document (I believe there has been an update to clarify some points after a recent court case but cannot find it.)

 

Travelling from sharpness around to the K & A and commuting to work wouldn,t be staying in one place and besides Gloucester to Sharpness is 15 miles long

I do not see where the length of the Sharpness comes into it, it is not a 'significant part of the system', see guidelines..

 

and if you didn,t have a river licence how could you travel up the severn.

There are only two licences, Canals & Rivers or Rivers only

 

And if you had a widebeam you would be limited from sharpness to stourport unless you went across the severn to Bristol.

True but I will leave you to discuss that with BW.

 

 

As previously said, it is not impossible but difficult.

 

Good luck

[FadeToScarlet]

Depreciation....

Big depreciation..

Once you have lived on it for a few years...you will never have enough to get back on the 'housing ladder' if you 'wanted' to.

Anyone got an idea of the figures...roughly...?

I thought about £5k drop per year to add to your running costs...

 

I seem to think that each year...I will escape with just running costs...but there always seems to be somehting extra that costs £500 !!

Stern gear problem that entails the boat out of water...£500...Travelpower stops working...£500...Battery bank replacement..£500...Stove has cracked.

 

Wow, so my boat was £25k when I bought it, and is now worth £5k..... Maybe on a new boat, but on an older boat, it tends to steady out if you keep it in good nick.

 

Agree about contingency funds though.

[lesrollins]

I also appreciate that an house goes up in price and a boat goes down, but after a 25 yr stint paying your mortgage and chipping away at the old block I wonder how much you have actually paid for that house. You probably don,t start paying for the house for the first few years depends on the mortgage you have taken out.

[lesrollins]

How old is your boat ? and what sort of price is it worth today compared with when you brought it.

[mrsmelly]

The general rule is that if you buy a well cared for second hand boat, and you continue to care well for it, it will hold it's value. Ours has.

 

Quite true. In fact Out of the seven boats I have owned I have sold six of them for more than I paid and one of them very considerably more.

[Titan]

Les

 

My first post was a rough figure and I did say including mooring.

 

You can knock off about £1,000 if CCing

 

Now using your own figures for the cost of the house, which did not include the unexpected, you are paying out £5463 per annum.

 

That will cover the boat, now you just need to find the money for other things, like food, clothing etc.

 

Others have given better breakdowns and as explained living on a boat is not the cheap option.

 

I CC and run my generator for about 3 hours per day (if I do not move) it uses about 1.25 litres per hour so 3.75 a day at today's cost of 88p per litre (domestic rate not propulsion), £3:30 per day, £1204:50 per year.

 

If you do not have a generator and three stage/intelligent charger then using your engine will cost he same per hour but you may well have to run it longer.

 

Your propulsion engine will use about the same litre per hour but the cost is about £1:40 per litre.

 

Blacking the boat every two years, depending on boat length and yard doing it, about £600.

 

This cost, like all others,will not go down.

 

Boating is fun and a way of life, it is not a cheap option.

 

Good luck.

 

ps. We hope to be on the Gloucester, Sharpness about June this year, you are welcome to visit.

 

Keith Drop me a line when your in the area in june, would be nice to share a cuppa and here some good advise regards Martin

Edited January 16, 2012 by Titan

[nina]

How old is your boat ? and what sort of price is it worth today compared with when you brought it.

 

 

Our boat is 15 years old. Built to the spec, no expense spared, of a boat & car enthusiast/perfectionist. He paid 40,000 for it new 15 years ago and we paid 50,000 for it 18 months ago. It was and still is in beautiful condition. Despite going to the Crick boat show and looking at new boats, nothing beats the design and layout of what we've got. A Tim Tyler fit out, 62 feet, 2 bathrooms, centrally heater, eberspatcher, just bought a new califorier (think I spelt that wrong). It's a very stylish boat in every way. We know we will always get our money back because we look after & care for it so well.

I would recommend you research what you want in a boat, before you buy.

 

We don't live aboard ours although we plan to. We do spend a lot of time on it though and leave a heater running in Winter. We moor in a lovely marina. I have just done a bank reconciliation of costs from Jan 2011-2012. All up it comes to approx a breakdown of 123.00 per week. This includes an annual allowance of approx 1,000 per year for maintenance which is a lot less than a house.

What you do need to bear in mind is that a boat is like a car. Anything can go wrong, it is a machine not a brick built structure so it has running costs. It's advisable to have at least a 500 pounds kitty always in the bank for those rainy days.

By the way, I have lived in beautiful large homes both in the UK and overseas. I prefer the boat. I would hate to think I was contributing in any way to CEO of any bank growing richer. Live small and save everything is my advice to the kids of today. If you can't afford a boat, go and live a caravan. Just save & don't fall prey to borrowing. :-)

[bottle]

Hi Martin (Titan)

 

Will do.

[lesrollins]

Many thanks with the help of the costings, the sale of the house is now in the hand of the solicitor and we are looking at a completion date of the beginning of march if all goes well. I have been looking at a few seventy foot boats as I think this size would suit us better giving us maximum space. If anyone knows of any seventy foot boats that I may have missed, semi trad or trad send me a private message with any details that you may have. Please no engine rooms the wife said so. lol

 

Cheers

[Morat]

I noticed that Clifton Cruisers are not listing Abbeydale any more. She was a sweet handling 70ft. You'd want to refit her from her hire spec but that might be a bonus if you're looking to start from scratch.

[lesrollins]

I would be a bit reluctent to have an ex hire boat they have been looked after but they have also had there fair share of use and abuse. Some people have probably got them and had no trouble. I would like to get one thats fitted out already so I can concentrate on enjoying boating and not have to start ripping it apart, i,m not lazy I don,t mind some work but nothing major. I have had my fair share of doing the houses up that we have lived in so I think its time to chill a little.

[kiki]

I think one of the smartest things you are doing is getting a rental flat. We did it that way, bought two very ordinary flats, did them up ourselves and rent them out in Manchester, they keep your feet on the ladder. We liveaboard but sadly hav to sell due to my husband damaging his neck in a fall at work. But I think you should follow your dream, after all life cant be just about the cost, I have had 4 of the happiest years of my life on our boat, and love the marina we are in, moving back to the city is going to severly limit my happiness, ;.......in fact I think I am talking myself out of it Sorry its not 70 ft.

[ditchcrawler]

Many thanks with the help of the costings, the sale of the house is now in the hand of the solicitor and we are looking at a completion date of the beginning of march if all goes well. I have been looking at a few seventy foot boats as I think this size would suit us better giving us maximum space. If anyone knows of any seventy foot boats that I may have missed, semi trad or trad send me a private message with any details that you may have. Please no engine rooms the wife said so. lol

 

Cheers

She doesn't know what she is missing, a very useful space, normally nice and warm.

[lesrollins]

I have managed to persuade the wife to look at a boat fitted with a 1933 kelvin k2. What are the spares like for these engines and are they reliable and how many hours between services ?

[lesrollins]

I looked at a 70ft boat without any side hatches, just wondered if you can get a kit to replace a window for a side hatch and if so where would you get one from and at what cost. Cheers

[bottle]

Kedian, member of this forum

 

Also google it for examples of work.