Cost of living on a boat

[dawie]

Good day

we are a family of 4(2 daughters aged 6 and12) and decided a year ago to drastically change our lifes for a few years.We got rid of our stuff,put a tenant in our house and started living our lifes.We have been exploring south africa (our home country) the last year on a budget i should add, and had a blast.

We have now been contemplating purchasing a river boat(max 30000.00 euros) to tour Netherland and France.

The obvious question is running cost like docking fees ,diesel,insurance .The South African rand is very weak to the euro and i do not see that to change in the future so now is a good enough time as any.

any advice or just a cost indication will be highly appreciated.

Dawie Botha

Tzaneen

South Africa

[mrsmelly]

Good day

we are a family of 4(2 daughters aged 6 and12) and decided a year ago to drastically change our lifes for a few years.We got rid of our stuff,put a tenant in our house and started living our lifes.We have been exploring south africa (our home country) the last year on a budget i should add, and had a blast.

We have now been contemplating purchasing a river boat(max 30000.00 euros) to tour Netherland and France.

The obvious question is running cost like docking fees ,diesel,insurance .The South African rand is very weak to the euro and i do not see that to change in the future so now is a good enough time as any.

any advice or just a cost indication will be highly appreciated.

Dawie Botha

Tzaneen

South Africa

 

Hi and welcome.

 

I wouldnt have a clue re your costs in Europe but there are regular posters on here that are in France and other European countries who will hopefully assist. As for the uk, done properly it aint cheap but ccing is relatively speaking not too expensive at the moment as diesel at present is enjoying a price lower than the norm of late.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

[ditchcrawler]

Have a look at http://contentedsouls.com/and drop them a message on their blog also http://wanderingsnail.blogspot.co.uk/ their blog is out of date but you could contact Anne

[Emerald Fox]

You're right about the Rand. It's dropped like a (very big) stone. South Africa's government seems to be very incapable. Or - simply - plainly corrupt?

 

As far as diesel is concerned, that has been our lowest cost! We filled the tank a year ago - and it's still two-fifths full!

 

Why the Netherlands and France? Although I have heard that in Holland they speak a dialect of Afrikaans

 

How would you get a boat between Netherlands and France? Have you considered England? Here's a map of the canals in England:

 

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/CanalMap.gif

 

Also, there's a Canalworld member who has a very nice (?!) narrowboat for sale. He has a Swiss name so I'm sure everything on it works like a cuckoo clock That could be your chance?

 

Also, England has much nicer pubs than the Netherlands or France.

[Bee]

You need to ask on the Dutch Barge Association website, lots of knowlegable people on there. We have a small boat (10 metres) usually in France, sometimes in Holland that the two of us plus dog plus occasional guest spend summers on. 30,000 Euros will, in my opinion, buy an ok boat, 20,000 will buy something that will just about do but at that price you need to be careful and you will be getting something a bit tired. You need to look at boats advertised in Marktplaats, Botentekoop and another useful site is Veilingkijker, this last one samples lots of sites. So far as running costs are concerned VNF is the authority in France and their site will show you licence fees, it varies in Holland and Belgium from zero to much the same as France, moorings vary from very little to a lot but if you don't mind a bit of a shabby boat then its quite possible, You will need a hull survey, a toolkit and a positive attitude. Good Luck.

[GreyLady]

For a single person living alone I've worked it out to be cheaper than renting a £500 a month flat.

 

I've yet to put this to the test.

Edited March 20, 2016 by GreyLady

[Alan de Enfield]

For a single person living alone I've worked it out to be cheaper than renting a £500 a month flat.

 

I've yet to put this to the test.

 

Residential moorings (for example) in London commonly cost £1000+ per month

 

The other costs depend on what you 'take into account', you can spend a 'lot' on maintenance of the boat, or you can ignore any maintenance costs and 'run it into the ground', but you will pay in the long run with a much lower resale value

Compared to 'on land prices' you will pay far higher prices for

Gas

Electricity (generating your own is often quoted as costing 10x more)

Waste disposal / Toilet pump out

Heating fuel (diesel ?)

 

Every case is different but I would suggest that overall there is little to choose between housing costs and boating costs if the same area is considered (its unreasonable to compare boating costs in Yorkshire, to house owning costs in London).

 

If you maintain your house, you will probably be inclined to maintain the boat, if you drink 3 bottles of wine a week in a house you will probably do the same on a boat.

The big difference will be if you have a mortgage on a house and own the boat outright - but - comparing 'like for like' I really believe there is probably not much difference.

[GreyLady]

Yer I see what your saying and its all relative to the area and finances and lifestyle.

 

From doing a little bit of research Yorkshire seems to be around 4-5k a year for a marina where as cheshire is 2.5k their abouts.

 

Were buying outright and my calculations are based on what it would cost me to keep all the boat Costs paid by myself.

 

In principle it came out a lot less money, (yet to be seen in practice)

 

Biggest benefit of all though is the change of lifestyle.

Edited March 20, 2016 by GreyLady

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Yer I see what your saying and its all relative to the area and finances and lifestyle.

 

From doing a little bit of research Yorkshire seems to be around 4-5k a year for a marina where as cheshire is 2.5k their abouts.

 

Were buying outright and my calculations are based on what it would cost me to keep all the boat Costs paid by myself.

 

In principle it came out a lot less money, (yet to be seen in practice)

 

Biggest benefit of all though is the change of lifestyle.

I haven't done any research on the subject, but £4000 - £5000 marina fees in Yorkshire sounds very pricey . Ordinary marina charges at Cropredy are £2202 for my size of boat (60ft) and at Braunston it would be £2475, I don't know if either of them have residential moorings though. i should point out that I don't use either of these marinas and am not promoting them it was just the prices that came up when I looked them up on the 'tinternet.

 

Why do they pay so much for Yorkshire? there's nowt up there (I'll get my coat )

[GreyLady]

I haven't done any research on the subject, but £4000 - £5000 marina fees in Yorkshire sounds very pricey . Ordinary marina charges at Cropredy are £2202 for my size of boat (60ft) and at Braunston it would be £2475, I don't know if either of them have residential moorings though. i should point out that I don't use either of these marinas and am not promoting them it was just the prices that came up when I looked them up on the 'tinternet.

 

Why do they pay so much for Yorkshire? there's nowt up there:rolleyes: (I'll get my coat;) )

Yer I don't know why Yorkshire so blumin expensive either maybe it's because they make decent Yorkshire puddings and have Tea Bags named after em.

 

We could not afford that sort of money for a marina I know that, come on you Yorkshire lasses N lads how cum your marinas are so expensive ?

 

 

Runs into the anderson shelter with me tin hat on!

Edited March 22, 2016 by GreyLady

[cuthound]

Given the reputation that Yorkshire people have for hanging onto their money, I wonder how these expensive marinas survive?

[Joe Bourke]

What the hell are you lot talking about? You must have found the dearest residential mooring in Yorkshire and made that the average price. I would guess that the average mooring is about 2 grand a year for a 57 foot narrowboat. I know of 2 places not far away where you can moor for £500 a year regardless of size.

Hardly any facilities though.

[GreyLady]

What the hell are you lot talking about? You must have found the dearest residential mooring in Yorkshire and made that the average price. I would guess that the average mooring is about 2 grand a year for a 57 foot narrowboat. I know of 2 places not far away where you can moor for £500 a year regardless of size.

Hardly any facilities though.

I must of been clicking on the wrong ones then because I looked at 3 or 4 on the run and they were double what we're paying.

 

http://bwml.co.uk/lemonroyd-marina/moorings/

http://bwml.co.uk/ripon-racecourse-marina/moorings/

Edited March 22, 2016 by GreyLady

[Wanderer Vagabond]

What the hell are you lot talking about? You must have found the dearest residential mooring in Yorkshire and made that the average price. I would guess that the average mooring is about 2 grand a year for a 57 foot narrowboat. I know of 2 places not far away where you can moor for £500 a year regardless of size.

Hardly any facilities though.

That sounds more like the prices I'd expect. We stayed in one of the Thorne marinas last year for a short period and the cost was reasonable, I don't know how much it is for the full year but the month we had was OK.

[Joe Bourke]

My own marina with all facilities including a clubhouse is about 1800 including vat for a 60 footer.

[GreyLady]

My own marina with all facilities including a clubhouse is about 1800 including vat for a 60 footer.

That is cheap, maybe typing in Yorkshire marinas into Google brings up the most expensive first.

Edited March 22, 2016 by GreyLady

[Joe Bourke]

If you want a nice expensive marina look at BWML Marinas, that's British Waterways Marinas Limited, they should be able to sort you out. We go to Hull and it costs us about £50 a night if we stay a few days.

[Alan de Enfield]

York Marina (Naburn) is £240 per metre per annum. (20mt boat would be £4800)

 

For visitors it is £3.15 per metre per day (inc. electricity) so for a 20m Nb that's £63 per day mooring, and its actually a 15 minute taxi ride to get into York so not even very convenient.

[Alan de Enfield]

If you want a nice expensive marina look at BWML Marinas, that's British Waterways Marinas Limited, they should be able to sort you out. We go to Hull and it costs us about £50 a night if we stay a few days.

 

Cheaper than Naburn.

Hull is £2.85 per metre per day, or £14.40 per metre per week.

 

We are fortunate that we have a 'free reciprocal' mooring arrangement with BWML so can use any BWML marina for up to 14 days at a time with no-charge.

[Joe Bourke]

To be honest I find that the dearer a Marina is, the less likeable the marina and moorers are. Or am I being an inverted snob?

[Ssscrudddy]

Surely the biggest ongoing cost is going to be wine & beer

[Neil Smith]

Especially if the want it shipped from their homeland.

 

Neil.

[Northernboater]

Yer I don't know why Yorkshire so blumin expensive either maybe it's because they make decent Yorkshire puddings and have Tea Bags named after em.

 

We could not afford that sort of money for a marina I know that, come on you Yorkshire lasses N lads how cum your marinas are so expensive ?

 

 

Runs into the anderson shelter with me tin hat on!

Inland Marina's in Yorkshire are a lot cheaper then other parts of the country 57ft Narrowboat depending on location anything from £1300-£2200 per year leisure, even cheaper in certain Marina's like Strawberry Island Doncaster. You must be looking at the Yuppie Plastic boaty marina's or residential berths which are normally £3000-£4000 if you can find them.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Northernboater

[GreyLady]

Inland Marina's in Yorkshire are a lot cheaper then other parts of the country 57ft Narrowboat depending on location anything from £1300-£2200 per year leisure, even cheaper in certain Marina's like Strawberry Island Doncaster. You must be looking at the Yuppie Plastic boaty marina's or residential berths which are normally £3000-£4000 if you can find them.

I recon your right I must of clicked on the Google favourites.

 

Maybe one day I might change location and Yorkshire appeals very much.

 

Sorry for any confusion on mooring fees everyone. My mistake.

[Witchword]

My understanding is that it will be a lot cheaper than land-based living, especially if you can't get a mortgage. I reckon on £500-600 a month including a generous wedge put away for maintenance (£200-300 a month). That's based on a mixture off real figures like mooring fees, and different people's estimates of how much they spend on gas, electricity, pump out and so on. So if you scrapped the maintenance, it'd be far cheaper than a flat. The advantage of maintaining a boat you own is of course that you maintain your investment- which you aren't doing with your £500/month if you are renting and therefore paying somebody else's mortgage.