Is living on Canals as Complicated as it sounds!?

[Gollywobbler]

Not really! Even given the foibles of the search facility here, you could have fairly quickly found some answers to your questions. Not that you'll necessarily find a universally accepted answer on most points!

 

 

 

No "blacking" is simply painting the hull black. Antifouling isn't generally used on inland boats.

 

 

 

As with most narrowboat maintenance tasks you can do it yourself, or you can pay a boatyard to do it for you, depending on your inclination, skills and the amount of money or time you want to spend on it.

 

You can put the boat in drydock or you can have it craned out onto the bank. This will cost you either way. Or a few boaters do indeed go and find a suitable spot on tidal waters, such as the gridiron behind the Ait at Brentford, to do work between the tides, although that doesn't give you the blacking manufacturer's recommended drying time.

 

 

 

Some boatyards will let you bring in an outside contractor to work on your boat, some will not allow this, but will let you do your own work, some insist you use their staff to do all but the most minor things. And some boaters take their boat out of a marina, to another boatyard or to the towpath around the corner, if they want to do work not allowed on their normal mooring.

 

 

 

Well your'e the coastal expert, so perhaps you can tell us!

 

David

 

 

David

 

Darren says that he uses a PAYG mobile phone for most of his e-mail and internet access. I've got a mobile phone (the cheapest I could find) that nevertheless claims to be able to do loadsathings but fortunately I don't need to rely on the thing for anything except voice calls, so I don't need to understand the thing's "features." One does seem to get a lot of "features" for £12 spent 3 months ago, though.

 

I can see that it is probably considerably cheaper to swop e-mails via mobile phone than to access an internet forum website such as this one from a mobile phone.

 

Sure, I do know a heck of a lot about "lumpy water boating" and the coastal Harbours that that involves. Dutch barges seem to be OK in coastal waters so I imagine that the same is probably true of most types of barge?

 

However, one of the reasons why I have not bothered to put up with the CWDF people in the last couple of days is because I have been spending time figuring out what might be useful for Darren instead.

 

Darren is about 40 and says that he is single. At present, he lives in or near Manchester but he says he would be happy to move out of that area. He doesn't have the faintest clue about choosing or living on a boat but the Government are the people who have been encouraging him to consider the idea:

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/MobileHousing/DG_10029631

 

So - if anyone on CWDF wants to attack either Darren or I, I strongly recommend that they should attack the Government first, bluntly.

 

I think I MIGHT (note, "might" = "I am not sure") have found a possible solution for Darren. I'd be very grateful for some CONSTRUCTIVE input from CWDF members, though.

 

1. There is a place called Northwich Marina, on the River Weaver.

 

2. I am no longer sure about the idea of either narrowboats or barges for Darren. I think that for a first-time buyer, a GRP river-cruiser called a Dawncraft might be a better idea.

 

It is IMPOSSIBLE to try to offer somebody any genuine help unless one is willing to change one's own ideas and suggestions.

 

Therefore:-

 

1. Northwich seems to be a reasonable place as far as I can gather from the Internet? I'd be grateful for comments.

 

2. Are Dawncraft reasonably capable boats, please?

 

Gill

[Tony Brooks]

 

SNIP

 

 

1. Northwich seems to be a reasonable place as far as I can gather from the Internet? I'd be grateful for comments.

 

2. Are Dawncraft reasonably capable boats, please?

 

Gill

 

 

I think Northwich is on the river Weaver and rivers in flood are not nice places to be. If this mooring (if that is what it is)is in a marina with floating pontoons then OK, but if out on the river Darren needs to work out how he will deal with floods in the winter.

 

I would not see Dawncraft as a particularly capable riverboat, especially in flood conditions. I also think the lack of thermal insulation on many GRP boats would make it difficult to heat adequately in the winter. It is also likely to cause condensation and damp problems. I think it would be hazardous to fit a solid fuel stove in a GRP boat without a lot of fire prevention work. Relying upon gas as a heat source could work out very expensive in cold weather.

 

One other point. Unlike canals where British waterways (mainly) own the banks and allow mooring on the towpath side for up to 14 days unless a lesser time is shown rivers tend to have riparian owners who own the banks so it may be difficult to find fee free moorings along the banks and river banks often do not make very good moorings.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Tony Brooks