joe hoyle

You get them everywhere. I was one once! The first flat the OH and I got together we thought we’d do the same. A good lick of paint and we thought we’d make an extra 20k! Of course then we realised we needed new wiring before selling. Then we realised the boiler was basically pointless. Then we had to replace all the rads and pipes. We did make 20k on the original purchase price, but after we’d spent a pretty penny making it look nice with the paint and “London whiteout” look, and then after realising nothing actually worked and getting it all fixed, we ended up on a loss of about 4K. I do do miss that naivety though. Maybe that’s why we’re planning on moving onto a narrow boat!

Ah I get it more now. It’s not so much the look, more the “quick sale / hide the fact it’s a sh*t boat” lick of paint job! I really did think it was a bit of hatred for anything not ‘traditional’ styling!

Unleaded or super?

Might have to pick your brains on your experience Roland! And as for horses.... the legality is one thing, but I’ve never worked out where to put the petrol in.

So I’ve heard this mentioned a couple of times. I think I get the gist. But do people really get this antagonised about interior styles? Personally I really like both the traditional and the modern “whiteout” looks.....

Ah well you can fire it up and still push with a little help from the clutch

Ah no! A proper motorbike is pretty much essential. We love our motorbikes; A moped hurts to think about! We'll have push bikes as well to nip to shops or somewhere close. We won't be on the bike daily. It will probably be once a fortnight. I'm sure we can find a mooring spot near road access when we plan to take it out. Motorbikes are illegal to ride on a towpath, but if I'm only pushing it 20 yards to the road, I can't really see a problem? I'd also wager that'd be difficult to prosecute a motorbike being pushed rather than driven along a towpath??

Well I knew this forum was active but I didn’t expect quite this many replies so quickly! I love the idea of a short butty and 58 boat to make to 70, but the concept of putting my dogs in there doesn’t bare thinking about. Perhaps the OH though when we get stressed! I had seen the video before of the bike lift. As epic as that could be, I really don’t think retro fitting that would be worth the headache. A good hoist or crane would be doable. As as for winter cruising, I’d love this. But I thought the risk of frozen canals and not getting to water / pumps out (if working) is worth the hassle?

Lol I sent this link to my partner this morning and got an excited reply that the deck might be long enough for two bikes! https://m.apolloduck.com/boat/david-harris/579188 I’ve made it clear one will be sufficient though!

Wow thanks everyone for the detailed replies everyone! I do love the idea of a tug for the motorbike and an engine room would also keep me happy whilst also having a good drying area. The main reason we’re doing this is to explore. I think well definitely get a narrow boat. Having looked at Apollo for barges and Widebeams for so long, I hadnt really realised how well some Narrowboats are designed for the sofa areas etc. We went to crick last year and saw some lovely new boats, however we decided then that we’d not like to buy new as they can experience so many teething problems. A tried and tested boat will keep us less stressed in the first year. I guess the dogs will have to learn to keep from under our feet! I have loads of other questions I’ll no doubt be asking in the future. But another big worry for us is winter mooring the boat. We want to have a small flat somewhere we can winter up, but how difficult is getting a winter mooring? Am I right in thinking these are bid for on the 1st October each year? And will a boat be safe leaving alone for two or three months during winter if not in a marina?

Is basically what the OH says to me all the time... And it probably is a dream, but dreams are lovely! Yes but do boaters get annoyed with them? We don't want to be those people that cause chaos round bends. We genuinely want to continuously cruse, so finding a boat size that fits the waterways we want to use but doesn't cause havoc everywhere is what we're looking for. I do think we'll end up with a narrowboat, I'm just trying to look at solving the problems we do know before we do take that plunge and experience all the problems we don't know! Thanks for the quick response Dave

Hi everyone, For about two years I've been following the threads on here with the intention that someday my partner and I would finally move onto the canals and enjoy the life we've been dreaming of. Well it turns out this may actually happen in the next 6-12 months so I was hoping that I could get some advice on any of the many questions we have! A little about us; We're based in the south, both in mid 30's. Our nearest canal is the K&A, and while we'd be looking at using this canal, our main intention is to continuously cruise. Both our work allows us to move freely. Theres no kids, and unlikely to be any in the near future, but we do have two lovely springer spaniels Our first and usual conundrum is the narrow vs wide beam. I've read pretty much all the topics relating to this I can find, but it's still difficult to imagine living on boat less than 7' wide for extended periods. When we've rented narrowboats (usually with friends but have done several times just the two of us and dogs), we've managed fine, but the idea of just a little more width seems just too good an idea to dismiss. Originally we'd intended to commission a dutch barge build (55 x 12) and spend a year or two in the UK before heading off to Europe, and if all the southern widebeam network were suitable, we'd probably still be considering this. As it is though, we'd probably be cruising bristol, oxford, london and back again route. As I understand it, the K&A is just not suitable for such a boat - It seems barely capable with a standard wide beam. And we don't want the hassle of finding large enough visitor moorings or annoying other boaters on the other canals. We know we want to cruise in England before Europe, so we then thought "why avoid a narrowboat?" - especially if it means we can go further and see more. But as beautiful as they look, and the ease of navigation, I have three probably silly but main concerns! 1st - our dogs get in the way! Every time we've rented, our boys get under our feet in the tight spaces! They do tend to follow us around, and they might get used to this pretty quickly and learn to stay clear but it has given me pause! 2nd - the lack of a comfy sofa to cuddle up and watch a film! We don't want separate chairs. We're romantics and love to cuddle up in the evenings. All the narrowboats I've looked at seem impractical with a larger comfy sofa, and usually just have boxed in affairs with pads. 3rd - motorbikes! We understand we're going to have to sell our cars, but we both love to ride. We want to be able to take a bike out to explore more than just the canal side in new areas we're visiting. I've seen a few discussions about them on narrowboats on here, but does anyone have advice on anything other than a 125cc bike system that'll work? We'll look into a light bike, but we'll want to have some fun, so ideally something in the 600cc weight range. So those are the main issues with going full hog narrowboat. Any opinions on any of the points would be massively welcome! When we do one day head off to Europe, we'd sell and buy a more suitable boat for those canals and rivers. Is there a third option though? Would a 9' beam be ok? I know it limits us for the midlands, but we're happy on the southern network, and it would alleviate all the concerns above. The wide beam map doesn't say how far you can get on various widths, so potentially I could take a 14' nearly up to Birmingham! Apologies for the long post, and this is only the first question! Hopefully in the next year we'll be on the water and actually getting to know some of you!