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Continuous Cruising Dilemma


Chris80085

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Hi All,


I know this is a question that has come up many times before, here and elsewhere, but I am hoping that if I am unambiguous about my plans on how to approach this ambiguous topic I might get some idea of where I stand.


How far do I have to travel to be accepted by CRT as a Continuous Cruiser??


I need to always moor within a reasonable commute to and from the west side of the county town of Stafford. This is conveniently situated between the Trent and Mersey, Staffs and Worcester and Shropshire Union Canals. So the idea is to moor for 13 days at each of the following locations and then pay for a 'Winter Mooring' either at Norbury, Wheaton Aston or Stone.


Stone -> Weston -> Great Haywood -> Stafford -> Penkridge -----> Little Onn -> Gnosall -> Norbury..... then return to Stone.


Are these all 'Reasonable' distances? Is this do-able without raising the ire of the CC police do you think?


Thanks for any advice,


Chris.


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How far do I have to travel to be accepted by CRT as a Continuous Cruiser??

I need to always moor within a reasonable commute to and from the west side of the county town of Stafford.

 

 

As SS points out, needing to stay in a specific area for reasons of employment instantly disqualifies you from qualifying as a continuous cruiser, according to CRT.

 

Whether or not there are moorings in your chosen area makes no difference.

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Just look for places where there are several hundred yards of boats moored up on the offside and ask somebody if there are any vacancies. Somebody else may have more specific local info. You might get away with your proposed cruising pattern though, the thing is nobody really knows as CRT deliberately avoid mentioning specific distances or patterns and seem to go more for a vague approach of "the spirit of the thing".

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The only way to get an answer is to ask C&RT.

 

Ask the question 'in writing' and get the answer in writing. There have been instances where boaters have been told one thing but it has been over-ruled by someone else at a later date.

 

Contact your local Enforcement Officer - if you satisfy him/her then you are 'safe' ( its them that'll take enforcement action against you if they feel you are in the wrong)

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CC'ing is not really defined by distance, and so any distance threshold is just a convenient measure that CaRT might use to decide if they need to watch you more closely, and this distance threshold can change from year to year.

Read this forum, look at facebook, study the stuff that CaRT say, and make your own judgement?

Ask yourself...

Do I want a static boat and so will move just enough to keep out of trouble? or do I really want a nomadic lifestyle but work limits me a bit?

I reckon if you really stick to your plan then you will have no trouble at all.

But, are you doing a full time job and planning to move the boat once every two weeks at the weekend, (including getting water, emptying the poo container (!!) etc?. Its easy to slip. Bad weather, feeling unwell, family comitments etc can easily make you miss a weekend or two, then its the slippery slope.

Its also easy to return to your favourite spots a bit too often, and skip the ones you like less, and again its only a matter of time before you are on the radar!

 

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

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CC'ing is not really defined by distance, and so any distance threshold is just a convenient measure that CaRT might use to decide if they need to watch you more closely, and this distance threshold can change from year to year.

Read this forum, look at facebook, study the stuff that CaRT say, and make your own judgement?

Ask yourself...

Do I want a static boat and so will move just enough to keep out of trouble? or do I really want a nomadic lifestyle but work limits me a bit?

I reckon if you really stick to your plan then you will have no trouble at all.

But, are you doing a full time job and planning to move the boat once every two weeks at the weekend, (including getting water, emptying the poo container (!!) etc?. Its easy to slip. Bad weather, feeling unwell, family comitments etc can easily make you miss a weekend or two, then its the slippery slope.

Its also easy to return to your favourite spots a bit too often, and skip the ones you like less, and again its only a matter of time before you are on the radar!

 

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

^^^^this^^^^^

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CC'ing is not really defined by distance, and so any distance threshold is just a convenient measure that CaRT might use to decide if they need to watch you more closely, and this distance threshold can change from year to year.

Read this forum, look at facebook, study the stuff that CaRT say, and make your own judgement?

Ask yourself...

Do I want a static boat and so will move just enough to keep out of trouble? or do I really want a nomadic lifestyle but work limits me a bit?

I reckon if you really stick to your plan then you will have no trouble at all.

But, are you doing a full time job and planning to move the boat once every two weeks at the weekend, (including getting water, emptying the poo container (!!) etc?. Its easy to slip. Bad weather, feeling unwell, family comitments etc can easily make you miss a weekend or two, then its the slippery slope.

Its also easy to return to your favourite spots a bit too often, and skip the ones you like less, and again its only a matter of time before you are on the radar!

 

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

 

 

Dave speaks a lot of wisdom.

 

Equally, even once you are on the Slippery Slope and complaining loudly on here about how UNFAIR it all is, that will have taken a couple of years to come to pass...

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As SS points out, needing to stay in a specific area for reasons of employment instantly disqualifies you from qualifying as a continuous cruiser, according to CRT.

 

Whether or not there are moorings in your chosen area makes no difference.

 

You have just made that up Mike!

 

What CRT actually say in the Guidance For Boaters Without A Home Mooring is.....

 

Unacceptable reasons for staying longer than 14 days in a neighbourhood or locality are a need to stay within commuting distance of a place of work or of study (e.g. a school or college).

 

 

I don't have a degree in English, but I can see these two statements are not saying the same thing at all!

 

(But I suspect you knew that!)

 

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Hi All,

I know this is a question that has come up many times before, here and elsewhere, but I am hoping that if I am unambiguous about my plans on how to approach this ambiguous topic I might get some idea of where I stand.

How far do I have to travel to be accepted by CRT as a Continuous Cruiser??

I need to always moor within a reasonable commute to and from the west side of the county town of Stafford. This is conveniently situated between the Trent and Mersey, Staffs and Worcester and Shropshire Union Canals. So the idea is to moor for 13 days at each of the following locations and then pay for a 'Winter Mooring' either at Norbury, Wheaton Aston or Stone.

Stone -> Weston -> Great Haywood -> Stafford -> Penkridge -----> Little Onn -> Gnosall -> Norbury..... then return to Stone.

Are these all 'Reasonable' distances? Is this do-able without raising the ire of the CC police do you think?

Thanks for any advice,

Chris.

 

 

It is inadvisable to indicate that any journeys you undertake are for any reason other than the enjoyment of moving your boat and travelling to different places on the canal.

BW (now C&RT) have, in the past, succeeded in convincing a County Court Judge that simply moving a boat for the sole purpose of complying with the requirements of the 1995 BW Act is in fact not using the boat 'bona fide for navigation' because the purpose of the boat movement is for no other reason than attempting to comply with the 1995 Act, rather than being boating for it's own sake. Utterly ridiculous, but nevertheless par for the course in C&RT world.

Your best course of action is to go ahead with your intentions and wait and see what happens. If you do move around as you have said you intend to, then you will certainly not be contravening any Laws that have been approved by Parliament, but you may well be breaking some of the 'made up as and when it suits us' rules that C&RT are trying to frighten boaters with.

Above all, under no circumstances should you seek C&RT approval for your intended schedule of boating and stops.

If you do, then C&RT's Enforcement Gang will immediately have you marked down as a potential easy target for their intimidation tactics and threats.

Edited by Tony Dunkley
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I go along with what Dave (dmr) says. I wouldn't think the cruising pattern would cause a problem, but it's whether you can stick to it every other weekend. We've cc'd while I've been working full time, but my husband was on the boat full time so it wasn't difficult. With us now both working winters we choose to take a mooring for the duration, otherwise boating becomes a chore and that's something I never anticipated happening.

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Every 2 weeks, move 5-10miles...keep a log....the problem will arise when you are actually moving from water point to water point...because after 2 weeks, you'll need a refill.....and enforcement seems to look at water point areas...

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Every 2 weeks, move 5-10miles...keep a log....the problem will arise when you are actually moving from water point to water point...because after 2 weeks, you'll need a refill.....and enforcement seems to look at water point areas...

We've overcome this by driving to water points and filling up containers. Only works if you're cruising with a car of course.

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don't feed the troll..

 

 

i can't believe that you have all just rolled over...

 

 

minimum distance to move?? really??

 

 

Next you'll be limited to stay on visitor moorings. Or limited to when you can use a water point..

 

 

I did wonder if I was the only one who had twigged cheers.gif

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Just look for places where there are several hundred yards of boats moored up on the offside and ask somebody if there are any vacancies. Somebody else may have more specific local info. You might get away with your proposed cruising pattern though, the thing is nobody really knows as CRT deliberately avoid mentioning specific distances or patterns and seem to go more for a vague approach of "the spirit of the thing".

 

Given that the legislation refers to "Bone fide navigation" I would suggest that CRT are taking the correct approach.

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Although distance isn't specified in the act CRT scored a bit of an own goal earlier in the year. The 'spirit' of things appears to be the main measure but this, or words to this effect, enable a boater to plan things a little: "A boater who cruises a range of less than 15 to 20 miles in a licence period is unlikely to be complying". This doesn't state that cruising beyond this range but it is heavily implied. I'd suggest it's a fair bet that a new 'continuous cruiser' who follows this advice is unlikely to come onto their 'radar'. Although a licence period is usually 12 months the period of 'observation is 10, that's when the next licence is considered.

 

So, if you cruise a range of more than 20 miles, in a fairly progressive manner, during the first 10 months of your licence period, I think you'd have a fair chance of being OK with your chosen lifestyle.

 

Good luck.

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Thanks for all of the info and advice.

 

A few asked about my work.. I work, on average, 2-3 days a week, all over the UK. My partner will not be working by the time we move aboard. We are toying with the idea of home schooling our daughter but, for now, plan to leave her in the school she is at.

 

Finding time to move along shouldn't be an issue. And of course school holidays will be ideal to get out of the S&W T&M SU 'Triangle' and explore a bit further afield. ?

 

12 Weeks ish for each term, moving slowly from Stone to Norbury. Then each full term to explore. Ending at Stone to start again... else boat schooling it is.☺

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I think you can safely ignore comments like this, for starters:

 

needing to stay in a specific area for reasons of employment instantly disqualifies you from qualifying as a continuous cruiser, according to CRT.

 

If you were talking about staying in a specific town, or on a specific 5- or 10-mile stretch of canal (say), it would be a different matter. But you're not. You're talking about cruising within a 46-mile range on three different canals. The fact that those 46 miles of canal are all within the same geographical "area" is neither here nor there, as far as I can see, when the CRT come to consider the distance you've cruised.

 

As you know, there's no "official" distance you need to cover as a CCer, but as Ricco1 says, the mood music from the CRT seems to suggest that a cruising range of less than 20 miles or so is likely to put you on the enforcement radar. There's no guarantee, but since your cruising range is more than double that, I'd have thought you're on pretty safe ground.

 

Having said that, it would probably be advisable and also jolly good fun to extend your range with one or more longer cruises each year when holidays allow.

 

Here's an idea for you: how about spending 16 weeks cruising from Stone to Norbury in the pattern you describe, then using a week's holiday to cruise the remainder of the Four Counties ring back to Stone via Nantwich, Middlewich etc., then doing the slow Stone to Norbury cruise again? You'd then have gone pretty much all 8 months between winter moorings without ever being logged in the same place twice in a four-month period. Compare that to an out-and-back cruising pattern that would see you spending 4 weeks in Weston in one 6-week period and 4 weeks in Gnosall in another, which I imagine is the sort of thing that might attract the CRT's attention.

 

In any case, enforcement worries or no enforcement worries, if you've got the boat it surely makes sense to spend a week here and there doing the rest of the Four Counties, visiting Llangollen or Chester, etc. People pay thousands to have these experiences in a hire boat!


Edited to add: Sorry Chris, I somehow missed that last post of yours. Sounds like you plan on doing plenty of cruising!

Edited by magictime
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12 Weeks ish for each term, moving slowly from Stone to Norbury. Then each full term to explore. Ending at Stone to start again...

 

Yep, that sounds like a plan. Sounds like a very nice life, in fact, and I really can't imagine it leading to enforcement hassles.

 

You could do an awful lot of exploring in a six-week summer holiday, and there are plenty of local cruises you could do in a half-term week too: the upper Four Counties, the Caldon, Chester, Llangollen, the Macc and Peak Forest... *sigh*... makes me all wistful just thinking about it! (We're without a boat for the next few years.)

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Hi All,

I know this is a question that has come up many times before, here and elsewhere, but I am hoping that if I am unambiguous about my plans on how to approach this ambiguous topic I might get some idea of where I stand.

How far do I have to travel to be accepted by CRT as a Continuous Cruiser??

I need to always moor within a reasonable commute to and from the west side of the county town of Stafford. This is conveniently situated between the Trent and Mersey, Staffs and Worcester and Shropshire Union Canals. So the idea is to moor for 13 days at each of the following locations and then pay for a 'Winter Mooring' either at Norbury, Wheaton Aston or Stone.

Stone -> Weston -> Great Haywood -> Stafford -> Penkridge -----> Little Onn -> Gnosall -> Norbury..... then return to Stone.

Are these all 'Reasonable' distances? Is this do-able without raising the ire of the CC police do you think?

Thanks for any advice,

Chris.

There's loads of other places to stop on route Acton Trussell, Gayley Calf Heath, Brewood, Wheaton Aston, Gnosall. To name just a few. Also worth remembering a lot of moorings are 48hrs. You should t need a winter mooring just adjust your cruising pattern around stoppages.
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