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Residential moorings.


AnB

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Hi

i’m Planning on buying a narrow boat to live aboard very soon but i’m Having difficulty finding information on residential moorings on the Kennet and Avon. Can anyone help? 

An

Edited by AnB
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47 minutes ago, AnB said:

Anywhere on the K&A. 

There was a boat on Apolllo duck which might be sold with mooring:  CAVEAT the owner of the boat and mooring need to be negotiated separately.

I will try to find it, it was blue with flowerpot!s

I can;t find it, but tried search for narrwboat   wiltshire  mooring   there are two results

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=557532 looks quite smart, quite expensive, is this the sort of money you were thinking of?

or for contiuous cruising, something like this

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=557710

be aware there are boats in need of maintenance

https://www.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=558071    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by LadyG
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Thanks for the link. It’s a beauty but looking for something around £30,000. Perhaps worth contacting Bradford and Avon to find out about availability of moorings. Going to do that now. 

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37 minutes ago, AnB said:

Hi

i’m Planning on buying a narrow boat to live aboard very soon but i’m Having difficulty finding information on residential moorings on the Kennet and Avon. Can anyone help? 

An

Of course you are. Such things are very few and far between across the whole system and if you find one it is likely to be very expensive. It's to do with planning permission, council tax and security of tenure.  However many people live aboard their boats on non-residential moorings but they may have problems getting mail deliveries, could be thrown off at a moments notice and such like. If you are happy with that discreet verbal enquiries are far more likely to get you suited than looking for anything in writing.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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1 minute ago, AnB said:

Mmm. Not sure that would suit me. I’m going to be on my own and don’t fancy being thrown off at a moments notice. Perhaps I should rethink location. 

It won't make much difference, same rules apply. I did not say you would get thrown off but you have to accept you might be. There are probably many hundreds if not thousands of people living on boats under those terms. Occasionally a "caretaker of other job may come up with a residential berth but that would be tied to the job.

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Someone was advertising one for sale on here the other day, but think it was Oxford canal iirc

Bet its expensive and probably one of the Agenda 21 moorings that AIUI have conditions related to low impact life style assigned to them.

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2 minutes ago, AnB said:

Mmm. Not sure that would suit me. I’m going to be on my own and don’t fancy being thrown off at a moments notice. Perhaps I should rethink location. 

As Tony says, many people live on their boats and to be honest its difficult to get a proper res. mooring almost anywhere, It has always been the same. The thing is, you must have some sort of licence, so long as you have a licence you will avoid a lot of trouble. A continously cruising licence can work but you need to look into it. An ordinary licence can work but again you need to look into it. It is not a secure way of life and although you will not be hauled off your boat and flung into jail you may need to move the boat around a bit to avoid problems. Also, it is easier to get a mooring (any mooring) if you are on the boat and engage in local gossip so it is a catch 22 situation. Good luck

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35 minutes ago, AnB said:

Mmm. Not sure that would suit me. I’m going to be on my own and don’t fancy being thrown off at a moments notice. Perhaps I should rethink location. 

Its not about location, its about the "living on a narrowboat", this is the problem, of course thousands do it, but  you need to research and then decide if the life is for you.

Check out youtube for examples. Many youtubers live on a residential mooring, it is a lot more expensive than the alternative.

If you don't have a permanent mooring you will need to get a licence without a mooring, and will be expected to move regularly. That will be the T&C of a licence if you have no mooring.

 

Edited by LadyG
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I wouldn't worry too much about the 'thrown off at a moment's notice' thing. I mean, it's not as if boaters with leisure moorings are constantly getting booted off them while boaters with residential moorings have amazing security of tenure (as far as I know, anyway). 

Leisure mooring operators will have different formal or informal expectations as regards people living aboard, ranging from turning a blind eye to allowing X nights a week or X months a year, which is why people are suggesting you make some discreet verbal inquiries. It might well be possible, if not to live aboard 365 days a year on a leisure mooring, then at least to spend most of your time there while cruising (maybe just in the local area) on a 'weekends and holidays' basis.

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1 minute ago, Mike on the Wey said:

No difference. There is no specific continuous cruiser licence.

Correct but for the sake of the OP:

 If you have what CaRT call a home mooring like in a marina or on a recognised mooring site then you do not have to register as a continuous cruiser when you license your boat.

If you do not have a home mooring then you do have to register as a continuous cruiser  and AGREE to extra terms and conditions about how long you can moor in one place before you have to move. That is typically 14 days unless local signs say differently. That could be as low as 2 hours but more typically 24 or 48 hours. You also can not move up and down the same stretch of canal, you have to be on a continuous journey

CCing on the K&A is doable but in my view the water points and toilet dumps/pump outs are few and far between. Also people who think they know better than CaRT have caused it to be something of an enforcement hot spot in some/may places. Its probably not a good choice for a new boater for CCing.

If you can afford a marina mooring talk to a few and ask them how may days a year you have to be away from it for.

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The K&A is probably the most 'enforced' canal, you have chosen the one where you are most likely to be 'moved' on.

As a result of a recent crackdown a number of boaters entered into the enforcement process :

Between February and April, of the 279 boats only sighted in the Local Plan area, 231 did not attract any enforcement action. A further 60 boaters had taken up winter moorings.
33 additional boats had been sighted both within and outside of the plan area. Of these, none had received pre enforcement letters and none are now in the enforcement process.
 14 boaters have received pre enforcement letters (pre CC1)
 10 have received first enforcement letters (CC1)
 13 received second stage enforcement letters (CC2)
 16 received third stage enforcement letters (CC3)
At the end of April 33 boats were still in the CC enforcement process. However, many cases were closed in readiness for the new CC process. All boats that had only received a pre CC1 by the end of February had their enforcement cases closed.

 

A number of boats were forced to leave C&RT waters, others had 'restricted' licences issued.

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17 minutes ago, magictime said:

I wouldn't worry too much about the 'thrown off at a moment's notice' thing. I mean, it's not as if boaters with leisure moorings are constantly getting booted off them while boaters with residential moorings have amazing security of tenure (as far as I know, anyway). 

Leisure mooring operators will have different formal or informal expectations as regards people living aboard, ranging from turning a blind eye to allowing X nights a week or X months a year, which is why people are suggesting you make some discreet verbal inquiries. It might well be possible, if not to live aboard 365 days a year on a leisure mooring, then at least to spend most of your time there while cruising (maybe just in the local area) on a 'weekends and holidays' basis.

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But the OP wants a mooring no to CC so why not a few suggestions on where to look. I think but don't know first hand because its not my local area but Caen Hill may be OK if they have any space 13080 827 795

Caen Hill would be ideal for the OP  

 

 

 

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Thanks everyone for your posts. I thought I had done a lot of research but looks as if it’s more difficult than expected which is somewhat depressing. I don’t think I can Cc as i’ll Be alone and have been told it’s very difficult to do Locks solo. I wonder how much is ‘very expensive’ for a residential mooring. It has to be cheaper and much nicer than living in a house. 

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6 minutes ago, AnB said:

Thanks everyone for your posts. I thought I had done a lot of research but looks as if it’s more difficult than expected which is somewhat depressing. I don’t think I can Cc as i’ll Be alone and have been told it’s very difficult to do Locks solo. I wonder how much is ‘very expensive’ for a residential mooring. It has to be cheaper and much nicer than living in a house. 

 

I pay £3,300 a year for my non residential mooring on the K&A. I live on the boat and no-one bothers me. 

If you happen to be the 'demandy' type and 'know your rights' then you will probably attract the attention of all manner of authority and the battles will ensue. But if you understand what is meant by the terms 'keeping you head down', 'living under the radar' and 'not rocking the boat' you will have no trouble whatsoever living on a leisure mooring. Thousands do with no probelms at all.

Forgot to say, the first decision to make is if you want to live in a marina, or out on the cut on an 'on-line' mooring. Very different lifestyles. Mine is on-line. Much nicer :)

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Yes, online sounds great but what about water etc? Are there services near by? By the way that is way way cheaper than living in a house. And yes, I can certainly keep my head down. Quiet life for me. 

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Just now, system 4-50 said:

Absolutely wrong.  It is NOT very difficult to do locks solo. I do it and I'm 70 years old.

Tempted to say "on the K&A?

I reckon the K&A locks are the hardest on the system and would not willingly do them on my own. However as long as the OP takes his time or pars up with another boat (assuming he is not buying a fat boat) then perfectly doable single handed.

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