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Poll: Boat dweller or live on the bank?


MtB

Boat dweller or live on the bank?  

155 members have voted

  1. 1. Mrsmelly asserted earlier that most of us here live on the bank rather than on our boats. This poll is to get a better idea.

    • I'm a boat dweller
      68
    • I live on the bank
      87


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And no cheating. Living on a boat means 24/7 365 not a few sunny months and weekends now and then of course holidays away from the boat are allowed cos thats what I do :D

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Do I detect a 'them and us' attitude developing here, with the liveaboards rather looking down on people who have houses?  Personally I regard myself as having the best of both worlds, with a house in a beautiful part of the country and the ability to also travel extensively throughout the waterways for several months each year.

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I don't really get the concept of having more than one home. I get that it is possible to own/stay in two or more dwellings for an overall equal amount of nights, but to me, only one of them is really your actual home. Whether the one that you think of as "home" when you get there is the boat or the house may be the clincher... 

But I suspect the real question is more along the lines of "is the boat still your home when the going gets tough and things might be easier with mains services if you have the option to take it" for those with a boat and one or more land properties.

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Really don't like this, divisive and simplistic. We cc'ed for six years, lived full time on the boat whilst wintering in a marina for another six and now spend seven months of the year on the boat and five in our lodge at Mercia.

So what does that make us? We identify as liveaboards but mrs would no doubt classify us as living on the bank so as to sneer at us.

Speeling edit.

Edited by BruceinSanity
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Many who might love to be liveaboards have jobs, children in school or other commitments that prevent them.  I know some people are able to juggle all these but it's hard.  What about cc ers?  Are you a proper boater if you live in a marina?  Or a permanent linear mooring???

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9 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

And no cheating. Living on a boat means 24/7 365 not a few sunny months and weekends now and then of course holidays away from the boat are allowed cos thats what I do :D

There's a yawning chasm between the two scenarios you offer. 

I identify as a liveaboard but I don't spend 24 hours a day 365 days a year on my boat. I'm not a hermit!

I stay with my partner in her house frequently. I also have a camper van which I stay in frequently. 

My home is my boat though. 

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We live in a house. We boat pretty well continuously from April to October. I would bet that the vast majority of this forum are house dwellers, many not even having a boat. Does it matter as long as they contribute to the forum? Ian.

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"This poll is to get a better idea."  

Perhaps it is, but no-one has come up with one in this thread yet!  I don't recall any since Doghouse flogged his boat and bought a caravan, and I'm not sure that was a better idea. Can't we just enjoy our boats and share our differing experiences and skills to the common good?

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A worthwhile idea, this poll is like a census and it would be interesting to have seen results over a few years. So a job for Mike having set this Benchmark back in 12 months then.

 

Edited by b0atman
missed bits
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15 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

"This poll is to get a better idea."  

Perhaps it is, but no-one has come up with one in this thread yet!  I don't recall any since Doghouse flogged his boat and bought a caravan, and I'm not sure that was a better idea. Can't we just enjoy our boats and share our differing experiences and skills to the common good?

It wouldn't have thought the poll was created with the aim of creating division or pigeon holing people.  I'm also curious to know for no other reason than being curious :)

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Just now, Psycloud said:

It wouldn't have thought the poll was created with the aim of creating division or pigeon holing people.  I'm also curious to know for no other reason than being curious :)

Sorry, I did sound a bit anti-poll there, didn't I.  I'm not, nor am I criticising Mike for posting it.  This one might be a bit black and white, I guess, so it has attracted a bit of divisive sentiment which is what my last sentence was referring to. The rest, particularly Doghouse's 'upgrade' to a caravan, was tongue in cheek.

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9 minutes ago, Psycloud said:

It wouldn't have thought the poll was created with the aim of creating division or pigeon holing people.  I'm also curious to know for no other reason than being curious :)

Correct.

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I can't answer the poll we do both, five nights a week on the boat and two in the cottage, both are refered to as "home"  we have lived on the boat for 25 years and the cottage for 5 where does that put us in the great divide? 

Oh and I have had a second boat that is not home on and off for 20 years, just bought a new one ;)

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I don't think there's any need to muddy the water here  I'm intrigued to know how many members stay on their boats for 12 months of the year which is surely the purpose of this poll?

 

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17 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I don't think there's any need to muddy the water here  I'm intrigued to know how many members stay on their boats for 12 months of the year which is surely the purpose of this poll?

 

Sorry, but the water is already muddy, as is evident from replies.  Why the 12 months?  Is someone who goes off on a cruise in the sunshine each winter therefore not a house dweller?  You are setting artificial parameters.  The poll has very little meaning.

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Some people can have an argument with a paper bag :)

The poll was created because someone asserted that most here lived on the bank, rather then their boat, and the OP is trying to get a feel as to whether that is the case or not, perhaps for future reference. So far it looks like it's about 50/50 amongst those prepared to answer.

Given that it is each one of us as individuals who are answering the question, (or not), and no-one knows how each one of us has answered, why not just interpret it as you want to and answer accordingly? Or, if you feel the question is not appropriate, dont answer.

Nobody is being pigeon holed here, nor made part of a class - mostly because nobody knows how anyone has answered.

I spend quite a lot of time on my boat, but I consider my home to be on the bank, so that is how I've answered.

I suppose a better question might have been: "If asked where you live, what is your instinctive answer?", and even that wouldn't be good enough for some.

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26 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

Some people can have an argument with a paper bag :)

The poll was created because someone asserted that most here lived on the bank, rather then their boat, and the OP is trying to get a feel as to whether that is the case or not, perhaps for future reference. So far it looks like it's about 50/50 amongst those prepared to answer.

Given that it is each one of us as individuals who are answering the question, (or not), and no-one knows how each one of us has answered, why not just interpret it as you want to and answer accordingly? Or, if you feel the question is not appropriate, dont answer.

Nobody is being pigeon holed here, nor made part of a class - mostly because nobody knows how anyone has answered.

I spend quite a lot of time on my boat, but I consider my home to be on the bank, so that is how I've answered.

I suppose a better question might have been: "If asked where you live, what is your instinctive answer?", and even that wouldn't be good enough for some.

Yes I'm sure there are a lot of us on here who split their time between their land based dwelling and the boat, but if someone asks you "where do you live/" you don't enter into a great philosophical debate about what the concept of "live" means, you answer instinctively which is what I did.    

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37 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Yes I'm sure there are a lot of us on here who split their time between their land based dwelling and the boat, but if someone asks you "where do you live/" you don't enter into a great philosophical debate about what the concept of "live" means, you answer instinctively which is what I did.    

So it's actually like all those other tricky identity type questions like sexuality or colour/nationality and the best way to phrase it would be "Do you think of yourself as a liveaboard or a house dweller, or something in between?" (To which I would answer 'in between' now.)

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48 minutes ago, BruceinSanity said:

So it's actually like all those other tricky identity type questions like sexuality or colour/nationality and the best way to phrase it would be "Do you think of yourself as a liveaboard or a house dweller, or something in between?" (To which I would answer 'in between' now.)

I think that's the way most members will have interpreted it anyway.  

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I assumed this was an attempt to discover how many here have to cope with ALL the potential difficulties (and blessings) of living on a boat and how many avoid some of those difficulties (and blessings) by occasionally living ashore.

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