Why 50 foot?

[Caprifool]

We do plenty.

 

I went past your nick of the woods last Thursday. Didn't know at the time, but next time I might just stop and say hi :-)

Edited January 1, 2013 by Caprifool

[Ange]

What, even this year? This is the first time in 15 years we haven't made sloe gin, and neither has anyone else round here.

 

We just found our first batch of sloes and the sloe gin is on it's way.

 

Very poor pickings this year I agree.

[carlt]

Come on, never had any sloe gin infusing somewhere on the boat?

Euggh!

 

Now sloe wine, on the other hand...

[DHutch]

Its all about Damson Gin!

[boathunter]

Its all about Damson Gin!

Your signature link doesn't work Mr Hutch.

[nebulae]

We had a 45ft trad style with 2 adults and three small children.Good layout(ex hire)Just about O.K.for a fortnight.Present 50ft fine for 2.Bit of a squash with children,grandchildren,friends.Plenty of bigger boats about at sensible money.Remember,its a buyers market at the moment.

[Phil Ambrose]

Yes, a 45 feet cruiser stern would give you about 180 - 200 square feet of accommodation, including bath, toilet and cooking facilities.

OK for two close adults, but a family!

 

I'd say 50 feet would be tight even with a trad stern.

 

I would suggest that you go with your brood and look at a 45 footer and while aboard discuss the feasability of living in the space. I have always worked on the principle that you can do what you want to your boat to make it work for you, if your budget only runs to 45 feet then make the decision based on what you can do with the available space, There is nothing wrong in ripping out bulkheads or putting them in, I've done it and I know many others have too.

Of course you may find a longer boat that you can afford, if you do, go for it. Good luck

 

Phil

[Tuscan]

Why not rent one for a couple of weeks but take all your clothes and a selection of personal effects with you and see how you get on.

[luctor et emergo]

You need at least a 70' boat. And probably a butty. Anything less is impossible.

[Lady Muck]

What, even this year? This is the first time in 15 years we haven't made sloe gin, and neither has anyone else round here.

usually make cherry plum jam. There were none this year. So we switched to blackberry, which I always collect by canoe from the offside, where the roots of the bushes are in the canal meaning juicy, heavy fruit. Our beekeeper had half his normal yeild this year too. The best honey we had was when the Himalayan Balsam was out. Did you know that beekeepers love that plant - it has nearly twice as much nectar as other plants.

[Mac of Cygnet]

usually make cherry plum jam. There were none this year. So we switched to blackberry, which I always collect by canoe from the offside, where the roots of the bushes are in the canal meaning juicy, heavy fruit. Our beekeeper had half his normal yeild this year too. The best honey we had was when the Himalayan Balsam was out. Did you know that beekeepers love that plant - it has nearly twice as much nectar as other plants.

 

Even the brambles this year weren't great. My usual patches at Went End and Great Heck were pathetic. Eventually managed to pick enough at Battyford, but not without some serious foraging.

[Lady Muck]

Great Heck? My dad brought springwater from there. Eau Heck!

[carlt]

Great Heck? My dad brought springwater from there. Eau Heck!

Did he get it from the local shop..."Buy Heck"?

[matty40s]

Great Heck? My dad brought springwater from there. Eau Heck!

Brought or bought? - Buy 'eck.

Edited January 2, 2013 by matty40s

[carlt]

Brought or bought? - Buy 'eck.

Faster you are becoming, my young padawan, but still not quick enough.

[Midnightsurpriser]

50 foot is just the right length. It is like the beer in 1984, not too much, but not too little.

[sociable_hermit]

I've got a very neatly fitted-out 40 footer, that probably has about as much storage space as the average 60 footer. It is quite a cramped, "fussy" interior though.

 

By that logic you might be able to find a 45 footer with the storage space of a 67'6" boat. But that'll take a lot of looking, because most people with bigger boats tend to like spreading things out a bit, rather than cramming more in. It's only really hire boats that are geared up for 4 or more people, and then only to hold them for a fortnight or so, and with a lot of compromises that are tolerable for a fortnight but would drive you nuts long term.

 

You could do your own fit out - you clearly have the skills - but I fear it would still be claustrophobic. At the end of the day it's a pay off between space for stuff and space to move out of each other's way. 50-60' with a skilled fit out (the bigger the better) might actually be practical for the long term, but I don't think 45' is. Summertime is ok when you can sit on the roof or on the towpath, but winter is difficult when there's nowhere to go.

[deletedaccount]

I'm one adult with a child living on a 58foot and it's starting to become cramped - we want bigger. Losing 13 feet of that would be like living in a shoebox. Living in it with another adult and child would be impossible imo.

[Leonie]

I get the impression, that OP isn't really looking for advice but has come to tell us that he and his foraging family are going to move on to the canal system on a 45 foot boat (possibly the first/only one they've looked at) and that he and they will make it work better and more wonderfuly greener and more fabulously self sufficiently than the rest of us are doing. Good luck to him.

 

I spend my time mostly foraging for wood scrap offcuts from timberyards as I prefer natural fallen wood to remain as habitat. I don't forage much food in and around the towpath network because the trees have bags of dog crap hanging from them and the fruits are usually on private land - though I do grow my own food on the roof, that is extremely weather dependent. This year I've been unable to keep anything alive due to the punishing endless rain. Plus any (limited) spare time I have is spent on boat maintenance, upkeep and repairs; it's harder work than you think it is.

 

I work full time and live alone (until April when my baby is due) on a 52 foot boat and as I lived out of nothing but a backpack for several years, thought that I would have plenty of space. I don't. Clothes, food, pots and pans plus a guitar and paint tins/tools take up a lot of room as does kindling, coal and stove related accoutrements.

 

Best of luck to you OP, you'll either sink or swim but you'll definitely have an adventure along the way.

[jodansgang]

An update on our quest to understand why all you lot recommend nothing less than 50 foot.

We've bought a 52 foot cruiser.

Having looked at literally 10s and 10s of boats, most of them nothing more than floating skips fit for rats and rubbish, we've finally found our new home!

I won't go into all the details here but it's red and green and it floats and it's nice and it should, with a bit of jiggery pokery, accommodate 2 adults, 2 children, 1 jack Russell and an aggressive gerbil........

£2000 off the asking price, deal done @ £23000 and we can't get the bloody thing to home moorings because of CRT restrictions and a frozen navvy......

Thank you to all those who offered kindly advice and their 10 peneth worth.

[IanD]

For families who want separated bedroom areas for themselves and the kids -- for reasons which should be obvious -- and maximum room in a given length, I've never understood why you don't seem to get boat layouts with bedrooms at the bow/stern and living areas in the middle, with a stern door and side hatch(es) for access. The front bedroom (parents?) would be a "dead-end" which means it could use the whole width of the boat and extend right up behind a cratch to make more use of the hull length, the rear bedroom(s) would need a passage through to the stern as normal.

 

Anyone ever seen such a layout? Any reason it wouldn't work?

[Paul C]

For families who want separated bedroom areas for themselves and the kids -- for reasons which should be obvious -- and maximum room in a given length, I've never understood why you don't seem to get boat layouts with bedrooms at the bow/stern and living areas in the middle, with a stern door and side hatch(es) for access. The front bedroom (parents?) would be a "dead-end" which means it could use the whole width of the boat and extend right up behind a cratch to make more use of the hull length, the rear bedroom(s) would need a passage through to the stern as normal.

 

Anyone ever seen such a layout? Any reason it wouldn't work?

 

The canaltime hire boats (the ones with no front door) are this kind of layout.

 

http://www.canaltime.com/narrowboats/nb_boats.html

 

One of the problems with these is there's only the side hatches as emergency exit instead of front and rear access. If an incident occurred in a very narrow lock (ie can't open side doors) and the rear exit wasn't available, then they would be trapped in the boat. Ironically, the idea of no front door was a safety feature because a number of their hireboats got their front ends flooded by going up in locks and the gate paddles being opened too keenly. Swings and roundabouts etc?

[IanD]

 

The canaltime hire boats (the ones with no front door) are this kind of layout.

 

http://www.canaltime.com/narrowboats/nb_boats.html

 

One of the problems with these is there's only the side hatches as emergency exit instead of front and rear access. If an incident occurred in a very narrow lock (ie can't open side doors) and the rear exit wasn't available, then they would be trapped in the boat. Ironically, the idea of no front door was a safety feature because a number of their hireboats got their front ends flooded by going up in locks and the gate paddles being opened too keenly. Swings and roundabouts etc?

The 55ft canaltime has one bedroom at the front, but the other next to it with the living area at the stern instead of having the second bedroom at the stern, which means no noise ### isolation between the two, having to walk through the second bedroom to make the tea on a morning, and a very noisy living area when travelling.

 

The safety argument seems a bit "elf'n'safety", if this was a real worry there's nothing that says the side doors have to open outwards (though inward-opening ones would need more space and be more difficult to seal), or you could even add a roof hatch -- and I'd have said the very small chance of this ever becoming an issue was outweighed by the flood reduction risk (reducing the need for such an emergency exit in a narrow lock!) and the extra space.

 

To avoid the ugly fore-end of the canaltime boats and maximise use of the length I was also thinking of the front double bed running fore-and aft under a narrowing cratch like this:

http://www.oakcraftnarrowboats.co.uk/craftsmanship.html

 

### "noise" could be several things beginning with "s" like snoring, singing...

Edited September 5, 2013 by IanD

[Paul C]

Well, it is a real issue, people can & have been trapped and died in canal boats, both due to drowning and fire/smoke.

[carlt]

 

Anyone ever seen such a layout? Any reason it wouldn't work?

In Usk (under-tarp conversion) my son's bedroom was up at the front with the bed above the gunwales in front of the cratch board and our bed was full width of the boat and 7 feet long in front of the engine room bulkhead.

 

The cratch board dropped forward if given a hefty push, serving as a forward means of escape though I also built all windows big enough for us all to fit through (though I'd probably struggle these days).