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Life before Living aboard


Sade

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i'd had a few hire boat holidays, and really enjoyed the experience and had vowed to buy a boat as a toy as soon as i retired, at the time i was living above one of my shops, nice place to live but my customers started to realise i was, in theory, available 24/7, this extra service started to get more frequently used, i got more and more fed up with providing 24/7/365 service so we decided to move away, after a couple of property deals fell through, i'd managed to gather a few quid together so we went ahead and bought a boat, with no intention of livaboard life at all, but then i didn't go home one night, then a weekend, then a week, and before we knew it we were living afloat and commuting to work.

 

This week we moved off the boat, a very sad time for me BUT, so far, house life has not been too bad, all of a sudden i don't have to think about what address to use, stuff i order gets delivered to my door! Whatever next! Broadband!!!!! Water on tap!!!! 24hr Central heating!!! Post delivered!!! A strong phone signal!! I suppose it won't last but for now its not too bad, I think the crux point will be when i visit the boat again in a few weeks time only then will i know whether i can handle the split!

Edited by GSer
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I used to live with my Grandparents and they wanted to return to the City so I bought a narrowboat as I could live in a rural area that I like and they get the conveniance of the local town where they are not reliant on a car, as they are one bus stop away from the High Street.

 

I have had my boat 4.5 months and really, really like it. When I visit my relatives, I always like to get back. It's a nice lifestyle and the people I have met have been nice and helpful. I take a fellow boater to the coal merchant as it's cheaper and we all help each other which is great.

 

For me my boat gives me and my Grandparents independance. The low purchase price of the boat gives me the more rural lifestyle that I like which I couldn't afford if I had to buy a house.

 

I will be laying a reclaimed parquet floor shortly as trying to keep the carpet clean is a nightmare with just a dustpan and brush.

 

Jamesboat.gif

Edited by canals are us?
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my dad was a history teacher and canal/narrowboat enthusiast so all our holidays were on narrowboats. fast forward the best part of 40 years and my mate gets divorced and buys a narrowboat to live on. 3 months later we have bought a boat to spent weekends and holidays on. over the space of 6 months weekends became friday to monday then thursday to monday and so on. the house is now in mothballs and we've been living aboard since last november.

Love every minute of life aboard and can't face returning to bricks mortar.

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Where else would you live if not on a boat? Is there any other way? Confused !!

 

Tim

 

Well, I suppose if you already live on a boat, that would be a confusing question.... :)

 

i'd had a few hire boat holidays, and really enjoyed the experience and had vowed to buy a boat as a toy as soon as i retired, at the time i was living above one of my shops, nice place to live but my customers started to realise i was, in theory, available 24/7, this extra service started to get more frequently used, i got more and more fed up with providing 24/7/365 service so we decided to move away, after a couple of property deals fell through, i'd managed to gather a few quid together so we went ahead and bought a boat, with no intention of livaboard life at all, but then i didn't go home one night, then a weekend, then a week, and before we knew it we were living afloat and commuting to work.

 

This week we moved off the boat, a very sad time for me BUT, so far, house life has not been too bad, all of a sudden i don't have to think about what address to use, stuff i order gets delivered to my door! Whatever next! Broadband!!!!! Water on tap!!!! 24hr Central heating!!! Post delivered!!! A strong phone signal!! I suppose it won't last but for now its not too bad, I think the crux point will be when i visit the boat again in a few weeks time only then will i know whether i can handle the split!

 

Thanks for the input, that's really helpful because honestly, everything I hear is positive, so I'm getting WAY too carried away with the idea......in fact, when I mentioned narrowboats to Dean today (the second he got in from work) and didn't get an ethusiastic reaction as I usually do, I was all disappointed.....he was tired, tomorrow is Friday, beer will be drank and proper conversations about living on a boat will resume! ;)

 

I used to live with my Grandparents and they wanted to return to the City so I bought a narrowboat as I could live in a rural area that I like and they get the conveniance of the local town where they are not reliant on a car, as they are one bus stop away from the High Street.

 

I have had my boat 4.5 months and really, really like it. When I visit my relatives, I always like to get back. It's a nice lifestyle and the people I have met have been nice and helpful. I take a fellow boater to the coal merchant as it's cheaper and we all help each other which is great.

 

For me my boat gives me and my Grandparents independance. The low purchase price of the boat gives me the more rural lifestyle that I like which I couldn't afford if I had to buy a house.

 

I will be laying a reclaimed parquet floor shortly as trying to keep the carpet clean is a nightmare with just a dustpan and brush.

 

Jamesboat.gif

 

Hmmmmm flooring, well that's a whole nother post right? hehehee ;)

 

my dad was a history teacher and canal/narrowboat enthusiast so all our holidays were on narrowboats. fast forward the best part of 40 years and my mate gets divorced and buys a narrowboat to live on. 3 months later we have bought a boat to spent weekends and holidays on. over the space of 6 months weekends became friday to monday then thursday to monday and so on. the house is now in mothballs and we've been living aboard since last november.

Love every minute of life aboard and can't face returning to bricks mortar.

 

Sounds brilliant and if we leave the bricks and mortar, there won't be an option to return.....well, not to this house anyway! I'm not too worried really I just like to get a load of opinions and see how people ended up / made the decision.....October this year will be our final decision time I reckon EEK! (ok, I'm lying, I've already decided! hahaha)

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We went on hire boat holidays 18 times in 30 years, then had a 12th share in a narrowboat for the last 4 years which gave us 4 weeks a year (the share is for sale if anybody's interested BTW). So we've always loved the canals and both had ambitions to live aboard. I had a very well paid but stressful job and had planned to retire at 55 and buy a brand new 'shiny boat to live on and cruise the country. We visited shows like Crick, and spent hours designing our 'perfect' boat.

 

Then in 2004 it all went 't*ts up' when the company got into difficulties and I very nearly had a nervous breakdown due to the stress. So I changed to a job with no stress but much less money too, but that didn't dampen our ambition, it merely meant us waiting a bit longer and setting our sights lower. Fast forward to last December and with the help of a small inheritance we finally fulfilled our ambition and we are now living afloat (since 2 weeks ago) and soon to be both packing up work and going off cruising.

 

So it's finally happened but 4 years later than planned and with a 16 year old boat instead of a new one, and we're a couple of very happy bunnies cheers.gif

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We went on hire boat holidays 18 times in 30 years, then had a 12th share in a narrowboat for the last 4 years which gave us 4 weeks a year (the share is for sale if anybody's interested BTW). So we've always loved the canals and both had ambitions to live aboard. I had a very well paid but stressful job and had planned to retire at 55 and buy a brand new 'shiny boat to live on and cruise the country. We visited shows like Crick, and spent hours designing our 'perfect' boat.

 

Then in 2004 it all went 't*ts up' when the company got into difficulties and I very nearly had a nervous breakdown due to the stress. So I changed to a job with no stress but much less money too, but that didn't dampen our ambition, it merely meant us waiting a bit longer and setting our sights lower. Fast forward to last December and with the help of a small inheritance we finally fulfilled our ambition and we are now living afloat (since 2 weeks ago) and soon to be both packing up work and going off cruising.

 

So it's finally happened but 4 years later than planned and with a 16 year old boat instead of a new one, and we're a couple of very happy bunnies cheers.gif

 

 

Sounds brilliant and congratulations! I guess if it was the ambition it was always going to happen one way or another :) Happy cruising!

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We went on hire boat holidays 18 times in 30 years, then had a 12th share in a narrowboat for the last 4 years which gave us 4 weeks a year (the share is for sale if anybody's interested BTW). So we've always loved the canals and both had ambitions to live aboard. I had a very well paid but stressful job and had planned to retire at 55 and buy a brand new 'shiny boat to live on and cruise the country. We visited shows like Crick, and spent hours designing our 'perfect' boat.

 

Then in 2004 it all went 't*ts up' when the company got into difficulties and I very nearly had a nervous breakdown due to the stress. So I changed to a job with no stress but much less money too, but that didn't dampen our ambition, it merely meant us waiting a bit longer and setting our sights lower. Fast forward to last December and with the help of a small inheritance we finally fulfilled our ambition and we are now living afloat (since 2 weeks ago) and soon to be both packing up work and going off cruising.

 

So it's finally happened but 4 years later than planned and with a 16 year old boat instead of a new one, and we're a couple of very happy bunnies cheers.gif

Surely a 16 year old boat is better than a new one? If it been going for 16 years, then it must be alright, yes? I've had some very experienced boaters warn me about ever buying a new boat. You want one which has seen at least a couple of hard winters, so you know any teething problems have been ironed out. A well maintained boat will last decades...

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You're gonna need a bigger boat.

 

 

362545-jaws_super.jpg

 

Or less stuff.

 

We have been wandering around the house doing our annual big spring clean looking at stuff we really dont need or dont use. Its just stuff.

 

Six seater solid wood dining table and six leather chairs for example. Cost a fortune six years ago when we bought it, has been used a handful of times at most. Waste of money.

 

Garage full of expensive camping gear, will never be used again now we have the boat. Garage full of gardening equipment, will never be used again, the gardener has his own.

 

Wardrobes full of clothing we hardly ever wear, and no we are not naturists we just dont wear the vast majority of it.

 

It seems stupid to be paying for a house when all we do is crash in it three nights a week and use it for storing junk we dont actually need or use.wacko.png

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Or less stuff.

 

We have been wandering around the house doing our annual big spring clean looking at stuff we really dont need or dont use. Its just stuff.

 

Six seater solid wood dining table and six leather chairs for example. Cost a fortune six years ago when we bought it, has been used a handful of times at most. Waste of money.

 

Garage full of expensive camping gear, will never be used again now we have the boat. Garage full of gardening equipment, will never be used again, the gardener has his own.

 

Wardrobes full of clothing we hardly ever wear, and no we are not naturists we just dont wear the vast majority of it.

 

It seems stupid to be paying for a house when all we do is crash in it three nights a week and use it for storing junk we dont actually need or use.wacko.png

 

Sell the stuff, sell the house, money in the bank.....get nice paint job on the boat! ;)

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My husband and I split up. He went to china to teach English and left me to it.I had no job a hefty mortgage and two grown up kids living with me.Needless to say i was at my wits end as to what I was going to do,I knew even if i worked seven days a week i couldn`t make all the payments by myself.

I was very stressed abd very emotional but then while absentmindedly flicking through the tv channels i stumbled on a program about two guys doing up a narrow boat.(I can`t remember what the program was called but the boat they were working on was called RECKLESS.) A light went on in my head then and i said to myself Oh my god i could do that, I could get rid of this money pit of a house and live on a boat.I was so excited and relieved that i had found an answer and set out to make it a reality.I have now been a liveaboard for just four weeks and love, it love, it love it.

The road to this point was rocky and it took me a year to get here.At the time that year seemed like an eternity and there were loads of times when i thought it wouldn`t happen at all. But now looking back on it,that year went very quickly and i was lucky that it only took that long. some people wait years.

My first couple of days on board were not the best and I couldn`t help but think i had just made the biggest mistake of my life.The boat was a mess i had no where to put anything and it was freezing.But it all came together I have learnt so much in the time that i have been here and now i wouldn`t go back to my house even i they were giving it back to me for free.

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My husband and I split up. He went to china to teach English and left me to it.I had no job a hefty mortgage and two grown up kids living with me.Needless to say i was at my wits end as to what I was going to do,I knew even if i worked seven days a week i couldn`t make all the payments by myself.

I was very stressed abd very emotional but then while absentmindedly flicking through the tv channels i stumbled on a program about two guys doing up a narrow boat.(I can`t remember what the program was called but the boat they were working on was called RECKLESS.) A light went on in my head then and i said to myself Oh my god i could do that, I could get rid of this money pit of a house and live on a boat.I was so excited and relieved that i had found an answer and set out to make it a reality.I have now been a liveaboard for just four weeks and love, it love, it love it.

The road to this point was rocky and it took me a year to get here.At the time that year seemed like an eternity and there were loads of times when i thought it wouldn`t happen at all. But now looking back on it,that year went very quickly and i was lucky that it only took that long. some people wait years.

My first couple of days on board were not the best and I couldn`t help but think i had just made the biggest mistake of my life.The boat was a mess i had no where to put anything and it was freezing.But it all came together I have learnt so much in the time that i have been here and now i wouldn`t go back to my house even i they were giving it back to me for free.

 

 

That's a proper inspirational story if I ever heard one! Thank you for sharing it on my little post :) I remember seeing the program about Reckless too. It is a really exciting prospect and the more stories like this that I hear, the more I want to do it. We've got a lovely little location at the top of a hill with beautiful views of Salisbury and only a minutes walk from the woods, but we're stuck, can't afford the mortgage and therefore can't enjoy life because of the pressure, so the lovely location becomes null and void when you just can't enjoy it. All the more reason to go for it I reckon.... Good luck with everything, you're new adventure! ;)

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My Ex lived on a narrowboat and I loved spending time on it. So with a month to go before my wedding and on my hen night I realised I didnt want to get married and cancelled it. I then over the next few weeks decided to move jobs and to sell the house. Luckily was headhunted for a job I loved and the house sold in 4 weeks. Sold most of the furniture that had filled my 4 bed house, bought a flat for my son to live in and ordered the boat. Boat delivered Jan 2012 so spent that month moving onto the boat and settling son into flat.

 

Most of my friends and family thought I was having some sort of crisis and was decending into maddness as they believed I had made all those decisions too quickly but they were the best decisions I had made in a long while. So a year on I am very happy with my life afloat, my job is fab and the kids are sorted.

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My Ex lived on a narrowboat and I loved spending time on it. So with a month to go before my wedding and on my hen night I realised I didnt want to get married and cancelled it. I then over the next few weeks decided to move jobs and to sell the house. Luckily was headhunted for a job I loved and the house sold in 4 weeks. Sold most of the furniture that had filled my 4 bed house, bought a flat for my son to live in and ordered the boat. Boat delivered Jan 2012 so spent that month moving onto the boat and settling son into flat.

 

Most of my friends and family thought I was having some sort of crisis and was decending into maddness as they believed I had made all those decisions too quickly but they were the best decisions I had made in a long while. So a year on I am very happy with my life afloat, my job is fab and the kids are sorted.

 

 

Awww that's brilliant! I'm going to be looking into working from home (boat) so that we can cruise I think.....

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Desicion pretty much made for us this week.

 

The house is going for sale at the beginning of next month. The rest of this month is being spent decluttering and getting rid of anything we dont need/want. The XR4i is also going to be sold and replaced with a van.

 

Neither of us have any ties to the bricks and mortar and as we are spending less and less time there and more and more time at the boat there seems little point in hanging on to it and paying out through the nose for what has essentially become a crash pad and laundry service.

 

So hopefully pretty soon we will be living onboard. Strange times and a strange choice of home.......

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