Long term living aboard. Pros and Cons

[Guest wanted]

Con: Changing a double duvet cover in a narrowboat is a mammoth pain in the neck. Just warning you.

I favor the inside out, corner grab, stand on bed and shake method. Almost certain to punch yourself in the face at least once but it works...

[Dekazer]

Stand on the bed?! How tiny do you think I am?! I have to be careful sitting up too quickly!

[Chickadee]

Stand on the roof of the boat?

[Dekazer]

Haha, show the neighbours my clean laundry? I should get it out on the washing line and beat it really...

 

There's another downside of living aboard. Drying clothes in sunny weather is grand, drying clothes in cold weather is grand, but drying clothes in muggy wet weather is a pain in the behind

[Robert & Liz]

I so pleased to see so many positive replies. I guess those who aren't positive are sold up and back in a flat/house/debt..

 

I can't believe I started this thread with a few simple questions. So much information has been forthcoming. I am going to have to put it all into a note book.

 

As we hope to meet a lot of you eventually - for a cupper, a beer, a pint or a wine, Liz and I just have to sort a few things now, and it's done. Believe it or not, we live in Australia right now, near a town called Toowoomba, in Queensland. We have a small farm together. Liz is from Suffolk, and my mother came from Lancaster (in 1924) :-) Liz will be back in the UK in April for a bit, scoping things out.

Just have to get things sold and sorted here. I am so looking forward to this move.

 

ok. More questions :-)

 

Does anyone live aboard with a dog, or dogs.?

Does anybody still work, and live aboard (apart from Richard Branson...) I write, and program iPhone apps. Liz is becoming an accountant. So we both still have the option to earn a little drinking silver.

Does anyone still use Clydesdale horses to tow the boat(s) along? I'm doubting it can be done these days, but maybe in places?

Do most boats in the narrow beam, 60ft +- class have "double bottoms", or something like that for water storage bladders. or are they generally not needed with there being plenty of places to top up?

Extra solar panel battery storage areas. (Ventilated)

 

wait, I have a list :-)

 

thanks for all your help and ideas.

 

Robert & Liz

[Starcoaster]

Does anyone live aboard with a dog, or dogs.?

Yep, I have four cats. I was crapping it about whether they'd be ok with it or not, but they're fine! Though I personally don't have dogs, loads of people do. I might even hazard 50% of people?!

 

Does anybody still work, and live aboard (apart from Richard Branson...) I write, and program iPhone apps. Liz is becoming an accountant. So we both still have the option to earn a little drinking silver.

Yep. I freelance in my main job, I can do it from the boat as long as I can get online! I locum in my second job, so again can do it anywhere.

 

Does anyone still use Clydesdale horses to tow the boat(s) along? I'm doubting it can be done these days, but maybe in places?

Other than for special historic societies/ days and things like that, I'm going to say no. Certainly not as a general thing!

 

Do most boats in the narrow beam, 60ft +- class have "double bottoms", or some thing like that for water storage bladders. or are they generally not needed with there being plenty of places to top up?

Some boats have part of the hull as the water tank, some have a second skin part as the tank, some have a liner, etc. Not strictly double bottoms, ie, not the whole hull.

 

Extra solar panel battery storage areas. (Ventilated)

Sorry not following you there!

[Lady Muck]

Does anyone live aboard with a dog, or dogs.?

Yes many of us do. Most dogs love the boating life.

Does anybody still work, and live aboard (apart from Richard Branson...) I write, and program iPhone apps. Liz is becoming an accountant.

Plenty of boaters do, it's workable.

Does anyone still use Clydesdale horses to tow the boat(s) along? I'm doubting it can be done these days, but maybe in places?

A few trip boats do this on a handful of canals. Unfortunately bankside and towpath maintenance isn't what it was back in the horse boating era. If you look at some of the old photos of canals, there are no trees and bushes on the banksides at all. Now trees have been allowed to grow, some right at the waters edge, which would make horseboating impossible, the ropes would become entangled.

Do most boats in the narrow beam, 60ft +- class have "double bottoms", or something like that for water storage bladders. or are they generally not needed with there being plenty of places to top up?

Most modern boats have big tanks - ours is 650litres, but some boats have even bigger tanks than that. NB Alnwick has a spectacularly huge water tank onboard. There are plenty of water points

Extra solar panel battery storage areas. (Ventilated)

I guess this could be fitted in, but bear in mind the UK is very Northerly and I'm guessing we don't have enough sunshine (or room for sufficient number of panels on the roof), for this to be possible. We have a couple of panels and they keep our domestic batteries topped up. This time of year, they're not really putting much in, though. Edited February 17, 2012 by Lady Muck

[Ally]

We live aboard a 62' tug style, 2 of us, with a decent sized dog....we're still fitting out, so don't have all the space in use yet, and the dog owns above and below the tug deck!! I work very full time, the OH is my boat slave currently, though has also worked from the boat. It works just fine for us.

As we have a mid-engine room, there is plenty of space for a decent battery bank, and we are about to put two large solar panels onto the roof...as said, that will help enormously in the summer but do little in the winter.

We have a huge stainless steel water tank under the deck...one of the joys of a tug style is that you have such a massive space for such things, but yes, plenty of places to fill water.

How lovely it would be if we could still get about freely by horse power, sadly the towpaths that would allow that have diminished considerably in most areas.

[Dean Court]

Does anyone still use Clydesdale horses to tow the boat(s) along? I'm doubting it can be done these days, but maybe in places?

 

A local woman upsets BWS by taking her horse for a canter along the towpath as horses are banned from the towpaths around here, admittedly the local lads do see the irony of this ban.

[Tam & Di]

How lovely it would be if we could still get about freely by horse power, sadly the towpaths that would allow that have diminished considerably in most areas.

 

As have the number of boats moored to the towpath, so the towline would be forever clearing the tat off their roofs

[Chertsey]

Con: Changing a double duvet cover in a narrowboat is a mammoth pain in the neck. Just warning you.

It's not really. I do it no problem on the cross bed in the back cabin. The trick is to lay out the cover on half of the bed, fold back the duvet onto the other half, fold back the opening of the cover as much as possible, line it up to the folded edge of the duvet, unfold the duvet into it and wriggle it into the corners whilst keeping it flat on the bed. Then give it a good shake still in situ. Doubles are easiest because they're square and you can't find yourself trying to get it in sideways.

 

 

 

How lovely it would be if we could still get about freely by horse power, sadly the towpaths that would allow that have diminished considerably in most areas.

I don't have any direct experience but I get the impression that horses are pretty expensive to run...

[honey ryder]

I so pleased to see so many positive replies. I guess those who aren't positive are sold up and back in a flat/house/debt..

 

No so. I disliked the narrowboat life quite a bit. I moved aboard, endured it. sometimes loved it. mostly disliked the dirt and detritus associated with canals (man made ditches) but did enjoy the rivers.

The ner-do-wells really really annoyed me. the crime that gravitates toward the canals as they are out of the way was one nail in the coffin.

the long narrow tube effect was annoying. having to do the sideways shuffle. not having a guest bed for friends that didnt take up the ENTIRE living room was annoying. Having to pay more for my licence than a widebeam of say 45foot annoyed the hell out of me. The constant moorers and bridge shufflers, wound me up slightly because they all complained when the weak BW authorities tried to move them on.

I could go on and on about the negatives. my own boat, I have to say was really lovely. I picked a beauty. (in relative terms, no narrowboat is attractive, just to say mine was less un-attractive than some)

There are positives, but there's plenty of people on here will tell you about that. If you want the warts, I can give you that. I still live aboard and its a damned sight less like a house/floating caravan than the old narrowboat was. Narrowboats are pretty much at the bottom of the pile of things that float that can loosely be called a boat. It floats and has a means of steering and propelling, therefore it is a boat. But only just. Therein was my biggest nail. I got out and live a much rougher life on rougher water. yay for living afloat though.

 

 

ok. More questions :-)

 

Does anyone live aboard with a dog, or dogs.?

 

Yes I have a dog, albeit small. He has a lifejacket. he can swim, but not much. hes reluctant at boating, mostly cowering when I start the engine and then cowering when the boat leans when I turn the engine off.

 

 

 

Does anybody still work, and live aboard (apart from Richard Branson...) I write, and program iPhone apps. Liz is becoming an accountant. So we both still have the option to earn a little drinking silver.

 

YES! this was a major problem for my narrowboating. I chose to constantly cruise because the options for marina living were frankly hideous. hemmed in, side by side with nary 6 inches between boats... not my idea of bliss. but CC'ing and going to a fixed place of work requires planning and dedication. Of which I ran out of after 3 years.

 

 

 

Does anyone still use Clydesdale horses to tow the boat(s) along? I'm doubting it can be done these days, but maybe in places?

 

Special occasions only these days to see a horse on a towpath pulling.

 

 

 

Do most boats in the narrow beam, 60ft +- class have "double bottoms", or something like that for water storage bladders. or are they generally not needed with there being plenty of places to top up?

 

Double bottoms? NO. A water tank is where it's at, for water storage. A water tank that is ideally possible to inspect for cleanliness. most often a large tank forward under the floor of the bow of the boat, but it can be anywhere. just remember that for every litre theres a kilo. 360litres = 7 of me. thats a lot of weight. if ballast your boat for a half full tank, when its empty or completely full and if the tank is not in the centre.. your boat will lean. A lot. same goes if you have a holding tank for the toilet, if its not in the middle, you will lean a lot when the boat is full of poop.

 

 

 

Extra solar panel battery storage areas. (Ventilated)

 

You can make storage out of anything on a boat. lots of ingenious cubby holes. almost always hard to get to and involve removing skin to get to them.

 

 

er, good luck!

Edited February 19, 2012 by honey ryder

[mrsmelly]

No so. I disliked the narrowboat life quite a bit. I moved aboard, endured it. sometimes loved it. mostly disliked the dirt and detritus associated with canals (man made ditches) but did enjoy the rivers.

The ner-do-wells really really annoyed me. the crime that gravitates toward the canals as they are out of the way was one nail in the coffin.

the long narrow tube effect was annoying. having to do the sideways shuffle. not having a guest bed for friends that didnt take up the ENTIRE living room was annoying. Having to pay more for my licence than a widebeam of say 45foot annoyed the hell out of me. The constant moorers and bridge shufflers, wound me up slightly because they all complained when the weak BW authorities tried to move them on.

I could go on and on about the negatives. my own boat, I have to say was really lovely. I picked a beauty. (in relative terms, no narrowboat is attractive, just to say mine was less un-attractive than some)

There are positives, but there's plenty of people on here will tell you about that. If you want the warts, I can give you that. I still live aboard and its a damned sight less like a house/floating caravan than the old narrowboat was. Narrowboats are pretty much at the bottom of the pile of things that float that can loosely be called a boat. It floats and has a means of steering and propelling, therefore it is a boat. But only just. Therein was my biggest nail. I got out and live a much rougher life on rougher water. yay for living afloat though.

 

 

 

 

Yes I have a dog, albeit small. He has a lifejacket. he can swim, but not much. hes reluctant at boating, mostly cowering when I start the engine and then cowering when the boat leans when I turn the engine off.

 

 

 

 

 

YES! this was a major problem for my narrowboating. I chose to constantly cruise because the options for marina living were frankly hideous. hemmed in, side by side with nary 6 inches between boats... not my idea of bliss. but CC'ing and going to a fixed place of work requires planning and dedication. Of which I ran out of after 3 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Special occasions only these days to see a horse on a towpath pulling.

 

 

 

 

 

Double bottoms? NO. A water tank is where it's at, for water storage. A water tank that is ideally possible to inspect for cleanliness. most often a large tank forward under the floor of the bow of the boat, but it can be anywhere. just remember that for every litre theres a kilo. 360litres = 7 of me. thats a lot of weight. if ballast your boat for a half full tank, when its empty or completely full and if the tank is not in the centre.. your boat will lean. A lot. same goes if you have a holding tank for the toilet, if its not in the middle, you will lean a lot when the boat is full of poop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

er, good luck!

 

A rather longwinded way of saying I mistakenly made a narrowboat purchase. I am not suited to the life.

[honey ryder]

A rather longwinded way of saying I mistakenly made a narrowboat purchase. I am not suited to the life.

 

not really, I liked the life, on the rivers. I think I'd do better on french canals. (maybe when Im 90)

NOTHING in life is a mistake. It's just a learning process. Without the experience I would not be the person I am today.

 

and that is also the reason Im writing a book about it. People poo poo those who have anything negative to say about living the dream on the cut. those people who quietly tuck the tails in and slink off, unheard of. they are the failures. those who "didnt make it"

what nonsense. At least they succeeded in trying it and have the guts to admit it's not for them. There's nothing wrong with people who dont enjoy being on the canals and decide to leave. I applaud everyone who gives it a go. Hurray for those who love it and also hurray for those who dont but leave the experience a more knowledgeable person, maybe more tolerant too.

Edited February 19, 2012 by honey ryder

[Lady Muck]

If i could give you a greeny I would. Its not a competition and you dont get points for how many years youve done it for and you havent failed if you change your mind.

[bottle]

A rather longwinded way of saying I mistakenly made a narrowboat purchase. I am not suited to the life.

 

More like saying, I gave it a go but it was not for me, at least I tried.

[mickntracy]

hi-ya mick and tracy here,

weve done it at last,our house went up for sale in january and is now SOLD,so we went and ordered our widebeam 57'x10'from "cain narrowboats" at "blue water marina"last sunday.

all the plans are done and the metal ordered for a start next weeek.

the shell will arrive at "blue water marina" hopefully at the end of june ready for lainy cain to start on the inside,lainy will be doing all the electrics and plumbing for the boat including the bathroom and kitchen.

we will do the main bedroom and the two childrens bedrooms,flooring,painting and a few other small jobs.

we will try to upload some photos as we take them,speak to you all soon

thanks mick and tracy.

[Dekazer]

Congrats, and good luck with your new purchase

[Mandy]

I'm not living aboard yet, but I'm currently experiencing one of the more unpleasant pre-aboard situations: going through the list of large (and often heavy) things that you possess and having accepted that they won't fit on the boat, trying to decide whether they can be sold, loaned out, given away or dumped. This not only applies to the four crisp-boxes of unknown stuff in the study, that haven't been opened in 8 years. It also applies to things that you use, derive pleasure from, or which are the storehouse of important memories.

 

Tough decisions lie ahead.

I went through the pain three years ago of going from a three bed house to a 50 ft narrowboat. I managed with a great deal of angst to get it down to the 'absolute, can't live without essentials'. Within a year of living aboard at least half of those precious things were given away, sold or binned - I just didn't need them any more. Bite the bullet - downsizing is good for the soul!

[Jim Batty]

hi been reading posts on forum for sometime now and our plan was to sell up and liveaboard in 3years then at christmas decided it was now or never, put house up for sale january and sold subject to contract ,now we are giving away furniture and the likes to family whats left will go to recycle bins and charity shops but cant believe how good it feels down size and de-clutter.just stuck waiting and hoping it all goes through ok,so as soon as we get our boat im sure we will be driving people mad with loads of questions(cant wait)till then mick & tracy

 

Hey ho, its a great way to live. We downsized from a large 60s 2-bedroom rental flat to a 53' narrowboat. We sold/gave away to friends and the Sally Anne/chucked about 97% of what we owned. We decided beforehand that we wouldn't put anything into storage. (If you've ever stored stuff at your parent's place for 10 years then gone and had a look at it you'll know why!). On the boat books are our main form of ballast.

 

We had reasonable luck having a Saturday 'house sale' -- put posters up all over the neighbourhood, in shop windows on the high street, in the rail station ... and had about 40 people show up. We sold most of the big items (book shelves, beds, futon sofa bed, desks, tables & chairs) this way, almost all our electrical kitchen gadgets, a couple of cameras and such. We made some students very happy with stuff to start up a new flat with. Indoor plants went fairly well too.

 

You might try emailing work colleagues with a list of stuff for sale/free.

 

Waterstones (Gower Street, London) bought a huge pile of academic books from me for 30% cover value, which was a nice little earner.

 

Edited to say: ... Ah, see you have bought. Have a great life aboard.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Jim Batty

[AidanLincs]

I went through the pain three years ago of going from a three bed house to a 50 ft narrowboat. I managed with a great deal of angst to get it down to the 'absolute, can't live without essentials'. Within a year of living aboard at least half of those precious things were given away, sold or binned - I just didn't need them any more. Bite the bullet - downsizing is good for the soul!

 

Now I've reached the point where (all things going to plan) I will be the owner of a shiny old boat on 1st June, my declutterification project has been kicked up a notch. I've sold my organ (a very high-spec 3 manual digital classical organ), which was like having my heart removed with an apple corer. It still hurts, but the new owner is a young organ scholar, and is probably the best new owner that I could ever have hoped for. I've started to methodically go through the house and make notes of stuff to be: a) dumped, b ) sold on eBay or given away, c) taken to my little cottage in France (most of the furniture). The biggest problem for me is books. I have a lot of books. Several hundred, in fact. Putting stuff on eBay is occupying most of my evenings. I've sold quite a few books, and most of the ones earmarked for sale have either not been touched for years, or I have a digital copy of. Still, I like books, and each one I sell is like a tiny piece of me been shipped off to parts unknown.

 

Still, I am looking forward to my life afloat. The adventure! The drama! The romance! And that's just the Elsan point.

[jelunga]

Now I've reached the point where (all things going to plan) I will be the owner of a shiny old boat on 1st June, my declutterification project has been kicked up a notch. I've sold my organ (a very high-spec 3 manual digital classical organ), which was like having my heart removed with an apple corer. It still hurts, but the new owner is a young organ scholar, and is probably the best new owner that I could ever have hoped for. I've started to methodically go through the house and make notes of stuff to be: a) dumped, b ) sold on eBay or given away, c) taken to my little cottage in France (most of the furniture). The biggest problem for me is books. I have a lot of books. Several hundred, in fact. Putting stuff on eBay is occupying most of my evenings. I've sold quite a few books, and most of the ones earmarked for sale have either not been touched for years, or I have a digital copy of. Still, I like books, and each one I sell is like a tiny piece of me been shipped off to parts unknown.

 

Still, I am looking forward to my life afloat. The adventure! The drama! The romance! And that's just the Elsan point.

I am with you on the books. Having worked for many years in paper and print, books and magazine type, I love books especially proper letterpress ones. It was also my biggest wrench, exceeding only by my collection of paper samples from paper mills that no longer exist, both hand made and watermarked. I had a hate of the Kindle since it is probably the beginning of the end for real books.

I am sad to say we now have one each since it reduces the atorage space needed.

I justify it in my brain by saying I am not helping to destroy the British paper making and prjnting industry because publishers and the Governnent did that years ago!

Edited May 16, 2012 by jelunga

[Lady Muck]

We have lots of books onboard, but I have a rule that only nice reference books and good books about canals are permitted. For everything else, ebooks. If we get paper novels, then they are given away once finished. I do think we are lucky to live in the digital age, as it really reduced the amount of physical stuff one can own.

But do remember to back up, keep a copy of your digital stuff away from the boat and more than one copy in more than one place. I speak as someone who lost two of her three copies of data.

 

As for my stuff, I dont miss any of it. Having lots of posessions is more stress IME, owning very little is a real freedom. Being a Buddhist myself, I can bore the pants off you talking about attachment being suffering.

[Magic Potion]

Now I've reached the point where (all things going to plan) I will be the owner of a shiny old boat on 1st June, my declutterification project has been kicked up a notch. I've sold my organ (a very high-spec 3 manual digital classical organ), which was like having my heart removed with an apple corer. It still hurts, but the new owner is a young organ scholar, and is probably the best new owner that I could ever have hoped for. I've started to methodically go through the house and make notes of stuff to be: a) dumped, b ) sold on eBay or given away, c) taken to my little cottage in France (most of the furniture). The biggest problem for me is books. I have a lot of books. Several hundred, in fact. Putting stuff on eBay is occupying most of my evenings. I've sold quite a few books, and most of the ones earmarked for sale have either not been touched for years, or I have a digital copy of. Still, I like books, and each one I sell is like a tiny piece of me been shipped off to parts unknown.

 

Still, I am looking forward to my life afloat. The adventure! The drama! The romance! And that's just the Elsan point.

 

That'll be me soon .... the house is going up for sale in about 6 weeks. The only thing I'm gutted about is my vinyl record collection. As we won't have a land base, it has to go. I've been collecting for years and have started to sell on the tinterweb. As each one goes, it feels as though a part of me has gone with it .... but needs must and I will keep a few, mainly the canal related ones I've managed to find. As for books, I have a collection of canal books I inherited so they are staying, the rest will be sold or donated to a book swap somewhere ... everything else is just 'stuff'.

[luctor et emergo]

We have lots of books onboard, but I have a rule that only nice reference books and good books about canals are permitted. For everything else, ebooks. If we get paper novels, then they are given away once finished. I do think we are lucky to live in the digital age, as it really reduced the amount of physical stuff one can own.

But do remember to back up, keep a copy of your digital stuff away from the boat and more than one copy in more than one place. I speak as someone who lost two of her three copies of data.

 

As for my stuff, I dont miss any of it. Having lots of posessions is more stress IME, owning very little is a real freedom. Being a Buddhist myself, I can bore the pants off you talking about attachment being suffering.

As a considerate consumer myself, I can bore the pants of you talking about the joy owning something you really like.