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Living aboard and work/life balance


zubeye

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My therapist isn't answering his or her phone, so thought I'd throw this out here .

 

Is canal boating the graveyard of ambition?

 

I am in my mid-30s and run an internet business, have flexible working hours. I'm an introvert and enjoy solitude. So in some ways this job and boating suits me quite well. I can check up on email as the lock is filling up, and cruise in and out of reception areas without much hassle.

 

But before I lived on the boat, I felt a pressure to, you know, get a real office job, socialise, do more productive things and act busy in big dirty cities. OR at least be more ambitious expanding the business and that kind of thing .Now on a boat I don't feel any pressure at all. However I'm starting to worry a little that boating suits me a little toooo much. It's super pleasurable sure. But I feel so lazy.

 

I have very little doubt that I will spend my retirement on the cut. But first, isn't it selfish and antisocial to live such an isolated life?

Edited by zubeye
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I can check up on email as the lock is filling up, ................

 

Filling and emptying locks is the most dangerous time and location of the canals - you should be focussing 100% on what your boat is doing - is it 'hooked up' on a gate ?, is it coming down on the cill ? etc etc.

 

Read your emails when you are moored up.

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I dunno, taking it slow it's pretty hard to mess up a lock. open one paddle, make sure the boat is in the middle. Chill! The chances of something bad happening in the 10 minutes it takes the lock to fill or empty are pretty slim no? I can see out the window if the boat moves a lot

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I dunno, taking it slow it's pretty hard to mess up a lock. open one paddle, make sure the boat is in the middle. Chill! The chances of something bad happening in the 10 minutes it takes the lock to fill or empty are pretty slim no? I can see out the window if the boat moves a lot

Who is in control of the boat while you are inside checking emails?

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It wasn't meant to be taken literally. I just meant that it is an undemanding way to pass the time.

 

I'm a newbie, however I did about 200 locks this summer. And never had a problem working a lock solo.

 

If you take a lock slowly, there is only a small window of risk, that lasts a few seconds, at the start, then things are very often quite calm and the boat doesn't move much. Mostly. In the unlikely event of the boat moving a lot, I can just throttle up and recenter the boat in the lock. I can see this happen instantly out of the window! I don't count hitting the sides. Boats are made for that. At the end of summer, a little bit of black on the scrapes and noone is the wiser.

 

Are you saying that going through a lock is a dangerous and risky thing to do! I can't imagine a safer activity than canal boating.

Edited by zubeye
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I think you are exaggerating the risks. A five year old could do it.

 

Are you for real?

I suggest you look through this forum of the number of reports of boats cilled and sunk in locks, the number of boats caught on things on the sides of locks, and generally the number of incidents that do occur in locks.

As has been said they are the one area that has the most potential for serious problems and where you should therefore be paying most attention, not reading emails.

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I have no real experience, and so yeah I might be crazy, but my gut feeling is my method would result in less incidents than jumping about in a rush with ropes or whatever the advised solo procedure is. I am in a better position to control the boat with the engine foward and backwards, than standing on the side with a rope.

 

I am talking about narrow locks of course.

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Ignoring the bit about e-mails and locking, because what I want to say about that would get me banned for life.

 

As long as you have enough to live on are leading the life you want then carry on.

 

I will say something, a man jumped off a ten story building and was heard to say, as he passed each floor, "OK so far"

 

He never said a word when he reached the ground.


Ropes in a narrow lock ????

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zubeye, on 19 Sept 2014 - 10:10 PM, said:

. I am in a better position to control the boat with the engine foward and backwards, reading my emails, than standing on the side with a rope. If the front button gets caught up on the gate, I can engage neutral, jump off the boat and take a leisurely stroll to the gates and close/open the paddle as necessary, where is the problem ?

 

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Back to the OT,

I'm in a similar position to you Zubeye but had the boat 8 years. I divide my time between fettling, the allotment and part time IT work. Effectively semi retired and not even 40 years old. I feckin love it.

 

Nb. I like to put my laptop on the back hatch so I can do programming while moving the boat round the cut. I'm at my most productive in locks ;-)

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Blimey that one got knocked off course very quickly - I get the feeling the OP was just waxing lyrically and not saying it was normal practice to sit in the boat while the lock was filling up!

 

It sounds like you have a life / work balance that suits you perfectly zubeye. I wouldn't worry about being selfish or antisocial, as long as your actions have no negative effect on others and you're happy then everything's good.

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Assuming that you have some digital business, just contemplate the loss of the main computer, One NEVER backs up everything, so anything on the PC when it sinks is lost - could be your business reputation lost.

 

Im guessing you don't work in IT in 2014.

Sorry, bit rude. Yeah everything is cloud based now. I don't have any local files at all. Even Excel is online now.

Carry on then, you obviously know a lot more about than many on here.

 

Yeah sorry, I don't really know what I'm doing, and I think this is a wonderful resource and I've always had really useful replies to my questions.

 

It's just that sometimes the tone can be very negative, pessimistic, risk adverse, unencouraging. To be honest, the lock thing was meant to be taken figuratively and I was annoyed that it was derailed so quick. As so often happens on here for some reason. The established members are very quick to refigure a thread. Which is fine, but in this case it seemed a little weird.

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The issue isn't that you might (but very unlikely) sink the boat if not concentrating, it's that if you do sink the boat the hazard is total loss.

 

Basically a sunken boat returns to being a hull with some wreckage in it, get a skip or two and start again. all your computers will be killed, all your on board drives will be gone most of your data will be gone.

 

Add to that getting sunk in a lock will get the navigation authority (usually CaRT) into immediate action to clear you out of the way, costing you(r insurers) much money very quickly.

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The issue isn't that you might (but very unlikely) sink the boat if not concentrating, it's that if you do sink the boat the hazard is total loss.

 

Basically a sunken boat returns to being a hull with some wreckage in it, get a skip or two and start again. all your computers will be killed, all your on board drives will be gone most of your data will be gone.

 

Add to that getting sunk in a lock will get the navigation authority (usually CaRT) into immediate action to clear you out of the way, costing you(r insurers) much money very quickly.

 

Seriously, I sincerely apologise. I didn't realise it was such a risky thing to do. I thought maybe it happened every few years or something. I didn't know it was an actual thing.

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zubeye, on 19 Sept 2014 - 10:25 PM, said:

 

 

. To be honest, the lock thing was meant to be taken figuratively and I was annoyed that it was derailed so quick.

 

Maybe the misunderstanding was compounded by your post about "your method"

 

....but my gut feeling is my method would result in less incidents than jumping about in a rush with ropes or whatever the advised solo procedure is. I am in a better position to control the boat with the engine foward and backwards, than standing on the side with a rope.

 

Are we supposed to form an opinion about the questioner's motives and intentions and make assumptions as to what was really meant ?, or should the replies be provided on the information given ?

 

Edit - re your post #20

 

Yes it is a real issue and several boats are lost each year in locks, not only causing loss of the boat involved but, causing untold chaos for boats trapped 'on the wrong side' of the locks, trying to get home, or back to their hire base. whilst (in some cases it can take several days) the boat is recovered.

 

A newby may read your post and think thats a good idea and end up in 'a mess'.

 

We are risk-averse, (when it comes to taking unecessary risks), which is why you were 'picked-up' so quickly on a potentially dangerous statement.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Maybe the misunderstanding was compounded by your post about "your method"

 

....but my gut feeling is my method would result in less incidents than jumping about in a rush with ropes or whatever the advised solo procedure is. I am in a better position to control the boat with the engine foward and backwards, than standing on the side with a rope.

 

Are we supposed to form an opinion about the questioner's motives and intentions and make assumptions as to what was really meant ?, or should the replies be provided on the information given ?

 

Well the title of the thread should clear things up

Okay, emails aside, genuine question. Is it very bad practice to stay on the boat when going solo as the lock fills/empties, if one is alert?

and if someone can clear up the 'boating vs ambition' issue in one sentence, that would be great too.

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Just an example - a gongozeler (spelling ?) leans over to watch you boat go down - they fall in, you are controlling the paddle, you can drop the paddle to stop them getting sucked down - or

 

You are on your boat, you can do nothing, drowned gongozeler

 

 

Edit to add.

 

OK - end of Rant - enjoy your boating, live long and prosper.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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