blackrat779

My Goodness! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply, to be honest I wasn't expecting this many or such considered thoughts. I am very grateful. I will probably be checking behind the sofa for lost coins to buy a house but I think this is probably the right thing to do. Even in my mid 60's I have already had lung cancer, but 5 years down the line I am reasonably fit and active and would be able to cope very well right now. What if it comes back? There are a lot of 'what ifs' at this age and I probably won't be able to have both the chance to live on the cut and have a house later if I am honest with myself. Having retired I imagine I won't be able to get a loan on the house easily. I think I need my practical head on here and maybe just enjoy a holiday or two on the cut instead and that will have to be enough.

Hi, I'm curious about decisions people have made regarding a life on the cut. I have been following many YouTubers as they live life on their boats for the last 6 years, some have stayed, some have left and some just seem to have disappeared. It seems for at least some people this was just a phase in their lives before they moved on to other things. Of course I appreciate that YouTube is not real life and there are many reasons why people are making videos, including money, which is all fine. My question is for those who sold up everything to move to a life afloat, what happens when you...get board, get too old or sick or yearn for a life back on dry land, want to move nearer family etc.? With house prices going up and boat values going down, what if you can't afford to move back to a house if you need to (assuming you have sold everything)? Do you have a plan B? Following a change in circumstances, I now find myself looking at the possibility of making that choice for myself. (Please assume I have a realistic view of life onboard and the costs). Do I jump in and live my dream, possibly to regret it years down the line, I'm mid 60's. Do I buy a small house and maybe just do a few holidays on the cut, hoping that this will be enough always regretting that I wasn't brave enough to jump off a cliff? I know that no one can answer these questions for me, but many people have made this decision before me and I am curious as to how you made yours. What is your plan or did you just jump and hope for the best? Thanks

The more I think about it, the worse the idea seems. I will be sticking with CCing. Now all I have to do is sell my house and get a NB Cheers, BR

Guys, Thanks for the replies. It seems the winter moorings are a bit of a rip off, at least with a marina you can see what you are paying for in terms of facilities. I'm not sure this is the case with winter moorings. One point I hadn't considered (thanks Mac) is that there is no way of telling who has a permit and who hasn't. You can't very well go asking boat owners whether they have a permit or not, the ones that don't aren't necessarily going to give you correct information anyway. I think it will be either CCing for me or a marina. Cheers, BR

I have a question about winter moorings, if you have paid for a winter mooring at a popular site, what's to stop someone taking your spot when you have to move to fill with water etc. Are there signs reserving that particular spot for your boat? How does this work in practice? Cheers, BR

This is one of the reasons I am looking at becoming a CCer, only just got rid of Mk1, so no money. This is the new Mk 2 we are talking about. I need someone to hold my hand in the long dark tunnels other than the ghosts, even if I do need new batteries every five minutes. Cheers, BR

Its only an understanding, didn't say I would get one... Cheers, BR

Oh blimey, boat electrics are complicated! I've only just got my head around composting toilets lol. Cheers, BR

Phew! BR

Thanks again to everyone for the the help and information. It was really good to read your post Bargebuilder as this seems to fit my intentions and was very positive. Whatever boat I get, I want to fit solar panels to get the most out of the batteries. I don't really want to economise that much on power but could probably cope without some things. My chief morale officer will insist on something to dry her hair apart from sunshine! I think I will give the wind turbines a miss as they don't seem to be very efficient and really want to avoid a portable generator if I can. Two sub qustions...Do portable generators plug into the shore power socket (please excuse my ignorance) and charge batteries via the inverter as well as supplying sockets and 12v or some other way? I am assuming inverters contain a section for controlling battery charging? After cruising all day and replacing bulk charge, is there a setting on inverters to do the slow topping up charge that is recommended every few days to get the batteries up to 100% I guess what I'm asking is whether this has to be done manually or whether (in general) smart inverter/charger systems linked to solar panels just do this automatically. Again, if the form of my questions is naive, please excuse me and many thanks to all of you who are taking the time out to write these replies. Cheers, BR

Thanks Tony. Are there any simple/quick tests a prospective owner can do to try and reduce the risk? Cheers, BR

Thank you to everyone for your replies on my questions. It looks as though there is no simple answer and it just depends on your circumstances and set up. It's my intention to constantly cruise throughout the year and not rely on shore power. As I mentioned, I haven't got a boat yet but it will be secondhand. To some extent I will inherit the problems that come with whatever system is already installed and will have to adapt my strategy to suit. I guess learning as much as I can (thanks for the links) and reading the posts here will set me up to have a good idea about the system I inherit. BTW do surveys cover electrics? Will they tell you the current state of the system? ie batteries are on their way out, alternator isn't man enough for the job, a hamster has eaten through the battery leads? Thanks again, BR