Chubby, thank you so much for your post. I was starting to get disheartened (but not deterred!) and your post really perked me and my girlfriend up.
I think as you pointed out, most people seem to have missed the point that I don't own a house or have a mortgage. You're bang on the money, I'm young and I'm already fed up of not being able to afford to live the way society is going and i'm looking for alternatives. I'd rather live on a boat, have more money and more time to do what I want to do and love rather than working constantly to end up in a coffin having got nowhere in life. I'm almost sure that having time to do what I want and love will in turn make me love the boat life.
Of course, people are still shouting "but you must want to live on a boat, not because it's cheaper" well the truth is as i said before it's been playing on my mind for the last 6 to 8 months so it's not a fleeting thought. We went to see our friends who have lived on a 30ft cruiser stern for the last two years and they couldn't be happier. (Just like to point out theirs is a springer and only cost £15k but it's bloody amazing and just passed it's hull survey). So yes, I do want to live on a boat and not just because it's cheaper. Maybe we won't like it, but as Chubby said, we won't know for sure until we try. We're actually looking forward to downsizing and simplifying our lives. Yes it's one thing to go away in a campervan for two weeks compared to living on a boat but the truth is, when we go away in our van, we have showers, in winter, outside in the freezing cold with boiled water from a pan fed through a solar shower. So yeah, we're used to difficult, I wonder how many people who live on a boat have done this?
In terms of costs, trust me it still works out cheaper even when moored compared to the costs of renting here with bills. I fully understand if you own a house it costs more because you are paying for mooring fees where you don't pay them fees in a house, but a loan for a boat plus mooring fees still comes in less than my rent a month.
Unfortunately as well, our budget will not allow us to get a massive boat that's nice and new because I'm simply not well off and let's be honest, if I had the money you'd still be telling me no in case I didn't like it. That's the whole idea, we get something a little cheaper that we won't lose much money on hopefully and we can test the water, excuse the pun.
We have received some fantastic advice on the thread as well, so thanks for everyone who has contributed and I know some will have genuine concern and don't want to see us regret the choice. At the end of the day, that was what the original post was about, asking for help so we didn't make a mistake.