Living on the canals into older age

[sal garfi]

A house won't pay for care for long if you still owe a big mortgage on it. A small house won't pay for as much care as a big house, a small boat won't pay for as much care as a small house. So many people seem to be obsessed with how much money will be available when they are too old to look after themselves, that they forget about enjoying life now.

 

Why go through life constantly worrying about what might happen when you get old? Go through life enjoying it and confront old age if and when it happens. Throughout all my adult life I have known friends and family who died before their time and for whom no ammount of planning or money would have helped for an old age that never came! What does it matter how much you have hoarded away or invested in your life of worry, knowing that it will all go to some care home who are unlikely to give a toss about some bed wetting, babbling old fogey, providing the care home owner can enjoy the lixury life your money will bring.

 

Roger

 

Too true maties!!

 

Sal

[dccruiser]

 

 

Why go through life constantly worrying about what might happen when you get old? Go through life enjoying it and confront old age if and when it happens. Throughout all my adult life I have known friends and family who died before their time and for whom no ammount of planning or money would have helped for an old age that never came! What does it matter how much you have hoarded away or invested in your life of worry, knowing that it will all go to some care home who are unlikely to give a toss about some bed wetting, babbling old fogey, providing the care home owner can enjoy the lixury life your money will bring.

 

Roger

 

Couldnt agree more Roger, My dad was one of the fittest guys i ever met and i knew some very fit men as i am ex forces, in his retirement he cycled from johm o'groats to lands end as well as cycling from the east to west coast, he was also one of six of us that walked the full length of the trent and mersey for charity, 93 3/4 miles in 3 days and the one amongst us that looked like he could have walked back again! out of the blue he fell ill and 14 months later we lost him, he was only 69, thats why i took early retirement and am currently getting my boat ready for a life of cc'ing as nothing is guaranteed in life and my dream has always been to cruise the complete system which is what i am now going to do before i am too old or infirm, so i would urge anyone else to live each day of their life as if it were their last as one day it will be!

So far as the keep/ get rid of the house argument goes, i have downsized considerably as i personally wanted to keep the house as a base, and rather than having a brand new shiny boat i have something a lot more modest and affordable as i dont believe it matters too much, so long as i can afford to cruise and maintain my boat, have everything onboard i want to be comfortable and i am on the water i am happy.

 

 

Rick

[henrypartridge]

Sal

 

It has been mentioned and some disagree but living on a boat is no cheaper than living in a house.

 

You say that selling the house/downsizing is to increase you pension income but that extra income may go into the boat, so the only change will be the life style.

 

Life style is the only reason to live on a boat, it will not save money. (standby for incoming)

 

 

 

While I think it's fair to say that living on a boat is not cheaper than a house, it is also fair to say that you'll spend a lot less on the purchase price. Not get much of a house for 80 grand.

[Timleech]

Paraffin!

Or, less eccentrically, diesel.

 

Most likely, get someone to hump the new gas bottle in for you every few weeks/months.

 

Oi! What's eccentric about paraffin?

I decided to go for it (Taylors cooker) on my little tug, as there was nowhere to fit a gas locker without creating some awful external excrescence.

It wasn't a novel idea for me, though, as we'd used a similar system for several years on the Beecliffe (Humber Keel) on the continent.

It does take a little more forward planning, admittedly, than gas because of the preheating required but as has already been said the fuel containers can be a lot lighter!

 

Tim

[Neil TNC]

Can you please explain then on a gas free boat how you would power a kettle, say, without running the engine? I can see that with a sufficiently large battery bank and an inverter it could be possible but, as Gibbo has said in the past, using batteries for high current heating requirements is surely madness. As Carl has pointed out solar panels are a good solution for lighting and even fridge consumption but anything that requires power in the order of 2kW, and above perhaps, is not sensibly provided with batteries.

Roger

 

The best bet is to moor at a marina with free 3Kw shoreline

[Tuscan]

The best bet is to moor at a marina with free 3Kw shoreline

 

 

 

 

I just plug the kettle in, same for the electic oven/microwave or hob. Batteries charged via engine or hospital silenced generator in bow, when n marina plug in of course but have been out for 2 months so far. Everything is possible.

[Arthur Brown]

With old age comes a lot of wisdom, you finally realise what needs to be done and what you want to do, sometimes things take longer, but you do them.

 

With ill health come different needs, these usually involve others -doctors nurses carers etc and eventually ill health may force you off the canals to a place where care may be better.

 

Personally sitting for long periods can irritate my back and my best cure is to go out and preferably go rock n rolling and throw people around! It warms my back and exercises it gently!

[Phil Ambrose]

A house won't pay for care for long if you still owe a big mortgage on it. A small house won't pay for as much care as a big house, a small boat won't pay for as much care as a small house. So many people seem to be obsessed with how much money will be available when they are too old to look after themselves, that they forget about enjoying life now.

 

Why go through life constantly worrying about what might happen when you get old? Go through life enjoying it and confront old age if and when it happens. Throughout all my adult life I have known friends and family who died before their time and for whom no ammount of planning or money would have helped for an old age that never came! What does it matter how much you have hoarded away or invested in your life of worry, knowing that it will all go to some care home who are unlikely to give a toss about some bed wetting, babbling old fogey, providing the care home owner can enjoy the lixury life your money will bring.

 

Roger

 

Spot on Roger, so to sum it up, Treat each day as if it is your last because one day it will be.

Phil

[ditchcrawler]

Can you please explain then on a gas free boat how you would power a kettle, say, without running the engine? I can see that with a sufficiently large battery bank and an inverter it could be possible but, as Gibbo has said in the past, using batteries for high current heating requirements is surely madness. As Carl has pointed out solar panels are a good solution for lighting and even fridge consumption but anything that requires power in the order of 2kW, and above perhaps, is not sensibly provided with batteries.

Roger

Well in the summer months we use an electric kettle, a low wattage one as we have a 1500 w inverter.

[izzibibble]

Hi all,

Im new on here and have been reading this topic with interest, living aboard is something My Hub and I have thought about for some time and are on the cusp of doing. Of course old age comes into the conversation but we come firmly down on the side of well we arent going to worry about it simply because none of us know what might happen in the future. It was the same when I had a tattoo on my foot at the tender age of 50 people fretted about what would happen in my old age... so i'll have a faded tattoo???

Yes Im sure there will be things that will become difficult, but they also come with home ownership... gardens, hedges etc dont look after themselves. Falling ill on land can as someone previously said can be an issue, being in a house does'nt prevent accidents or difficulties when ill.

I think these issues come home to you when I hear of stories from my hub (who is a painter with the local authority), when they have to redecorate houses when the incumbent has died, young folk and old and nobody has known, the body laying there for several weeks before funny smells being reported and that is in highly populated city estates. My point is that land or water, stuff happens and I personally dont want to waste my years fretting about my old age... so I would say to you, go for it!!!