Advice on Living Aboard as a Student

[RosiePig]

Hi everyone,

 

If you're reading this, thank you! I have just stumbled across this site while investigating this evening, and as I am struggling to find information elsewhere I would really really appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice and tell me whether this idea I've had is viable.

 

At the end of next year, I will (hopefully!) be off to University. This has been quite a scary thought for me for some time, mainly because I am really something of a recluse and the idea of having a kitchen and living space and in some places a bathroom and bedroom shared with strangers frightens me. I am also very attached to my pets, and I don't like the thought of leaving them behind as one is required to do in student accommodation. When my parents were young and still together, they lived aboard a canal boat with my older brother as well. While I was born later when they'd moved into a house and so have never lived aboard a canal boat, I've heard a lot about it from the three of them and from my dad's friends who live on the canal, and about a week ago I realised that this could be an option for me when I go to university.

 

I've done some research and found that you can get a smaller boat for under £10,000, sometimes only £6000. However, I've struggled to find out about moorings - my dad mentioned two week free moorings that he could use when he had his boat, but that was twenty years ago and there is no mention of that online. A lot of the moorings I find as well seem to only be for holidays; while I would go home at the end of term, the boat would really be my main residence. I'd really like to know more about mooring costs or whether it is possible to moor a boat in some places for free. Also, other living costs; would I have to spend a lot on fuel and electricity and such? Particularly useful would be information about moorings near universities of Warwick (Coventry), York, Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham, Nottingham, Durham and Lancaster, so if anyone lives around there I would love to hear from you! And just generally, I'd like to know more about what it's like to live aboard a canal boat. What are the most challenging things about it, and what are the things you enjoy the most?

 

Thank you.

 

Rosie

[Paul C]

what kind of pets, and are you going to lock them into a small narrowboat cabin on a hot summer's day?

[Rickent]

Most challenging thing is transporting everything you need to survive to the boat and then disposing of everything else afterwards , including all bodily waste. I wouldnt see it as a cheap alternative to student accomodation.

[Tiggs]

Stay at home and go to your local university - this is the best plan these days given what you have to pay.

 

As Paul C says there is a problem keeping pets locked up on a boat.

 

You could manage Nottingham as a Continuous Cruiser just about - move the boat every two weeks. We did this when I worked in Derby - but we did have a big boat with a big water tank etc.

 

I don't know about the other areas.

[bag 'o' bones]

Better still don't go to university.

 

A university education is very poor value these days.

 

Unless your subject absolutely requires a degree the vocational route is far better.

 

Sorry to sound cynical but having finished a degree recently, if I knew what I know now I wouldn't have bothered.

[junior]

What area are you in, or what uni do you want to go to?

[RosiePig]

Thank you everyone for replies!! I've got guinea pigs and a ferret. How hot does it get inside a boat? Definitely don't want to put them in jeopardy.

I think I would be alright with a bit of work and ickier stuff like bodily waste just to be fully independent and away from others, but it's definitely worth thinking about before I romanticise the idea too much!

I'm not really thinking of it in the hope of it being a cheap alternative to student accommodation, but I'm wondering if I could manage it within a yearly student loan c. £7000 (after buying the initial boat from gap year savings).

Sadly, my local university only offers Science subjects and I want to do Humanities and then stay in academia, so the degree is a must really!

Hi Junior - I'm in Bath at the moment. I'm looking at quite a bunch at the moment: Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Lancaster, Durham, Warwick, York!

[bag 'o' bones]

Thank you everyone for replies!! I've got guinea pigs and a ferret. How hot does it get inside a boat? Definitely don't want to put them in jeopardy.

I think I would be alright with a bit of work and ickier stuff like bodily waste just to be fully independent and away from others, but it's definitely worth thinking about before I romanticise the idea too much!

I'm not really thinking of it in the hope of it being a cheap alternative to student accommodation, but I'm wondering if I could manage it within a yearly student loan c. £7000 (after buying the initial boat from gap year savings).

Sadly, my local university only offers Science subjects and I want to do Humanities and then stay in academia, so the degree is a must really!

Hi Junior - I'm in Bath at the moment. I'm looking at quite a bunch at the moment: Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Lancaster, Durham, Warwick, York!

What subject?

[Tiggs]

Reading

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=83728

 

May help.

[Paul C]

Houses have (typically) central heating, about 10-15x the airspace and thick walls, so are much more stable for temperature through the day. A narrowboat is MUCH smaller inside and while its sides/roof might be insulated, is a metal box so does tend to catch the heat and can heat up a lot on a sunny summer's day. Also, the smaller the size, the worse the effect will be. And at the price range you have, you're unlikely to have any form of automated central heating. I'd say on a welfare issue basis, a guinea pig inside a boat is a bad idea. Even outside, if on a metal deck, it will be hotter than eg a hutch outside and really you need a hutch+run, which would basically take up all the deck space on a typical narrowboat. So even outside, there's issues.

 

I suppose the idea - without pets - would be workable but I think realistically you'd need some capital (like, £30k) to invest in the boat and a mooring if you're studying in one place. Having been to university, its quite possible you'll do long days (eg coursework, assignments on campus, projects, socialising) and the extra time to CC around an area (and the travel to uni) would be difficult to find.

[Guest]

Thank you everyone for replies!! I've got guinea pigs and a ferret. How hot does it get inside a boat? Definitely don't want to put them in jeopardy.

I think I would be alright with a bit of work and ickier stuff like bodily waste just to be fully independent and away from others, but it's definitely worth thinking about before I romanticise the idea too much!

I'm not really thinking of it in the hope of it being a cheap alternative to student accommodation, but I'm wondering if I could manage it within a yearly student loan c. £7000 (after buying the initial boat from gap year savings).

Sadly, my local university only offers Science subjects and I want to do Humanities and then stay in academia, so the degree is a must really!

Hi Junior - I'm in Bath at the moment. I'm looking at quite a bunch at the moment: Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Lancaster, Durham, Warwick, York!

 

I can say with a reasonable degree of confidence you can forget Durham.

[Alan de Enfield]

............ but I'm wondering if I could manage it within a yearly student loan c. £7000 (after buying the initial boat from gap year savings).

 

 

Nottingham area 'residential moorings' will come in at around the £4000 per annum mark.

To that you will also need to add the cost of boat licence, insurance, BSS (MOT certificate), Maybe £1000 per annum

Coal, diesel and electricity, maybe another £1000+

Boat maintenance £200-£1000 per annum (depends what breaks or wears out)

Boat Blacking (protecting the bottom) £800 every 2-3 years

 

The general consensus seems to be to allow £5000 per annum for 'boat costs', then you need to add your 'living costs' (food. clothes, soap etc)

 

You may need to move your boat every few weeks to empty the toilet pump out tank (£15 each time), or every 3 or 4 days if it has a 'porta-potty' or cassette system

You may need to move your boat every week or so to fill up the water tank.

You will need to be able to carry bags of coal and gas bottles.

 

Its not all 'sunshine& flowers', its darned hard work - but - it is rewarding.

[tillergirl]

And in the darker colder months you would still need to do all the stuff as well. Difficult if you get iced in. Like has been said it ain't all sunshine and roses. I reckon on campus accommodation whilst you make friends is the best way. Get someone to look after the pets for you during term time. If your plan is to buy a boat, park it up somewhere and live on it whilst you study you may soon find yourself homeless. Have a look at the Canal and River Trust website to get an idea of what would expected of you as a liveaboard boater

Edited August 1, 2016 by tillergirl

[Dave_P]

After buying my boat and working for a while, I quit and became a full time post-grad student at Birmingham Uni. Birmingham would be a good choice for you for a number of reasons.

 

1. The canal goes right through the campus. (There's even a nice guy called Peter who moors on campus permanently - he's one of those perpetual student types).

2. There's a railway station on campus.

3. There's many many miles of canal which are commutable to the Uni by foot, bike or train. (more canals than venice and all that)

 

So you could get a boat and be a continuous cruiser, which means you wouldn't need to pay for a mooring. So yes, you could get a small, basic boat for £10,000, say 40 foot long. You'd need to pay for a licence, fuel, repairs, insurance etc. It wouldn't be cheaper than staying in a cheap rented room in Selly Oak, but you'd have your privacy and you'd be the coolest undergrad on campus (I'd be the coolest post-grad of course). Keep your pets cool with a fan. I know of rabbits and guinea pigs which live happily on boats. Not sure about ferrets. I have a permanent mooring a few miles away but when I have a big assignment to do, I moor on campus so I can walk straight into the library to work.

 

Here's the continuous cruising guidelines. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/mooring-your-boat/want-to-be-a-continuous-cruiser

 

Here's the licence costs https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/thumbnail/24443-licence-fees-2016-2017-private-boats.pdf

 

If you're going to Uni, then you're gonna have to do some studying, so for now, study the old threads on this site and read as much of the CRT website as you can.

 

I'm biased but I would say that Birmingham is a better choice than any other if you want to be a continuous cruiser. Most other cities have one or two canals running through them which limits cruising and mooring options. The canals around Birmingham are like an intricate network.

[RosiePig]

Thank you everyone for all of your help! This is definitely going to need a lot more consideration and be a big commitment if I do go for it. I appreciate the concern from tillergirl as well; I've been reading about these legal cases against cruisers and, depending on where I went, getting a mooring could be a necessity to involve some very messy, scary situations.

 

Thank you for the Nottingham link Tiggs; I will look through all of that! I also really appreciate the insight from Dave_P. It is really interesting to hear from a current (post-grad) student who's actually doing it, and Birmingham is one of my favourite unis I've seen so far and it's good to know it's possible to be a cruiser there as well! The fan is a good idea. I'd spend most of my degree reading so I'd be home with them as well, and I can take them out for walks with their leads.

 

Thank you Alan de Enfield for the run-down of costs. It sounds like it would be just manageable, and if I was cruising somewhere like Birmingham or Nottingham it would be a lot cheaper!

 

Rosie

[ValandPete]

Birmingham is a lot easier to cruise and keep to the rules. It has lots of waterways and with research you can probably get to Uni from quite a wide range. If you can afford it a winter mooring would take the pressure off you from Nov to March as you can stay in one place. Plan to move out of the area as far as you can during any hols and that will help a lot with your cruising range.

 

Not sure how viable it would be for Lancaster Uni as the canal is short and difficult to increase your range without doing the Ribble Link which is shut during the winter months. Not sure how accessible the Uni would be from either end of the canal.

 

York is on a river so difficult to cruise and the York Ouse is very susceptible to flooding even in the summer months so I would not advise that.

 

I think you would need to get a permanent mooring to make Nottingham viable, again there is a river at one end of the canal so cruising range is restricted.

 

Keep doing research, I wish you best of luck.

 

Val

[Taslim]

Better still don't go to university.

 

A university education is very poor value these days.

 

Unless your subject absolutely requires a degree the vocational route is far better.

 

Sorry to sound cynical but having finished a degree recently, if I knew what I know now I wouldn't have bothered.

Not cynical. Realistic.

 

Edit for fat finger cyndrome.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Taslim

[starman]

Choose the uni that has the best course for you, which will offer you a place and which gives the best vibe when you visit.

Then think about where to live.

Part of the reason for going to uni is to get our into the world, meet people and learn to get on with them - as you will have to in a job. In other words stop being 'a bit of a recluse'.

If that sounds scary, it won't be: it will be exciting.

As others have said, the issues with living on a boat can be tricky and it's not necessarily a cheap option.

Pets? Sadly they don't live forever: you can't plan your life around small animals. Let your parents look after them - that's what they're for

Good luck.

[tillergirl]

Also, grants for students are now being withdrawn and being replaced by living cost loans. That may also need some investigating as it may not be possible to borrow the money to do that. Sorry for seeming negative but I can't help thinking that living that way at university will just make you more reclusive. Our youngest was a bit of a loner when she went to uni, didn't make friends easily, and yes she had some initial difficulties but in all honesty it was the making of her. She went to university a shy, retiring person with no confidence, she left a completely different person. I suppose what im saying is give yourself chance to grow into the person you can be. Best of luck to you xx

[David Mack]

Rosie,

 

If you are age 18/19, then you will get the most out of the social side of University by living in halls for your first year, along with all the other freshers. You can still look at living afloat in second and third years, when most students live out anyway. And you will get the opportunity during your first year to see the local waterways for yourself, meet other local liveaboards etc and get a better idea whether it would be feasible for you.

 

On the other hand, if you are a mature student, you may recoil in horror at the thought of living alongside all those teenagers!

[Athy]

As mentioned above, the canal goes right through the Edgbaston (Brum) campus. But I am not sure in the University owns any moorings there. It's worth asking, you may be in luck. When I was a student there, there was a barge permanently moored there, which acted as a floating pub, but that is a considerable number of years ago.

 

As for the "recluse" bit, well, during my sixth form years I had virtually no social life and hardly ever went out. During my first year at Brum I had and did little else!

[Arthur Brown]

Just think that your course will cost, so you need to get the most out of it. You may need a full or part time job or two to earn money. Will you really be able to put in the time that studies, paid work and socialising need and still have time to do the real work of boating, emptying the bog filling the water, carrying the gas and the back story to boating the painting the battery charging the fueling and oiling of the engine, even remembering the stern tube greaser (without all of this the boat breaks or sinks).

 

Also find a good and secure way of backing up all your data, you really do not want to lose things like dissertations and the markable theses that you will need to produce.

 

IMO you would do well to live in hall for the first year then find yourself a flat to share or a boat to live on.

 

Sadly with cheap boats there is a reason why they are cheap, usually they are tired or at the end of their useful life. Assume that the battery will be tired and need replacing within two years -there goes another £500 ish.

[Dave_P]

As mentioned above, the canal goes right through the Edgbaston (Brum) campus. But I am not sure in the University owns any moorings there. It's worth asking, you may be in luck. When I was a student there, there was a barge permanently moored there, which acted as a floating pub, but that is a considerable number of years ago.

 

As for the "recluse" bit, well, during my sixth form years I had virtually no social life and hardly ever went out. During my first year at Brum I had and did little else!

Brum Uni has allocated moorings for 2 boats. The first is taken by Peter's boat, The Solar Kingfisher. The second is taken by The Ross Barlow, the world's only hydrogen fuel cell powered narrowboat and named after a student who died after working on the project. I'm not sure any more moorings are possible but if they are, then Peter is the guy to ask. PM me and I can put you in touch.

 

Nottingham area 'residential moorings' will come in at around the £4000 per annum mark.

To that you will also need to add the cost of boat licence, insurance, BSS (MOT certificate), Maybe £1000 per annum

Coal, diesel and electricity, maybe another £1000+

Boat maintenance £200-£1000 per annum (depends what breaks or wears out)

Boat Blacking (protecting the bottom) £800 every 2-3 years

 

The general consensus seems to be to allow £5000 per annum for 'boat costs', then you need to add your 'living costs' (food. clothes, soap etc)

 

You may need to move your boat every few weeks to empty the toilet pump out tank (£15 each time), or every 3 or 4 days if it has a 'porta-potty' or cassette system

You may need to move your boat every week or so to fill up the water tank.

You will need to be able to carry bags of coal and gas bottles.

 

Its not all 'sunshine& flowers', its darned hard work - but - it is rewarding.

This seems to be on the high end for costs.

 

As I've mentioned, the mooring costs can be avoided completely if you cruise. When I was a full time student (part time and working now) I chopped wood for heating and was frugal with my diesel/electric use. I reckon I came in under £200 for fuel, diesel, leccy etc. I had my boat blacked last month 55' for £350. Would have been less if I'd done it myself. Maintenance budget is the big unknown. It could be nothing but that's highly unlikely. it could be thousands...

[Sir Percy]

On the positive side, a couple of things which might make life easier for a liveaboard boater at Uni: a pigeonhole address for mail, and a health service that you can register with.

[Sir Percy]

...but on the other hand, what do you plan to do out of term time? Continue to live aboard or leave the boat in the mooring while you go back home?