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Full time boaters - any regrets?


Martin Megson

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I also have a flat which I rent out and the money from that more or less keeps me going

 

I've only been living afloat full time for about 5 years. . I'm still a bit in love with it all tbh . That worries me slightly as I'm fearful about what might happen when / if my infatuation phase passes.

 

I have no regrets though - just slight changes i sometimes want to make regarding water sand waste storage .

 

Unlike a lot of the comments here, I sometimes think a slightly shorter boat would have been better for me - cheaper , easier to moor etc etc. The grass is always greener .

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No regrets here. I'm fortunate enough to live comfortably, but not well-off, and have to service all my own stuff (including the wi... oops sorry!). Those that aren't able to do that, are destined to find boat living difficult.

 

What's the solution? Investigate it all beforehand or something? Claim for benefits?

 

Dunno how to be any help.

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Those that aren't able to do that, are destined to find boat living difficult.

What's the solution? Investigatae it all beforehand or something? Claim for benefits?

 

I don't think that's strictly true.

 

I think I spent quite a long time 'investigating' before I jumped in and bought my boat, around about a year. During that time I was out viewing boats, talking to boaters, reading and contributing on this forum etc. I even went and volunteered on a community boat in London commuting there from Brighton. I am often suprised by some people who come on here saying they are thinking of buying a boat, then 2 weeks later have bought one without a survey. Then again I know there are some forum members at the moment who are starting their research several years before they plan to buy.

 

I have not made it a secret that I am not a practical person, not in regards to DIY or mechanics anyway. That is not becausd I can't be arsed of am thick, but because I've never had a reason to learn. I can strip and assemble a machine gun in 2 mins whilst blindfolded, but I wouldn't know how to put a shelf up. So I'm learning.

In the 6 momths I've had my boat lots has gone U/S. I've had to get outside help for the majority of things, but I've watched and asked questions. If all those things went wrong again tomorrow I'd probably be able to fix/replace most of them myself this time, and I include fuel pumps in that.

 

I know your post probably wasn't directed personally at me but just because people can't do everything themselves, it doesn't mean they shouldn't think about boat ownership.

 

If I was honest I'd say my mistake might have been to have spent ALL my budget on the boat in one go. I was nieve to all of the things that could go wrong but as is well known on here, when you see 'the one' you have to buy it. I have a healthy monthly income, but as I spent every penny I had on the boat, no savings. This means when faults develop on the boat I have to prioritise and save up to have them fixed. Usually one at a time, or one fault per month. If it's stuff I haven't learnt yet myself then I need to budget in labour costs as well.

 

So my one peice of advice I am going to offer from now on to people coming on here saying they want a bout and have a £25k budget will be to keep a certain amount (maybe £2k) of that in the bank as a fund for your first year of boating.

Edited by junior
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No Junior, it was not directed at you. It sounds as though you did your best and have been unfortunate. Had you been a neighbour of mine, I would have attempted to help.

 

However, there ARE many who didn't think it through and suffered accordingly. I've met one or two of them.

 

I hope your situation improves, which sounds very likely. Best wishes.

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If I was honest I'd say my mistake might have been to have spent ALL my budget on the boat in one go. I was nieve to all of the things that could go wrong but as is well known on here, when you see 'the one' you have to buy it. I have a healthy monthly income, but as I spent every penny I had on the boat, no savings. This means when faults develop on the boat I have to prioritise and save up to have them fixed. Usually one at a time, or one fault per month. If it's stuff I haven't learnt yet myself then I need to budget in labour costs as well.

 

So my one peice of advice I am going to offer from now on to people coming on here saying they want a bout and have a £25k budget will be to keep a certain amount (maybe £2k) of that in the bank as a fund for your first year of boating.

 

Ah, but maybe if you'd spent less more might have gone wrong, swallowing up your £2k contingencies budget in a few weeks, leaving you in the same situation but on a boat that's not as nice as the one you have. cheers.gif

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I just accept that my boat (And,in general, my chosen way of life) is always going to want to cost me just little more than I can easily afford.

 

My only regret is that I couldn't afford a bigger and better boat when I bought this one, but if I had bought a bigger and better one, I'd be moaning about the extra costs for licencing and such.

 

Junior, you've got a nice boat that you like, albeit with some minor problems. I wish my problems were all so minor and easily fixed.

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I guess I'm very fortunate. Having bought a 12-year old boat, pretty much trad, with an engine room and Boatman's Cabin, I have never had anything go wrong in 4 years of living aboard.

 

Where did I go 'right'?

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We love living on our boat, when we lived in our house, we could not wait to get on the boat ( at the time I worked four days on,four days off) the four days off were spent on the boat, and we were always reluctant to go home to the house.

When OH dissolved his company we made the decision to make a new start, sold the house, moved on to the boat full time and have not regretted it for one second.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got to say I'm loving this thread and it's encouraged me to post about my plans.

This time last year I had the money to buy a boat as a live aboard I even started a thread on here asking a few questions.

Anyway and this is my regret, instead of going ahead and buying a boat I lost my nerve, stuck the money into a couple of saving accounts where I could not touch it for 12 months which I now regret doing.

I could have been living the dream now.

Anyway come August I will be in the market for a boat, having said that I'm looking around now;

One way I do differ from a few on her though is that I won't have the option of renting out the house.

As it was left to my sister and myself between us by my mum when she died and has to be sold with the proceeds split between us.

But having said that I will have money in the bank when the house is sold, so will still have some back up

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We've been on the water now for just over 7 months. It's brilliant and doing this has enabled us to semi retire at 52 and live on a lovely boat in a location of our choice as our living costs have been dramatically reduced.

 

We're fortunate to have had our boat supplied as a new bespoke shell, and we've completed all the fitting out ourselves. Although the original project ended up way overdue it's now done to a very good standard and we know our boat inside out. We've had no major issues coming up to our first year, just some paintwork maintenance, so no unexpected costs in year one so far. We've also saved a lot of money by installing solar which has performed far better than expected. Along with a mild winter, projected costs will likely be 25% cheaper than expected. A good boat and good planning is the key. Well so far anyway smile.png

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  • 1 month later...

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