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Help! we need a mooring


The novice

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Hi everyone,

My wife and I are new to boating and are hoping some kind soul can help us. We are looking to live aboard a narrowboat (viewing one next week), and we are trying to find a mooring available on the Bridgewater canal as we have work in Wythenshawe (so as near as possible would be good. We also have a car for getting to work). We dont seem to be getting anywhere online, hence joining this forum. Can anyone help us?....please!

Thankyou. 

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Hi to you both and welcome aboard . I can't help you out as I'm out in the Fens but someone will be along shortly who may be able to offer assistance.

Unfortunately this is the wrong time of year as many are preoccupied with Xmas but keep checking back here as answers do come back rapidly 

Be prepared for a bit of flack as we get requests such as yours all the time  but hang on in there and don't be put of by the odd grumpy reply.

Phil 

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54 minutes ago, Phil Ambrose said:

 

Be prepared for a bit of flack as we get requests such as yours all the time 

To be fair, the ones which crop up most often, and of which some forum members are weary, are for moorings inside the M25. Enquiries about moorings in the wild North-West should, I hope, attract far less flak.

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Hi both,

I seem to recall that Peel Holdings, the owners of the Bridgewater Canal are against/do not allow residential mooring on the canal.  The same goes for continuous cruising.  There are threads on here about the Bridgewater.  Enter bridgewater in the search box and trawl through a few of them.

 

 

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2 hours ago, The novice said:

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are new to boating and are hoping some kind soul can help us. We are looking to live aboard a narrowboat (viewing one next week), and we are trying to find a mooring available on the Bridgewater canal as we have work in Wythenshawe (so as near as possible would be good. We also have a car for getting to work). We dont seem to be getting anywhere online, hence joining this forum. Can anyone help us?....please!

Thankyou. 

Welcome to the forum but as already mentioned, the Bridgewater is not the easiest Waterway to chose. Have you any furthe needs -children needing schools etc? Have you had a look into a berth at a marina which may allow residential boats? 

 

Because of Peel Holdings attitude to residential mooring you may have to widen your horizons. Have you a maximum distance from work in mind? 

 

Good luck with your viewing and let us know how you get on.

 

Howard

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Two central facts about proper residential moorings:

There are not many of them

They are very rarely secure in the same way as a house or flat lease.

 

Some people take a cruising mooring and just live aboard under the radar.  This OK till your mooring provider gets antsy and evicts you  without notice.

Some people don't bother with a mooring and move around. That means moving every 14 days and may be too much hassle.  Peel do not allow this on the Bridgewater but there are nearby CRT canals where you could do this.

I think there are very few residential moorings on the Bridgewater. There may be some at New Islington Marina in Manchester. There are boat club moorings in Runcorn and marinas on the Leigh branch of the L&L and the Trent and Mersey.

The best thing is to get plugged in to the tow path telegraph and to ring all suitably located marinas fairly regularly to see what is going on.

N

 

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Thanks all for your responses...seems its true what they say about the boating community....always willing to help. Howard we dont need to consider anything other than being relatively close to Wythenshawe area ( 30 mins drive away). It would appear BWC is not the best option. We think we will have a look at Pennington Wharf on L&L. We are travelling from a similar distance at the moment and it appears they have moorings available!

Will let you know how we get on after Christmas. 

 

 

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When I was working in Wythenshawe and looking to move to the area I found that coming in from the East (Stockport direction) was an absolute nightmare - it took a minimum of 45 minutes to get in from Stockport. We bought a house in Sale and it was only 10 minutes 'commute', we then moved to Wrecsam (50 miles) and I could get into Wythenshawe in 50 minutes along the M56.

 

There are moorings in Sale (but I think they are 'leisure' only)

 

 

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Its ten years now since we were looking for a mooring, and things might have changed, but I concluded that the www was not the best means of doing mooring research and finding a mooring, and the phone was not much better. The canal is one of those places where things are still done face to face. You really need to get walking the towpath and talking to people. As an example, I am aware that a boat might be for sale at New Islington Marina in the next few months and its residential mooring might be transferable. I suspect this boat will change hands without any adverts on the www.

New Islington is a residential marina right in the middle of Manchester, have you done a visit (or two), talked to boaters, and decided if this is the sort of place where you might fit in ? (that last bit is very important ?)  

 

..............Dave

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6 minutes ago, dmr said:

Its ten years now since we were looking for a mooring, and things might have changed, but I concluded that the www was not the best means of doing mooring research and finding a mooring, and the phone was not much better. The canal is one of those places where things are still done face to face. You really need to get walking the towpath and talking to people. As an example, I am aware that a boat might be for sale at New Islington Marina in the next few months and its residential mooring might be transferable. I suspect this boat will change hands without any adverts on the www.

New Islington is a residential marina right in the middle of Manchester, have you done a visit (or two), talked to boaters, and decided if this is the sort of place where you might fit in ? (that last bit is very important ?)  

 

..............Dave

I'm not sure that New Islington Marina will be within the 30 minute commute to Wythenshawe - although you would be going 'against' the traffic at rush-hour times.

The A56 can be pretty well choked up.

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15 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I'm not sure that New Islington Marina will be within the 30 minute commute to Wythenshawe - although you would be going 'against' the traffic at rush-hour times.

The A56 can be pretty well choked up.

True, but if the op wants a residential mooring then he's likely going to have to be a bit more flexible. However I was really using this as an illustration that the www is not the best method of finding a residential mooring, or in fact a mooring of any kind.

 

............Dave

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There are quite a few moorings on the Bridgewater not too far from you. I suspect almost all are leased to boat clubs and non residential, though I also suspect a very small number are full time occupied. This would likely depend upon you becoming "in favour" within the boat club.  

There are a  boats moored at the various boat yards just up from the Barn Owl and so there just might be a chance of something here but again that would require personal negotiation with the boat yards. Have you walked the canal? its quite variable and in some spots the boats have "window protector" and it does not look like a good place to live. Up near Lymm its lovely.

Whatever you find is likely to have zero security in that you might be required to leave at very short notice.

 

................Dave

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5 hours ago, The novice said:

Thankyou Grebe for your quick reply. I will have a look as you suggest, but arent there marinas along the BWC you can stay longer term? Please excuse my ignorance.....better go off now and search here as you say to reduce said ignorance!

Thanks again 

As far as I can see the Bridgewater Canal Company list has all the available moorings including marinas, boat clubs and private moorings.

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