A check list for would be boaters?

[haggis]

We get a lot of posts from folk contemplating buying a boat, mostly to live on, and their initial message is often answered by comments about what is involved in living on a boat. Do you think it would be helpful If there was a pinned message on the forum which all newbies could look at and which would hopefully give them an idea of what is involved. For starters, the following strike me as subjects which should be considerd

1. Do you know that every boat on the canals requires a licence, insurance and Boat Safety Certificate? The Canal and River Trust web site will give more infoarmation

2. Do you know that you will either need to have a mooring for your boat or continually cruise? 

3. Do you know that as boats are not connected to the electricity grid or water system, you will need to fill up your water tank every few days and generate your own power? How much power you need to generate depends on how much power you will use.

4. Do you know that boats are not connected to the main sewer system and you will need to empty your toilet either every few days or weeks depending on what system you have?  

5. Boats engines need  regular servicing and maintenance to keep them  going

6. Boat hulls benefit from regular (every couple of years or so) blacking to stop them  developing holes and rusting away. 

7. Do you think you can live in a small space with few belongings? 

 

Just a thought. The information is possibly already on the C&RT web site somewhere but it  might be useful to have it all in on place. 

 

haggis

[BruceinSanity]

This is a very good idea. Some of us did a lot of work on the proposed wiki which would have dealt with just this sort of thing, but it was then abandoned, don't know why. There were pages and pages on electrickery basics, for example, and I did quite a bit about living aboard.

I'm not inclined to put any more effort in under the circs, but presumably all those pages are still stored somewhere.

[Athy]

Doesn't Starcoaster's legendary post from a few years ago cover this ground? Though humorously (and indeed hilariously) expressed, it contained much serious advice and information.

[rusty69]

I agree, Stratocastors post is pretty good

 

 

[Athy]

12 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I agree, Stratocastors post is pretty good

 

 

With a name like that, she no doubt travels with her Fenders down.

[rusty69]

Just now, Athy said:

With a name like that, she no doubt travels with her Fenders down.

Virtual greenie sir. 

[Jerra]

Would a possible solution (which might not need much work) be a pinned thread consisting only of posts with links to threads people know/have found useful? 

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Would a possible solution (which might not need much work) be a pinned thread consisting only of posts with links to threads people know/have found useful? 

That's a good idea; but there are probably hundreds of threads which have useful content, and "pinning" them all would give us a very long list which most people would find indigestible long before they had read it to the end. So they would need to be sub-divided (legal requirements, toilets, mooring, gas etc.) which would make their compilation a more exacting task.

[Jerra]

3 minutes ago, Athy said:

That's a good idea; but there are probably hundreds of threads which have useful content, and "pinning" them all would give us a very long list which most people would find indigestible long before they had read it to the end. So they would need to be sub-divided (legal requirements, toilets, mooring, gas etc.) which would make their compilation a more exacting task.

I agree splitting would be useful.  However I don't see the idea as a task for anyone.  More "Oh that I just read was useful I will put a link in that thread" which would mean virtually no work apart from each individual posting a link.

[Athy]

Ah, I see what you mean, yes.

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, Jerra said:

I agree splitting would be useful.  However I don't see the idea as a task for anyone.  More "Oh that I just read was useful I will put a link in that thread" which would mean virtually no work apart from each individual posting a link.

 I see that the risk of that is what is 'useful' to one person, may be less than useful to another - eg "I have read that the EU is to ban DIY blacking and antifouling of boats due to pollution of water courses with the 'run off' due to the unregulated removal of the 'old stuff' "

That is of no interest to me as I do not DIY, but to those that do it could be a major news item.

 

Unless the 'section' and 'sub-sections' are managed by a single person (or small team of say 2 or 3) then it would end up a useless, overpowering, mess - remember "a Camel is a horse designed by a committee".

 

Just my opinion.

 

[WotEver]

And that is why the wiki idea worked. As with Wikipedia each article cross-referenced other articles which enabled the finding of answers to oft-asked questions quite simple. It wouldn't have replaced the forum for specific questions but would have given a good grounding on many topics. 

2 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

presumably all those pages are still stored somewhere.

They're still there, yes. 

[Jerra]

5 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 I see that the risk of that is what is 'useful' to one person, may be less than useful to another - eg "I have read that the EU is to ban DIY blacking and antifouling of boats due to pollution of water courses with the 'run off' due to the unregulated removal of the 'old stuff' "

That is of no interest to me as I do not DIY, but to those that do it could be a major news item.

 

Unless the 'section' and 'sub-sections' are managed by a single person (or small team of say 2 or 3) then it would end up a useless, overpowering, mess - remember "a Camel is a horse designed by a committee".

 

Just my opinion.

 

The getting info of no interest is true of course. However what you say is true of the current situation where either people use the search facility (such as it is) or get links posted in answer to a query.

Remember this was an idea for would be boaters not experienced boaters, an attempt to provide a range of information in a single place.   I think that is a good idea providing it didn't all fall on a single person.

[haggis]

I agree, Starcoasters post was brilliant and I think potential new owners would find it useful . But, how do they know it is there? My ideas was for something prominent on the top page linking to an article which might help . Haven't looked at the Wiki article but it sounds good too. Again a prominent link, perhpas.

 

haggis

[mrsmelly]

Do you realise that it will cost you ten times more than you think.

Do you realise that 99 out of a hundred liveabords last less than five years.

Etc ETc

[Sea Dog]

Well I hate to repeat myself, but this idea will ruin the bottom end of the market!  (It won't do much for the middle or the top either!)

[Murflynn]

21 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 I see that the risk of that is what is 'useful' to one person, may be less than useful to another - eg "I have read that the EU is to ban DIY blacking and antifouling of boats due to pollution of water courses with the 'run off' due to the unregulated removal of the 'old stuff' "

 

simple solution - don't take your boat to Europe when you want to do DIY blacking.

timeline difference noted, but I thought it might be appropriate 

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Do you realise that it will cost you ten times more than you think.

Do you realise that 99 out of a hundred liveabords last less than five years.

Etc ETc

Do you realise that you've been told a million times not to exaggerate?

[haggis]

20 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Well I hate to repeat myself, but this idea will ruin the bottom end of the market!  (It won't do much for the middle or the top either!)

I don't agree. No matter what you  do we will still have folk who buy a boat when they are wearing rose coloured spectacles and they won't be hunting around the web looking for info. What a pinned article would do is help those who are thinking about buying a boat but want more information. To me that attitude should be encouraged as I don't think it does the canals any good having lots of folk finding out when it is too late just what is involved in owning a boat if it is not for them

 

haggis

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, haggis said:

I don't agree. No matter what you  do we will still have folk who buy a boat when they are wearing rose coloured spectacles and they won't be hunting around the web looking for info. What a pinned article would do is help those who are thinking about buying a boat but want more information. To me that attitude should be encouraged as I don't think it does the canals any good having lots of folk finding out when it is too late just what is involved in owning a boat if it is not for them

 

haggis

I agree with you to the max.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

I agree with you to the max.

MissMax? 

[ditchcrawler]

45 minutes ago, WotEver said:

And that is why the wiki idea worked. As with Wikipedia each article cross-referenced other articles which enabled the finding of answers to oft-asked questions quite simple. It wouldn't have replaced the forum for specific questions but would have given a good grounding on many topics. 

They're still there, yes. 

Where? I would like to look at it.

[haggis]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

MissMax? 

nope :-) 

haggis

 

[Alan de Enfield]

The 'Miss Max' thread (with the last couple of posts deleted) could be far more informative for potential new boat owners.

 

Don't 'get me wrong' - I completely agree with the concept of a pinned informative thread / summary, but it needs to be constructed to be factual, informative and 'readable' to be of any use.

Examples of 'doing it right'

Examples of what not to do (Miss Max)

Examples of buying a cheap project boat and the costs & time incurred to get it liveable

Examples of what to look for when viewing boats

What is needed (apart from a boat) Licence, BSS (MOT), insurance and a mooring - or explanations of the implications of not having a mooring.

Examples of typical costs.

Awareness of the regular 'duties' of boat ownership (carrying gas bottles & coal, emptying toilets, moving to get water, maintenance, etc etc)

 

The points need to be made - eg how will you replace you 'used electricity' but it needs to be written with the target audience in mind - waffling on about Ah / Amps per hour, watts, tail current, FLA or AGM, then the rights and wrongs of the 1995 Act and on and on and on...................

 

We are the 'converted' but a non-boat owner / first timer will have no idea what a 'counter' is, or a Cruiser stern, or the importance (or otherwise) of 'rivets'

Edited April 30, 2017 by Alan de Enfield

[Sea Dog]

36 minutes ago, haggis said:

I don't agree. No matter what you  do we will still have folk who buy a boat when they are wearing rose coloured spectacles and they won't be hunting around the web looking for info. What a pinned article would do is help those who are thinking about buying a boat but want more information. To me that attitude should be encouraged as I don't think it does the canals any good having lots of folk finding out when it is too late just what is involved in owning a boat if it is not for them

 

haggis

It was a tongue in cheek comment Haggis: check out the wink

Clearly, I don't think we should not help others to avoid pitfalls or get the best from their boat/boating.