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What's it really like to liveaboard?


Lmcgrath87

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I hired a skip for the day we moved and everything that went in it was given the hammer treatment by Chris. She didn't want anyone coming back and having what the didn't want to pay for (and we were cheap)

We did get the same people coming back each week asking the price of various things, to which we always replied "the same as last week"

Phil

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Why would you keep the sofa? It isn't a very practical piece of boat furniture. For instance, they often don't fit under the gunwhale, so you lose 4" of cabin width, they are quite wide anyway, so that's another 6-8" of cabin width gone, and it makes two people sit and face the wall with a narrow corridor in front of them

 

A pair of chairs or some built in furniture is much more versatile

 

Richard

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Several moves am still decluttering, i found it very disheartening car booting as people offer pence for items...if I thought charity shop could benefit refused to sell at insulting prices.

I have some stuff on boat not really suitable...sentimental really...momentos of dad and mum and a life I no longer live, guess in time that stuff will go.

The rest in boxes in house I'm renovating but slowly getting rid of..its been in boxes for so long I haven't needed it so why keep?

i'll end up with house and minimal contents..still hopefully will be able to rent out then well if ever complete renovating.

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Yes Patty-Ann sometimes the offers are insulting...often used to say to them I'd rather put a hammer through it than sell at that price.....or the other one....so and so has got one just like that and it's cheaper... the answer has got to be "go and buy his then".

 

My wife had to get rid of quite a few evening dresses some expensive others mega expensive (Work wear for her) We decided that, that they should go to a charity shop (making blooming sure that the head office knew the value)

I know she found it very hard to part with some of them

 

I found it no problem with my evening suits (also work gear) as they were always purchased from charity shops (I resented paying mega bucks for "work" gear)

I reckon that if I ever need one again I'll just head for Oxfam (in the nearest wealthy area of course)

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As you can see living on a boat is so great most people spend all their time reading?

 

Just got back on the forum and read your post. Not sure as to the question as you've placed a question mark at the end of your sentence. I see that you don't show the name of your boat on your avatar thingy. Do you actually live on a boat?

 

In my mind the whole idea of living on a boat is to slow down and relax and the most relaxing thing, apart from sleeping, is to read.

 

I apologise if I sense an undertone of sarcasm or derision in your post.

Edited by Daiboy
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You don't even need to buy a reader to borrow ebooks from libraries usually - i just had to download an app onto my phone/iPad and read them on those. Only thing I find annoying about my library's selection of ebooks is that it will have something likes numbers 1,2,4,6,7 and 9 of a series of 10!

 

That IS one of the drawbacks. If you are able to join more than one library, as I have done, then you MIGHT find the other missing book there. Other than that , Amazon might have it for the Kindle, but of course you will have to pay for that book. Anyway, as I'm sure you will agree, it's a far better way to read than having the actual book on board as they take up soooo much space.

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Humm I looked on my local library site but the books weren't really what I was after, hopefully when we move I can get registered with a new library and take advantage of this!

 

 

A question about buying a boat - is there a time frame from when you've found one to ownership? Do survey's take long to book?

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it's a far better way to read than having the actual book on board as they take up soooo much space.

 

but I like the look of a bookshelf cluttered with well thumbed books that have become old friends.

I like the feel and the heft of a book when I'm curled up in my chair with a good read

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but I like the look of a bookshelf cluttered with well thumbed books that have become old friends.

I like the feel and the heft of a book when I'm curled up in my chair with a good read

 

I agree - i love reading a proper book, and look at my collection of well read novels as some amazing adventures I've been on.

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I know this will vary for absolutely everyone, but just so I can gain a little insight ( And I'm generally quite a nosey person..) What's day to day life like on a boat?

 

Do you have pets? No

 

How many of you live on your boat ? It's just me on my boat

 

Is there anything you miss about 'bricks and mortar' A postal address would be nice sometimes, apart from that nothing.

 

Did you take any courses before embarking on this lifestyle No, I wasn't aware there were any liveaboard courses?

 

If you could impart only one piece of information to someone about to buy their first boat what would it be - (aside from get a survey, test run living on a boat by going on a holiday on one for a few weeks) Listen to others and then make your own mistakes.

 

Will there be space for me to keep my beloved Kenwood Chef or will i need to learn to knead bread by hand and use my arm muscles to mix my cake batters? Unless you have shore power, it's not so much the space that you'll need to think about, it's the power to run it.

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A question about buying a boat - is there a time frame from when you've found one to ownership? Do survey's take long to book?

 

 

The time frame is totally within your control. Whenever you feel ready to hand over the carrier bag of cash, bank draft, or whatever method of payment the seller accepts, you get the boat!

 

Surveys are usually dependent on when/where/how the boat gets docked. Boatyards can need anything from a few hours to a few weeks' notice. As can surveyors. You just have to start making the phone calls and find out once there is a boat you feel is worth shelling out on getting surveyed.

 

OR, just take a chance and buy it with no survey. Then you get it immediately :)

 

MtB

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The time frame is totally within your control. Whenever you feel ready to hand over the carrier bag of cash, bank draft, or whatever method of payment the seller accepts, you get the boat!

 

Surveys are usually dependent on when/where/how the boat gets docked. Boatyards can need anything from a few hours to a few weeks' notice. As can surveyors. You just have to start making the phone calls and find out once there is a boat you feel is worth shelling out on getting surveyed.

 

OR, just take a chance and buy it with no survey. Then you get it immediately smile.png

 

MtB

 

 

Now, having been on building surveys/homebuyers and read/edited more than probably 1000 I know they are chock full of caveats and other bum covering comments and general vague recommendations like 'will require ongoing maintenance' I would be reluctant to ever really get one done one a property... is this the same with boats? As a newbie I appreciate going out with a surveyor to look at a boat would be highly beneficial from a learning point of view. But what can a surveyor offer me that my marine engineer friend can't?

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Lmcgrath87, on 25 Sept 2014 - 09:50 AM, said:

 

 

Now, having been on building surveys/homebuyers and read/edited more than probably 1000 I know they are chock full of caveats and other bum covering comments and general vague recommendations like 'will require ongoing maintenance' I would be reluctant to ever really get one done one a property... is this the same with boats? As a newbie I appreciate going out with a surveyor to look at a boat would be highly beneficial from a learning point of view. But what can a surveyor offer me that my marine engineer friend can't?

 

Not a lot

 

Have you read this thread ?

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=70285&hl=

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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But what can a surveyor offer me that my marine engineer friend can't?

 

No idea - what does your marine engineer friend know about canal boats?

 

I'm getting highly pissed off with threads knocking surveyors

 

Richard

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No idea - what does your marine engineer friend know about canal boats?

 

I'm getting highly pissed off with threads knocking surveyors

 

Richard

I'm not knocking them, I just know the limitations there are with residential surveys and personally don't feel these are needed as much as people think they are, and am curious to know if the same is true with boats.

 

especially as people don't realise that residential surveyors don't test services, won't move furniture, pull up carpets etc, so alot of the property goes 'unsurveyed'

Edited by Lmcgrath87
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I'm getting highly pissed off with threads knocking surveyors

 

Richard

 

The problem is that the industry is unregulated - anyone can claim to be a surveyor.

 

Whilst there are so many clauses and so much small print and 'bum covering' which means that when you do try to take them to court you are told that you havn't a chance there is going to be very negative views and experiences of surveyors.

 

Its a bit like 'back street car salemen'.

 

There are people who have had a positive experience of surveyors

There are people who have had negative experiences of surveyors

There ar people who have no experience of surveyors.

 

People have posted their experiences - both good and bad, let people decide if they want to use a surveyor or not

 

Are you sugesting that the 'nightmares' should not be told, and that everything is fluffy and rosy in the garden ?

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I'm suggesting that nigh on 100% of transactions with surveyors are positive and useful to the client. I'm also suggesting that nigh on 100% of the 'nightmares' get onto the forum, gain legs and become The Truth

 

Richard

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I'm not knocking them, I just know the limitations there are with residential surveys and personally don't feel these are needed as much as people think they are, and am curious to know if the same is true with boats.

 

especially as people don't realise that residential surveyors don't test services, won't move furniture, pull up carpets etc, so alot of the property goes 'unsurveyed'

 

I don't know how to answer your question re: your friend.

 

We have had our boat surveyed twice. When we bought the boat we spent time with the surveyor who pointed out good and bad features of the boat and suggested practical ways for us to continue her maintenance. It was light-years away from Chop's experience in his survey thread and as brand new boat owners we found it worth every penny.

 

The second time was when we were called up by a boatyard who were blacking the boat and were concerned about the hull chine. The surveyor we employed did a hull survey, recommended a simple solution to the chine wear problem and found different areas that needed welding, including one of the problems that Chop had. In this case, he set our minds at rest and saved us from having a serious problem in the future. I would say that you would need to have seen a lot of hulls to be aware of where issues might be.

 

Richard

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I don't know how to answer your question re: your friend.

 

We have had our boat surveyed twice. When we bought the boat we spent time with the surveyor who pointed out good and bad features of the boat and suggested practical ways for us to continue her maintenance. It was light-years away from Chop's experience in his survey thread and as brand new boat owners we found it worth every penny.

 

The second time was when we were called up by a boatyard who were blacking the boat and were concerned about the hull chine. The surveyor we employed did a hull survey, recommended a simple solution to the chine wear problem and found different areas that needed welding, including one of the problems that Chop had. In this case, he set our minds at rest and saved us from having a serious problem in the future. I would say that you would need to have seen a lot of hulls to be aware of where issues might be.

 

Richard

 

Similar to my experiences except I had the surveyor involved because of the age of the boat and insurance. An experienced surveyor, an experienced boat builder, a couple of cups of tea and a few fags later and the solutions to the problems uncovered were on the table. The work was done and I'm a happy boat owner.

 

A couple of hours spent with a surveyor going over a boat can you teach you a lot, not least whether you want to buy it and if you do, what you're up against in terms of future maintenance.

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As an owner of an elderly boat I am required to have regular surveys for my insurance.

When I have these surveys I always go round with the surveyor, apart from anything I want to know anything I have missed. As well, talking to the surveyor about a problem, often suggests ways to deal with it other than those you have thought about.

When I bought my humber barge I didn't get a survey but spent a day with a hammer. After the barge was bought and craned out I had a ultrasonic survey to check my results.....this confirmed my estimate of area requiring re-plate.......

As it happened we were both wrong as there were two large areas that neither of us spotted. I can forgive my mistake but I was disappointed that the surveyor didn't find one of them ( another surveyor later put it down to laziness, only checking the bit that was easy to reach, but only verbally of course)

the other problem was unusual.

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I don't know how to answer your question re: your friend.

 

We have had our boat surveyed twice. When we bought the boat we spent time with the surveyor who pointed out good and bad features of the boat and suggested practical ways for us to continue her maintenance. It was light-years away from Chop's experience in his survey thread and as brand new boat owners we found it worth every penny.

 

The second time was when we were called up by a boatyard who were blacking the boat and were concerned about the hull chine. The surveyor we employed did a hull survey, recommended a simple solution to the chine wear problem and found different areas that needed welding, including one of the problems that Chop had. In this case, he set our minds at rest and saved us from having a serious problem in the future. I would say that you would need to have seen a lot of hulls to be aware of where issues might be.

 

Richard

 

Thanks for your comments, and as a newbie boat owner I probably (90%) will go for a survey, It's just I see day in day out issues missed by residential surveyors, or people disgruntled because they don't actually provide them with anything they didn't already know. (although, you can't really attend a survey with a residential surveyor, so the fact it's acceptable go along for a boat one is an enormous bonus from a learning point of view)

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