paulstoke1975 Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) what is the likely cost monthly living aboard? granted everyone's budget will be different, i have come up with my own rough estimate but i think i would be better coming from people who are actually living it, i have been trying to working out my future budget to include monthly savings for servicing blacking and general maintenance and repairs . i'll will also be setting aside an emergency fund of £3000. are there any unusual expenses i will likely to come across? im aware of the following bss blacking/anodes every 2 years waterways licence insurance general servicing mooring fees and the usual house old type of bills, what am i missing Edited August 2, 2014 by paulstoke1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanS Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Greetings coal in winter. gas refills. diesel for travelling and/or charging batts. shorepower elec (for charging batts) the inevitable purchase of solar panels and controllers at some point. the inevitable purchase of new batteries at some point. (they are disposable...) the cost of new fenders (they seem to disappear) the cost of new windlasses (they seem to drop in the cut by themselves) ;-) others will have more to add to the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottle Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 £1,000 per month should cover everything, possibly, maybe , perhaps Never costed it out accurately but others have and the figure of 5 to 6,000 per annum seems to be the 'norm' just for the boat. Lifestyle, heating, moving the boat etc. all have a bearing, what you want is the main thing and whether you can afford it. I am fairly certain that some one on here has done the costings but whether it is on their blog, web site or on here cannot remember Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul's Nulife4-2 Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) Totally agree with Bottle, Possibly, Maybe, Perhaps, but would add 'ish'. Edited August 2, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nb Innisfree Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Full time ccing 4 or 5 years ago cost us approx £5k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulstoke1975 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 I worked my budget to be 6-7k, I will be buying a small amout of coal over winter but with the job I do I can pretty much get a endless supply of dry logs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettie Boo Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 I appreciate, this is really insignificant, in the big picture, but the amount of paper towel / kitchen roll / blue roll we go through on the boat has over quadrupled compared with what we used in bricks & mortar. And I'd like to find a company who produces window cleaner that I could buy some shares in - I've never in my life cleaned windows as often as I have since we bought the boat!! This may change once we've been living the lifestyle for a little longer, but our entertainment costs (shows/plays/hotels/B&B's/dining out) has gone from about £300 - £500 per month to £15 per month. We've lived on-board now for the better part of 6 months and have had a total of 2 take-aways. Our entertainment, is being on the boat With that said, our weekly grocery bill has increased, as we eat all meals on the boat, and I'm doing a lot more baking now there when we were in the house. Dean covered every thing I could think of to add to your list.....other than if you buy a boat with a decent paint job and plan on maintaining it, the shampoo, polish & wax can be quite pricy. I know it's frustrating trying to work out a budget before you have a boat. Been there, done that, asked the same questions your asking now. But it really does depend on the lifestyle you chose to live, the size of your boat, and the set up of your boats electrics, solid fuel stove, how thick you insulation is and on and on and on. There really is not definitive answer that applies to all. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narrowboatham Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 My mate sold a ruston engine this week to a guy who was going to use it in a 35 ft boat, he was going to cc and thought £100 a week was doable. Dan Brown on youtube also says £100 a week. I Think you would need a bit stashed away for unexpected problems though. Others will tell you it costs a lot more, when i asked if it could be done on £150 a week it was a 50/50 split with the responses... do you need a marina or will you cc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricco1 Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Per month: Licence £55.00 Insurance £8.00 Gas £25.00 Coal £20.00 Diesel £10.00 I've excluded less regular items such as blacking, maintenance and repairs. If we allow a generous £100.00 per month it takes the annual cost to £2616.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulstoke1975 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) My mate sold a ruston engine this week to a guy who was going to use it in a 35 ft boat, he was going to cc and thought £100 a week was doable. Dan Brown on youtube also says £100 a week. I Think you would need a bit stashed away for unexpected problems though. Others will tell you it costs a lot more, when i asked if it could be done on £150 a week it was a 50/50 split with the responses... do you need a marina or will you cc? I plan on a stay in a marina just enough time to get use to the boat and gain some much needed advice, after that I'll cruise Per month: Licence £55.00 Insurance £8.00 Gas £25.00 Coal £20.00 Diesel £10.00 I've excluded less regular items such as blacking, maintenance and repairs. If we allow a generous £100.00 per month it takes the annual cost to £2616.00. Edited August 2, 2014 by paulstoke1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightwatch Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 £1,000 per month should cover everything, possibly, maybe , perhaps Never costed it out accurately but others have and the figure of 5 to 6,000 per annum seems to be the 'norm' just for the boat. Lifestyle, heating, moving the boat etc. all have a bearing, what you want is the main thing and whether you can afford it. I am fairly certain that some one on here has done the costings but whether it is on their blog, web site or on here cannot remember We are in trouble then. In fairness it depends what lifestyle you lead. We don't as yet know what lifestyle we are going to lead. We'll be okay I'm sure. Looking forward to the rest of our lives afloat, or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex- Member Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) We're full time live aboard with a 60 x 10/6 wide beam. Diesel heating, Gas cooker. Monthly costs. Licence £72.16 Insurance £26.33 Gas £15.00 Diesel propulsion £10.00 Diesel heating £30.00 averaged, but bought between Oct & March. Maintenance £20.00 This includes odd projects. Blacking £15.00 We are 2 packed so a 5 year stint before removal for assessment. Annual cost. £2261.88 With regard to general living costs, we average £150.00 per week, the vast majority of which is food and drink including wine at least a bottle a day and beer and occasionally a bottle of brandy. This also includes an average one meal out per week and occasional takeaway. Living cost £7800.00 Total annual cost £10061.88 These figures are based on the past year. Edited August 2, 2014 by Julynian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightwatch Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Might just make it then. Phew! Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigredbus4468 Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 We're full time live aboard with a 60 x 10/6 wide beam. Diesel heating, Gas cooker. Monthly costs. Licence £72.16 Insurance £26.33 Gas £15.00 Diesel propulsion £10.00 Diesel heating £30.00 averaged, but bought between Oct & March. Maintenance £20.00 This includes odd projects. Blacking £15.00 We are 2 packed so a 5 year stint before removal for assessment. Annual cost. £2261.88 With regard to general living costs, we average £150.00 per week, the vast majority of which is food and drink including wine at least a bottle a day and beer and occasionally a bottle of brandy. This also includes an average one meal out per week and occasional takeaway. Living cost £7800.00 Total annual cost £10061.88 These figures are based on the past year. We are considering buying and living onboard CCing. I am guessing as there is no mooring fees and council tax you are CCers. Going on your figures my Navy Pension will cover that thankfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex- Member Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 We are considering buying and living onboard CCing. I am guessing as there is no mooring fees and council tax you are CCers. Going on your figures my Navy Pension will cover that thankfully. Correct I would think so. After boat costs we could easily live on under £100 a week if we cut out all the luxuries such as booze & takeaways and meals out. We shop at Lidl and Aldi mostly for the basics, but we buy most of our meat from farm shops & quality butchers which are twice the price so a lot of saving can be made there as well. We generally do 2 to Lidl/Aldi shops per week at £30/£40 quid a time. This is for 2 persons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honey ryder Posted August 3, 2014 Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 I did a tight budget when I lived on the narrowboat, it has changed very little when I moved to a different kind of GRP boat. inland waterways: moorings, they're expensive wherever you are. anywhere from 100pm (inline towpath) to 500pm (marina) After 4 months in a marina at the start, I constant cruised and never looked back. Sadly that option isn't available for the boat I have now with my current fixed place of work. Licence, that's easy, look it up for the length of boat. insurance, mine cost around 300pa boat safety cert: not expensive unless they change the rules and suddenly you find you have to rip out an old fridge or cooker or hot water boiler etc etc. gas, I had expensive 6kg bottles. used one of those each 6-8 weeks. I used the odd bit of gas central heating. I did a moderate amount of cooking. Though, hoenstly, I'm a fan of takeaway and pub food. diesel, on average 1-2 ltrs per day charging batteries and cruising. (I could survive for 4 days without charging batts, then went off cruising which was usually around 8-10 hours over a weekend. which averaged out at 1-2 lts per day. Red diesel on 60/40 split. coal, 2-4 bags per winter, using lots and lots of free wood. LOTS of free wood. an entire roof full of free wood. You're gonna need lots of wood. haul out/drydock for blacking and new anodes every 2-3 years. I dug this link from my blog archive, it has info about this: http://www.boogie-nights.org/2009/07/i-see-dry-dock-and-i-want-to-paint-it.html ongoing stuff: Domestic Battery replacement: they last around 3 years or so. theyre fairly expensive. standard deep cycle lead acid batteries are fine for narrowboating, most have banks of 3 or 4 x 110ah costs vary. I just replaced my 2 x 220ah AGM batteries at 450 each. You'd probably pick up some 110s for much less, usually around 150 each. shop around. engine spares: camberly auto factors, way cheaper than marine specific. unless you have a stupidly antiquated old fashioned kerdunka kerdunka engine, then you derserve everything you get looking for spares. Good luck with that. ;-) lock windlasses: buy a really nice expensive one. that way, you will NEVER ever drop it or leave it behind. bank stakes, these get bent or yanked out and go plop, you might get through some of these. and invest in a decent magnet. you'll never lose anything in the water again. Oh, repairs... <sucks air in through teeth> I had my travelpower and intelligent charger/inverter go bang. That was 800 for a new charger. plus repairs to the travelpower box, my mind has blanked out the cost of this. My Alde boiler sprung a leak. had to get a chap out to some and sort it. My hob top cooker needed replacing as flame failure broke. new chimney (they get damaged or go rusty) paint, narrowboats need painting every now and again. I suggest you invest in a bottle of vactan (14 quid, ebay). it holds off any paint chips and stops rust allowing a little time to get a plan together. Narrowboating, as a constant cruiser is very affordable. Just allow a little contingency in reserve for when, not if, but when things break. I also had the issue of having my car broken into twice. that was expensive. I had two bikes stolen, plus one attempted theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulstoke1975 Posted August 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 I did a tight budget when I lived on the narrowboat, it has changed very little when I moved to a different kind of GRP boat. inland waterways: moorings, they're expensive wherever you are. anywhere from 100pm (inline towpath) to 500pm (marina) After 4 months in a marina at the start, I constant cruised and never looked back. Sadly that option isn't available for the boat I have now with my current fixed place of work. Licence, that's easy, look it up for the length of boat. insurance, mine cost around 300pa boat safety cert: not expensive unless they change the rules and suddenly you find you have to rip out an old fridge or cooker or hot water boiler etc etc. gas, I had expensive 6kg bottles. used one of those each 6-8 weeks. I used the odd bit of gas central heating. I did a moderate amount of cooking. Though, hoenstly, I'm a fan of takeaway and pub food. diesel, on average 1-2 ltrs per day charging batteries and cruising. (I could survive for 4 days without charging batts, then went off cruising which was usually around 8-10 hours over a weekend. which averaged out at 1-2 lts per day. Red diesel on 60/40 split. coal, 2-4 bags per winter, using lots and lots of free wood. LOTS of free wood. an entire roof full of free wood. You're gonna need lots of wood. haul out/drydock for blacking and new anodes every 2-3 years. I dug this link from my blog archive, it has info about this: http://www.boogie-nights.org/2009/07/i-see-dry-dock-and-i-want-to-paint-it.html ongoing stuff: Domestic Battery replacement: they last around 3 years or so. theyre fairly expensive. standard deep cycle lead acid batteries are fine for narrowboating, most have banks of 3 or 4 x 110ah costs vary. I just replaced my 2 x 220ah AGM batteries at 450 each. You'd probably pick up some 110s for much less, usually around 150 each. shop around. engine spares: camberly auto factors, way cheaper than marine specific. unless you have a stupidly antiquated old fashioned kerdunka kerdunka engine, then you derserve everything you get looking for spares. Good luck with that. ;-) lock windlasses: buy a really nice expensive one. that way, you will NEVER ever drop it or leave it behind. bank stakes, these get bent or yanked out and go plop, you might get through some of these. and invest in a decent magnet. you'll never lose anything in the water again. Oh, repairs... <sucks air in through teeth> I had my travelpower and intelligent charger/inverter go bang. That was 800 for a new charger. plus repairs to the travelpower box, my mind has blanked out the cost of this. My Alde boiler sprung a leak. had to get a chap out to some and sort it. My hob top cooker needed replacing as flame failure broke. new chimney (they get damaged or go rusty) paint, narrowboats need painting every now and again. I suggest you invest in a bottle of vactan (14 quid, ebay). it holds off any paint chips and stops rust allowing a little time to get a plan together. Narrowboating, as a constant cruiser is very affordable. Just allow a little contingency in reserve for when, not if, but when things break. I also had the issue of having my car broken into twice. that was expensive. I had two bikes stolen, plus one attempted theft. Some great advice there Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John V Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 She really means LOTS of wood winter fuel by mudlarker2, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Williamson 1955 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 lock windlasses: buy a really nice expensive one. that way, you will NEVER ever drop it or leave it behind. bank stakes, these get bent or yanked out and go plop, you might get through some of these. and invest in a decent magnet. you'll never lose anything in the water again. Buy the cheapest windlass you can find and get on with. Expensive ones don't like living on boats, they prefer the bottom of a lock, and the posh aluminium and bronze ones can't be retrieved when they end up in the water. Plus one for the spare mooring pins and magnet. You will find many places where you need at least four pins to hold you securely to the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0atman Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Just found my Dvd Life on a narrowboat The peak forest and Macclesfield canals a Mike Barret production. That's the way to live the good life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Buy the cheapest windlass you can find and get on with. Expensive ones don't like living on boats, they prefer the bottom of a lock, I've pointed this out before. You never own a windlass, it just happens to stay with you for a while before moving on. Jumping into locks is part of their breeding instinct Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul's Nulife4-2 Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 (edited) I've pointed this out before. You never own a windlass, it just happens to stay with you for a while before moving on. Jumping into locks is part of their breeding instinct Richard It's the Leming influence in them Edited August 11, 2014 by Paul's Nulife4-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco_mark Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 Wow that is cheap ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honey ryder Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Buy the cheapest windlass you can find and get on with. Expensive ones don't like living on boats, they prefer the bottom of a lock, and the posh aluminium and bronze ones can't be retrieved when they end up in the water. Plus one for the spare mooring pins and magnet. You will find many places where you need at least four pins to hold you securely to the bank. Honestly, I had three different windlasses. The grumpy ex had an aluminium one which he loved. I had two metal ones with rotating sleeves on the handles, one long, one short. the long one was great for hard to wind locks and the short one was great for locks with limited space to turn a handle. they all had two different sizes of square taper hole. NEVER ever lost a handle. never even came close to losing a handle. I liked them too much to lose them. though when I sold the boat, i left the steel ones on the boat but kept the aluminium one, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pykebird Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 One thing us boaters seem to be good at, is finding ways to get things cheaper! I was never flush when I lived on land but seem to have got more canny in the last 12 years(some would say tight!). I have just downsized my car so saved on insurance, petrol etc as this was one of the biggest outgoings it has really helped. If I get flush I either pay for something in one hit so its less to find each month or do jobs ahead of schedule if is costs less where I am. For example I dry docked my boat again when I was up north, got welding done and the blacking, again and it cost me under half what it would have done down south. Although I do not go out much or drink or smoke, I do have 3 other mouths to feed and the regular vet bills thanks to the big one! As mentioned aldis and lidlls have been mentioned, I have noticed the other big guys are starting to lower prices, so worth your eyes open. I tend to look out for logs, as and when I can and store on roof till needed. I recycle as much as I an and use things for different purposes. I refuse to cut down on shiny shoes and clothes and have the storage to cope with these. But if I can't get something in the boat, I don't have it! Things get given away on a regular basis. But the boat is now lighter in the water than she was 8 years ago, so I must be doing something right.! I know it costs me less to live on my boat than it would on land, but that is just me. I also know more than half of the money I have earnt last year went on the maintence of her, so hopefully I will be able to but more shoes now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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