Frugally Living Aboard

[matty40s]

Your posts are a bit contradictory . . . . you say you want money saving tips but don't mind spending on kit.

 

Now, cruising the system isn't compatible with chickens, rabbits and gardening. Not unless you are going to have all of this on a butty and tow it behind.

 

12V kit is frequently double the price of 240V kit. You don't have to be buying much before it would have been cheaper to get a good inverter and run most things on 240VAC. Wiring a long narrowboat for all 12V can get expensive, since you will need large cables to avoid voltage drop problems.

 

I really don't want to see negative. I love living aboard and miss it a lot. I did much of it on a very tight budget. But there are compromises to be made. These were more than made up for by what I gained.

Most second hand narrowboats are wired already.

[IanM]

 

Thats my thoughts too... I wish to cruise weekends and school holidays, and stay in places and possibly even moor where there is no civillisation, I wish to be as self sufficient as possible on board

 

Just out of curiosity, do you have a mooring for during the week sorted or are you planning to fit in with the CC rules? Whilst it isn't impossible, it is certainly very difficult to CC within easy travelling distance to a school and is very dependant on where in the country you are. Without a home mooring you can't just moor up somewhere, move away at the weekend then move back the beginning of the next week.

[ImmaDuckQuackQuack]

I'm wondering if you have thought about the moorings for your boat? And who will look after the menagerie when you cruise at weekends and holidays? I too have had a dairy herd of goats, also chicks, ducks etc ,etc on a smallholding. We had no holiday for the 10+ years we did it. Goats in particular are very difficult to leave, especially if they are milkers. They hate strangers milking them - the one time I asked an (experienced) friend to milk them for me for a few days, I came back to dry goats, naughty girls! And of course they need milking at regular times twice a day, every day. It is a massive investment of time and routine and for the life of me I can't see how this can be compatible with a regularly away lifestyle, even if for short periods.

Ah not being a goat owner, I had no idea they would dry up with a stranger! the rest of the menagerie is shared with other family members and friends so leaving them for holidays and weekends is no biggie, we all share in the hard work. The area I hope to find moorings is only within a couple of miles of the land and will in fact be closer than to my current abode, whether I find an available mooring in that area is another thing! I am planning with the future in mind not just the short term, ive managed the allotments and animals all of my life with no problem travelling to them, (I have to take my daughter to school anyway) or having them attended to while I am away.

 

Your posts are a bit contradictory . . . . you say you want money saving tips but don't mind spending on kit.

 

Now, cruising the system isn't compatible with chickens, rabbits and gardening. Not unless you are going to have all of this on a butty and tow it behind.

 

12V kit is frequently double the price of 240V kit. You don't have to be buying much before it would have been cheaper to get a good inverter and run most things on 240VAC. Wiring a long narrowboat for all 12V can get expensive, since you will need large cables to avoid voltage drop problems.

 

I really don't want to see negative. I love living aboard and miss it a lot. I did much of it on a very tight budget. But there are compromises to be made. These were more than made up for by what I gained.

I can't see where I have been contradictory? I've asked for frugal living tips not frugal buying a boat or setting it up to live comfortably. I've also stated that I wish to have modern necessities.

[Mac of Cygnet]

There's so much information, misinformation, misconception, and impractical wishful thinking in this thread that I've given up and taken the dog out.

[ImmaDuckQuackQuack]

 

Just out of curiosity, do you have a mooring for during the week sorted or are you planning to fit in with the CC rules? Whilst it isn't impossible, it is certainly very difficult to CC within easy travelling distance to a school and is very dependant on where in the country you are. Without a home mooring you can't just moor up somewhere, move away at the weekend then move back the beginning of the next week.

I am searching in my area, and recently missed one which I've kicked myself over, After lots of research, I certainly don't think cc'ing will fit in with my lifestyle, so I may have to purchase the boat, moor it further away, visit onboard weekends and be ashore weekdays, till I can find a permanent mooring in my local area. I'm sure something shall work out

There's so much information, misinformation, misconception, and impractical wishful thinking in this thread that I've given up and taken the dog out.

Id rather be put straight if you feel that way? by all means pm me and let me know what your thought are, I'm a very open and straight talking person, by all means let rip, I can take it. Im trying to go into this with my eyes wide open.

[Lady Muck]

Some moorings are like smallholdings and have quite a bit of land, there's a few like that on the Oxford canal. Perhaps someone else will be able to remind on this thread where they are.

 

CRT moorings do not permit you to keep anything except domestic pets, so no chickens, goats etc.

[Caprifool]

Goats do not dry up when milked by someone ells. They dry up when you choose the wrong person for the job.

[wandering snail]

Goats do not dry up when milked by someone ells. They dry up when you choose the wrong person for the job.

Very experienced goat person who had kept goats for years. Difficult to think of anyone better qualified, praps my goats were just too sensitive.

[Caprifool]

Or, the goats sensed something you didn't. Very choosy creatures and experts of character, goats.

[MtB]

 

woweee!!! thats 1/4 of our monthly outgoings in this house, LIVING FRUGALLY, Im going to be minted, sod the frugal living I can live like a queen!!

 

You spelled it wrong. Krekt speeling is "kween". Not many people know this.

 

Hope that helps...

 

 

 

MtB

[Southern Star]

I would have thought that hand-washing clothes would be far more sensible than having a washing machine, is this what most people do?

[Phil Ambrose]

 

I forgot something.

 

If you can, get a widebeam.

 

Why? Because widebeams have enough volume to fit normal household appliances. If you are insistent on having 'home comforts', then being able to purchase normal household fittings will save you a lot of money.

 

Sure, you can get slimline washing machines etc. But they are dearer than anything standard-sized.

 

Where you can, use 240VAC. Will you have shore-power hookup? If so, don't fit an expensive inverter etc, fit a household (choose a 'garage' model, they are more robust) consumer unit and run a simple ring-main from that. Cheap, simple and safe. [/quote/

Not so Alister,we live on a 60ft NB and have full size washing machine, tumble dryer. Plus full sze under counter fridge (12v) and full size under counter freezer (12v)

Phil

[Psycloud]

 

woweee!!! thats 1/4 of our monthly outgoings in this house, LIVING FRUGALLY, Im going to be minted, sod the frugal living I can live like a queen!! Holiday in barbados here we come!!!

 

 

 

Yup - pretty much what we found! We pretty much live as we did in the house, minus the space of course. We thought about solar but whilst we have the 240v shoreline hookup and paying about £7 a week it's not worth the outlay just yet

[Arthur Brown]

Remember your statutory duty to look after your small child! Some friends had young children on a boat and often had the statutory agencies poke their beak into the care of the children. Getting children to school is a legal responsibility unless you can prove home education.

 

Anything else you can try and try again, your child's welfare will dictate lots of things.

[Rod a mod from Tod]

Now there's a suggestion! I do have a 5 year old child I could hoist into a supermarket bin to search for all the edibles!

 

Don't seem right having a 5yr old child rooting through a bin.

 

Can't you get him/her up a few chimneys round your way. 50 quid a time and then of to Aldi through the front door.

[blackrose]

Please share anything and everything that a boat newbie like me, may find useful!

 

 

Well, ultimately you could sell the boat, buy a tent and start sleeping rough. This would save loads of money on all sorts of things. It really depends on how far you want to take this "frugal living" thing.

 

After a few years of living aboard you might realise that you're facing plenty of challenges as it is, without heaping more needless hardships on yourself...

Edited January 7, 2014 by blackrose

[ImmaDuckQuackQuack]

 

You spelled it wrong. Krekt speeling is "kween". Not many people know this.

 

Hope that helps...

 

 

 

MtB

 

Haaa, trust you Mtb! My Bwain just not werkin today!

 

 

Don't seem right having a 5yr old child rooting through a bin.

 

Can't you get him/her up a few chimneys round your way. 50 quid a time and then of to Aldi through the front door.

 

Nah I guess that is a step too far, we tried her up the chimney before, her hair is just too soft to do much good with the soot!!

 

Well, ultimately you could sell the boat, buy a tent and start sleeping rough. This would save loads of money on all sorts of things. It really depends on how far you want to take this "frugal living" thing.

 

After a few years of living aboard you might realise that you're facing plenty of challenges as it is, without heaping more needless hardships on yourself...

Good thing about a boat is it floats on all this water thats falling from the sky... me tent don't.

[bizzard]

Some while ago there was a chap who went by the name of Noah. Big on Arks was Noah, do you have a pet Raven ?

[MtB]

I want a pet Raven!

 

 

 

MtB

 

 

P.S. why the capitalised 'R'?

[John Williamson 1955]

I want a pet Raven!

 

 

 

MtB

 

 

P.S. why the capitalised 'R'?

Because his full name is Quoth the Raven. I'll get my coat....

Edited January 8, 2014 by John Williamson 1955

[Bettie Boo]

I would have thought that hand-washing clothes would be far more sensible than having a washing machine, is this what most people do?

If Dave reads this & gets it in his head that I can "hand wash" our clothes Southern Star ...... your dead meat

Not so Alister,we live on a 60ft NB and have full size washing machine, tumble dryer. Plus full sze under counter fridge (12v) and full size under counter freezer (12v)

Phil

Hey Phil,

 

Just curious, what type of power supply do you have set up....invertor, genny, battery bank, solar?

 

Ta

 

B~

[nbfiresprite]

Get diesel from nearby boats, plug into street lamps.

Anyone helping themselves to my diesel, will find themselves dancing a 'Tyburn Jig'

[blackrose]

 

Good thing about a boat is it floats on all this water thats falling from the sky... me tent don't.

 

Right... but my point was that it costs a lot of money to keep the boat floating on all this water. If not spending any money is the object then I'm sure there are cheaper ways to live.

Edited January 8, 2014 by blackrose

[Lady Muck]

Or, the goats sensed something you didn't. Very choosy creatures and experts of character, goats.

We kept goats - Nancy the goat would only let my dad anywhere near her and would only let him milk her if he bribed her with smarties first. She was a better guard animal than any dog. Lost count of the times we'd find a young boy up in a tree in our garden because she'd chased him there.

 

We had pet owls as well - mum and dad did some work with an owl sanctuary. Now that was a strange one!

Edited January 8, 2014 by Lady Muck

[Peter Reed]

What's up Duck? If you want to let you imagination expand a bit, have a look at this place, not too far from you. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38718256.html

Anything is possible.