Should I buy a narrowboat

[Guest]

Just now, rusty69 said:

So to recap. I comment on things not necessarily on topic. If i search through your post history, i assume i will find ALL your posts on topic? 

Search where you like.

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

Oh for God’s sake GIVE IT A REST!!

Oy.............No Religion 

[rusty69]

Just now, WotEver said:

Because you won’t let the bloody thing drop!!!

I have invited mr MJG to a more relevant thread. So far he has declined! 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

Because you won’t let the bloody thing drop!!!

Really? Just me?

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

I have invited mr MJG to a more relevant thread. So far he has declined! 

See

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, MJG said:

Search where you like.

Perhaps if I find ANY off topic comments of yours you could offer me and the OP an apology? (question of the non rhetorical type) 

Edited May 9, 2018 by rusty69

[Guest]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

I have invited mr MJG to a more relevant thread. So far he has declined! 

I made a decision last night to block posts in the VP.

 

Precisely because of the pathetic drivel that often pops up there.

[rusty69]

Just now, MJG said:

I made a decision last night to block posts in the VP.

 

Precisely because of the pathetic drivel that often pops up there.

Well, perhaps as you now have the link, you could make an exception and leave this thread on topic, which you seem keen to do. 

 

The other option is to stop replying to my posts. Simples. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

Perhaps if I find ANY off topic comments of yours you could offer me and the OP an apology? (question of the non rhetorical type) 

Why would I need to offer the op an apology? I have given advice on boat ownership from my perspective?

 

You however?

Just now, rusty69 said:

 

 

The other option is to stop replying to my posts. Simples. 

Utterly laughable......

[rusty69]

Just now, MJG said:

Why would I need to offer the op an apology? I have given advice on boat ownership from my perspective?

 

You however?

I offered a joke and some insurance advice

[Guest]

Just now, rusty69 said:

I offered a joke

Aka made a completely irrelavent off topic comment.

[ditchcrawler]

9 minutes ago, Nick D said:

To try and get this back on track, I would say to the OP that we retired early last year (mid 50s) and bought our first boat having been hirers on and off for many years.  Our intention is to use the boat roughly for a month on and then off in the season going home in between and occasional weeks in the winter season.  So far (since last July) this is what we have done and it works fine though I'd be happier to spend more time on board or for longer periods, but this way it does allow us to enjoy other home based hobbies and interests as well.  I'd agree about the finance comments.  We bought a one year old boat thinking that costs would be less but we have had our share of financial surprises.  On the other side, we have found that when we are cruising we spend far less then when we are home and also noticed that our utility bills are also lower.  Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, post on here or ask direct.

We have had Harnser on the water for 16 years this month and next month I am 70, We do about 6 months a year now spread over summer and winter when all the real boaters are tucked up in marinas and winter moorings. Our electricity bill at home is lower, the water bill is lower (on a meter) the car mileage is lower, heating bills less (still on but lower temperature) so that is all a saving to set against the cost of boating. We don't eat out every night but we do some nights and we love it.

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, MJG said:

Why would I need to offer the op an apology? I have given advice on boat ownership from my perspective?

 

You however?

Utterly laughable......

Why? You clearly do not like my posts, and although say you don't like off topic comments, continue to make them, even given the opportunity to move the conversation to the VP, you choose not to.

Just now, MJG said:

Aka made a completely irrelavent off topic comment.

As is the comment you just made! 

[Guest]

Just now, rusty69 said:

Why? You clearly do not like my posts, and although say you don't like off topic comments, continue to make them, even given the opportunity to move the conversation to the VP, you choose not to.

As is the comment you just made! 

You struggling with your reading again?

Must go, something much more engaging on the TV.

 

Assuming this is still running later I'll resume.

 

Ttfn

[WotEver]

Anybody know a decent crèche? We appear to have some squabbling children out on their own. 

[rusty69]

Just now, WotEver said:

Anybody know a decent crèche? We appear to have some squabbling children out on their own. 

We need a ref, not a creche. Athy has disappeared. 

 

Fwiw, i have offered a truce with MJG(PM)  I will even allow him the last word if he wants. But my offer in the other thread stands! 

[LadyG]

59 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Yep. Having used fla batteries for liveaboard use of near thirty years I can categoricaly state they are cheap and do a brilliant job if a few rules are adhered to. Or you could take advice from someone with a couple of years under their belt ?

He s not advising folks to go to Li. He wanted them, he explains why, and he explains how. It's better that he posts these, its what he does, no one has to watch them.

Edited May 9, 2018 by LadyG

[Dave_P]

Athy may have disappeared but there are other mods lurking around...

 

It's fairly common for longer threads to meander around a bit over time.  However, this thread has been thoroughly derailed by two members who clearly ought to know better.  One by playing the wind-up merchant and the other by constantly biting the bait.  I'd prefer to avoid coming across like an old school matron but it stops here and now.  The original poster asked a perfectly good (if very familiar) question.  Let's have a go at answering that shall we.

 

Any more tit-for-tat sniping and derailing and I'll close the thread, which would be a shame.

 

And to the OP - yes - get a boat.  Don't stretch yourself financially though.  Buy a cheap one and see if you like it first.  Then sell it and buy a better one.

[roland elsdon]

If it's anything to go on we bought our first boat in 1980 to live on. In 2005 after 25 years we decided no more and emigrated bought a small holding in Oz. We decided never ever retire on the canal it's full of retired bank managers and  um others, buy a nice house. 

currently  retired back in uk and guess what tied on the southern Oxford after a great days boat. (Second lock at napton perfectly fine it's all the modern banana boats). We have a nice house we just are not in it, but our rent a room tenant looks after it.

so my advice don't buy a boat

[Dr Bob]

9 hours ago, MJG said:

 

 

The two happiest days in your life as a boat owner, are the day you buy and the day you sell.

 

 

Martin - ex. boat owner.

What a load of rubbish. For you maybe, but not for people who enjoy boating.

The day you buy, you are worried that you have made a mistake. The day you sell you are mortified YOU'RE not going to be able to sail in your dream.

No, for me, more like the day we won our first North Sea race and Mrs Bob picking up the winners trophy in Stavanger. The day we arrived in La Corunna after crossing Biscay in 3 days from Cork. The day we didn't have to pay for a bus ride in Sardinia cause the bus driver spoke no English and my Italian was rubbish.....and tonight's steak and cheddar pie in the Folly at Napton. Boating is wonderful.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Dr Bob

[Dave_P]

1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:

What a load of rubbish. For you maybe, but not for people who enjoy boating.

The day you buy, you are worried that you have made a mistake. The day you sell you are mortified YOU'RE not going to be able to sail in your dream.

No, for me, more like the day we won our first North Sea race and Mrs Bob picking up the winners trophy in Stavanger. The day we arrived in La Corunna after crossing Biscay in 3 days from Cork. The day we didn't have to pay for a bus ride in Sardinia cause the bus driver spoke no English and my Italian was rubbish.....and tonight's steak and cheddar pie in the Folly at Napton. Boating is wonderful.

I suspect Martin’s comment was meant with tongue in cheek. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Dave_P said:

I suspect Martin’s comment was meant with tongue in cheek. 

I suspect something else....

 

However putting that aside there was a degree of seriousness to my comment which of course is from my own personal perspective.

 

Others of course are available.

[70liveaboard]

Way back to the OP.

 

We're getting on now, but still love boating. It does get harder if the body is not so willing.

[Athy]

11 hours ago, rusty69 said:

We need a ref, not a creche. Athy has disappeared. 

 

 

Like many people, from time to time he needs to go and do such things as eating dinner and sleeping!

 

  Mrs. Athy and I first hired in 1993 - a cabin cruiser on the Canal du Nivernais in France. After a week of crashing into things and people, driving sideways and a couple of near-divorces, we arrived home in a state of nervous exhaustion. Within a couple of weeks, however, we started asking, "Where shall we hire a boat next year?" Thus followed hires on the GU, the K&A and the Middle Level.

   But it was the wine box which was the clincher. At the end of an evening during which we had consumed most of the contents of one, we agreed that we should buy a boat. The next morning we still felt the same way, as far as we could tell, and set off boat-hunting, finally buying a 1989 39-footer in late 1997. Four years later we had a budget-priced narrowboat built by Devizes Narrowboat Builders and then in 2005 we commissioned Trojan, which Mel Davis built for us and which we still have. Sometimes we've been on long adventures, more often we just potter around the area of our Cropredy mooring. Sure, it's cost us quite a bit of lolly over the years. But we find it hard to imagine life without a boat now. They are addictive.

   So, in answer to the OP's question: a narrowboat isn't just for Christmas, it's for life. To coin a phrase, it's a yes from me.

[rusty69]

25 minutes ago, Athy said:

Like many people, from time to time he needs to go and do such things as eating dinner and sleeping

Oh, I thought you was an android 

 

I like boats too, 7.5 at last count. I can't see me ever being without at least 1

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I like boats too, 7.5 at last count. I can't see me ever being without at least 1

You cannot count all of those things - if its not a Catamaran its only half a boat !!!