How often do you use your boat.

[Gingerbeer]

Our boat is moored about 50 miles from home or about an hour away on fast A roads. Close enough that we can nip down as and when we fancy yet far enough away that we feel as though we have been away each week.

 

Means we spend four nights a week onboard each week.

 

We could moor closer to home but the cruising grounds would be more limited.

 

Is your avatar a picture of your boat? What size do you have, manufacturer, etc.?

 

I, for one, would never of guessed how far some of you actually drive to get to your boat. But I do see the reasoning behind it now. Finding that ideal spot with lots of options is not easy. Seems like having a wider beam or a long boat will restrict you to certain canals so if you have a shorter narrowboat then the world seems to be your oyster in the land of canaldom, and if you are a CCer, better yet.

[Guest]

Distance from home (if your home isn't the boat, that is) to boat is an interesting issue. There's obviously a compromise between distance home-boat and 'useful' location on the canal network eg near a junction(s) to give varied boating/cruising opportunities. Also, we've been advised every now and again to vary the mooring location to keep cruising interesting rather than getting stale as the years go on.

 

Last winter when we found we weren't using the boat so much for extensive cruising, I moved the boat closer to work, luckily work was close to the boat and there were a couple of locations 5-10 mins away, which greatly helps cut down the travel time to the boat.

 

Luckily we live in an area with fairly dense canal network (Cheshire) so there's plenty of choice on suitable locations.

 

This is true - We could probably moor our boat physically closer to home at Ripon on the Ure but as nice as it is it is a dead end in the system.

 

Where we are is a bit of a waterways 'cross roads' offering various options from our starting point.

[mrsmelly]

 

This is true - We could probably moor our boat physically closer to home at Ripon on the Ure but as nice as it is it is a dead end in the system.

 

Where we are is a bit of a waterways 'cross roads' offering various options from our starting point.

And some of the very best cruising routes in the uk.

 

Tim

[Athy]

Think of it this way, Miss Beer: many people treat a boat as a second home or floating holiday cottage. Now, if you were going to buy a (non-floating) holiday home, you would not buy it in the town or village where you lived, would you? You'd want a change of scene. In that sense, it's logical to have one's boat a good distance from one's home.

 

That said, the chap who flies down from Aberdeen to spend a weekend on his boat does show true dedication!

[Naughty Cal]

 

Is your avatar a picture of your boat? What size do you have, manufacturer, etc.?

 

I, for one, would never of guessed how far some of you actually drive to get to your boat. But I do see the reasoning behind it now. Finding that ideal spot with lots of options is not easy. Seems like having a wider beam or a long boat will restrict you to certain canals so if you have a shorter narrowboat then the world seems to be your oyster in the land of canaldom, and if you are a CCer, better yet.

Yep the picture is of Naughty-Cal.

 

She is a Sealine S23 overall length 25ft unless you are a harbour master and then it is 23ft it says so on the side

 

This is true - We could probably moor our boat physically closer to home at Ripon on the Ure but as nice as it is it is a dead end in the system.

 

Where we are is a bit of a waterways 'cross roads' offering various options from our starting point.

We are often asked by non boaty types why we don't moor in Sheffield. Again its a dead end waterway with limited cruising options.

 

Where we are based in Lincoln we are spoilt for choice both inland and coastal.

 

This is true - We could probably moor our boat physically closer to home at Ripon on the Ure but as nice as it is it is a dead end in the system.

 

Where we are is a bit of a waterways 'cross roads' offering various options from our starting point.

We are often asked by non boaty types why we don't moor in Sheffield. Again its a dead end waterway with limited cruising options.

 

Where we are based in Lincoln we are spoilt for choice both inland and coastal.

And some of the very best cruising routes in the uk.

 

Tim

Indeed!

[Guest]

And some of the very best cruising routes in the uk.

 

Tim

 

Indeed - Bramwith to Thorne was beautiful this morning and Bramwith last night looked great in the evening sun.

 

 

 

ed to reduce picture size.

Edited October 6, 2013 by The Dog House

[Athy]

It doesn't look as if you'll need to find a winding hole either.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Athy

[Naughty Cal]

It doesn't look as if you'll need to find a winding hole either.

Erm no. These are proper waterways;)

[Guest]

_{It doesn't look as if you'll need to find a winding hole either.}

 

Much of the time no - even with a 60ft you can turn quite easiy.

 

That said the Stainforth and Keadby canal where that pic was taken does get quite narrow in some parts meaning you have to find a wide bit or indeed an actual winding hole, the one between Bramwith and Thorne is probably big enough to wind a cruise liner.

[mrsmelly]

Erm no. These are proper waterways;)

No ditches for miles..................

[Kae]

We're liveaboards, so full time

 

A number of long weekends and one two week troll around the Cheshire Ring actual boating. We've spent a lot of time working on the boat this year, so that's reduced our "free" time, but there's nothing better than going home to the boat every evening

[Gingerbeer]

Okay, so now I know how often and far some of you use/keep your boats. So what about the best place to keep your boat if you want to be on the prettiest or quietest canals or rivers, or you want to have the best of both worlds: canal/river, ocean, or if you could move your boat anyplace in the UK where would that be? I always thought that a mooring in York would be ideal because not only is it a fabulous city, you have access to some of the larger systems and also the ocean. Soft spot for Yorkshire in general.

 

What about marinas? Are any of you in a great marina and could recommend it to others or did you move from one you hated and can say why.

 

I know I am being a little nosy but I have nothing better to do right now, and I really like to hear your stories and thoughts.

[Naughty Cal]

Okay, so now I know how often and far some of you use/keep your boats. So what about the best place to keep your boat if you want to be on the prettiest or quietest canals or rivers, or you want to have the best of both worlds: canal/river, ocean, or if you could move your boat anyplace in the UK where would that be? I always thought that a mooring in York would be ideal because not only is it a fabulous city, you have access to some of the larger systems and also the ocean. Soft spot for Yorkshire in general.

 

What about marinas? Are any of you in a great marina and could recommend it to others or did you move from one you hated and can say why.

 

I know I am being a little nosy but I have nothing better to do right now, and I really like to hear your stories and thoughts.

York was on our list of potential moorings but we decided against it. For weekend cruising you are pretty much limited to the stretch of the Ouse above Naburn Lock, not really ideal.

 

We like our current marina, Burton Waters, Lincoln. It is a modern affair with shops and bars and excellent boating facilities and full workshops facilities on site.

[Guest]

Okay, so now I know how often and far some of you use/keep your boats. So what about the best place to keep your boat if you want to be on the prettiest or quietest canals or rivers, or you want to have the best of both worlds: canal/river, ocean, or if you could move your boat anyplace in the UK where would that be? I always thought that a mooring in York would be ideal because not only is it a fabulous city, you have access to some of the larger systems and also the ocean. Soft spot for Yorkshire in general.

 

What about marinas? Are any of you in a great marina and could recommend it to others or did you move from one you hated and can say why.

 

I know I am being a little nosy but I have nothing better to do right now, and I really like to hear your stories and thoughts.

 

If you just want to pootle up and down the same section York would be fine but as NC says a bit restrictive if you only have a couple of days at a time to use your boat. As a base for longer breaks it could be OK but long term moorings in the city itself are like hens teeth (if they exist at all which I don't think they do). IIIRC there are some 'cruising club' moorings coming out of York going South and a smattering of others including a section above Naburn lock but these are not in the centre.

 

Having moored in both two marinas and now on a Trust LTM which is 'On line' our preference is for the latter.

 

We will occasionally just come to the boat for a night or two and not move it it at all - usually if there are some jobs that need doing. Being on an on line mooring is more private in that you don't have another boats windows pressed up against yours which you often get in Marinas. There is less to-ing and fro-ing at our mooring which makes it quieter in general. The access road can get a bit muddy in very wet weather which can be a pain, you don't normally get this in a marina, but and it's a big but for us we can get the car right up to the boat and leave it there, great for off loading the groceries and other stuff you have bought or brought for a trip. Marinas sometimes get around this by providing steel 'boaters trolleys' to get stuff from car to boat along the pontoons.

 

The only thing I really miss about not being in a marina is the ability to leave the charger on mains to keep the batteries up to scratch. When I get my backside into gear I am going to add some solar to keep things ticking over while we are not on the boat.

[Gingerbeer]

York was on our list of potential moorings but we decided against it. For weekend cruising you are pretty much limited to the stretch of the Ouse above Naburn Lock, not really ideal.

 

We like our current marina, Burton Waters, Lincoln. It is a modern affair with shops and bars and excellent boating facilities and full workshops facilities on site.

 

It looks like a lovely place. The new Princess 43 caught my eye under the Latest News section. What a beautiful boat. I could probably only afford to buy one of her puppies seen sitting to the front of the picture though.

[Kwacker]

We are just 10 minutes from our boat at Debdale Marina, tranquil and in the middle of nowhere

Beautiful local cruises, plus one of the best equipped marinas for repairs etc for miles. Proper boat handing equipment and now featuring a large unit containing a grit blasting bay and a DIY painting bay.

Plus ... the only cheaper moorings I can find locally, I wouldn't want!

[Gingerbeer]

 

If you just want to pootle up and down the same section York would be fine but as NC says a bit restrictive if you only have a couple of days at a time to use your boat. As a base for longer breaks it could be OK but long term moorings in the city itself are like hens teeth (if they exist at all which I don't think they do). IIIRC there are some 'cruising club' moorings coming out of York going South and a smattering of others including a section above Naburn lock but these are not in the centre.

 

Having moored in both two marinas and now on a Trust LTM which is 'On line' our preference is for the latter.

 

We will occasionally just come to the boat for a night or two and not move it it at all - usually if there are some jobs that need doing. Being on an on line mooring is more private in that you don't have another boats windows pressed up against yours which you often get in Marinas. There is less to-ing and fro-ing at our mooring which makes it quieter in general. The access road can get a bit muddy in very wet weather which can be a pain, you don't normally get this in a marina, but and it's a big but for us we can get the car right up to the boat and leave it there, great for off loading the groceries and other stuff you have bought or brought for a trip. Marinas sometimes get around this by providing steel 'boaters trolleys' to get stuff from car to boat along the pontoons.

 

The only thing I really miss about not being in a marina is the ability to leave the charger on mains to keep the batteries up to scratch. When I get my backside into gear I am going to add some solar to keep things ticking over while we are not on the boat.

 

How did you get your on line mooring and did you have to wait a while until something came up you liked?

[Guest]

 

How did you get your on line mooring and did you have to wait a while until something came up you liked?

 

We won it at the reserve price in a CRT auction which is how all their moorings are 'sold' these days.

 

Once we decided that we could be interested in a Trust on line mooring I subscribed to the email service which allows you to select waterways you are interested in mooring on and include moorings suitable for your length (and width in some cases) of boat and exclude those that are not.

 

CRT mooring auctions.

 

We knew Pollington well having passed it a few times. Within a couple of days a 60ft one came up (we need 60ft) but we were out bid as I didn't want to pay more than what we were paying in a marina for less facilities. It went for well above it's reserve price from memory.

 

Having lost that we got an email about a 70ft one at the same site. There is nothing to stop you bidding on one longer than you need as long as you are happy to pay for any length you might not actually use. Despite there being two other bidders on the 60 ft one we managed to win the longer one at it's reserve price and pay a lot less than whoever won the 60 ft one but for a longer mooring - such is the madness of the mooring auctions. The actual space is I reckon longer than 70ft and combined with the mooring being 10 ft less than we actually needed we are not hemmed in at all with loads of space between the neighbouring boats.

 

It all fell into place as we took up our new mooring literally the day our old mooring agreement expired so we din't have to find anywhere short term in the intervening period.

[Gingerbeer]

 

We won it at the reserve price in a CRT auction which is how all their moorings are 'sold' these days.

 

Once we decided that we could be interested in a Trust on line mooring I subscribed to the email service which allows you to select waterways you are interested in mooring on and include moorings suitable for your length (and width in some cases) of boat and exclude those that are not.

 

CRT mooring auctions.

 

We knew Pollington well having passed it a few times. Within a couple of days a 60ft one came up (we need 60ft) but we were out bid as I didn't want to pay more than what we were paying in a marina for less facilities. It went for well above it's reserve price from memory.

 

Having lost that we got an email about a 70ft one at the same site. There is nothing to stop you bidding on one longer than you need as long as you are happy to pay for any length you might not actually use. Despite there being two other bidders on the 60 ft one we managed to win the longer one at it's reserve price and pay a lot less than whoever won the 60 ft one but for a longer mooring - such is the madness of the mooring auctions. The actual space is I reckon longer than 70ft and combined with the mooring being 10 ft less than we actually needed we are not hemmed in at all with loads of space between the neighbouring boats.

 

It all fell into place as we took up our new mooring literally the day our old mooring agreement expired so we din't have to find anywhere short term in the intervening period.

 

I looked at the auction moorings for residential. They have some nice ones at a reasonable price compared to some marinas I have looked into. If you want a short term mooring of say 6 months and you have the winning bid, can you keep it yearly for those 6 months or do you have to rebid every year?

[Guest]

 

I looked at the auction moorings for residential. They have some nice ones at a reasonable price compared to some marinas I have looked into. If you want a short term mooring of say 6 months and you have the winning bid, can you keep it yearly for those 6 months or do you have to rebid every year?

 

You 'win' the use of the mooring for three years. Ours is a leisure mooring and the minimum term is 6 months. If you want to terminate within three years you can give 2 months notice. There as a debate on here recently as to whether in reality this meant the min. term was 8 months as you had to wait 6 before giving 2 months notice or it was actually six months and you could give 2 months notice after being on the mooring for 4 months.

 

IIRC the latter was felt to be correct in the end.

 

I presume - but don't know for sure if the same applies to their residential moorings. The mooring agreement terms and conditions doesn't seem to differentiate, but someone else may no doubt correct me if it does differ.

 

CRT LTM conditions

[Ray T]

We like our marina, not too big, great location for the GU, north or south and the Oxford south or westish.

Purely non residential, very quiet apart from the odd low flying jet and Chinook from Upper Heyford, which add interest.

It doesn't have any café, bars etc., which suit.

 

It is within half hours drive of our house.