Are you a CC'er or do you have a Residential Mooring

[Naughty Cal]

 

See that's what i found and i didn't know if i should be honest and say I plan to liveaboard and hope they don't mind or just keep schtum... I guess in this instance I can be honest?

If you can have a wander round and speak to some of the moorers.

[dmr]

Not only is much of your planned area on the Thames but the rest is on the River Kennet which is difficult/impossible to navigate in winter and not always trivial at other times. The area just West of Reading is also prone to anti-social yoof. If you are not an experienced boater then this is not the best area to be CCing in.

The up side is I suspect CaRT don't patrol the Kennet nearly as hard as they patrol other parts of the K&A.

 

............Dave

[Lmcgrath87]

My brain is frazzled! I can understand why so many people don't get much past the point of decided it might be a good idea. I'm confident we'll find something though!

[Sadelady]

Last winter there was a boat moored unoccupied for 3 months by fobney lock, nobody touched it. Some CRT moorings by the IDR in Reading come up regularly as not an attractive site but probably not as bad as it looks.. Loads of hangers on near the prison also a few non movers near Theale uptowards Sulhamsted. One guys been there for 2 years occasionally displays a winter licence then moves 200m in the summer. The Burghfield moorings had a couple of vacancies last year, again its a leisure club but heh the same guys are waking up every morning. Just passed Tye Mill there are farmers field moorings spaces there last week, dont know the rules but last winter they were full same boats all winter, most living aboard.

 

Best of Luck

[dmr]

Yes but somebody else moored for a few nights and got some trouble! I've never had any trouble going through Fobney but many others have, though I try to go through early.

I think the moorings above Tyle mill on the field are just standard 14 day towpath moorings rather than "farmers field" or has this changed recently? Its a very good spot if you are happy to tie to a tree on a river..

 

............Dave

[MtB]

Firstly you need to decide if you want a genuine, fully legit residential mooring or are happy to be a rule-bender. The former cuts down your options MASSIVELY.

 

Then, decide if you want 'facilities' like car parking, shoreline, water tap by the boat, nice pontoons, shower block etc or are you happy tramping half a mile of muddy towpath to get to your boat?

 

Or if none of the above are you happy CCing, i.e. constantly moving on to the next place?

 

MtB

[Lmcgrath87]

Firstly you need to decide if you want a genuine, fully legit residential mooring or are happy to be a rule-bender. The former cuts down your options MASSIVELY.

 

Then, decide if you want 'facilities' like car parking, shoreline, water tap by the boat, nice pontoons, shower block etc or are you happy tramping half a mile of muddy towpath to get to your boat?

 

Or if none of the above are you happy CCing, i.e. constantly moving on to the next place?

 

MtB

 

I'm happy to bend the rules to be honest, In an ideal world we'd like a residential but it's not a deal breaker. I think to begin with ateast we'd also want somewhere with facilities, and I had budgeted a premium for this sort of thing.

 

Eventually I see us being CC'rs but to start with I think I'd feel happier knowing I was on a marina, or even just a mooring where we could get used to life aboard without the worry of moving too

[Bettie Boo]

You know, I'm really quite surprised there isn't a lot more folks mooring up from Bull's Bridge down to the Gauging lock at Brentford on the river Brent / Grand Union. There are loads of decent spots to moor and it must have good rail links into the city and or Reading. The water is so clear you can see the bottom (except for the spots where garbage collects),

 

Is there something about this area that I've missed?

 

As for the OP - we are still novices, and therefore made sure we were off the river before the rainy season started. After all the problems people suffered last winter / spring, I'd ask how experienced you are and have you looked into how much the river Thames floods and the precautions you would need to take? If your planning on being on the river Thames during the winter months, are you planning on having a tender? Have you thought about your back up plan for a supply of fresh water when the river is on red boards and you can't safely get to the nearest water point? Loads of things to consider & plan for.

 

I'm with Dean on this one, unless your a very experienced narrow-boater, find yourself a marina mooring for the first few months with leccy, water and waste disposal. This will give you time to get your boat sorted out the way you want it, and get familiar with your boat. Then once the chance of floods have past, leave the marina and cc for the nice months.

[Lmcgrath87]

Bettie - thanks so much for your post, we're complete novices, and agree a marina would be best suited to us to start with - have you found it difficult to find somewhere that will let you live there full time for the winter months?

[MtB]

Sounds to me like taking a mooring in T&K would be good to start with. All the facilities you could want. Then you can practice going out and CCing on the Thames and on the Kennet for a day or two or three at a time to get a feel for it. Stuff like where to put the car, getting fuel and water etc change immediately you leave the marina!

 

If you like it out and about, you'll find yourself using the marina berth less and less and eventually you'll might give it up in favour of a cheaper online mooring, or no mooring at all.

 

MtB

P.S. Another good reason for using T&K is the pontoons are all floating, so go up and down with water levels. River flood conditions simply don't affect the moorers living in there AT ALL!

 

MtB

[Lmcgrath87]

Sounds to me like taking a mooring in T&K would be good to start with. All the facilities you could want. Then you can practice going out and CCing on the Thames and on the Kennet for a day or two or three at a time to get a feel for it. Stuff like where to put the car, getting fuel and water etc change immediately you leave the marina!

 

If you like it out and about, you'll find yourself using the marina berth less and less and eventually you'll might give it up in favour of a cheaper online mooring, or no mooring at all.

 

MtB

P.S. Another good reason for using T&K is the pontoons are all floating, so go up and down with water levels. River flood conditions simply don't affect the moorers living in there AT ALL!

 

MtB

 

Have you moored there Mike? Will there be a long waiting list for spaces do you think? and can I be honest about planning to live there? :-)

[MtB]

 

Have you moored there Mike? Will there be a long waiting list for spaces do you think? and can I be honest about planning to live there? :-)

 

Yes I was moored there for five years. Not as a liveaboard though. No waiting list, they are so expensive the place is half empty! They will probably do you a deal if you press hard. But bear in mind they read this board and have probably seen what we are discussing now

 

I don't know what they say if you actually TELL them you are living aboard. They'd probably say "sorry I didn't hear what you just said" no matter how many times you repeat it.

 

 

MtB

[Sabcat]

I've noticed a big change over the last few years in this area. It used to be that marinas were strictly not for liveaboards. If you could "get in" with them you might be allowed but it would have to be secret. Now no one seems to care at all. There's people openly living on boats in a few marinas around the place openly discussing it with a complete stranger in the form of a taxi driver (me).

 

Not sure what it's like in the area that you're in. I wouldn't want to CC and hold down a job if I could at all avoid it. The big disadvantage to my mooring is paying council tax but I could avoid that if I was so inclined. I'm hassle averse when it comes to my home though and a few quid a month to avoid any need to be cagey or look over my shoulder is money well spent.

[Athy]

 

 

 

I don't know what they say if you actually TELL them you are living aboard. They'd probably say "sorry I didn't hear what you just said" no matter how many times you repeat it.

 

 

MtB

Eh? Speak up!

Another boon that comes with mooring in a marina (as we did when we got our first boat) is that there are engineers/ fitters on site for when things go wrong - and believe you me, something will go wrong, even on what appears to be a well-maintained boat.

[Bettie Boo]

Bettie - thanks so much for your post, we're complete novices, and agree a marina would be best suited to us to start with - have you found it difficult to find somewhere that will let you live there full time for the winter months?

 

We moved on-board last February and stayed in Braunston Marina till July, since then we have been proper ccing, and have no plans to go back into a marina for the next year or so at least, and then it will be for blackening & anodes and whatever maintenance we will need to do with the boat out of water. We didn't actually ask if it was ok for us to be living aboard, we had the boat road hauled down from up norf and put back in the water at Braunston, we simply asked if we could have a mooring for a couple of weeks while we had things delivered to the boat, we paid week by week, and then month by month till we were ready to leave. There were a fair amount of other live aboards there as well, but I'm not sure what the "official" policy is. Then again, Braunston is no where near where you want to be.

 

But we are in a different situation then yourselves. Neither of us work off the boat, so we aren't tied down to one location, I sold my car before moving onto the boat so we don't need to bother with getting the car near to where we are moored.

 

However, as novices, it does take awhile to get your head around some of the simple things....battery charging regime, how long you water and waste tanks go for before needing to be filled or emptied, your first engine service, getting the most out of your multi fuel stove etc etc. And then there are the numerous little journeys you take out of the marina to learn how to move your boat, turn it, do locks; again etc ets. All fun & exciting stuff, but I'm happy we were in the marina for those first few months.

 

Good Luck....gotta run..."him at the back" has just informed me he'd like a Chicken & mushroom pie with roasted potatoes for dinner. I need to get cooking

[junior]

My brain is frazzled! I can understand why so many people don't get much past the point of decided it might be a good idea. I'm confident we'll find something though!

Don't be frazzled at all. This forum does a very good job sometimes at making things that are really simple seem bloody confusing.

 

If you want to get your mail delivered to your boat, get a residential mooring.

 

If you don't, (i.e., can get it sent to parents) any sort of mooring will do you.

 

There are a few exceptions to this, but pointing these out now is not really necessary and COULD lead to your head being frazzled.

 

P.s, have a look at High Line Yachting on the Slough Arm of the GU at Iver. It has a good liveaboard community and is reasonably priced for both Residential and leisure moorings. The train station is at one end of the moorings and you could spend your saved mooring fees on commuting to Reading.

[Lmcgrath87]

 

Yes I was moored there for five years. Not as a liveaboard though. No waiting list, they are so expensive the place is half empty! They will probably do you a deal if you press hard. But bear in mind they read this board and have probably seen what we are discussing now

 

I don't know what they say if you actually TELL them you are living aboard. They'd probably say "sorry I didn't hear what you just said" no matter how many times you repeat it.

 

 

MtB

 

*waves* hello marina folk! I was just doing some pricing and it's not far off what I had budgeted for mooring costs... is it cheaper up north? Maybe we need to relocate...

 

Eh? Speak up!

Another boon that comes with mooring in a marina (as we did when we got our first boat) is that there are engineers/ fitters on site for when things go wrong - and believe you me, something will go wrong, even on what appears to be a well-maintained boat.

 

ahh yes hadn't even thought of that!

 

 

We moved on-board last February and stayed in Braunston Marina till July, since then we have been proper ccing, and have no plans to go back into a marina for the next year or so at least, and then it will be for blackening & anodes and whatever maintenance we will need to do with the boat out of water. We didn't actually ask if it was ok for us to be living aboard, we had the boat road hauled down from up norf and put back in the water at Braunston, we simply asked if we could have a mooring for a couple of weeks while we had things delivered to the boat, we paid week by week, and then month by month till we were ready to leave. There were a fair amount of other live aboards there as well, but I'm not sure what the "official" policy is. Then again, Braunston is no where near where you want to be.

 

But we are in a different situation then yourselves. Neither of us work off the boat, so we aren't tied down to one location, I sold my car before moving onto the boat so we don't need to bother with getting the car near to where we are moored.

 

However, as novices, it does take awhile to get your head around some of the simple things....battery charging regime, how long you water and waste tanks go for before needing to be filled or emptied, your first engine service, getting the most out of your multi fuel stove etc etc. And then there are the numerous little journeys you take out of the marina to learn how to move your boat, turn it, do locks; again etc ets. All fun & exciting stuff, but I'm happy we were in the marina for those first few months.

 

Good Luck....gotta run..."him at the back" has just informed me he'd like a Chicken & mushroom pie with roasted potatoes for dinner. I need to get cooking

thanks, thats really helpful. Also, we had chicken and mushroom pie with mash yesterday - was looovely, and the leftover mash has topped a shepherds pie for tonight!

 

Don't be frazzled at all. This forum does a very good job sometimes at making things that are really simple seem bloody confusing.

 

If you want to get your mail delivered to your boat, get a residential mooring.

 

If you don't, (i.e., can get it sent to parents) any sort of mooring will do you.

 

There are a few exceptions to this, but pointing these out now is not really necessary and COULD lead to your head being frazzled.

 

P.s, have a look at High Line Yachting on the Slough Arm of the GU at Iver. It has a good liveaboard community and is reasonably priced for both Residential and leisure moorings. The train station is at one end of the moorings and you could spend your saved mooring fees on commuting to Reading.

 

I don't mind where my mail goes - i have a parent it can go to. Will check out Iver too! I think many moons ago an ex colleague of mine moored there!

[junior]

 

 

 

I don't mind where my mail goes - i have a parent it can go to. Will check out Iver too! I think many moons ago an ex colleague of mine moored there!

Just spotted this on AD, it just happens to be at High Line Iver, and comes with a residential mooring spot there.

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=375350

[Lmcgrath87]

I saw that! Posted about it in my other thread.i am going to go down and take a look at it I think.

[DeanS]

 

Eventually I see us being CC'rs but to start with I think I'd feel happier knowing I was on a marina, or even just a mooring where we could get used to life aboard without the worry of moving too

 

good plan.

[b0atman]

Up t north is cheaper still beer at less than £2 a pint.

[Lmcgrath87]

Up t north is cheaper still beer at less than £2 a pint.

 

£4 here!!

[magnetman]

If you are looking around Henley try SRB moorings (google it)

Steve does summer moorings on a field between Hambleden and Hurley locks. Water and elsan at Hurley. Car parking in a nearby public road (10 min walk) and a decent hourly bus service.

 

It IS just a field with sheep. And some other boaters.

 

Not sure what he charges but iirc its £6 & night and may be less monthly

[Jim Batty]

Ideally we want to be in Reading, but can realistically go anywhere in Reading/Aldermaston/Henley/Bray/Maidenhead/Bourne End etc etc all around the Berkshire/Oxfordshire/Bucks borders really.

 

Not sure if you will be running a vehicle in parallel to your boat, or will be reliant on public transportation. They are two different ways of continuously cruising, and people swear by both. We keep things VERY simple with only our boat (and bicycles).

 

Reading is fairly easy to get to from all of the above and more by rail. If you make reasonable money and (importantly) can handle the travel time involved, you can regularly commute to Reading from Oxford, various points on the Oxford Canal. Oxford - Reading buses run through places like Benson, Dorchester, Wallingford. Upstream, trains run from Goring and Pangbourne; downstream from Shiplake/Wargrave, Henley, Cookham, Maidenhead, Windsor, Staines, etc. There are a number of well-spaced stations along the K&A. If you like the cruising lifestyle, there are lots of options. If not, probably a CRT or marina mooring is your best bet.

 

I once walked out through Caversham to the Thames/Kennet marina to have a look. Because of the weird no-man's land between the main road and the marina, and all the razor wire, I have ever since thought of it as 'Guantanamo Bay'. I guess it could be good if you have wheels and operate that way.

 

Personally, I'd stay off the Thames in winter unless I had a proper serviced mooring. It can turn to flood for a couple of months, and you would really need experience and gumption to stay safe, fully serviced and enjoy it. But people do hang out on the islands above Shiplake and around Sonning though. Hardy folk!

 

Hope it all goes well for you.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Jim Batty

[tangledfooted]

I lived at Springfield Marina on the Lee in East London for 7 years. The place is raking it in with boats selling for £20,000 over market price just to get a mooring. Officially it's a leisure mooring but 80% are live aboard's. If you let slip in the marina office that you live aboard the Marina manager (very dour) say something like "oh no you don't, No one lives on their boat they just stay here a lot" Or "Its nor rent it's mooring fees". Since then I've got a CRT leisure mooring upriver and live on that. Again about 80% of these moorings are live on. CRT as I understand it consider staying on your boat for more than 52weeks per year as living aboard but even then its not in their interests to care one way or another. Without live aboard's the only users would be holiday makers and CRT would be bust.

 

Of course, there is no mail delivery and you need to have an address (friend or family) where you get your mail. Bank account, car insurance mobile bill and of course mooring fees and boat licence etc But otherwise its a breeze.