So in laymans terms..

[Tom Irwin]

Hello all, I have always fancied living on a boat. I have recently acquired a job within a boat yard on the Thames and now quit fancy making that dream a reality. However I lack most of the knowledge of how to go about living aboard apart from needing a boat and a mooring.

 

We are torn between living on the Thames or the Grand Union, any advice would be welcome and in as simpler terms as possible please! Ideas of mooring fees etc, and how much it costs to live aboard each month etc.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[mrsmelly]

Hello all, I have always fancied living on a boat. I have recently acquired a job within a boat yard on the Thames and now quit fancy making that dream a reality. However I lack most of the knowledge of how to go about living aboard apart from needing a boat and a mooring.

 

We are torn between living on the Thames or the Grand Union, any advice would be welcome and in as simpler terms as possible please! Ideas of mooring fees etc, and how much it costs to live aboard each month etc.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Hi

 

A quick reply. Its more expensive to live on a boat. Here is why in my case anyway. I owned my house and therefore my monthly outgoings were Council tax about a grand a year plus of course all leccy gas heating etc.

I own my boat but not my mooring so the cost has quadrupled in simple terms. 3 grand for the mooring best part of another grand for licence then all bills leccy gas heating etc which is more expensive to buy in small quantities.

So cheaper to live in a house if you can stand the boring way of life.

 

Tim

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,

If you can get a deal going for a mooring ect,at the boat yard where you work,it might help out immensely with costings,,otherwise,its pretty much as abovr..So I would advise a honest & full financial audit first,whilst looking for you dream,,,after all getting a boat can be easy,,keeping it is a whole different thing.

Good luck though.just don't pick your curtains yet.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[Phil Ambrose]

As above but if after you have done your audit you decide to go for it approach your boss about a mooring, maybe he might go for "mates rates" or maybe make it part of your renumeration package.

Welcome and good luck

Phil

[FadeToScarlet]

Hi

 

A quick reply. Its more expensive to live on a boat. Here is why in my case anyway. I owned my house and therefore my monthly outgoings were Council tax about a grand a year plus of course all leccy gas heating etc.

I own my boat but not my mooring so the cost has quadrupled in simple terms. 3 grand for the mooring best part of another grand for licence then all bills leccy gas heating etc which is more expensive to buy in small quantities.

So cheaper to live in a house if you can stand the boring way of life.

 

Tim

But, the corollary for me:

 

There is absolutely no way I could afford to buy even a small flat around here. As a result, I'd always be renting, and even in a shared house, I'd have a minimum of £400 plus bills per month.

 

Even if I were to get out of the city and commute in, I'd still be looking at £700+ for a house.

 

My mooring fee is close to Band A council tax, and although there are costs such as a river licence that I wouldn't pay in a house, and buying coal, petrol for a genny etc. is more expensive than for a house, the main fact is that I'm paying off a very small mortgage on the boat, and will be mortgage free in a couple of years, by the age of 28 or so.

 

Yes, I could move to a far less expensive area of the country, but this is where my friends are, and where my job is. I can live a 5 minute walk away from the city centre, for far far less money than I could do if I were in a house.

 

If you're in the fortunate position of having a paid off mortgage, then living in a house can be cheap, as mrsmelly above shows. But if you've NOT got that position, and have no realistic way of getting a mortgage, than it can be cheaper.

[bottle]

Licence, insurance, mooring fee (London), boat maintenance not much change, if any, out of £5,000 per year.

 

Plus your normal living costs

[ditchcrawler]

But, the corollary for me:

 

There is absolutely no way I could afford to buy even a small flat around here. As a result, I'd always be renting, and even in a shared house, I'd have a minimum of £400 plus bills per month.

 

Even if I were to get out of the city and commute in, I'd still be looking at £700+ for a house.

 

My mooring fee is close to Band A council tax, and although there are costs such as a river licence that I wouldn't pay in a house, and buying coal, petrol for a genny etc. is more expensive than for a house, the main fact is that I'm paying off a very small mortgage on the boat, and will be mortgage free in a couple of years, by the age of 28 or so.

 

Yes, I could move to a far less expensive area of the country, but this is where my friends are, and where my job is. I can live a 5 minute walk away from the city centre, for far far less money than I could do if I were in a house.

 

If you're in the fortunate position of having a paid off mortgage, then living in a house can be cheap, as mrsmelly above shows. But if you've NOT got that position, and have no realistic way of getting a mortgage, than it can be cheaper.

Cambridge may be expensive but I can't think of many other places in the country where you would get a residential mooring for what you are paying and definitely not London

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Loan or Mortgage if required to buy boat,Moorings,License,Insurance,Council Tax if applicable,BSC,General Boat Maintenance,Up keep & Wear n Tear,Electric,Solid fuel,Diesel or other fuel for Main Eng,Petrol or other fuel for Generator,Gas,Major Systems or Appliance failure replacment,Pump out fees,,,,,then you got to eat & drink,,,,

But we have been liveaboards for 25 ish years now,,though mostly as continuous cruisers so much cheaper for us & can honestly say,its worth it & there is no plans for us to go back into bricks & morter just yet..its brill.just be realistic..

Edited September 29, 2013 by Paul's Nulife4-2

[boathunter]

Even if you've paid your mortgage off there are maintenance costs not to be overlooked. £1000 for a front door for instance. I need the roof re-slating and new wndows. There are 19 of them, 17 are sash windows. I could buy a narrowboat for what that little lot would cost me.

[Ricco1]

Yes, a house needs maintaining as well. I'd hazard a guess that a house is more expensive to maintain than a boat, especially an older house.

 

If you avoid mooring fees (and possibly council tax) I'd say that day to day, year to year costs of living on a boat are slightly lower than living in a house. Because...

 

Licence @ £800 v council tax @ £1200

 

Electricity (generated) + coal @ £1200 v electricity and gas in a house @ £1200

 

OK a boat can be expensive if it needs overplating or a new engine but so is a house when it needs a new roof, a new boiler or has damp problems etc.

[mark99]

Hello all, I have always fancied living on a boat. I have recently acquired a job within a boat yard on the Thames and now quit fancy making that dream a reality. However I lack most of the knowledge of how to go about living aboard apart from needing a boat and a mooring.

 

We are torn between living on the Thames or the Grand Union, any advice would be welcome and in as simpler terms as possible please! Ideas of mooring fees etc, and how much it costs to live aboard each month etc.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Hire if you can, a boat for a week in winter. You may run away screaming. Or it may harden your resolve to go that way bearing in mind it costs £5K a year to moor p/a on Thames and that's not even residential, then you have to find the licence cost (£700?) insurance, maintenance etc.

Edited September 29, 2013 by mark99

[Dekazer]

Hallo Tom,

 

Congrats on your new job.

 

I would think about it in three chunks.. First is where you would moor a boat. Second is what boat you would buy and how. Third is how you will maintain/use the boat.

 

1. Some people do not have a mooring at all - they are known colloquially as Continuous Cruisers. The rules are reasonably clear, but nonetheless people will argue about the topic for ages. The conflict boils down to whether it is within the rules to move continually around a small area (to be near work, schools etc) or whether you need to move a much further distance. Personally, I would recommend not setting out to CC in London at the moment - things are rather uncertain at the moment but likely to get much harder soon. CCing on the canal is different to the river too, so do look further into this if you don't want a mooring.

 

Moorings in London are not common, but they do come up. It is easier to find a 'leisure' mooring but you would not be allowed to live there 'officially'. Some people are happy to live under the radar, others are not. If you want an official residential mooring you will be paying more. There are currently availabilities at Engineers Wharf in Northolt. I lived there for a while and loved it I don't know a great deal about Thames moorings. Most of the marinas don't have residential moorings, but they do come up privately. I think there is likely to be some space at Soaphouse creek (private moorings in Brentford) soon.

 

2. Boats come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. You'll be able to find something you like at the right price. Pay attention to the advice you receive - working in a boatyard you're likely to have loads of advice forthcoming! A pre purchase survey is a good idea as it will alert you to invisible problems, and can provide a useful bargaining tool. Some people don't bother with surveys and most have no problems.

 

3. If you moor in a marina and don't move often your costs will be different to someone cruising a lot. The set up of your boat (power generation methods, appliances etc) will affect the costs. It's hard to estimate the costs at this stage. Residential London moorings can be very pricey but if you budget for £5k-£6k per year you won't go too far wrong.

 

I hope you enjoy doing your research and find the answers you need. Best of luck,

 

Lucy

[Sade]

Ok... we've bought our (60ft) narrowboat now so it's too late for us!

 

The money bit:

We've sold our house which was strangling us financially but that is NOT the reason we've decided on buying a boat to live on. We've wanted to do it for about 15 years and our situation just pushed us in the right direction. Our annual bills (mortgage, council tax, energy bills, insurance, tv, phones, internet, and everything apart from food, clothing and any "luxuries") were the best part of 18K - seems excessive but after having to remortgage a few years ago our mortgage repayments were HUGE for a little 2 bed terraced house. On the budget and having been able to buy the boat outright including getting the hull blacked, new licence, insurance and deciding to continuous cruise it will cost us around 4-5K per year which includes budgeting in for the boat safety certificate due in 2016. We've made sure that we will have a healthy boat account which covers us for the next 2 years and should anything major need replacing then we have that covered too. Everyone is different when it comes to the financial side of buying and living on a boat depending on current circumstances so it really should never be about money......we're about to embark on a totally different lifestyle, harder in some ways, a big learning curve but completely exciting and hopefully slower paced and more laid back!

 

The exciting bit:

So my inexperienced and over excited mind is just going to say, if you want to do it, do it! Make a list of pros and cons and work your way through, find out what you need legally to own a boat (mostly pointed out by others above) - look at loads of boats online (Apollo duck etc) to get an idea of what you do want, what you don't want, what you can do without, what you are willing to compromise. Research everything you possibly can but most of all, enjoy the experience....you'll probably find that if it's what you really want to do, the whole business will just pull you in the direction you want to go anyway.....like it has with us hehehhee!

 

Good luck, welcome to the forum

[Lady Muck]

As for 'more expensive' well it depends what you were comparing it with.

I'm in Tottenham, 56 foot 6 boat which we own outright. She's ten years old and we bought her quite new, so she's not in need of any major maintenance yet.

We used to have a marine mortgage - cost about £350 a month.

Mooring £3.5k a year

License £500 a year - it's a river only license as we're on the Lee - quite a saving on the canal and river license and the majority of moored boats on Lee and Stort have river only licenses.

Boat safety due end of next month - £150 (every four years)

Buy a gas bottle every eight weeks - £25

Spend about £400 on coal in winter. But half a dozen of my moorings neighbours spend nothing on fuel - just petrol for the chainsaw- they know tree surgeons and can be bothered to cut and store wood - it's very time consuming and you need lots of space for seasoning, but it can be done on *some* moorings.

Electric - we have shore power here - about £7 a month in the summer, up to £7 a week in the winter (I prefer oil filled radiators to burner in the inbetween months as boat gets too hot with burner on).

Diesel - we're barely cruising at the moment, got too many issues with elderly relatives so, we've only cruised for about 3 weeks this year. I've only spent about £100 on diesel this year, to fill tank back up before winter.

Repairs - we dry dock next spring for reblacking. We do this every 3 or 4 years. It's £300 to rent the dry dock, £50 to hire pressure washer, then about £100 for blacking/rollers/brushes. Will also repaint some of interior myself, whilst we're not onboard - cost maybe £100. We also need new anodes, no idea how much they are now.

Painting the outside - we would do this every 8 years. We semi-diyed last time (paid a friend who paints at a local boatyard to help us. It still cost us upwards of £2k. Plus £400 for signwriting. A pro job costs more, a totally DIY job with no signwriting costs less.

Engine - we do our own servicing. Buy spares online (filters/drive belts etc) in order to get a better price. We bought our own Pela Pump (for oil changes)

I'd also allow about £1000 a year for repairs. We do most repairs ourselves, but I do need some welding doing and I know it won't be cheap!

In a nutshell it's as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. There are people on the River who live in cabin cruisers that they bought for a few hundred quid, don't even have a burner and they cc and live on peanuts, there are boaters who live on big boats, keep them on pricey moorings in immaculatre condition and get 'a man in' for every single job that needs doing, and keep heating on full blast October to May. You pays your money and takes your choice.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Lady Muck

[sassan]

For me, it's much cheaper than renting a flat.

I don't have a mooring, which would make the difference less, but it would still be cheaper for me.

Sure, there are costs that you don't really realise until you start, but for me, it's very financially beneficial.

When I compare the kind of flat I could afford to buy (If I could even find one at all) to what I have now (wonderful boat, beautiful locations), there's no comparison.

 

To clarify, money is not why I live here, and doesn't sounds like it would be for you, either, it's just something that affects the viability.

 

As to your other point, I'd personally choose the canal, canals are easier than rivers. That being said, I don't know the Thames.

[Pykebird]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your job. My advice is to bend the ear of the other guys who works there as they will be able to tell you how you can "save" money, mates rates are a wonderful thing!

If you can get a mooring from your boss, I would allow at least a year for you to find a boat, get her sorted and learn what you can.

I also work on a marina and have put this year aside to do everything I can to make her as good as I can. So far in just 6 months I have had her out of water, got her surveyed, had tons of welding done and totally re painted her! NONE of this would have been possible if I was still CCing down south, far too expensive.

But although I am glad that I made sure the boat could be used to live in a marina on hook up AND cruising, I do miss moving every 14 days. Still it will be worth it.

You may also find you get to see many "project" boats that catch your eye, but please be careful and find a good surveyor.

[Sade]

We also need new anodes, no idea how much they are now.

 

We're just having 4 replaced and they are £40 each

[pelicanafloat]

Even if you've paid your mortgage off there are maintenance costs not to be overlooked. £1000 for a front door for instance. I need the roof re-slating and new wndows. There are 19 of them, 17 are sash windows. I could buy a narrowboat for what that little lot would cost me.

I do slating ... many years experience.

 

Oh, and I also have made box sashes, casement sashes, stirflights, you name it ... if it on a house I can make it from scratch ...... I used to get excited at the thought of going to work but now I'm retired I get excited at the thought of not going to work

 

We have 2 border collies and spend 3 months a year in winter in a marina, and 9 months CCing. Our total spend, living comfortably, is about £7,500 - £8,000 all in

[John Williamson 1955]

Licence, insurance, mooring fee (London), boat maintenance not much change, if any, out of £5,000 per year.

 

Plus your normal living costs

About right. As against a one bedroom flat at around a grand a month in the Hounslow area plus bills.

 

 

I'm paying £175 a month for the boat on a loan, and I reckon I'm just on the right side of breaking even on the home costs front, with the mooring costing 4 grand a year.

 

FYI, there was the last of three new residential moorings on offer recently at Willow Wren Wharf, Bulls Bridge, but the auction ended recently with no bids, so it'll be offered again in a week or few at a reserve of about £4,000 per annum. Don't bother phoning them up with an offer, they deal by auction only. Guess how I know......

 

Bye!

 

John.

[Machpoint005]

We're just having 4 replaced and they are £40 each

 

Which is all very well if the boat is already out of the water ... there's another biannual or triannual cost!

[bottle]

The OP has not been back since, 40 minutes after he first posted.

[junior]

The OP has not been back since, 40 minutes after he first posted.

Maybe he'll be back in a few days. There is no requirement to return within a certain time. I once started a thread on the JustCanals Forum, I didn't get a reply for 3 days.

[bizzard]

Even if you've paid your mortgage off there are maintenance costs not to be overlooked. £1000 for a front door for instance. I need the roof re-slating and new wndows. There are 19 of them, 17 are sash windows. I could buy a narrowboat for what that little lot would cost me.

Good lord only 19 slates!, either the roof leaks badly of they're enormous great slates.

[bottle]

Maybe he'll be back in a few days. There is no requirement to return within a certain time. I once started a thread on the JustCanals Forum, I didn't get a reply for 3 days.

 

Maybe he will, I just made an observation but personally if I wanted to know I would be back all the time.