Not Motorhomes but Narrowboats

wildebus

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I am toying with the idea of getting a Narrowboat to 'do up' and become a liveaboard. I believe quite a few folk on this forum have lived in Narrowboats? So would be interested in any pointers, tips, "Don't do it!", or " Do it!" comments.
 
The 10 years or so I spent living on the 'cut' were possibly 10 of the best years I spent living anywhere....
You end up being very in tune with the changes of the seasons etc and I certainly appreciated them far more than when living in bricks and mortar.
That said I was lucky to find free residential moorings in return for general maintainance and had a very nice quiet spot in the Macclesfield canal.
Back then it was a cheap way of living despite BWB (now canal and river trust) however its more expensive and involved now with mooring fees/boat licence/insurance etc etc and no doubt other ways that the canal and river trust have come up with to get money out of boaters.
Mobile phones/solar/mobile Internet etc all probably make things far more 'civilised' now too no doubt.
 
I am toying with the idea of getting a Narrowboat to 'do up' and become a liveaboard. I believe quite a few folk on this forum have lived in Narrowboats? So would be interested in any pointers, tips, "Don't do it!", or " Do it!" comments.
I would not consider it unless you can afford and get a permanent mooring on a marina.

Other wise your going to have to keep on moving from point A to B to C to D not just backwards and forwards, you can't do that.

That's summer and winter
 
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I would not consider it unless you can afford and get a permanent mooring on a marina.

Other wise your going to have to keep on moving from point A to B to C to D not just backwards and forwards, you can't do that.

That's summer and winter

AFAIK and unless things have changed recently... Canal and river trust no longer issue 'continuously cruising' licences...
So having a home mooring is now compulsory rather than being able to just trundle around the network without having any permanant berth anywhere as in years gone by.

Great shame really as time has gone on BWB and then C and RT have turned it more and more into a business...
Mainly built on the hard work and efforts of volunteers like the WRG etc etc...
 
I looked at narrow boats a few years ago,the whole lifestyle didn't seem particularly cheap but what put me off the most was all the rules and regs,I'd imagine Europe would be better in all ways,not least of all having a wider house,and a far bigger network to explore.
 
We lived on one for several years and the main thing in your decision making is are you going to cruise or be permanently/semi permanently moored.
They are completely different options as far as costs, crew etc go.

Solo cruising is possible, but you need to be fairly fit; while having crew makes travelling a lot easier one member needs to be fit and able.

Marina moorings are expensive - mooring bankside can be cheaper, but in winter it can be a muddy job.

As a lifestyle it can be very enjoyable, seeing places you don't see by road and chatting to folk along the way.

We used to cruise the summer months then leave the boat in a marina and take the van to Spain/Portugal for the winter.
 
AFAIK and unless things have changed recently... Canal and river trust no longer issue 'continuously cruising' licences...
So having a home mooring is now compulsory rather than being able to just trundle around the network without having any permanant berth anywhere as in years gone by.

Great shame really as time has gone on BWB and then C and RT have turned it more and more into a business...
Mainly built on the hard work and efforts of volunteers like the WRG etc etc...
I haven't done any research TBH but I had assumed you could travel around the network and moor on a canal side in a similar way to wildcamping in a van. Sounds not :(
 
I haven't done any research TBH but I had assumed you could travel around the network and moor on a canal side in a similar way to wildcamping in a van. Sounds not :(

Based on the regs when we were cruising, you can do exactly that, with a proviso that you move after 14 days, or sooner if there is restricted mooring time, i.e. towns, popular moorings etc.

A point to bear in mind is that the winter months are when a lot of repair work is carried out on locks, bridges etc. and you can get stuck in one place for several days, so essential that you carry lots of water, diesel, fuel ......................

Talking to friends who are still liveaboards, it seems a lot are not happy with the way their licence fees are being used. The spending seems to favour walkers and cyclists and less money is being spent on the upkeep of the boaters needs like dredging and lock/bridge maintenance.
 
I haven't done any research TBH but I had assumed you could travel around the network and moor on a canal side in a similar way to wildcamping in a van. Sounds not :(

(unless things have changed recently) You can travel around as, much as you like BUT must have a home mooring....
Things used to be a lot cheaper when you could apply for a continuous cruising licence as it meant no mooring fees....
But BWB abolished that and unless C RT have changed it again (unlikely if it makes it cheaper for folks) then continuous cruising without a home mooring is but a happy memory.

Seems I need to eat my words.....
They HAVE reinstated continuous cruising licences.... At what cost I don't know....

Continuous cruising | Canal & River Trust
 
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I suggest not

You need at least a 2nd person (preferably more) for cruising

As others have posted
It seems now a permanent mooring (ie a home base) appears to be needed
You are limited in where you can stop and indeed go
LPG is almost certainly Calor so costly

How does it fit in with MoHo ing

Permanent address for Driving Licence etc

I suggest 1 mobile home is enough
 
The no need for a permanent mooring (and paying for it even it not used) was a major appeal of the idea. And no need to pay council tax (could have an official residence specifed at a family members house perfectly legitimately I am sure).

The OH doesn't seem to like the idea anyway (but does still appeal to me even if a - potential low cost mooring address, like a mailing address type thing? - is needed. Maybe just be me and the cat ! )
 
If you have a few hours to spare you may find this helpful.

Cruising The Cut – Travels of a liveaboard narrowboater



He has also built his own camper.

Vandemonium – A middle-aged man's attempt to make a DIY campervan


I found both informative and entertaining.

I started watching the cruising the cut videos on YouTube after I posted this thread in fact. And yes, agree. Informative and entertaining :) . Started from the first video (I think) and on #5 now!

Not seen the Campervan ones though.
 
Costs

Last time I looked the annual cost for a continuous cruising license was about £800 or £900 for a boat of around 50-60 ft, which is the most popular size for living aboard.
You have to add a couple of hundred a year for insurance, and the possible costs incurred by renewing your boat safety certificate every 4 years (I think).
And they recommend you repaint the lower part of the boat (with blacking paint) every 2 or 3 years, and that can cost over 1000 a time. Plus odd things will break that are usually more costly to fix than their domestic equivalents.

You don't need to have a home mooring, but if you don't have one, the CRT rule is that you must move your boat every 14 days as a minimum (which seems to be more of a challenge in winter). I think the idea behind that rule was to prevent selfish people from stopping permanently and effectively blocking access to the most popular mooring spots.

There used to be rules about how far you had to move after the 14 day stopping period, and how soon you could return to your original place, but I think maybe they are less rigid in recent years. Certainly thousands of people live aboard on the London canals based on continuous cruising licences, and never move more than 20 miles

You are allowed to moor almost anywhere on the towpath side of the canal within the CRT managed waterways (there are some others), although the popular spots will have limits of a day or two max, and some even less.
But what appeals to me is the freedom to find a nice quiet spot in a quiet rural location and just park up there for a couple of weeks, completely free from any kind of challenge from parking wardens, local busybodies, or whatever.
My one reservation about motorhome wild camping is how I would cope with a nagging feeling that wherever I am parked, I am basically on a ticking clock and will have to move on in a day or two (and maybe even sooner), to avoid hassle or problems.

There does seem to be a very sad mindset in this country that people traveling in motorhomes or vans can't be tolerated in one place for very long, and must be moved on, regardless of whether they are causing an obstruction or nuisance.

On a boat you are free from that feeling (which may not bother many people anyway to be fair), and it is the main reason why- when I retire in a few years) - I will try living in a narrowboat in preference to a motorhome, at least to start with.
 
Hi Tony,
useful info on the costs there.

Ref the general 'vibe' of your reply ... it is pretty much in line with what I was thinking and wanting to do :) Cheers :wave:
 
Best advice is to have a walk along the cut and talk to boaters (not hire boaters) and you should get a variety of opinions from folk who are actually doing it. :D
 
From my as-yet limited research, the following appears to be the general rules:
  • That a CRT means moving every 14 days to a new location and not returning to the old one within around 3 month and this is generally enforced.
  • However if you have a base mooring, you don't actually ever have to use it, but it means that you can, if you so wish, bounce between two locations every 14 days (seems to be a loophole and of course we know what happens to loopholes after a time!)
I am planning to go to Falkirk to meet a friend who will be up there in the next week or so. I believe at the Falkirk Wheel there is a canal boat rental company so will have a nose around their boats to get a better feeling about the whole idea. (What made me think of this is visited family end of July and went to see friend of Sisters who lives in a Widebeam full-time and loves it, and wandering around the boat I could see why. Thinking Narrowboat over widebeam as able to cruise around with much more flexibility but will the narrowness be just too much?)
 
Depends very much on the layout....
Some can be like living in a corridor.... Others are a lot more open.
Depends on style too.... Cruiser/tug/trad etc etc
Generally for live aboard I'd avoid cruiser style as they tend to have large open rear decks which is wasted space.

Bear in mind over a certain length you'll be restricted by some locks.... 71ft is usual max length but won't be able to cruise the whole system.

58'6 is generally regarded as max length for most....
60ft for the bulk of it.
 

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