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Considering buying a boat

Welshmally

By Welshmally
in Living Afloat

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Welshmally Engager

Welshmally

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That's a fair point: I've not seen a boat for £15k yet, but maybe I haven't been looking in the right places. One obvious problem with a plan like that is finding the moorings, but it would be worth considering.

 

Regarding the advert, once I'd looked through it a couple of times, my thoughts were similar to yours, but was interested in the opinions of those that know

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magictime Experienced

magictime

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That's a fair point: I've not seen a boat for £15k yet, but maybe I haven't been looking in the right places.

 

Try the advanced search function on Apollo Duck. Here, see if this works:

 

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/search.phtml?search=&exact=1&advert_type=1&cat=140&subcat=&cat2=&subcat2=&cat3=&subcat3=&cat4=&subcat4=&fx=GBP&minv=12000&maxv=18000&minlength=762&maxlength=1066.8&maxbeam=213&maxdraft=&minyear=&maxyear=&berths=&fuel=&material=&continent=&search_nation=&search_county=&search_nation2=&search_county2=&search_nation3=&search_county3=&search_nation4=&search_county4=&sr=1&q=1&x=1#result

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DrakeDruid Explorer

DrakeDruid

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Just dipping a toe in the water........

Student rents appear to be accelerating exponentially, and my daughter will be looking for accommodation in a year in Bath.

 

Just wondering about the practicality of owning a boat, looking for residential moorings, and everything that goes with living on the water.

 

Any advice, dire warnings, major pitfalls and difficulties to be considered would be very welcome. It's an idea at the moment and it may be a step too far, but I thought that I would ask anyway!

 

She has a friend who lives on a boat in Oxford and has been bitten by the bug!

 

Thanks in advance for your time

Yes rent a cheap paper mooring in Manchester so your daughter can happily bridge hop in Bath.
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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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Mr Druid is rather clumsily pointing out that the law allows a boater to hang around on the towpath in one area provided they have a home mooring, or more precisely, to quote the legislation:

 

 

"the Board are satisfied that a mooring or other place where the vessel can reasonably be kept and may lawfully be left will be available for the vessel"

 

 

Mr druid is arguing that a home mooring in Manchester which never gets used would meet the above requirement. I have my doubts about that.

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magictime Experienced

magictime

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Sorry, I'm lost here...... clearly technical jargon which I don't understand yet!

 

Don't worry about it. Supposedly some people pay for a cheap mooring up north that they never intend to use - something that is only a home mooring 'on paper' - because they're then exempt from the requirement to 'continuously cruise' that applies to boaters without a home mooring. Hence they are (supposedly) more likely to get away with 'bridge hopping' - moving small distances (e.g. from one bridge to the next) every couple of weeks up and down the same short stretch of canal - which is said to be a problem at that end of the K&A.

 

If you hang around on this forum for long enough, you'll find this stuff being discussed/argued about all the time, but I'd ignore it for now if I were you!

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patty-ann Rising Star

patty-ann

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"Ref paper Mooring" Daft idea for a student IMO..she'll have enough to cope with ref uni without adding on possibility of enforcement officers tapping on door and worry of moving the boat etc. If its a possibility living on boat i think Marina best plan.

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drverbrian Explorer

drverbrian

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If you were considering renting a flat, why not rent a boat. Just so happens my son has one he has rented to friends colleagues etc. Save your daughter the worry of surveys etc. She would need a mooring or on one occasion my son used to move the boat for the guy who was living on it as he did not feel confident. The canal follows the railway along the Avon valley east of Bath so commuting is easy.

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

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That's crossed my mind too......

 

Do a detailed search on here for info on renting a boat - its a minefield and unless done 'legally' is potentially very dangerous.

It is like renting a house / flat - the landlord needs to make sure the flat is 'safe' and comply with legislation - a boat has the same requirements.

 

In a nutshell it needs :

1) A commercial trading licence from C&RT

2) Commercial Landlord insurance

3) A more stringent safety certificate

 

Example If you kill yourself with Carbon monoxide poisoning on your own boat its your own fault because you didn't maintain it correctly, but how do you know that your rental boat has been maintained ?

 

Many ways are found to try and get around the legalities of rental (ie £1 of your rent buy you a £1 share so you are a part owner and therefore the law does not apply)

but at the end of the day I'd rather not risk the life of my family - would you ?

 

If you do rent MAKE SURE you check out the legality of the renter / boat.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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In my view a marina is the only option. If that is not possible then a flat it should be.

 

 

I'd agree with this. Living on a boat in a marina is far easier, and a totally different kettle of fish to living on a towpath mooring or CCing.

 

Renting a boat is pretty difficult to do totally legally. Driverbrian's son (above) is probably breaking a whole raft of regulations given he sees it as simple and easy. None of this matters while everything is going fine, but should CRT find out its being rented they'll demand a commercial licence, BSS, insurance etc or cancel the licence. And if there is a 'gas incident' any absence of a landlord gas safety certificate could land his son with a prison sentence. And if the boat causes an accident whilst the tenant is moving it, or worse, it sinks, the insurance probably won't pay out.

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Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

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Posted (edited)

Mally, I can see why you were attracted by 'Two Hoots' - she has two bedrooms, which would be just about a necessity if two friends, even good friends, were sharing. However, unless I'm mistaken, one of the beds folds out across the corridor at night - which could lead to problems of access to bathroom or kitchen for the other boatmate.

May I suggest that you consider an ex-hire boat? Hire fleets often sell off a couple of their older boats at the end of each season. ABC, a large boat hire company, certainly do. Hire boats, being intended for families or for groups of adults, usually have at least two bedrooms with a modicum of privacy and practicality. They also have the advantage that they will have been regularly maintained, as people paying for an expensive hire boat holiday will not be impressed by an unreliable engine, a recalcitrant heating system or a deceased fridge.

 

The down side is that they will usually cost a bit more to buy than a private boat of comparable size, age and pedigree. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

I wonder, also, about the legal situation of two students sharing a boat. If one of them owns it, then she'll be renting half of it to the other one, or if you own it, they could both be renting - in which case the stringent regulations alluded to above could kick in. I suspect, though I am no expert in this field, that they would have to have joint ownership so that no rent was involved. I apologise if this comment appears negative, but it's something which you should investigate sooner rather than later.

Mike.

Edited by Athy
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Welshmally Engager

Welshmally

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There's plenty to be considered - in some ways it's more complex than buying a house with all the licensing etc! Everything I've learned so far has been very enlightening - having got so many opinions and ideas, I feel that I'm in a much better position to get out and do some footwork......

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Neil2 Veteran

Neil2

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There's plenty to be considered - in some ways it's more complex than buying a house with all the licensing etc! Everything I've learned so far has been very enlightening - having got so many opinions and ideas, I feel that I'm in a much better position to get out and do some footwork......

 

......And footwork is what it's all about. There's a limit to what you can achieve from looking at the internet in fact I sometimes think it is counter productive as the way in which boats are marketed can lead to a lot of wasted time. Don't want to sound too pessimistic but I'm afraid you have to have a high disappointment threshold when you go looking at boats...

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John V Veteran

John V

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I've forgotten why the op is looking for a boat. Cheap temp housing for him, his relative, to rent out to anyone or whether to go enjoy boating.

 

 

 

I get the impression it started as the first and the more he got into it, it became more like the last smile.png

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Ajna Engager

Ajna

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It's him being a troll, Daniel.

He seems to be quite good at it.

People do have cheap home moorings they never use so they can bridge hop in better areas,so I fail to see how he's trolling as it's actually a valid point.

Although as a student new to boating it may take a bit of discipline.

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