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Tomorrow we start a new life.


Tinhare

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Well, it has finally happened. I guess it had to, was just a matter of time.

 

Tomorrow is the day.

 

Our three bedroom rented house is echoing to the sounds of our footsteps for tomorrow we bid farewell to life on land and start our new life as liveaboard boaters. WOW, still can't quite believe it. My wife and I are both really excited and looking forward to it.

 

Cheers,

Alan.


Oh, look at that. the post went up at 00:01, so I guess it should of read today. So, TODAY we move onto our boat, even better.

 

Al.

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3 years and 10 months in, not that I am counting, it has been absolutely horrendous, freezing in the winter, scorching in the summer, would not recommend it to my worst enemy. wink.png

 

 

 

Good luck, if you enjoy it half as much as us, you will be ecstatic. smile.png

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How excited you must be! We have lived aboard for over 15 years and absolutely love it. We were tied down in one spot for a long time running a business but we began to seriously cruise in mid May how is it going? As well as my congratulations, let me offer you this:

 

I want you to know how I'm feeling,

Now that I'm fully retired.

The fact is my mind just keeps reeling,

I'm excited, renewed and inspired!

 

Each day is a new revelation

And each revelation a gift,

Each gift fills my heart with sensation

And I feel my whole being uplift.

 

It's a joy to be out on the water

To feel the boat under my feet,

To see all these things as I ought to

Simple and humbling and sweet.

 

And then when I tie at my mooring

And watch the sun setting at last,

I need have no false reassuring

I'm happy with all that has passed.

 

The birds are all courting and singing

And the air is alive with their song.

In the distance a church bell is ringing,

This is doubtless the place I belong.

 

 

G W Layfield

Summer 2013

 

Edited for typo's

Edited by Jigsawged
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Great news, you will love itcheers.gif

 

I'm a liveaboard, but marina based and owned my boat for 6 months and really love the lifestyle. I plan to do some cruising soon and get out and explore but other things get in the way. Got the boat how I like it and found Winter lovely and warm once I installed my new woodwarm multifuel stove.

 

Jamescheers.gif

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Just coming up to 4 years for us and still loving it.

 

Best of luck and savour every moment of your new life.

 

Oh and don't forget the forum is a fantastic resource if your learning curve is as steep as ours was :)

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Wow, so many positive responses. I was going to quote a few and respond to each one but that would make this reply more than two pages long.

We arrived at the boat yesterday afternoon, packing and moving out always takes longer than you planned.

First job for me was to replace the leisure batteries with the new ones we'd brought with us whilst Tina and a friend unloaded the van. Way to much stuff but as Tina will be running her business, (payroll, bookkeeping and management accounting consultant), from the boat there was a fair bit of paperwork to bring on. Ho hum.

Batteries replaced without any hassle which was all to easy.

 

Things were going well until the shore power was plugged in. Hmm, no power. Out with multimeter, check at lead end, good. Check at breakers on board, good. Hmm. After much head scratching realised there was no shore power light on at the inverter/charger. Not good.

Had had a phone call weekend before last from marina saying an alarm was going off in the boat. Turns out it was the CO2 alarm. Hmmm. Anyway the only thing on was the charger charging the old batteries. So they disconnected the power and removed the batteries from the alarm.

So it appears that there is a problem with the inverter/charger so no 240v on the boat. As Tina needs it for work today and I'm away it had to be sorted. So, bypassed the unit and at least she now has power. Oh we'll, these things happen.

 

Apart from that all went smoothly, although the cats don't seems too keen at the moment.

Tina is at the boat today whilst I am away on tour (coach driver) and is settling everything in. She'll be encouraged by all your positive responses. I'm going to start another thread about the fault and see what can be done.

 

Once again thank you all for your encouragement and we'll keep you informed.

 

Alan & Tina

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Good luck in your boat. We are new members on this site and have just started planning our move onto the canals. We have lived our first dream in Rhodes, Greece and are now ready for a change. We plan to be C. Cruisers in around 18 months time. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

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Good luck in your boat. We are new members on this site and have just started planning our move onto the canals. We have lived our first dream in Rhodes, Greece and are now ready for a change. We plan to be C. Cruisers in around 18 months time. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, I'm sure we will enjoy it. Whilst living on a narrowboat wasn't one of our dreams it is in a way. Our dream is to buy a yacht and sail around the world. Living on a narrowboat gets us used to boat life and is a lot cheaper than the £1700 pcm it was costing in rent and ancillaries. However, having said that we love being on the boat, the few weekends that we have been on it up until now. They were mad weekends moving it down the Trent and Mersey closer to where we lived. even though they were rushed we still enjoyed it and didn't want to go back to the house at the end of them.

 

It's great that you have an 18month lead time. Ours was rather rushed without a great deal of planning although we already had a pretty good idea of what we wanted.

 

The best advice I can give is post a new thread on here about your plans, if you haven't already. You will get plenty of great advise. The best advise we were given was actually by a broker and they said in this market any boat you see offer 10k less than the asking price, When you see a boat don't set your heart on it. It's easier to walk away from the sale and another one you will like just as much will come along. Also, test everything when you have found "the one" before deciding and make sure you get a survey.

 

We will also be CCers so look forward to seeing you out on the cut.

 

We've already experienced the dawn chorus. Well, I have, my wife Tina is basically deaf (5% left in one ear only) so she only just hears it.

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Wow Congratulations , I too will be leaving my rented house this coming Tuesday 18th June and starting the journey as a liveaboard boater upon my 2006 57ft Semi Trad, its taken me a year to get to this stage following on from a divorce and with this as the start of an all new life for me.

 

I purchased my boat from the owners via a well known boat yard a few weeks ago after having had the survey, re-blacked, and serviced im spending this weekend cleaning both house and boat in readiness of my depature and my move in to her. I have to say though after i parted with my well earned divorce settlement to buy the boat i had a few twinges of "Buyers Remorse" and have in fact been asking myself a few times have i done the right thing and im not even on board yet, I think the thing that worrys me the most is well everything lol from the powering of the boat even though i will be on mains the battery care, etc etc etc etc its everything really. Although i also am filled with excitement and really looking forward to this coming Tuesday and the start of THE NEW WAY OF LIFE

 

One more thing OMG its amazed me as too how much stuff ive collected over the years, im having a massive clearout of clothes and personal stuff.

 

So to others like us as the newbies good luck to us all.

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