Complete newbie - would appreciate tips!

[Loafer]

Only thing I'd say is its a rewarding lifestyle, the boat community in London is wonderful, we have friends who have left (still living onboard) and they say thats the thing they miss the most. Me too, I cruise outside the capital, but I love coming back to my boaty family. BUT it isnt for the faint hearted. A lot of bankside residents don't want you there and some will basically treat you like a land based traveller. There is a London mooring consultation about to begin. If I'm frank, both CRT and the locals don't want you there. There were no boats at all doing this 10 years back (ok maybe 100 over the whole London area), now there are 1600, people have noticed and are complaining about them being there. I predict it becoming more difficult to spend more than a couple of days in Central London, especially if you're not prepared to pay extra. It's coming, it's not a question of if, but when. The goalposts could get moved, 20 miles may not be enough this time next year. The boatlife takes up most of your spare time, its like having an extra part time job. Thr maintainance can easily take up one day every weekend. if you work long hours, you have to get used to coming back to a freezing boat in the winter, walking down dark towpaths in rough inner city areas at night. If you're willing to learn engine servicing and basics of things like electrics, you'll find it a lot easier as it can be hard to get repairs done as the engineers are often do busy. It seems to suit most, the outdoorsy practical types, we have a lot of ex squatters on the water, people who love camping and festivals, that sort of person, lots of self employed people.

 

Best of luck whatever you decide to do. 10 years for me as a London boater next month.

 

Sounds like utter HEAVEN!

[Lady Muck]

For me, it is.

[BlueStringPudding]

It sounds like the lifestyle would suit you, I'd suggest you go for it.

 

You've highlighted your potential biggest problem yourself: water. If you insist on having a 10 to 15 minute shower every day you're going to need to fill up every few days. Imagine: it's winter, pouring with rain, dark and freezing cold outside. You've just got back from work, the boat is freezing cold. Do you get a fire going to warm up, make yourself something to eat or face the hour or more journey to get water in the dark?

 

It's already been suggested but you can wet yourself in a few seconds then turn the water off. Then soap etc. Turn the water back on and shower off, maximum a minute or two. Or, just have a wash sometimes rather than a shower, it works!

 

If you can't face not having a long, hot relaxing shower every day I'm afraid it's likely to scupper your wider lifestyle plans.

... and it's January so the water points are frozen anyway...

[BlueStringPudding]

A couple of points not much mentioned above.

 

Electricity. If you don7't have a permanent mooring there arer no mains hookup points you can use. So you have to generate all the electricity you use, using you boat engine, a generator or solar panels. Solar is fine in the summer but will givve you little in winter. You can't run your engine or generator to charge your batteries between 8pm and 8am, so after a long day at work and a commute back to wherever the boat is, how are you going to do this? Insufficient charging doesn't just mean the lights go dim - it can knacker your batteries in a matter of weeks. Plenty of discussion of the issues elsewhere on the forum. But as a minimum you need to do an energy audit to work out how much energy you will use, and what you need to do to replace it. Charging your laptop and phone at work or in the pub is a good idea...

 

Water heating. Again electric is impractical unless you have a mains hookup. Otherwise a gas instantaneous heater or gas/diesel/solid fuel (back boiler) central heating. Boats with water-cooled engines usually have a calorifier fitted (like a domestic hot water tank) fitted which will heat water when the engine is running (for propulsion or battery.

Also connecting these two points, is that if, like a lot of boaters your only way to reliably heat water for your showers is from running the engine for an hour or two, that means you only have hot water if you've got home in time to run the engine for long enough before 8pm or after 8am unless you're moored miles away from anyone else.

And even when you are moored in the middle of nowhere, you can get home from work to find another boat has moored next to you so you can't run the engine late as you might have planned

 

Basically, what with frozen water points and days you can't run the engine for whatever reason, you'll soon learn to live without hot showers and loads of electricity every day. It's the boating way for liveaboard CCer's who commute to a full time job.

Edited May 7, 2016 by BlueStringPudding

[Peter X]

Of course the standard boater's tactic of making use of toilets and showers on land where convenient would go a long way towards conserving resources on the boat. Assuming you're working in London (and if not, why stay?), maybe try to get a job where showers are provided at work?

[Mrs Puddleduck]

Hi all,

 

For a while I've been toying with the idea of buying a narrowboat to continuously cruise along the London Canals, for a few weeks or so I've been doing a fair bit of research but for some areas I still haven't found the answers I'm looking for so thought I'd turn to you guys to see if you can help me out at all! Apologies in advance if some areas have been discussed already and also, if any of the questions sound silly... I really am a complete newbie to this...

 

1. As I mention - I'll be CC along the Canals in London, so have been researching what distance as I need to travel each week, obviously don't want to take the mick and want to stay on the right side of Canal and River Trust. However, their website isn't totally clear on how far - all I can see is that in a years licence, 15-20miles is expected, which seems more than fine. But how far is the minimum? Just for an example, say I started in Little Venice and was travelling East, how far would I need to travel to satisfy the Canal and River Trust for say one weekend I didn't want to travel 'that' far?

 

2. Which brings me on to my next point - as I read, each 14 days would be the time I top up water, which would top up my batteries (as I'm moving) and usually empty the loos out. May seem like a silly question but are these water points at regular intervals? Similarly, to electric points? (if I needed it half way) Also, are loo-emptying-places at regular intervals also?

 

3. Again, brings me on to my next point of water storage tanks and electricity batteries... my budget is around 25k and aiming for around a 40ft-er trad steel narrowboat so from what I've seen, many don't have a tank or seems quite small. If so, can this be retrofitted and to what cost? I understand becoming more frugal is all part and parcel of it (which I'm excited about) but for say a 10/15minute shower a day - what sort of tank should I be looking at to tide me over for two weeks? However, I guess this would hinge on question number two! In terms of electricity, I don't watch a lot of TV but would like to charge my phone, listen to music, have lights! Where should I even start with what to look for to tide me over 2 weeks again?

 

4. I guess this question is more to the nitty-gritty when I view but what are the main tips/points you'd recommend to look out for a bad conditioned narrowboat? Is there such a thing? Don't mind buying something that requires a bit of modernisation but in terms of 'behind the scene' stuff, what do I look for when looking at an engine? At the electric board? Heating system? Or should this all be taking care of at survey stage?

 

Anyway, I think that's probably enough for now on my first post. I really would appreciate any tips/answers - no matter how big or small! Really excited to be buying - just need to get my head around it all first!!

 

Speak soon,

 

Nat

[Mrs Puddleduck]

 

Hi all,

 

For a while I've been toying with the idea of buying a narrowboat to continuously cruise along the London Canals, for a few weeks or so I've been doing a fair bit of research but for some areas I still haven't found the answers I'm looking for so thought I'd turn to you guys to see if you can help me out at all! Apologies in advance if some areas have been discussed already and also, if any of the questions sound silly... I really am a complete newbie to this...

 

1. As I mention - I'll be CC along the Canals in London, so have been researching what distance as I need to travel each week, obviously don't want to take the mick and want to stay on the right side of Canal and River Trust. However, their website isn't totally clear on how far - all I can see is that in a years licence, 15-20miles is expected, which seems more than fine. But how far is the minimum? Just for an example, say I started in Little Venice and was travelling East, how far would I need to travel to satisfy the Canal and River Trust for say one weekend I didn't want to travel 'that' far?

 

2. Which brings me on to my next point - as I read, each 14 days would be the time I top up water, which would top up my batteries (as I'm moving) and usually empty the loos out. May seem like a silly question but are these water points at regular intervals? Similarly, to electric points? (if I needed it half way) Also, are loo-emptying-places at regular intervals also?

 

3. Again, brings me on to my next point of water storage tanks and electricity batteries... my budget is around 25k and aiming for around a 40ft-er trad steel narrowboat so from what I've seen, many don't have a tank or seems quite small. If so, can this be retrofitted and to what cost? I understand becoming more frugal is all part and parcel of it (which I'm excited about) but for say a 10/15minute shower a day - what sort of tank should I be looking at to tide me over for two weeks? However, I guess this would hinge on question number two! In terms of electricity, I don't watch a lot of TV but would like to charge my phone, listen to music, have lights! Where should I even start with what to look for to tide me over 2 weeks again?

 

4. I guess this question is more to the nitty-gritty when I view but what are the main tips/points you'd recommend to look out for a bad conditioned narrowboat? Is there such a thing? Don't mind buying something that requires a bit of modernisation but in terms of 'behind the scene' stuff, what do I look for when looking at an engine? At the electric board? Heating system? Or should this all be taking care of at survey stage?

 

Anyway, I think that's probably enough for now on my first post. I really would appreciate any tips/answers - no matter how big or small! Really excited to be buying - just need to get my head around it all first!!

 

Speak soon,

 

Nat

Fellow complete newbie, hence messing up reply.

 

I'm little use to you unlike the experienced guys who have been setting me on the right track with many things.

 

I guess we are very different. We fell in love with the second boat we viewed and are now figuring it out. We have been yachting for years so lots of the wrong experience. We often enjoyed the luxury of a coke bottle shower in the cockpit so we are amazed at the plentiful water supply. Once you get used to living small and simple it's such a happy thing. The beauty is you find your own way. Go for it and enjoy. We are weekending whilst sorting things out but plan to retire onboard ASAP.

 

Enjoy the journey x

[Jamm]

Forgot to ask, Pud - did you get that job with the London Tourist Board?