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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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6 hours 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 :)

I take it that it was set up as a result of Ladygardner's question in new to boating where it was implied by some that if you did no live on your boat 7/24/365 then your opinions, observations, experience and conclusions had no validity so you should not  respond to the question. To a slight degree those who implied that may have a point BUT just as this poll is flawed as has been shown by at least one reply so is that opinion unless whoever feels that way can assess the responder's experience and past.

I deliberately decided that a land base is vital because we do not know how things will turn out but spend months on the boat in summer, spring, autumn and much shorter periods in the winter. I have stayed with friends when they were livaboards during the winter and I found it claustrophobic and dismal, despite being warm.

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Just voted and yes I live on my boat full time, work, continuously cruise and don't get grief from CART.  I find these threads fascinating as a lot of comments come out about whose a 'real' boater etc etc. I love the canal BECAUSE it has liveaboard, marina, hire boaters, cruise it and dump it's,  GRPs and so on, it's what makes it such an interesting place to be and we should all embrace the variety of 'boater' on the cut. 

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I used to live on my boat 4 months and work in Oz for 8  from now reversed. However home is the boat. Why because I identify home with where I spent 30 years before going to Oz where I lived in a house ( didn't work ) or in rentals ( really doesn't work.) the canals are where I feel at home. When I step on the counter after 8 months and open the hatches I'm home.

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Just to change the "centre of balance" of this discussion:  I live in a house, and hopefully always will. I have no ambitions to be a CC'er or live in a marina. I am part of a boat consortium and enjoy my allocated weeks on the water, and I'm sure many others will feel the same as me.  It's nice to have a broad spectrum of Forum users.

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6 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

I take it that it was set up as a result of Ladygardner's question in new to boating where it was implied by some that if you did no live on your boat 7/24/365 then your opinions, observations, experience and conclusions had no validity so you should not  respond to the question. To a slight degree those who implied that may have a point BUT just as this poll is flawed as has been shown by at least one reply so is that opinion unless whoever feels that way can assess the responder's experience and past.

I deliberately decided that a land base is vital because we do not know how things will turn out but spend months on the boat in summer, spring, autumn and much shorter periods in the winter. I have stayed with friends when they were livaboards during the winter and I found it claustrophobic and dismal, despite being warm.

I have to say that I didn't really get that message from the source of this poll in the thread 'Not got a boat yet'. The source of this poll was mrs smelly's assertion that 99% of those he had met over the years hadn't remained on the canals for a variety of reasons (health, finance, etc.) and that most of the liveaboards he knows don't read this forum. He does however only give a small microcosm of liveaboards (those at Heyford). It would appear from the results of this poll that perhaps more liveaboards are reading this than he is aware of (I included myself as a permanent liveaboard, I own a house that I visit about every 3 months to comply with the insurance requirements).

The flaw I would see in the original point he made however was the line where he said,"... we have met literally countless couples over the ensuing years who have moved aboard keen as mustard but over ninety nine percent of them no longer live aboard.... ". Well from what I have noticed of the liveaboards we meet a lot of them are singletons, often but not exclusively male. I'd be interested to know whether the majority of liveaboards are as couples, or singletons. I suspect from what I have seen it is probably singletons but that is just an opinion, if it is wrong I have others:rolleyes:

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Obviously there should be a way to distinguish full time liveaboards from leisure boaters. The opinions of full timers carry more authority and should count for more in e.g. discussions about whether an new poster should move onto the canals. Alternatively their views on things like politics should be given less weight. 

They could be indicted with a star perhaps. or a wheelbarrow symbol. 

Marina dwellers could be indicated with a caravan symbol?

I think this would be a step in the right direction.

  • Greenie 1
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34 minutes ago, Tigerr said:

Obviously there should be a way to distinguish full time liveaboards from leisure boaters. The opinions of full timers carry more authority and should count for more in e.g. discussions about whether an new poster should move onto the canals. Alternatively their views on things like politics should be given less weight. 

They could be indicted with a star perhaps. or a wheelbarrow symbol. 

Marina dwellers could be indicated with a caravan symbol?

I think this would be a step in the right direction.

I don't think it is as simple as that.

Some liveaboards rarely if ever move out of the marina, so have relatively little experience of handling a boat or operating locks and swing bridges, whereas some leisure boaters and genuine ccer's cover many hundreds of hours of boating per year. 

Also just how much experience of emptying a bog or filling a water tank do you need to do it competently?  Surely after a few times, there is little else to learn. 

I think pigeonholing people is divisive and pointless unless the purpose for gathering the information is clearly stated and understood by all before anyone comlletes the poll.

We are all boaters,  and if we allow CRT or anyone else to divide us then we are all weaker for it.

Edited by cuthound
To add the last sentance.
  • Greenie 3
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22 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

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

 

Absolutely. The poll was started out of interest, not as the catalyst for a deep philosophical discussion.

I am surprised by the high proportion of liveaboards amongst our members.

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39 minutes ago, Athy said:

Possibly; but, amongst the many reasons for being mendacious, I doubt whether liveaboard envy is high on the list.

Maybe there are some who are "Transboatual" (a bit like a Transsexual "a person who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex").

 

They feel they are liveaboards but are trapped in 'bricks & mortar' whilst on the waiting list for 'the operation'.

 
Edited by Alan de Enfield
  • Greenie 3
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42 minutes ago, Athy said:

Possibly; but, amongst the many reasons for being mendacious, I doubt whether liveaboard envy is high on the list.

I think the poll might be distorted by those who are aware of the context, and mrsmelly's remarks about "hobby boaters".  

 

  • Greenie 1
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I live in a boat my other half has a bungalow we spend nearly all our time here winter or summer. I dont really like house dwelling now but every now and then try it just to make sure that I have got my life right:D I have neighbours into their 80s who are worried that they might be forced to live on land, its a strange world we live in that can make our lives seem wrong, or that we are classified as water gypsies, whereas for me its doing what I like best living in a boat

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3 hours ago, Tigerr said:

Obviously there should be a way to distinguish full time liveaboards from leisure boaters. The opinions of full timers carry more authority and should count for more in e.g. discussions about whether an new poster should move onto the canals. Alternatively their views on things like politics should be given less weight. 

They could be indicted with a star perhaps. or a wheelbarrow symbol. 

Marina dwellers could be indicated with a caravan symbol?

I think this would be a step in the right direction.

Greenie for the embedded humour!

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13 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

I took it to be tongue in cheek too, but a lot of people might take this seriously.   One already has, and the two greenies he got imply that others did too!

I wonder how many people could take the idea of a wheelbarrow symbol seriously? (I'm still trying to work out why it should be a wheelbarrow).

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2 hours ago, Athy said:

Absolutely. The poll was started out of interest, not as the catalyst for a deep philosophical discussion.

I am surprised by the high proportion of liveaboards amongst our members.

I'm not.  In fact, I often forget that not everyone on here is a liveaboard.

I've never understood why someone would own a boat big enough to live on, but not do so.  The idea of living in a house seems just awful to me.  But i suppose we're all different.

 

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17 minutes ago, Athy said:

I wonder how many people could take the idea of a wheelbarrow symbol seriously? (I'm still trying to work out why it should be a wheelbarrow).

The Wheelbarrow symbol could set a Trend,The Wannabee Trans Boaters may buy Battered used ones to put on their Boat's Roof just for the Kudos?

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2 minutes ago, cereal tiller said:

The Wheelbarrow symbol could set a Trend,The Wannabee Trans Boaters may buy Battered used ones to put on their Boat's Roof just for the Kudos?

Possibly, yes. Do they display a teapot too?

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30 minutes ago, Dave_P said:

I'm not.  In fact, I often forget that not everyone on here is a liveaboard.

I've never understood why someone would own a boat big enough to live on, but not do so.  The idea of living in a house seems just awful to me.  But i suppose we're all different.

 

Sorry to get semantic again but all the poll reveals is the number of members who consider themselves to be liveaboards.  By your definition there might actually be fewer, or more..

Add that to the context of the poll and I'm beginning to think the result is meaningless though it has been an interesting discussion.

 

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