2015 February | Living on a Canal Boat

2015 02 22 Newsletter – Buying A Narrowboat Part 2

There are just thirty eight days to go now before the start of the next exciting chapter in our lives. In just over a month’s time I will hang up my sheath my shears, stow my spade and finish with my fork before setting sail on this year’s seven month waterways adventure. It’s all terribly exciting but at the moment I have something more important on my mind.

Sally’s back. I know she’s back because (A) I collected her from the airport and (B) both the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner have been running full time since she returned.

I tried my very hardest to clean the boat to her standard in a mammoth five hour session after I finished work on Wednesday night. I vacuumed, dusted, washed and polished everything on the boat which looked remotely dirty or dusty and made sure that the dirty linen basket was empty. However, I knew that whatever I did, Sally would do everything again the very minute she stepped in to the boat after thirty six exhausting hours of non stop travel.

I was right but, unlike last time when I threw my toys out of the pram, I accepted that she has a sixth sense as far as dirt is concerned and that my “clean” is not in the same league as hers.

It’s good to have her back. Dogs on board are a nightmare. Our living space is just under three hundred square feet so the hairs they shed don’t have far to spread and cleaning up the dirt they track up and down the hallway we call home is a job constantly waiting to be done. Unfortunately for Sally, cleaning the oak effect laminate flooring is a fairly labour intensive job which I haven’t had time to do.

I was running around like a headless chicken on Wednesday evening trying to get the boat up to scratch. It’s when I’m in a hurry that I get frustrated with simple boating tasks which are so much more labour intensive than they are in a house.

I had to wash the clothes in our laundry basket. It’s a simple enough task to throw a 7kg load into a plumbed in automatic washing machine on dry land, but it’s a bit of a pain on the boat in our cheap and cheerful low cost but labour intensive twin tub.

For starters, I have to make sure that there’s enough water in the tank. A wash cycle uses thirty litres. A rinse cycle uses thirty more. Particularly dirty washing (e.g. anything I wear for work) requires a second rinse. One load of washing can use a quarter of our 350 litre tank.

At this time of the year, when the water supply to the pontoons is turned off to prevent exposed pipes from freezing, I have to run a hose from the boat to the nearest water supply, a manhole sixty feet from the boat. Filling my tank can take twenty minutes of faffing about, often slipping across ice, or bent double to protect my face from driving rain hurled at me by a fierce south westerly.

A full wash cycle means being constantly at hand. The maximum wash cycle available to the £100 plastic twin tub is a miserly fifteen minutes. Three visits to the machine are needed for a basic wash, then a couple more for the rinse cycle followed by one last visit to move the clean wet washing in the spin dryer for a five minute blitz.

The spin dryer doesn’t actually get the clean clothes dry so more time is needed to drape or peg everything over hangers and hang them in the boat wherever there’s a chance the clothing will dry, usually somewhere near the stove.

Of course, if there’s a chance of the clothes drying in front of the stove, the stove needs to be on. And for the stove to be alight, there needs to be a plentiful supply of coal to keep it that way. A 25kg bag of coal briquettes lasts me for about two and a half days so roughly once a month I stagger up the gravel slope to the boat with ten of them. This month’s coal replenishment coincided with my manic preparation for Sally’s homecoming.

The toilet cassette also needed emptying before Sally walked into the boat and complained about the smell. The twenty one litre tank sometimes smells a bit if it’s left longer than four days. It rarely lasts that long if there are two of us on board but with just me using it over the last month and a half when I haven’t been at work, each emptying session was about a week apart.

Normally, non of the additional on board work is a problem, but I twisted my back earlier in the week so unless I’m sitting still with my back straight, any movement, especially bending, is painful to say the least. Unfortunately bending is what you do an awful lot of on board. On many boats, including mine, you have to simultaneously duck through the cratch cover opening, step over the gunnel and step down in to the well deck to get to the cabin’s front doors. It’s easy when you’re fighting fighting fit, but a different kettle of fish when you’re having trouble bending in the middle.

Carrying the 20kg almost full cassette through the boat and up the steps to the front deck – while bending over to avoid head butting the steel cabin door frame – is yet another bad back challenge, as is lifting bow locker gas cylinders or 25kg bags of coal. It’s a real pain in the neck, or pain in the back in my case.

Getting out through the back of the boat is just as bad. I have to almost bend double as I climb up the steps next to the engine before being able to stand straight in the hatch space, normally after I’ve caught my head on the hatch frame. In my current state, bending double isn’t an option. I have to walk backwards through the narrow door frame to the engine room then shuffle my bum up the steps, roll over and crawl out on to the back deck.

Still, life could be worse. I could be living in a house.

At the beginning of the week I spent three days doing what I do best; smashing things to pieces. Since the beginning of time, for at least twenty years anyway, Calcutt Boats have been using half a dozen steel framed wooden wheel-less freight carriages for storage. They’ve lasted well but now the timber on the weather side of many of them has rotted. All of them will be replaced by smart and durable olive green steel containers in due course. Stage one last week was to dismantle two of the worst.

Unfortunately before we could take them apart several tonnes of carefully stacked and ordered spares from dismantled engines had to be moved to their new homes. Once that was done, Pat and I made short work of removing the rotten face of the containers on the weather side before moving on to the two sides and rear of the sturdy railway cars protected from the elements. Oh boy, were these carriages well built. We spent hours with sledgehammers, crowbars and bolster chisels removing wood from metal so that the steel frames could be cut.

It was back breaking work. In my case, back twisting work. I sincerely hope that no more carriages are scheduled for removal before I leave in few short weeks.

I enjoyed a short break break from demolition on Tuesday when I did the daily post office run to ensure that the daily orders from Calcutt Boats’ online chandlery reached buyers the following day. We use any one of three nearby village post offices or the larger town post office in Southam. I used the Long Itchington branch on Tuesday as I also needed to collect some steel from a supplier there.

The trip was the usual pleasant eight mile return journey along quiet country lanes. I arrived back at the marina and headed straight back to the boat for my afternoon coffee. As I was walking away from the company pickup I used for the trip, a car pulled up behind me.

“Lost something?”, a familiar lady moorer enquired from the open passenger side window. I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about until she handed me my wallet. Her daughter who lives in Long Itchington had been shopping in the post office store, seen my wallet on the floor, looked inside to see who it belonged to, saw the Calcutt Boats address and driven to the marina to try to find the owner. The mother recongnised the just-convicted-murderer photo on my driving license and instructed her daughter to drive around the marina to look for me.

How lucky was that? If there had been any money in my wallet I would have given her some. As it was, all I had was a half inch thick wad of receipts. I didn’t think she would appreciate any of these so I just offered my heartfelt thanks instead.

I ran two discovery days this weekend. The first, on Saturday, was on a bitterly cold day with banks of purple clouds dropping masses of hail all around us. They all missed, apart from a brief but intense bombardment preceded by an unexpected squall which made the three point turn we were trying to execute at Napton Junction very interesting indeed.

Cold as it was, Saturday was a perfect summer’s day compared to Sunday.

We left the marina at 9am blessed by spells of early spring sunshine between increasingly thick banks of cloud. Our intended route for the day was to Braunston marina then back to Calcutt Boats but, by 12pm when we stopped for an early lunch near Flecknoe, a combination of co-helmsman Rob’s very confident and competent first time, first class boat handling skills and the rapidly deteriorating weather, we decided to cut the cruise short and turn round at the first possible opportunity before we both froze to death.

After a quick lunch and a sort cruise through choppy water, we anchored the bow of the boat on the pilings at the back of the winding hole in the middle of the garden moorings at Wolfhampcote, flipped the boat a hundred and eighty degrees and headed west into the teeth of a strengthening gale and horizontal sleet and hailstones.

I always advise anyone coming out with me, especially at this time of the year, to bring more warm and waterproof clothing for the trip than they think they will need. You don’t generate much heat standing almost motionless on the back of a boat for hours on end. Rob had brought plenty with him but his waterproofs, like most breathable waterproofs, couldn’t handle relentless driving rain.

By the time we reached the Calcutt flight he was very cold and very wet. I was a little cold but bone dry thanks to my bomb proof Guy Cotten deep sea fisherman’s outfit. The waterproofs have justified the fairly high purchase price time and time again.

We flew down the locks, successfully turned into the marina entrance against a fierce cross wind and then skated sideways across the six open acres of water on Meadows marina. Fortunately, I have a fairly spacious end mooring so I am able to point the boat at the grassy peninsula next to my mooring as I charge across the marina expecting to be blown sideways next to the pier at the right moment if my timing is right. We touched the wooden pontoon with barely a bump and quickly secured the boat.

I offered a bedraggled Rob a warming coffee but he decided to head off immediately with his car heater on full blast to try to restore circulation and dry his soaking trousers and shirt. Given the appalling weather we had endured for the last three hours I hesitantly asked if he had enjoyed the trip.

“Fantastic! Wonderful!”, he told me between chattering teeth, “I really have had a great time. OK, I know I’m cold and wet now, but you’ve answered all the questions about the lifestyle which concerned me. My main worry was that a narrowboat might be cold in the winter. Your boat is lovely and warm. It’s a real pleasure to sit in front of the stove after being out in weather like this. I’m definitely going ahead with my plans, so thank you very much indeed.”

The weather was, beyond question, the coldest and most uncomfortable on any of the fifty plus discovery days I’ve hosted so far but, do you know what? We both had a really good time. It was the worst possible weather for cruising, as you might expect in mid February, but it was still a pleasure to be cruising along close to nature, away from the noise and pollution of urban life, knowing that at any time we wanted, we could just pull over next to the towpath, secure the boat in a couple of minutes, and retire to the warmth and tranquility inside. Oh, how I love living afloat!

Buying A Narrowboat

This is part two of Simon Birt’s boat buying inspired article. The first part is here.

Making an offer

Having found the boat of your dreams, or in reality one that is not too much of a compromise and ticks most of the boxes, it is time to make an offer. This is something that a lot of people find quite tricky, knowing how much to offer can be difficult. Generally the seller is going to have set a price in the knowledge that there will be some negotiation. Offer too much and you are wasting money, too little and you may alienate the seller. Generally when boats first go on to the market, the asking price will be, perhaps a trifle optimistic, as the weeks go by the price is often reduced to something more realistic. When making an offer take account of any obvious remedial work that requires doing. A good approach is to ask the seller or broker what their best price is, this will give you a starting point. Without being too brutal point out any shortcomings that the boat has and suggest that these should be taken into account when agreeing the price. At this stage it is a good idea to see what the sellers attitude is to defects that may be found by the survey, will they contribute to the cost of rectification work?

After your offer is accepted it is normal to pay a deposit, in theory this commits the buyer to complete the purchase subject to a satisfactory survey. Most brokers will have terms that allow the buyer to withdraw only if major defects are uncovered by the survey, be aware that by accepting your deposit the seller is not committed to proceeding with the sale. They can simply return the deposit and call the deal off.

The Survey

The next stage in the buying process is the survey, the broker, assuming you are buying through a broker may suggest a surveyor, this may be fine, but it may be better to choose one independently. The surveyor should belong to a professional association such as the International Institute of Marine Surveying. One of the important membership requirements is that the surveyor holds professional indemnity insurance; this means that if the surveyor overlooks or fails to spot a major defect which subsequently comes to light, you as the purchaser will have some recourse.

It is worth pointing out that this protection only applies to the individual who commissioned the survey, it does not apply, if for instance you were to buy something with a recent survey carried out for somebody who did not go ahead with purchase and has handed over a copy of the survey to the seller. The survey should take half a day to carry out and will involve testing the boats systems, carrying out testing to establish the thickness of the shell using ultrasound and giving an opinion as to the value of the boat.

The survey may highlight work that needs to be done, this can range from minor faults that can be fixed quickly and cheaply to major problems such as corrosion requiring extensive repairs to the hull costing thousands. Most surveyors are happy for the potential purchaser to be present during the survey, but don’t get in the way and save questions to the end. Perhaps a good plan is to arrive at the boat at a time agreed with the surveyor when he will have finished and can give you a summary of his findings. If you choose not to be there then it is usual for the surveyor to give you a call with a summary which will enable you to make a decision on whether to proceed or not. This will be followed up with a detailed written report running to many pages, divided into sections with recommendations for remedial work. As an aside most surveyors can also provide Boat Safety Certificates, if you are going ahead and one is needed it could be worth getting this done at the same time.

Payment – buyer beware

The survey is done, you have agreed the price with the seller with any adjustment made for defect rectification. You now need to complete the purchase, beware you are about to enter the dark zone of boat purchase.

Buying a boat is nothing like buying a house or a car, a house will have title documents and searches will be carried out to ensure that you are protected. Strict protocols are in place to protect your funds while the process takes place. When you buy a used car, you can, for a modest fee check is provenance. So when buying a narrow boat costing more than a car and a bit less than a house, is there a way to ensure that you are buying a something that actually belongs to the seller has no outstanding finance and is exactly what is says on the documents? Amazingly there is not, you have more protection buying something on eBay than you will have when handing over thousands for your new boat. Unless the boat you are buying was purchased with a marine mortgage there will be absolutely no record available to tell if there is an outstanding loan or indeed. If the person selling is actually the owner.

There are a few simple steps that one can take to avoid being caught out: Reputable brokers will gather a certain amount of information about the seller, including an identity check looking at the boats documents including the bill of sale when the present owner bought it. But despite all this you should carry out your own “due diligence” ask to see all the documents including the original or last bill of sale, CRT licence, Boat Safety Certificate, previous sale details and as much information about the seller as you can get. You should be able to construct a history of the boat from it being built to the present day, are there any gaps? Does the address of the seller fit the story, look up the address on Google street view, does it look right? Cases of fraud are fortunately rare, but they are not unknown. If it looks wrong then it probably is and it may be best to walk away.

The next area of difficulty is completing the purchase, depending on whether a broker is involved or you are dealing direct with the owner the funds will need to be transferred and a bill of sale signed. In either case the only sensible way to do this is to have all parties in the same place preferably where the boat is, both sign the bill of sale then transfer the money by CHAPS (immediate electronic payment). As soon as the money moves the boat should be handed over and a receipt issued.

Brokers prefer to have the funds before the completion and will often have a clients account in which the funds will be kept, they will argue that your money is perfectly safe and that in the event of them going out of business your money will be “ring fenced”. Don’t believe it, they may well have a client account but who has access to it is anybody’s guess. Brokers are unregulated, there is no equivalent to the law society to ensue that your funds are safe. Brokers may or may not belong to an association, but this will be a trade body with nothing more than a code of conduct to follow. In the best case and the broker went bust while holding your money it would be months before you saw it again, and then only when the administrator had finished winding up the business, in the worst you will never see the money again. The message is clear be careful and don’t part with the money until the last possible minute.

Buying a narrow boat requires a bit of work, take your time, enjoy the process. Remember that there are lots of boats out there and you will find the right one eventually. The old saying goes “Always look before you leap…But if you are going to leap anyway, don’t look too hard.

ARTICLE ENDS

As a result of part one of the above article I received the following email from fellow Calcutt Boats moorer David Lorimer. David wanted to share a positive boat buying story with you.

“We’ve crossed at Calcutt but have never been “properly introduced”. My wife Maeve and I are the owners of Wine Down, a Cerulean Blue 57′ moored in the Swallow Bay at Calcutt. I’ve just read your 14 Feb newsletter with the “buying a boat” excerpt from Simon Birt’s account and I’d like to recount how we came about buying ours.

We live in Brazil, so what would be the normal procedure for purchasing a boat – researching on Apollo Duck and brokerage sites, then visiting, negotiating etc would be rather difficult. We’ve cruised on rented boats since the eighties and, in preparation for my retirement, were considering buying a boat and spending half the year on it, the other half in Brazil. We put theory to the test In 2013, hiring an Oxfordshire Narrowboats 58′ for a month; rather to our surprise, that hire confirmed that we could get along together in the more confined space even more amicably than in our Brazilian spread.

After that hire I visited some marinas to look at used boats and didn’t find much of interest. Driving to marinas spread out across the country was pretty tiring. So, when we returned to Brazil I began researching all I could about narrowboat living, sale and purchase contracts, the CRT, insurance, as well as the brochures put up on brokerage sites and Apollo Duck. By early 2014 we had settled on what we wanted, a fairly new Aqualine 57-58′ Madison with one double cabin forward, cruiser stern. New & Used Boats had a brand-new Madison available for immediate delivery and I very nearly closed the deal on that. But there were several used ones advertised on Apollo Duck and I eventually contacted three owners via email, with varying degrees of receptivity. Usual questions, including why are you selling. Two, I could suss out from the email exchanges, were rather doubtful as to whether we were serious buyers. The third, owners of Wine Down, were extremely professional. They were a double income, no kids, couple upgrading to a wide-beam on which they intended to live, sent us time-stamped photos of every nook and corner of the boat.

The owners were able to do some background research on me via google and I on them. In the space of a week of emails, photos, questions and answers, we reached a very reasonable level of trust. I had offered a much lower deposit than normal, around 5% instead of 20-30%, which they accepted. On the basis of that they had the 2011-built boat lifted out and blacked, while I arranged for an independent survey – which came back with no caveats. A few weeks later we arrived in the UK, went straight to a hotel near the marina, met up with the owners, looked over the boat and, next day, went with them to the bank and transferred the balance. Deal done, smooth, no glitches, no lawyers, no brokers. So easy, everyone happy. Wine Down’s just had its first BSS survey, arranged by Calcutt, all ok and we’re anxious to begin a six-month cruising schedule starting in April.”

David Lorimer

There’s some more excellent boat buying advice from ex corporate financier Alan Izatt in this newsletter from last year.

Cruising Guide To London

Have you read Peter Earley’s excellent three part guide to cruising in the capital? No? You’re missing a wealth of information you probably won’t find anywhere else. If you’re thinking about going anywhere near the capital in your boat, make sure that you read these three posts first.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I’ll be running the discovery days approximately on the first ten days of April, June, August, October and December next year. As spring approaches more and more site users are booking the relatively few discovery days still available. In the last week alone, four dates for June and two for August have been reserved. April is now fully booked apart for one date for a single person, and just six of the thirteen June dates remain. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day please check the diary before it’s too late.

In the meantime, meet September 2013 discovery day attendee Justin Parrish.

“I thought the day was splendid. As you know I am planning to buy a canal boat and live on board cruising permanently. Although I have plenty of holidaying on boats experience I had gaps in knowledge and was particularly after information/tips on buying a boat and preferred specs, some explanations on technical aspects and to gain some experience with solo boating.

I thought you covered everything I was after. The walk round your boat explaining systems and talking about relative merits of different types of heating etc was great and will help me greatly with buying a boat. I enjoyed the cruise and was grateful to learn how to solo lock with someone about to help or fish me out of the canal if needed. The way you get information across is very good with your knowledge, patience and enthusiasm for the subject always coming through. I can not think of anything else I needed on the day, I think the merit of your day is that it covers pretty much everything with enough time to still be tailored to the needs of those who attend.

Yes. If anyone is thinking of canal boating and has any doubts in their mind about any aspect then the day is well worthwhile. I’m sure novices and veterans could all learn something and you were great company throughout.

Thanks again Paul for a great day. I enjoyed myself and learned lots, which I know will give me the confidence to make my dream happen. ”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here. Don’t forget that there’s just one date for a single person remaining for April now so if you want to spend a spring day out with me you need to book quickly.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

Newsletter Index

I created the site just over four years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.

15th February 2015

Buying a narrowboat Part 1 – Some great advice on choosing and buying your first boat

8th February 2015

Routine engine servicing – The basic stuff every narrowboat owner should know

1st February 2015

Running a boating business – How to earn a living on the cut.

25th January 2015

A detailed breakdown of my own narrowboat running costs for December 2014

18th January 2015

An unexpected cruise – A surprise cruise to Braunston, secondary double glazing panel fitting, and why dogs and laminate flooring don’t go well together

11th January 2015

Battery Banks – The pros and cons of lead acid and AGM batteries

4th January 2015

More winter cruising – The tail end of my Christmas break afloat

28th December 2014

Winter cruising – A narrowboat isn’t just for the summer months. Winter cruising is a joy. Here’s my account of a week on the cut over the Christmas break

21st December 2014

Cooking on the cut – Here are some gourmet festive recipes suitable for a narrowboat’s small galley

14th December 2014

A Cautionary Tale – Canals and narrowboats offer all the ingredients for some pretty nasty accidents. Here’s one which could have been much worse.

7th December 2014

Shared ownership – If you can’t afford a whole boat, why not buy part of one? Here’s how you can enjoy narrowboat ownership but at a fraction of the normal cost.

30th November 2014

Here’s a live aboard narrowboat fully equipped for long term cruising. It’s my own boat James No 194. There’s a five minute video tour of the boat and a summary of the pros and cons of the boat’s design and equipment.

23rd November 2014

London cruising – Every week I receive emails from potential boat owners who want to live on board in London or who want to visit the capital as part of a holiday cruise. This advice from a very experienced boater will be of great interest to you if you’re one of them.

16th November 2014

Narrowboat fuel consumption – How many miles to the gallon can you get out of your floating home?

9th November 2014

How to spot bogus narrowboat adverts – Beware narrowboats for sale at bargain basement prices. Here’s a cautionary tale to make you think twice about reaching for your wallet.

2nd November 2014

Narrowboat CO2 emissions – Is living on a boat a green alternative to a home on dry land? You’ll have to read this newsletter to find out.

26th October 2014

Finding reliable tradesmen on the cut – They are out there but it’s not always easy to sort the wheat from the chaff. Here’s a new service on the site which is going to make the job much easier for you.

19th October 2014

Anti social behaviour on the cut – How common are the unpleasant incidents you sometimes hear about on the canal network and who are the worst offenders? You’ll probably be surprised.

12th October 2014

The pros and cons of buying an ex hire boat to live on – How suitable are ex hire boats for living on board full time?

5th October 2014

I ran short of time during this week and couldn’t think of much to write about anyway, so I just detailed an idyllic week we spent away from the marina, pottering about for a few days in Braunston and then finishing off the week on the south Oxford canal down as far as Fenny Compton. Six months before the start of our continuous cruising lifestyle, it was just what we needed to whet our appetites.

28th September 2014

Emergency food on board – Some of the most pleasant places to moor are a long way from the nearest supermarket. Here are some suggestions to ensure that you’re never short of a tasty meal on your idyllic canal-side retreat.

21st September 2014

Cruising in adverse weather conditions part two – A continuation of the previous week’s newsletter.

14th September 2014

Cruising in adverse weather conditions – Steering a narrowboat over the glassy surface of a placid canal on windless day in the middle of summer is child’s play. Here’s what you need to do on a “normal” day’s cruise.

7th September 2014

Following your dream – Is your goal to some day spend a life of leisure out on the canal network? This article might encourage you to make a move sooner rather than later.

31st August 2014

Route finding for narrowboat owners – Here are the popular paper and digital route finders to help make navigating the network child’s play

24th August 2014

Long term narrowboat hire – Is hiring a boat long term a realistic alternative to buying one?

17th August 2014

living on board in the winter, the cost of living afloat generally and where you can moor your floating home are all subjects which are misunderstood by many aspiring narrowboat owners. Here’s what you need to know.

10th August 2014

Narrowboat heating, electrics and engine specifications – How is the perfect live aboard narrowboat configured? Here are a few suggestions

3rd August 2014

Essential boating equipment – Here’s the stuff every boater should carry on board

27th July 2014

The pros and cons of a wide beam boat – More and more wannabe boaters are considering more spacious wide beams rather than narrowboat. There is clearly more living space on board but how practical are wide beam boats on the inland waterways?

20th July 2014

The dreaded weed hatch – Sooner or later your engine will start to overheat, you’ll lose propulsion and you’ll know that you need to dive down your weed hatch to free an obstacle or two from the propeller. Here’s how to do it properly and a list of the tools you’ll need.

13th July 2014

Digital aids for narrowboat owners – Digital applications and maps for inland waterways boaters

6th July 2014

Practical experience for lone boaters. Here’s an account of a day’s cruise with a nervous single boater. He wanted enough confidence to deal with locks on his own. I spent the day with him, designed a route to include twenty six locks and spent ten hours helping him hone his locking skills.

29th June 2014

Extending your boat’s storage space – The pros and cons of fitting covers to your front and rear decks

22nd June 2014

Naming your boat – The legal requirements when naming, renaming and displaying your boat plus the inland waterways’ two hundred most popular boat names

15th June 2014

Speeding boats – Are rocking stationary boats the fault of speeding passing boats or the fault of boat owners who can’t moor securely?

8th June 2014

Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.

1st June 2014

Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges

25th May 2014

Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.

18th May 2014

Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.

11th May 2014

How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

4th May 2014

If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.

27th April 2014

What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment

20th April 2014

A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.

13th April 2014

A further update to the site content index.

6th April 2014

The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.

30th March 2014

How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?

23rd March 2014

Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.

16th March 2014

Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?

9th March 2014

Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.

2nd March 2014

Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.

23rd February 2014

Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou

16th February 2014

Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.

I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.

9th February 2014

Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.

2nd February 2014

Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.

26th January 2014

Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.

19th January 2014

Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?

12th January 2014

If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)

5th January 2014

Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.

29th December 2013

The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?

Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.

22nd December 2013

Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.

15th December 2013

Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?

8th December 2013

Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.

Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel

1st December 2013

Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.

Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content

Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.

24th November 2013

Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?

Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.

17th November 2013

Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.

10th November 2013

Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013

3rd November 2013

Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.

27th October 2013

The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.

Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.

20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.

A new organisation for liveaboard boaters

13th October 2013

On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.

Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.

6th October 2013

Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.

Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.

29th September 2013

The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free

Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.

22nd September 2013

A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees

Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site

15th September 2013

Managing your water supply

An American blogs about his travels

1st September 2013

Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube

All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller

8th September

A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!

25th August 2013

Effective fly killers for boats

The downside to living on a narrowboat

Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.

18th August 2013

CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!

Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers

Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous

Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?

11th August 2013

A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles

Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring

4th August 2013

The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?

28th July 2013

The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.

21st July 2013

Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.

14th July 2013

Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.

7th July 2013

Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.

30th June 2013

Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.

Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.

23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?

Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.

Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.

16th June 2013

The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt

Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours

Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.

9th June 2013

I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.

2nd June 2013

An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list

26th May 2013

Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.

Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story

19th May 2013

My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.

Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.

Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.

12th May 2013

An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network

An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings

5th May 2013

Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold

Meet one of your legless canal side companions

The canal network’s largest floating hotel

28th April 2013

Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.

21st April 2013

The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?

Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop

RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?

14th April 2013

The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.

7th April 2013

Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article

Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.

31st March 2013

Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.

Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.

24th March 2013

Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.

Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.

Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.

17th March 2013

Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start

Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution

Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013

Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.

11th March 2013

James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring

3rd March 2013

Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test

Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.

Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.

Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013

20th February 2013

The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.

8th January 2013

Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.

Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat

24th December

Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis

I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.

18th December 2012

Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis

Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer

2nd December 2012

Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat

Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer

Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat

21st November 2012

First tests and reviews of the budgeting application

The best aerial for a narrowboat television

6th November 2012

The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application

28th October 2012

An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways

Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else

17th October 2012

I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date

14th October 2012

Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs

Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home

30th September 2012

The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners

18th September 2012

I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.

VAT on narrowboat sales

20th July 2012

Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans

Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson

7th July 2012

Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels

10th June 2012

Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)

27th May 2012

How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.

Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke

13th May 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and

Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly

29th April 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports

15th April 2012

Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips

Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all

Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats

1st April 2012

As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.

18th March 2012

The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments

Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.

4th March 2012

Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat

eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)

Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat

A review of Debdale Wharf marina

22nd January 2012

Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.

8th January 2012

The first four narrowboat case studies published

I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study

Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study

Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study

Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.

2nd February 2011

Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter

1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter

Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.

Useful Links

Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.

2015 02 15 Newsletter – Buying A Narrowboat Part 1

I’ve spent much of the last week clearing ditches. It’s a job which I enjoy despite spending much of my time being raked by blackthorn, hawthorn and bramble and trying to keep my balance on uneven wet clay. The two inch long hawthorn and blackthorn thorns are wicked. During my first winter here in early 2010 a branch flicked into my face allowing a needle tipped thorn to deeply puncture the white of my right eye.

I was lucky. Apart from from scaring anyone who looked at me with a completely red eyeball, a not-so-quick visit to the emergency department at Warwick hospital and a tetanus booster was all I needed in the way of medical care. I hate to think what the end result would have been if the thorn had pierced my iris.

On Monday, I pierced the white of the same eye again. Unlike on the first occasion, this time my face was protected. I had the visor down on my chainsaw helmet, but a thorn tipped branch slipped through the gap between my face and my helmet’s clear plastic visor. I didn’t bother with hospital this time, but I had an uncomfortable night’s sleep on Monday.

After an hour’s fire safety training first thing on Tuesday morning, I had the dubious pleasure of delivering an engine to Welsh Harp Sailing Club. It was a dubious pleasure because of the location rather than the club itself or the people I met there.

The sailing club is on Brent reservoir, also sometimes known as Welsh Harp. The reservoir, owned and managed by CRT, has a historical link to the canal network. Planned in 1803 but not completed until 1835, the reservoir provided much needed water to the Regent’s canal at Paddington. These days the reservoir is better known as a popular haven for boat loving Londeners.

At one hundred and ten acres, the reservoir has eleven times the area of water we have at Caclutt Boats, but I know where I would rather be. The sailing club is minutes away from the southern terminus of the M1 and within sight and earshot of the crawling traffic on the hectic North Circular. Dirty grey houses stand shoulder to shoulder around the reservoir which is protected by locked gates and steel fencing topped with spear sharp points.

As soon as I left the motorway I was reminded why I moved to the country. Impatient horn-hitting motorists cursed and seethed on their frustratingly slow stop-start journey along the packed ring road. It’s not a relaxing place to live.

Fortunately I don’t live there any more. Two years in the late eighties was more than enough, thank you very much. After a phone call to one of the boaters to gain access to the reservoir through the gate in the seven feet high pointed railings protecting the site, I pulled up outside the clubhouse to offload the engine.

I suppose the reservoir offers a degree of tranquility for those living in such a built up area but the constant roar of nearby traffic is a painful reminder of the water’s close proximity to hundreds of thousands of tightly packed houses. After a quick cup of tea I headed north as quickly as possible, back to the peace and quiet of rural Warwickshire.

Water Tank Capacity

I’ve been carrying out an experiment over the last few weeks. I’ll tell you about it providing you don’t think any less of me once you’ve read it.

In one of my newsletters, I can’t remember which, I wrote about my water tank and how I had established its capacity by filling the tank then emptying it into an eleven litre capacity washing up bowl, then counting the number of bowls. My water tank holds exactly the same as my diesel tank; three hundred and fifty litres or just under seventy eight gallons.

I said that a tank of water lasts us no more than three or four days. A boater emailed me to say that his tank lasts him for six weeks. At the time, I thought a water tank which was made to last six weeks must surely belong to a boater who, to put it politely, wasn’t too fond of using water.

Sally is away at the moment. She’s due back next week but while she’s been off the boat I thought I would check to see how long the full water tank would last me on my own. I filled the empty tank on Friday for the first time in three weeks. I cut down on my water use to make it last so long. I showered every other day and only washed the dishes once a day.

I’m still a long way away from the month and a half that the guy who emailed me claimed, but for one very good reason; my water tank is half the size of most narrowboats on the cut. If you look at boat brochures on the excellent Rugby Boats web site you’ll see that of the boats which actually state the tank capacity, the vast majority have 150 – 200 gallon tanks. Most boats have tanks at least twice the size of mine so with a similar tank, I too could sit comfortably in one spot without having to top the tank up.

Of course, there boat’s on board water supply is just one factor governing how long you can stay in one spot. My boat’s real Achilles’ heel is the toilet cassette’s capacity. Three or four days is all that’s needed to fill it so unless I make extensive and inappropriate use of the hedgerow, I guess I’m going to have to move every couple of days anyway.

Boating Business Ideas

Following my post two weeks ago on the subject of earning a crust afloat, aspiring narrowboat owner and Canadian Chris Gorham sent me the following list produced as a result of a recent recent brainstorming session. He acknowledges that some of his suggestions don’t hold water (see what I did there?) but hopes that his list will provide inspiration for anyone thinking of starting a boat based business.

Here’s his list….

restaurant/pub
café
movie theater (and or pop-up screen for multiple boat viewing, like drive-in
meal-planning & prep (for other boat-based families)
articulated narrowboat (see attached)
library boat
governance boat (waterways)
court boat. (dealing with waterway issues)
law office boat
accountant’s boat
investment agency (especially as crowd-funded operations for boat based ventures))
taxation services boat
travel agency
security office (police) boat
bank boat (atm/teller)
tugboat
in-canal gantry crane (boat/system)
in-canal dry-dock (boat/system)(sand blasting, painting, blacking, etc)
in-canal dredge (hydrovac)
sewage suction boat
garbage collection boat
training facility boat
fire boat
taxi boat
royalty boat (lol)
greenhouse boat
secure persons transport boat (vip)
prison boat (minimum security)
migrant worker farming boat (where boats are moored next to farms seasonally)
medical clinic boat
pregnancy care & pediatrics specialty boats
elder care boats (for seniors plus nursing staff)
laundry boats (maybe with dry cleaning)
mechanical repair boat/engine repair
plumber boat repair (heat trace retrofits, etc)
electrical specialist – boat repair
heating systems specialist for boats services.
fast leak stoppage, prevention, and dry-out service boat
fire & smoke damage rehab repair boat.
furniture upholstery & repair (mainly for other boat based families)
awing fab & repair (cratch, etc)
maintenance services boat
computer services, parts, & repairs boat
refrigerated boats. (related to grocery stores)
warehouse boats. (intermediary storage for stores)
auction/boat sales boats
welding shop/repairs boats
cabinetry shop/repairs boats
stores boats
(drug stores)
(liquor stores)
(convenience stores)
(clothing stores)
(narrowboat lifestyle specific stores)
(grocery story)
(bicycle store)
(hardware store)
(electronics store/repairs/camera/film processing)
other businesses that can be run from a boat
book author
blogger/consultant (like Paul)
video trainer
fine arts artist
fine metals artist
software writer
graphic artist
tailoring/seamstress (clothing, curtains, etc.)
cake decorating
other design work (boat designer, architect, CAD)
baby-sitting (for other boat-based families)
pet-sitting (for other boat-based families)
boat-sitting (for other boat-based families)
drug & alcohol rehab facilities

Did you see anything you fancy? I particularly like the idea of the taxation services boat. What I really like is the idea of filling the boat with HMRC inspectors and opening the sea cock. Not that I’m bitter and twisted after the brush with them which resulted in my bankruptcy!

Buying A Boat

I had the pleasure of Simon Birt’s company on Tuesday night. Simon is currently moored here at Calcutt Boats after buying a boat at the end of last year. At the end of the month he will spend the summer cruising the network before heading south west to a permanent mooring he’s secured on the Kennet & Avon.

The evening was a pleasure; a few glasses of very pleasant red, a bowl of his delicious chilli and a chat about all things boating. These days, that’s all I want from a night out.

Simon told me that he found the boat buying process both painful and a little worrying, especially when the time came to part with his hard earned cash. He’s a thorough chap, so he did a huge amount of in depth research throughout the process and wrote everything down. On Tuesday he kindly promised to send me the article he’s written as a result of his homework.

I’ve reproduced the first half of the article below…

Buying a Narrow Boat

I have messed about in boats all my adult life and have owned a number of boats from a little river cruiser to a sailing boat capable of going anywhere. For the last ten years or so I have hired various boats in the UK and abroad. On the whole hiring was enjoyable and convenient,and there is a lot to be said for simply turning up and sailing away and then returning the boat at the end of the holiday, with somebody else dealing with the cleaning and maintenance. But there are limitations and restrictions when hiring a boat, perhaps the most irksome being the lack of flexibility with start and finish dates and having to return a boat early in the morning. This can rather take the edge off a relaxing week afloat.

What follows is the distillation of my experience of buying a narrow boat. I more or less followed my own advice. I could find little information about the buying process when I needed it, so thought I would write this.

Having hired several narrow boats on different stretches of water over the years the decision was made to own a boat again. We (I have a significant other) were becoming less enamoured with a typical week in a hire boat, having found ourselves looking enviously at all the lovely boats that we saw on our travels that were clearly privately owned. We started to fantasise about what it would be like to have such a boat, to be able to use it all year round, stay a day or two longer, have sharp knives and a frying pan that still had a non stick coating.

Research – what boat will work for you?

Before we started looking for a boat to buy we decided to have one last holiday on a hire boat to help us decide what we wanted. As luck would have it this final week as hirers completely changed our minds as to what type of boat would work for us. If you cast your mind back to the summer of 2014 you will probably remember it as largely warm and sunny, with very little rain and weeks of unbroken sunshine. This was the case, except for a single week in July when the temperature plunged and winter seemed to have retuned. You guessed it, this is the week we chose for our trip on the Shropshire Union. In the event, this was possibly the best thing that could have happened. Having to endure unseasonably low temperatures, wind and rain gave us a good idea of what boating would be like outside the summer months. At the end of the week we had a wish list to help us choose the ideal boat for all seasons. We did enjoy the holiday by the way.

Your ideal boat will doubtless be different to mine, it will be influenced by how you will use the boat: are you going to live aboard, cruise for extended periods, how many berths do you need? One just has to look at huge variety of boats for sale to realise that there is no such thing as a standard boat. The one exception to this is perhaps the ex hire boat, these tend to be built to a more or less standard layout, but more about hire boats later.

A wish list is a valuable tool for focusing the mind and narrowing (no pun intended) the search. Top of the list is probably length, followed by stern type, cruiser, traditional or semi traditional, number and type of berths, pump out or cassette loo, standard or reverse layout. You will doubtless have thoughts on the make and size of engine, heating and electrical system. You may also have a preferred builder, of which there are many. Boats from particular builders can command considerably higher prices on the second hand market. Your wish list is going to be shaped by your budget and this is perhaps the place to start when deciding to buy a boat.

There are a lot of ex hire boats on the system, inevitably these find their way onto the second hand market. They are generally strongly built and will have been well maintained. However, unless you want lots of beds and a small amount of living space, they will need some work to adapt the accommodation. The systems will tend to be quite basic too, inverters will typically be low output and solid fuel stoves are rare. They will also have taken a knock or two and may need quite a lot of TLC.

Set your budget

Having a budget and sticking to it is crucial, spending too much or buying something that needs a lot of expensive corrective work will almost certainly turn the dream of boat ownership into a nightmare. When drawing up a budget, have an overall figure and make sure that you include all the costs of purchase and a provisional sum for the inevitable unforeseen repairs. Make another list, with possible work that may be required together with estimates. This will be very useful when you find a boat that you like but needs some repair or updating to make it work for you. Some things are relatively straightforward and inexpensive to deal with, others are not. For example changing the curtains for something that suits your taste is in these days of online curtain suppliers, is quick and surprisingly inexpensive. Repainting the exterior is not, several thousand pounds for a quality job and you will have to wait for slot with your chosen painter. The table below shows some typical upgrades and repairs together with an estimate of the costs. These are all based on a sixty foot boat and were obtained at the end of 2014.

Total repaint back to bear metal (top quality job)	£10,000.00
Repainting name panels	£2,000.00
Sign writing name panels	£1000.00
New batteries (each)	£100.00
Fitting new stove	£1,600.00
Blacking including lifting out	£600.00
New cratch cover	£700.00
Engine service	£200.00
Battery monitor (including fitting)	£300.00
New mooring ropes	£100.00
New fenders	£250.00
New fridge	£500.00
New engine (including fitting)	£10000.00

This may seem counter intuitive, but I believe the best way to buy a boat is to imagine that you have to sell it again. The old adage that the happiest days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it may not be entirely true, but thinking this way will make you look at your potential purchase without the rose tinted spectacles. You may think that purple and brown with pink coach stripes is a fetching colour scheme, not everybody may share your view and this will dramatically reduce the number of potential buyers. My point is that if the boat has limited appeal because of its colour, layout or whatever then this should have an impact on its price. The great appeal of narrow boats is their individuality. When buying new there is great scope for owners to include a lot of their own personality, this can lead to some rather interesting creations. This may be fine if you share the previous owners taste and will mean that you may get a bargain.

Draw up a shortlist

You have decided on the type of boat you would like and you have a budget. Where do you find one? Most narrow boats are sold through brokers, the broker will have a web site and also advertise in the the trade press. They will probably also list on Apollo Duck, which is to boat buying what rightmove is to house buying. You will find hundreds of narrow boats spread across the country. It is possible to define a search by price style etc, a nice feature of the site is that you are able to set up a watch list. Here you can save a number of boat details, make notes and refer back.

Magazines will give you an idea of what’s on the market, the trouble is that because of the time taken to publish the information may not be current. Most advertisements will include a website address, however experience has shown that often web sites are not always up to date. The only sure way to find out if a boat is still for sale is to pick up the phone and ask.

The phone call to the vendor is your chance to gain a lot of additional information which may not be in the sale details. Some good questions to ask are: How long has the boat been on the market for? Why are you selling it? What is likely to show up as a problem in the survey? It’s surprising what information people will divulge, which can be very useful. Brokers tend to be a little more guarded than private sellers, sometimes they don’t know the answer because they are not well acquainted with the boat or the owner, if so ask them to find out and get back to you.

You will probably end up with several boats on your “short list” perhaps you will be lucky and find that they are all close together and you can view several boats on the same day. The reality is that they will be spread around, even if they are in the same area it takes a surprising amount of time to look over a boat. Be realistic about what can be achieved and consider making it into a two or three day trip. You may find that you want to go back and and look at a boat a second time, easy if you are not too far away.

When viewing a boat, especially with a broker there is often a feeling of pressure to do so as quickly as possible, don’t be rushed, take your time. Photographs are a huge help as a reminder, take lots, its surprising how quickly one forgets detail, combined with a few notes they will really help refine your choice later. Also there should be a file of documents, these will include the Boat Safety Certificate, User Manual (if the boat is relatively new), instruction manuals for the various appliances and systems and engine and gearbox manuals. You can tell a lot about how a boat has been cared for by the way this has been kept. Ask if there is a service record for the engine.

Next week – Making an offer, getting a survey done and parting with your hard earned cash

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I’ll be running the discovery days approximately on the first ten days of April, June, August, October and December next year. Until two days ago all of the April dates were booked but due to a date being rescheduled for June, there is now space on 11th April for a single person. Some of the dates in June are already taken so if you are considering a place next year, please check the diary before it’s too late. I have just started advertising the service on eBay which has significantly increased the volume and frequency of bookings so you will need to act quickly if you want to book a date in the first half of the year. I’m receiving bookings at the rate of one or two each week at the moment so the available dates won’t be there for long.

In the meantime, meet September 2013 discovery day attendee Justin Parrish.

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

8th February 2015

Routine engine servicing – The basic stuff every narrowboat owner should know

1st February 2015

Running a boating business – How to earn a living on the cut.

25th January 2015

A detailed breakdown of my own narrowboat running costs for December 2014

18th January 2015

An unexpected cruise – A surprise cruise to Braunston, secondary double glazing panel fitting, and why dogs and laminate flooring don’t go well together

11th January 2015

Battery Banks – The pros and cons of lead acid and AGM batteries

4th January 2015

More winter cruising – The tail end of my Christmas break afloat

28th December 2014

Winter cruising – A narrowboat isn’t just for the summer months. Winter cruising is a joy. Here’s my account of a week on the cut over the Christmas break

21st December 2014

Cooking on the cut – Here are some gourmet festive recipes suitable for a narrowboat’s small galley

14th December 2014

A Cautionary Tale – Canals and narrowboats offer all the ingredients for some pretty nasty accidents. Here’s one which could have been much worse.

7th December 2014

Shared ownership – If you can’t afford a whole boat, why not buy part of one? Here’s how you can enjoy narrowboat ownership but at a fraction of the normal cost.

30th November 2014

23rd November 2014

16th November 2014

Narrowboat fuel consumption – How many miles to the gallon can you get out of your floating home?

9th November 2014

How to spot bogus narrowboat adverts – Beware narrowboats for sale at bargain basement prices. Here’s a cautionary tale to make you think twice about reaching for your wallet.

2nd November 2014

Narrowboat CO2 emissions – Is living on a boat a green alternative to a home on dry land? You’ll have to read this newsletter to find out.

26th October 2014

19th October 2014

Anti social behaviour on the cut – How common are the unpleasant incidents you sometimes hear about on the canal network and who are the worst offenders? You’ll probably be surprised.

12th October 2014

The pros and cons of buying an ex hire boat to live on – How suitable are ex hire boats for living on board full time?

5th October 2014

28th September 2014

21st September 2014

Cruising in adverse weather conditions part two – A continuation of the previous week’s newsletter.

14th September 2014

7th September 2014

Following your dream – Is your goal to some day spend a life of leisure out on the canal network? This article might encourage you to make a move sooner rather than later.

31st August 2014

Route finding for narrowboat owners – Here are the popular paper and digital route finders to help make navigating the network child’s play

24th August 2014

Long term narrowboat hire – Is hiring a boat long term a realistic alternative to buying one?

17th August 2014

10th August 2014

Narrowboat heating, electrics and engine specifications – How is the perfect live aboard narrowboat configured? Here are a few suggestions

3rd August 2014

Essential boating equipment – Here’s the stuff every boater should carry on board

27th July 2014

20th July 2014

13th July 2014

Digital aids for narrowboat owners – Digital applications and maps for inland waterways boaters

6th July 2014

29th June 2014

Extending your boat’s storage space – The pros and cons of fitting covers to your front and rear decks

22nd June 2014

Naming your boat – The legal requirements when naming, renaming and displaying your boat plus the inland waterways’ two hundred most popular boat names

15th June 2014

Speeding boats – Are rocking stationary boats the fault of speeding passing boats or the fault of boat owners who can’t moor securely?

8th June 2014

Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.

1st June 2014

Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges

25th May 2014

Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.

18th May 2014

Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.

11th May 2014

How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

4th May 2014

If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.

27th April 2014

What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment

20th April 2014

A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.

13th April 2014

A further update to the site content index.

6th April 2014

30th March 2014

How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?

23rd March 2014

Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.

16th March 2014

Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?

I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.

9th February 2014

2nd February 2014

Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.

26th January 2014

Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.

19th January 2014

12th January 2014

If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)

5th January 2014

Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.

29th December 2013

The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?

22nd December 2013

Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.

15th December 2013

Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?

8th December 2013

Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel

1st December 2013

Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.

Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content

Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.

24th November 2013

Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?

Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.

17th November 2013

Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.

10th November 2013

Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013

3rd November 2013

Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.

27th October 2013

The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.

Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.

20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.

A new organisation for liveaboard boaters

13th October 2013

On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.

Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.

6th October 2013

Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.

29th September 2013

The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free

22nd September 2013

A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees

Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site

15th September 2013

Managing your water supply

An American blogs about his travels

1st September 2013

Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube

All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller

8th September

25th August 2013

Effective fly killers for boats

The downside to living on a narrowboat

18th August 2013

CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!

Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers

Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?

11th August 2013

A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles

Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring

4th August 2013

The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?

28th July 2013

The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.

21st July 2013

Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.

14th July 2013

Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.

7th July 2013

Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.

30th June 2013

23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?

Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.

Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.

16th June 2013

Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours

Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.

9th June 2013

2nd June 2013

An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list

26th May 2013

Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.

Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story

19th May 2013

My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.

12th May 2013

An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network

An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings

5th May 2013

Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold

Meet one of your legless canal side companions

The canal network’s largest floating hotel

28th April 2013

Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.

21st April 2013

The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?

Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop

RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?

14th April 2013

The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.

7th April 2013

Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article

Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.

31st March 2013

Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.

24th March 2013

Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.

Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.

Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.

17th March 2013

Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start

Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution

Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013

Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.

11th March 2013

James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring

3rd March 2013

Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test

Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.

Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.

Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013

20th February 2013

The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.

8th January 2013

Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat

24th December

Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis

18th December 2012

Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis

Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer

2nd December 2012

Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat

Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer

Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat

21st November 2012

First tests and reviews of the budgeting application

The best aerial for a narrowboat television

6th November 2012

The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application

28th October 2012

An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways

Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else

17th October 2012

I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date

14th October 2012

Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs

Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home

30th September 2012

The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners

18th September 2012

VAT on narrowboat sales

20th July 2012

Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans

Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson

7th July 2012

Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels

10th June 2012

Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)

27th May 2012

How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.

Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke

13th May 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and

Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly

29th April 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports

15th April 2012

Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips

Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all

Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats

1st April 2012

18th March 2012

The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments

Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.

4th March 2012

Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat

eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)

Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat

A review of Debdale Wharf marina

22nd January 2012

Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.

8th January 2012

The first four narrowboat case studies published

I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study

Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study

Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study

Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.

2nd February 2011

Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter

1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter

Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Useful Links

A Case Study Of Live Aboard Narrowboat Andante

Jonathan is a marina based live aboard boat owner who likes to escape to the tranquility of nearby canals when work allows.

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)

I’m Jonathan Whiting, I live alone on my Narrowboat Andante

Tell me a little about yourself and why you decided to live a life afloat

I’ve had an interest in boating since a holiday on the Shropshire Union and Llangollen Canals when I was about ten. Many years and a few boating holidays later I was in the position to buy a boat and take to life afloat. It’s the best decision I ever made.

What is your boat called and why did you decide on that name?

My boat is Andante, this is the original name and I saw no reason to change it, though it is one of the commonest names on the system.

Do you have a permanent mooring? If so, tell me about it.

At the moment I am moored in Nottingham Castle Marina. I plan to travel around the system but for the moment the Marina is convenient for work and family (and shops!). An hours cruise gets me in open countryside, wonderful.

What is you boat length and style?

An idyllic mooring for Andante

Andante is a 57 foot, trad stern

How long have you been a narrowboat owner?

I’ve owned Andante for 18 months.

How did you finance your boat?

Part savings and the balance with a marine mortgage.

How much time do you spend on your boat each year?

I live aboard full time.

Are you still working? (If so, what do you do?)

I own a business, normally run by a manager but sometimes I have to go and earn my keep.

What do you like least about narrowboat life?

Difficult to say, I suppose I’ll find something one day.

What do you like most about narrowboat life?

Practical flooring for dogs

The friendly and supportive community, both in the marina and out and about.

If you could change just one thing about your boat, what would it be?

When I have time to cruise more I would like to fit solar panels.

When you are cruising how do you resupply (How do you get to the supermarket without a car)?

Rucksack and walking boots! Being on my own there is not too much to carry if I plan carefully.

How do you do your washing when you are cruising?

I bought a small twin tub washing machine last year and have been delighted with it.

What type of toilet do you have and are you happy with it?

The boat came with a cassette toilet and I am completely happy with it. It was not a critical factor in my choice of boat.

How do you connect to the internet when you are on your boat and are you happy with the service you receive?

A 3Mifi, with external aerial, provides wifi around the boat. There are places it cannot get a signal but it has proved pretty reliable most of the time. Phone on a different network gives a good backup.

What is your favourite canal or section of canal?

So far my favourite is the North Oxford but I’ve got a lot more exploring to do so that might change.

How do you generate electricity when you are cruising and how much do you use?

Twin alternators provide charging so running the engine is necessary every day or two when out of the marina (hence thinking about solar). Most equipment on board is 12V, a 1600W modified sine wave invertor provides 240V when required. LED lighting has reduced consumption noticeably.

How warm is your narrowboat in the winter?

Very warm, in fact I’ve never been so warm! A multi-fuel stove is essential for the liveaboard (in my opinion) and provides copious heat, a diesel heater provides hot water and heats three radiators when required. I think at least two forms of heating are important for a live aboard.

What advice can you offer someone considering living on a narrowboat?

Research, spend as much time as you can talking to boat owners, read every website you can find. When you’ve done that, hire a boat, in bad weather if you can, and see what you think then. I suspect you’ll love it.

____________________________________________________________________

Are you one of the lucky few who lives the dream on board your own narrowboat full time? Would you like to share your experience with some of the thousands of potential floating home owners who visit this site? If you can spare the time to answer a few simple questions, I would love to hear from you. Just let me know so I can email the questions to you. I’ll create a post like the one above complete with a link back to your own blog or website.

2015 02 08 Newsletter – Routine Engine Servicing

Do you remember me telling you about the engine service booking saga with RCR? Well, the engineer, Kerry, was eventually scheduled to visit me at 10am last Tuesday to show me how to service my own engine. Because of the problems I had arranging his visit, I wasn’t really sure whether he would show up.

He did, and he showed up on time.

I was in the office when he pulled into the visitor car parking spaces in front of reception. I think he recognised me from the last service he did for me and when he’s visited the marina to service other boats. I think Kerry is very good at his job but I had no faith at all in the lady at their office who I had been dealing with so I wasn’t sure that he knew he was coming to see me.

Somehow or other, the lady in RCR’s office had managed to record my name on the booking form as Dawson (my name is Smith). She sent a letter confirming my appointment to Mr. Dawson, Calcutt Boats and when I called her last week to ask her to correct her records, after repeatedly telling her my correct name, she finished off the conversation with Thank you Mr. Dawson, and she wasn’t joking.

Kerry filled in the visitor book as I stood next to him. He looked confused. I asked him if he had forgotten my name. He assured me he hadn’t but admitted that he could never remember his registration number. He nipped outside to check it, came back in and entered the details in the book, then hesitated when he came to the column where he had to fill in who he was visiting, he looked up, gave me an I’m-only-joking smile, then wrote carefully in the book Paul Dawson! My name was still wrong on his job sheet.

I wasn’t really bothered at that stage. He had arrived so I knew I would be in good hands from that point onwards. Kerry didn’t disappoint me.

I invited him in to the boat, made him a coffee, then he began asking me some questions to establish my level of technical knowledge. I told him to stop wasting his time. I knew he had young children so I suggested that he should explain the workings of the engine in the same way he would explain it to his four year old son. So he did. And because he explained everything very slowly, clearly and patiently, I now have a reasonable understanding of how an engine works for the very first time in my life.

We started with the air filter. It was filthy and looked like it had been repaired a few times. Kerry showed me how to take it off and described how to clean it but pointed out that it was probably worth considering replacing. After Kerry left I decided to replace it but had to lay down for a while after the terribly efficient German gentleman from Westfield 4 x 4 , which keep a comprehensive stock of parts for my engine, asked me for £105. The new air filter arrived on Thursday and is now sitting in the engine room ready for fitting this afternoon.

Next on the list was checking and adjusting the fan belt. I could feel myself warming towards engine maintenance when Kerry revealed his alternator adjustment tool, a 24″ pry bar. It’s one of the very few tools I’m comfortable with.

Unfortunately the “straight forward” adjustment wasn’t straight forward at all. I was just thinking how easily a complete DIY dunce like myself could undertake a basic engine service when the tensioning bracket broke in half when Kerry tried to move it.

We then had an hour’s break from the engine servicing while Kerry liaised with both our chandlery staff and engineering department to find a replacement. Fortunately we have an extensive stock of spares at Caclutt Boats so there wasn’t a problem finding something suitable. As a matter of fact, Kerry’s solution is more effective at keeping the fan belt tensioned than the original bracket.

As soon as the new bracket was in place, we carried on with the service. We checked the quality of the anti freeze, topped up the gearbox oil, checked the batteries, changed the diesel pre-filter and the engine oil, checked the engine mounts, control cables, fuel and electrical systems, the engine pipes, the bilge pump and the stern gland and propeller shaft.

I was delighted with the day. The one to one tuition cost me £150 plus £20 for five litres of engine oil and £5 for a replacement fuel filter. Because of Kerry’s thorough and clear explanation, I am now confident enough to do my own servicing. I’m going to be running the engine for at least 1,000 hours each year from now on. Over four hundred hours will be needed just for my training days alone. The recommended servicing interval is ever 250 hours so paying for a boatyard or RCR to do the servicing for me would cost a fortune. Now, a comprehensive service will cost me little more than £20 for an oil change and new fuel filter.

Kerry made a few recommendations. There’s a plastic pipe which carries hot water from the engine to the calorifier. The pipe has been subject to constant vibration and abrasion where it has been in contact with the engine so the recommendation is to protect it with rubber banding. The rather expensive plastic exhaust box has also been subject to vibration and abrasion. The suggestion was to slip a rubber mat underneath it. I’ll be adding this protection next week.

My stern gland packing also needs replacing. This is worrying me a little as I had it replaced a year ago. I’ll have it looked at again in April before I set off.

Kerry finished off by giving me a shopping list of essential engine servicing tools to keep on board. I’ve ordered what I need from Amazon including a box of nitrile inspection gloves, a set of ratchet spanners, a pick and hook set for removing the difficult to reach fuel filter O ring, funnels for oil and coolant topping up, a pry bar for tensioning the fan belt and both small and large adjustable wrenches. Oh, and I need to get an anti freeze tester which costs about £5.

If you can get over the appalling office administration at RCR, in my experience at least, and if you get an engineer as competent as Kerry, I highly recommend the service. The knowledge you gain will at least give you more confidence when considering the dark and oily mysteries of the engine room and you could possibly save yourself a fortune on routine engine servicing.

I’ll be having a session in the engine room this afternoon when I replace the air filter and a brittle hose on the rear of the heat exchanger. With a bit of luck I can get everything back together again before the next scheduled discovery day in a week’s time. With a bit more luck, the layer of ice which has masked the marina for the last week will be gone by then too.

The cold snap appears to be over. We’ve had a week of sub zero nights and days which haven’t been much warmer. The ice has prevented any boat movement at the marina apart from one or two we’ve had to move to work on. We try to move boats as little as possible when the marina is frozen because of the ice’s abrasive effect on the boats’ hull paint but sometimes we have to do it.

Reversing a boat in ice is achieved by giving the boat a quick burst of forward throttle when the boat is in gear. The surge of water from the propeller lifts the ice behind the boat and breaks it. The boat is then reversed backwards a few feet close to more unbroken ice and the process is repeated.

Turning is quite difficult because, in order to turn, let’s say left, the back of the boat has to swing right. Of course the back can’t swing over if it’s held firmly in place by the ice. The solution is to use a pole to break the ice around the stern so that the boat can swing. You have to be careful doing this though when the ice is thick because a wooden pole won’t take much abuse before it snaps or splinters.

I’ve spent much of this week standing knee deep in a muddy ditch cutting back a fifteen feet wide hawthorn and bramble hedge which should less than half the width. It’s hard work but I’ve enjoyed it because the ditch in question is between the larger of our two woods and one of our three wild flower meadows.

I’ve also enjoyed the work because I can keep an eye on our recently acquired buzzard. It’s building a nest in the top of a squirrel damaged oak, using the twenty feet high crownless trunk as a base. I see the buzzard regularly flying in lazy circles above the site’s woods and meadows looking for food beneath. I’m hoping the bird spots a few adolescent squirrels before they damage any more trees. Spring is the time of the year when the tree rats do the most damage. Berries and nuts are thin on the ground so they top up their diet with tree bark. They’ve stripped the bark of all of our hornbeam now and, to date, have ring barked about two hundred oak.

I had a break from ditch clearing on Saturday morning to help one of our fitters remove a boat’s perforated septic tank. The double bed sized steel waste holding tank had developed a dozen or more pin prick sized holes in the top and sides so had to be replaced. Any steel toilet tank is a pain to remove from a boat, but a double sized one like this is a nightmare.

Two of us tried to move it initially but nearly did ourselves serious injury just lifting the tank on its side. The tank had been thoroughly pumped out (we thought) to remove as much waste as possible before we tried to move it, but it still weighed 300lb plus. We suspected that the extreme weight was caused by a build up of crusty fecal matter around the inside edge of the tank but after a little liquid leaked from a spigot, a hole was cut in the tank to allow us to examine the tank’s interior.

The pump out hadn’t been terribly effective. The tank was quarter full. Removing the remaining contents was a real pain.

We couldn’t take the boat to our marina pump out station because of the ice so we had to bring our man sized wet vacuum cleaner in to the dock, feed the hose through the boat’s side door, suck the contents out, then take the vacuum’s full tank down to our cesspit where it could be emptied safely.

Once empty, the steel tank probably only weighed about a hundred pounds but, because of it’ size, it couldn’t be carried through the boat without carefully lifting it over and around built in furniture and worktops. Four of us spent a grueling half hour, punctuated by many grunts, groans, and unprintable curses, before we finally managed to squeeze it through the front doors and past the cratch board. If the tank had been a quarter of an inch wider, we would have had to remove the cratch board and all the wiring which was attached to it.

The new tank was much easier to get in to the boat as there wasn’t an accumulation of muck in the tank to weigh is down. With the new tank in place, all the fitter needed to do was connect it, and then rebuild the bed frame which he had to take apart to get the old tank out.

If you are considering buying a boat to live on, please consider the disruption and cost involved in getting a waste tank out of a boat. Ex hire boats are often purchased as live aboard boats. Many of them have two toilets on board and two separate tanks to hold the waste. Two toilets is usually considered a waste of space on a live aboard narrowboat so the temptation is to remove them and the holding tank then make better use of the extra space. Now you know how much work is involved.

After the tank moving exercise, I returned to my ditch clearing, but not for long. We had an animal emergency.

Over the last eighteen months we’ve been adding storage containers to half an acre of cleared ground near our main car park. The ten, twenty and forty feet long containers were brought in to provide additional on site storage for boat owners. They’ve proven very popular with moorers and very popular with rabbit chasing dogs too.

The containers sit on wooden sleepers six to nine inches off a hardcore covered area close to our tip and next to one of our wild flower meadows. The containers’ underside off a safe place to rest for dozens of rabbits trying to keep away from the teeth and talons of marauding owls, sparrowhawks, buzzards, foxes and the occasional lead free dog.

One such dog is Harry, the little black terrier belonging to one of our engineers. Harry went missing yesterday. He disappearance isn’t unusual. He loves to chase rabbits. A quick tour of the site is usually enough to locate and retrieve him. He couldn’t be found yesterday and only a faintly heard whimpering indicated that he was in our container area.

He was lucky to be spotted at all. A very small jet black dog in a darkened six inch gap under a sixty feet wide row of steel containers isn’t the easiest of objects to find but his owner saw part of his head back lit by daylight.

He had crawled under the containers, presumably chasing rabbits to a point where he couldn’t move either forwards or backwards. Luckily he was trapped under a container bearer ten feet away from the closest accessible point to him.

Ten feet isn’t far when you’re enjoying a leisurely stroll along a sun-kissed towpath, but it’s a long, long way when you have to lay face down on hardcore packed over solid Lias clay and scrape out a terrier sized trench with a spade, a rake and a boat hook. After an hour’s frustratingly slow digging, a bedraggled and trembling little black dog crawled along the muddy trench into his owner’s waiting arms. It was a very touching scene. I can feel myself welling up just thinking about it!

I’ve been very busy on the boat as well as off it. I’m just about to add a huge amount of new information to the site. Jim Shead of jim-shead.com created an inland waterways site in April 2010. almost exactly nine years before I created this site. Since then he’s added an enormous amount of fascinating information dealing with the history of the waterways, his travels on them, and really useful facts and figures on lock dimensions to help guide you through the lengths and widths of locks on the network. The lock information is essential if you have a boat over 57′ in length and intend to cruise the northern canals and rivers.

Jim has decided that it’s time to take things easy so he’s going to cutting down on the work he does online. I suggested hosting some or all of his information on my site rather than lose it to the waterways community. He’s tentatively agreed so I’ve started to add some of his articles to my own. The process is going to be quite laborious, but I’ll get there in the end, so please bear with me.

The first of his articles on my site is his account of a trip on the Norfolk Broads. It’s not the first place you think of exploring but I know from personal experience that it’s a fascinating area of waterways. With three male friends I hired a narrowboat for a week at the tender age of seventeen. Why the company let four seventeen year old boys hire a boat on an area of connected waterways with easy access to the sea is beyond me.

We lost the boat within eight hours of stepping aboard. We “parked” the boat in torrential rain as close as possible to a pub before hurrying inside for a medicinal seven or eight pints. When we stumbled out of the pub five hours later, the boat was gone. It hadn’t disappeared actually, but that’s what it looked like as we stood next to the empty stretch of river bank where we were sure that we had moored it. After a tearful ten minutes, we realised that the poorly secured bow line know had come undone and the boat had been pushed downstream by the current secured by just the stern line. The boat was actually only about twenty feet away but difficult to see in the dark on the outside of another moored boat and through eyes clouded by a gallon of snakebite.

After that, we nearly sunk the boat when tied the boat tightly to the bank on a tidal stretch of river. We only realised that something was wrong when the tilting boat dumped all of us out of bed. Not content with nearly submerging the boat, we then managed to get stuck on a sand bank in the river esturay and had to be pulled off the sand by a lifeboat.

Jim’s far more responsible and mature cruise account is here.

That’s it. I don’t have time to write anything else today. It’s a glorious day and I want to get out in it. The solar panels are pouring free electricity in to the boat so I’m going to stand next to them and pour some free sunshine into me too. Then I’m going to sit in the engine room with the engine exposed and play with my new tools.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I’ll be running the discovery days approximately on the first ten days of April, June, August, October and December next year. There is now just one date remaining for April. There’s space on 4th April for either two singles, an exclusive single, or a couple. Some of the dates in June are already taken so if you are considering a place next year, please check the diary before it’s too late. I have just started advertising the service on eBay which has significantly increased the volume and frequency of bookings so you will need to act quickly if you want to book a date in the first half of the year. I’m receiving bookings at the rate of one or two each week at the moment so the available dates won’t be there for long.

In the meantime, meet September 2013 discovery day attendee Daisy Hamilton.

“The day was everything that I needed, exhausting, trying to think of so many things, but well worth it, sore muscles on the way home, and some lovely bruises to match. Great fun, especially seeing your face when we passed the love boat!

I would definitely recommend the day to others who are thinking of joining the life. Very entertaining day out, informative, great coffee and company, answered more questions than it raised, which is gratifying.”

Update 4th February 2015

“Just a quick update for you, as I have owned my narrowboat since the third of October and lived on board full time since the last week in December. I had two weeks holiday on the boat in October/November when the weather was glorious and that eased me in gently. I arranged for installation of a new pump for my back boiler, which is temperamental and works when it wants to. My fire and the header tank are my new children and I obsessively check both all the time. The temperature in the bedroom varies between 9 C and 21 C, depending on weather and time of day.

The Eberspacher isn’t working, another boat friend has suggested a small Central heating oil boiler in the bedroom vented to the outside, as I have been using a halogen heater on a timer, but nearly set the bedroom on fire when a curtain got too close. That has not been the worst.

Lack of wifi has been killing me. I got a contract for a mifi from 3, which has 15 GB of data. As soon as you download a film or watch telly, it is gone. So I arranged to get a second one delivered as it actually was the cheapest way to go. DPD attempted to deliver it five times before I cancelled the contract, as three would not let them deliver it to my place of work, or me to collect it from the nearest store, and DPD could not seem to get into their thick heads that I don’t live in my postbox, so when they arrive they have to ring me to come find them. Needless to say, after 9 days, I cancelled that contract and have been hanging out in coffee shops in my free time for the wifi, until my data allowance kicks in.

Otherwise, I love it. The starlings have chosen a reed bed in front of the boat for their nightly murmuration, so every night we have the most amazing aerial display, which will end in the next few weeks. I started a new job as labour ward manager four weeks ago and that is going well. One cat fell in twice, but they both love it and think the gunnels are made solely for their personal use. Life is good.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here. Please note that there are limited dates remaining for April now so if you want to spend a spring day out with me you need to book quickly.

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

1st February 2015

Running a boating business – How to earn a living on the cut.

25th January 2015

A detailed breakdown of my own narrowboat running costs for December 2014

18th January 2015

An unexpected cruise – A surprise cruise to Braunston, secondary double glazing panel fitting, and why dogs and laminate flooring don’t go well together

11th January 2015

Battery Banks – The pros and cons of lead acid and AGM batteries

4th January 2015

More winter cruising – The tail end of my Christmas break afloat

28th December 2014

Winter cruising – A narrowboat isn’t just for the summer months. Winter cruising is a joy. Here’s my account of a week on the cut over the Christmas break

21st December 2014

Cooking on the cut – Here are some gourmet festive recipes suitable for a narrowboat’s small galley

14th December 2014

A Cautionary Tale – Canals and narrowboats offer all the ingredients for some pretty nasty accidents. Here’s one which could have been much worse.

7th December 2014

Shared ownership – If you can’t afford a whole boat, why not buy part of one? Here’s how you can enjoy narrowboat ownership but at a fraction of the normal cost.

30th November 2014

23rd November 2014

16th November 2014

Narrowboat fuel consumption – How many miles to the gallon can you get out of your floating home?

9th November 2014

How to spot bogus narrowboat adverts – Beware narrowboats for sale at bargain basement prices. Here’s a cautionary tale to make you think twice about reaching for your wallet.

2nd November 2014

Narrowboat CO2 emissions – Is living on a boat a green alternative to a home on dry land? You’ll have to read this newsletter to find out.

26th October 2014

19th October 2014

Anti social behaviour on the cut – How common are the unpleasant incidents you sometimes hear about on the canal network and who are the worst offenders? You’ll probably be surprised.

12th October 2014

The pros and cons of buying an ex hire boat to live on – How suitable are ex hire boats for living on board full time?

5th October 2014

28th September 2014

21st September 2014

Cruising in adverse weather conditions part two – A continuation of the previous week’s newsletter.

14th September 2014

7th September 2014

Following your dream – Is your goal to some day spend a life of leisure out on the canal network? This article might encourage you to make a move sooner rather than later.

31st August 2014

Route finding for narrowboat owners – Here are the popular paper and digital route finders to help make navigating the network child’s play

24th August 2014

Long term narrowboat hire – Is hiring a boat long term a realistic alternative to buying one?

17th August 2014

10th August 2014

Narrowboat heating, electrics and engine specifications – How is the perfect live aboard narrowboat configured? Here are a few suggestions

3rd August 2014

Essential boating equipment – Here’s the stuff every boater should carry on board

27th July 2014

20th July 2014

13th July 2014

Digital aids for narrowboat owners – Digital applications and maps for inland waterways boaters

6th July 2014

29th June 2014

Extending your boat’s storage space – The pros and cons of fitting covers to your front and rear decks

22nd June 2014

Naming your boat – The legal requirements when naming, renaming and displaying your boat plus the inland waterways’ two hundred most popular boat names

15th June 2014

Speeding boats – Are rocking stationary boats the fault of speeding passing boats or the fault of boat owners who can’t moor securely?

8th June 2014

Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.

1st June 2014

Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges

25th May 2014

Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.

18th May 2014

Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.

11th May 2014

How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

4th May 2014

If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.

27th April 2014

What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment

20th April 2014

A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.

13th April 2014

A further update to the site content index.

6th April 2014

30th March 2014

How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?

23rd March 2014

Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.

16th March 2014

Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?

I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.

9th February 2014

2nd February 2014

Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.

26th January 2014

Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.

19th January 2014

12th January 2014

If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)

5th January 2014

Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.

29th December 2013

The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?

22nd December 2013

Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.

15th December 2013

Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?

8th December 2013

Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel

1st December 2013

Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.

Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content

Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.

24th November 2013

Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?

Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.

17th November 2013

Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.

10th November 2013

Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013

3rd November 2013

Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.

27th October 2013

The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.

Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.

20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.

A new organisation for liveaboard boaters

13th October 2013

On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.

Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.

6th October 2013

Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.

29th September 2013

The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free

22nd September 2013

A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees

Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site

15th September 2013

Managing your water supply

An American blogs about his travels

1st September 2013

Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube

All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller

8th September

25th August 2013

Effective fly killers for boats

The downside to living on a narrowboat

18th August 2013

CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!

Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers

Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?

11th August 2013

A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles

Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring

4th August 2013

The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?

28th July 2013

The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.

21st July 2013

Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.

14th July 2013

Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.

7th July 2013

Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.

30th June 2013

23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?

Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.

Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.

16th June 2013

Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours

Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.

9th June 2013

2nd June 2013

An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list

26th May 2013

Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.

Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story

19th May 2013

My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.

12th May 2013

An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network

An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings

5th May 2013

Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold

Meet one of your legless canal side companions

The canal network’s largest floating hotel

28th April 2013

Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.

21st April 2013

The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?

Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop

RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?

14th April 2013

The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.

7th April 2013

Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article

Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.

31st March 2013

Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.

24th March 2013

Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.

Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.

Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.

17th March 2013

Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start

Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution

Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013

Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.

11th March 2013

James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring

3rd March 2013

Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test

Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.

Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.

Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013

20th February 2013

The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.

8th January 2013

Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat

24th December

Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis

18th December 2012

Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis

Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer

2nd December 2012

Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat

Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer

Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat

21st November 2012

First tests and reviews of the budgeting application

The best aerial for a narrowboat television

6th November 2012

The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application

28th October 2012

An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways

Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else

17th October 2012

I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date

14th October 2012

Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs

Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home

30th September 2012

The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners

18th September 2012

VAT on narrowboat sales

20th July 2012

Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans

Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson

7th July 2012

Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels

10th June 2012

Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)

27th May 2012

How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.

Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke

13th May 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and

Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly

29th April 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports

15th April 2012

Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips

Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all

Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats

1st April 2012

18th March 2012

The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments

Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.

4th March 2012

Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat

eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)

Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat

A review of Debdale Wharf marina

22nd January 2012

Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.

8th January 2012

The first four narrowboat case studies published

I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study

Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study

Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study

Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.

2nd February 2011

Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter

1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter

Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Useful Links

Back to the Broads

JIM SHEAD sets out from the capital of the Broads to cruise the most popular rivers

I took my first boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads in May 1953, when I was 9¾ and did not return for another boating holiday on the Broads until July 2009. My extreme tardiness in returning should not be taken, in any way, as a slight to the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads for it was this holiday that introduced me, and my family, to the joys of boating. In 1957 and 1961 we explored the Thames and in 1963 we took the first of many canal holidays. During the following 46 years I explored our waterways system, 15 of these on our own narrowboat, which we sold in 2009. Our first boating holiday after this was back to the Broads.

The Broads

The broads, from which the whole area takes its name, are a number of lakes, which were at one time thought to be natural features but are now known to mainly be the result of medieval peat digging. Most of these broads are connected by a system of rivers and canals giving a cruising area of about 125 miles with no locks. In the north the main river is the Bure, into which the rivers Ant, Thurne and other waterways run. In the south the main rivers are the Yare and Waveney. The rivers of the north and south are both united and divided by Great Yarmouth, where the River Bure meets the River Yare, uniting the two river systems, although here navigation is restricted by the need to time a passage to and from Great Yarmouth according to the state of the tide. Unless you plan well ahead you may find you need to make this passage at the crack of dawn or shortly before dusk. Although the whole of the Broads can be affected by tides this is not normally noticeable until a mile or two from Great Yarmouth. As we only had a week on the Broads we confined our cruising to the northern rivers, cuts and broads.

Our Voyage

We picked up the boat at Wroxham, the place where my family had rented a bungalow with a rowing boat and a motor launch back in the fifties. Wroxham can claim to be the capital of the Broads as it has more hire boat companies than anywhere else. It also boasts the “largest village store in the world”, Roy’s of Wroxham, which is in fact a department store that would be the envy of most small towns, plus a large supermarket and other retail outlets. We decided that for our first afternoon of cruising we would go just over three miles up the Bure to the head of navigation at Coltishall. The man from the boatyard steered us under the low Wroxham Bridge and then left us to familiarise ourselves with the boat. I must say that it took me longer than I had expected to get used to the wheel steering of a light cruiser again after many years of narrow boating.

The river winds its way through wooded banks but as it approaches Coltishall the view opens out and soon we see a broad strip of mown grass with a long length of moorings and beyond them the welcoming sight of two of the village pubs, The Rising Sun and The King’s Head. From here the Upper Bure (or Aylesham) Navigation once ran 9½ miles and 5 locks using the course of the upper Bure River plus a mile of cut to Aylesham Basin. This was authorised by an Act of 1773, work started in 1774 and it opened in October 1779 but was abandoned in 1928. The attractive village is up the hill from the moorings and has a few shops, another pub and a thatched church.

The next day we came back down river to Wroxham and stopped to wait for a pilot to take us under the bridge. The boatyard had asked us to do that and they soon sent someone to steer the boat through. The Broads has very few bridges and most of them have a reasonable amount of headroom, Wroxham has only 2.34 metres (7ft 8ins) at the centre and Potter Heigham a foot less, but more of that later. We continued down the river until we got to Wroxham Broad, here there is a choice of route, either to continue down the river or to go onto the Broad and return to the river at the other end, which is what we did.

Wroxham was the first of many broads we saw on this trip. They are great favourites with the sailing fraternity as they give plenty of room for manoeuvre, especially when tacking to make progress against the wind. This particular broad seemed very popular with motor boaters too, many it seems take this detour as a change from the river route and we found ourselves in a procession of boats making for the exit at the far end. Beyond Horning we stopped at moorings at Cockshoot Dyke for lunch. This was an example of the many moorings that are provided on the Broads, usually with wooden decking and wooden mooring posts, steel rings or both. We were always able to find a purpose built mooring, which was just as well as we were not equipped with mooring spikes or a hammer.

The River Ant

After lunch we went down the Bure to the mouth of the Ant, then up the River Ant to Stalham. This trip includes crossing Barton Broad, which forms part of the navigation. Not all of the broad is of navigable depth so motorboats must keep between the red and white capped wooden piles that mark the channel on this and many other broads. To reach Stalham one must turn off the Ant onto Stalham Dyke. As we approached Stalham we met a whole armada of slow moving cruisers that made the river resemble rush hour on a busy motorway. At first we were puzzled by the presence of all these various craft near the end of the navigation but we soon found that the end of the dyke is a mass of cuts housing several boat hire companies and concluded that this was the Saturday afternoon rush of hirers setting off. Stalham is also the home to the Museum of the Broads. The busy town is across the main road and up the hill.

Before leaving the Ant we went to Wayford Bridge, past picturesque Hunsett Windmill and the junction with the derelict North Walsham and Dilham Canal, and down the narrow channel to Dilham. On our way back down the Ant we also made our way up Lime Kiln Dyke, which is a turning off Barton Broad. A good map is essential for finding these small exits from large broads as unless you have a good general idea of where the exit is located it is not easy to find them. At the end of the Dyke is the village of Neatishead, where the Old Saddlery restaurant provided an excellent Sunday lunch.

The River Thurne

Having returned to the River Bure it is less than three miles down river to the River Thurne junction, our next river system to explore. We stopped that evening at Ludham Staithe on Womack Water (£3 mooring fee). The village has a good pub and shops. Our next port of call, Potter Heigham, is much more a holiday village than a typical traditional Norfolk village; it also has a low bridge that hire boats are forbidden to pass without a pilot. We paid our £10 return fee and made our way up to West Somerton. The highlight of this journey is the passage through the edge of Martham Broad, which is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve.

Taking the Candle Dyke turning off the Thurne leads through two more broads and to the entrance to Meadow Dyke, leading to Horsey Mere. We took this route to Horsey Mere Staithe, where we paid our second and last mooring fee (£5) but in return got the most beautiful mooring of the holiday, the Horsey Windpump and the rows of moored sailings boats invoking the timeless spirit of the Broads.

Broad and Narrow

There were more delights and contrasts to come, from the narrow channel of Waxham Cut, with a restricted turning space at the end, to the wide expanses of Hickling Broad, where the breeze created some rough water even on a pleasant summers day. We went down the Bure as far as Acle Bridge and explored South Walsham and Malthouse broads as well as stopping at the delightful and popular village of Horning. Stopping here can be difficult as moorings on the village side of the river are restricted, there are moorings on the opposite side but no bridge to get across. Perhaps this explains why so many boats on the broads trail a tender in their wake.

So what has changed on the Broads in the last 56 years? Wroxham and some of the other waterside villages have more riverside homes and most of the old wooden bungalows that were once so common have disappeared. There are more marina style boatyards, more hire boats and many more purpose built moorings. Perhaps more important is what has stayed the same; the tranquil backwaters, wildlife, the variety of scenery, the windmills and the sailing craft – all the things that first attracted the Victorians to this part of the world.

The Hidden Cost Of Narrowboat Ownership

The thought of narrowboat ownership conjures images of long and lazy days gently cruising the tranquil connected waterways of the English and Welsh canal and river network, stopping when and where you want to enjoy a day or more sitting quietly on the towpath or river bank in the warm summer sun, enjoying a delicious boat-cooked meal and a glass or two of wine.

It’s true, narrowboat ownership can lead to an idyllic lifestyle but, contrary to many aspiring narrowboat owners’ expectations, it’s not a particularly cheap one. The ongoing costs are comparable to running a small family home.

There are a huge number of narrowboats for sale at any one time with over 1,000 on the popular Apolloduck web site alone. The choice and price range is both staggering and bewildering. A narrowboat can cost as little as £10,000 for a project craft to more than £150,000 for new boat built to your own specification.

The initial purchase price isn’t all you have to consider when buying a boat. Getting an out of water survey to check the integrity of the hull is absolutely essential, as is ensuring that you keep something in reserve for the inevitable post purchase remedial work. A narrowboat may have been on brokerage for a year or more. Battery banks often need replacing and there’s often rust to treat and paint to touch up, especially on boats at the lower end of the market. All of the on board equipment needs checking before the sale is completed as most boats are sold “as seen”.

Once you’ve parted with a substantial amount of cash for the boat, you’ll have to part with much more to keep your boat both legal and in good condition.

Your largest ongoing expense is likely to be your mooring fees. Unless you plan to continuously cruise the canal network, ensuring that you move on at least every fourteen days, you are obliged by the Canal & River Trust’s licensing regulations to declare a home mooring, somewhere you keep your boat when you aren’t cruising. A marina mooring will cost you in excess of £2,000 a year in most of the country but the cost will rise the closer you are to London where you can pay up to £10,000 every year for the pleasure of parking your boat.

Your next largest expense will be your license. Your narrowboat license is determined by the length of your boat and ranges from £700 a year for a 40′ boat up to £1,000 for the longest 70′ narrowboats on the canal network. In addition to your license, you will also need a BSS certificate, a boat MOT and insurance.

Although there are one or two wooden narrowboats on the waterways, most have steel hulls and steel cabins. The steel needs to be protected to prevent rust which means that every two or three years you have to take your boat out of the water to paint the hull and every seven to ten years have the cabin professionally painted if you aren’t going to do the work yourself. Professional cabin painting can cost in excess of £100 per foot.

Narrowboats need regular maintenance. In addition to regular engine servicing, you’ll find that normal household items need far more care than their dry land equivalent as your floating home is often subject to intense vibration and regular knocks and shakes from content with canal and river banks and concrete or brick lock walls.

Utilities on board can be costly, especially off grid electrical generation. Most boats use propane for cooking which is reasonably economical but beware if your new boat only has gas powered central heating. Propane gas is one of the most expensive ways to keep your boat warm and the gas produces a wet heat which aids condensation. If you are considering living on board, a solid fuel stove is the most reliable and one of the most economical forms of heating for your boat.

You’ll probably want to use your boat to cruise the network rather than keep it in one spot as a static floating home. Your diesel engine will probably consume somewhere between one and one and a half litres per hour so, at an average cruising speed of just over two miles an hour your boat will use as much diesel as a large four wheel drive car. Unlike the car though, you can live in your boat in comfort.

Many boat owners will tell you, only partly in jest, that B.O.A.T. is an acronym. It stands for Bring Out Another Thousand. Living afloat can be an enormously enjoyable but not particularly cheap lifestyle but buying a narrowboat for recreational cruising is a very expensive hobby.

Paul Smith has been living in his own floating home for the last five years, moored in the idyllic setting of Calcutt Boats’ Meadows marina where he has worked at the marina by day and blogged about life afloat by night. He’s produced a free guide for anyone thinking of buying a narrowboat, particularly those buying one with a view to living afloat full time. You can download the guide here.

2015 02 01 Newsletter – Running A Boat Based Business

The ongoing saga of booking a simple service with RCR continues. I’ve now had to phone them eight times. At the end of last week I was still waiting for a telephone call from them to confirm that they had amended an incorrectly scheduled visit from the wrong engineer. I was both surprised and delighted when they called to let me know that the right engineer, Kerry, had been scheduled to visit me on 3rd February. The only fly in the ointment was that the lady who called finished off with “Thank you Mr. Dawson.” My name is Smith, not Dawson. I told her so. There was much shuffling of paper while she promised to correct their records. I though that was the end of it.

On Tuesday, coincidentally, at work I was asked to deliver a letter which had arrived at our reception, sent by RCR, addressed to a Mr. Dawson at Calcutt Boats. The boat name wasn’t on the letter so I delivered the letter to the only moorer with that name on our database.

Later in the day I was told that a confused Mr. Dawson had called in to the office. The letter from RCR was to confirm a booking for a one to one service call with their engineer Kerry on 3rd February. He said he wasn’t a member of RCR and didn’t want them to service his engine. He claimed to know nothing at all about the appointment. I wasn’t surprised. It was my appointment.

I phoned RCR on Wednesday. They said that they didn’t have a clue why Mr. Dawson was on their records but confirmed that Kerry is scheduled to visit me on 3rd February. I’m not completely convinced.

I’ve also been having problems for quite a while now trying to find a carpenter who is interested in doing some work for me. I want the hatch surround to the engine room rebuilding so that the hatch fits properly and so that the rear doors can be locked from the inside. At the moment the rear doors have to locked from the outside so we can’t use the back of the boat as an emergency exit. If, heaven forbid, we had a fire in either our bathroom or the second bedroom/office area next to it during the night while we were sleeping, we would be trapped in our bedroom without a way out of the boat other than breaking one of the bedroom windows.

They guy who fitted the soundproofing around my engine was scheduled to do the job, but he had a better offer so reneged on his promise in favour of an imminent full boat fit out. The name of another carpenter was given to me. I was told that the Crick based tradesman was first class so I gave him a call, and gave him a call and gave him a call. I finally managed to speak to him on the fifth attempt, but was still no further forward with my plans. He told me that the seventeen mile journey between Crick and Calcutt Boats was too much for him.

I’m back to square one. Surely there’s a competent carpenter close to me who’s interested in a couple of days work? Do you know one? I’m not difficult to work for, honestly! I don’t interfere, supply unlimited coffee (or tea if it’s really necessary) and I pay my bills the minute the work is finished. If you can think of anyone who can help, please let me know.

When I haven’t been sorting out problems on the boat, I’ve been trying to help Sally sort out one or two problems somewhere in the tropics. Modern technology seems like magic to me sometimes. I sit in front of my laptop on a boat in a rural English marina, press a button, and a mobile phone rings in a bamboo hut in the middle of a field of sugar cane six and a half thousand miles away. How does that happen?

The quality of the call sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, but most of the time it’s more than adequate. We have a Skype subscription to calls to the Philippines so internet telephone calls cost just 6.7p per minute. It’s a wonderful service which allows me to speak to Sally quite easily every two or three days while she is away and so much easier than trying to find a signal for my mobile phone.

Sally left her car here at the marina. I sold mine a couple of years ago so it’s handy having hers to use. Unfortunately I don’t have it at the moment. The car was collected from me by a Daventry body repair company which is going to remove the substantial dent Sally put in the front of her car when she inadvertently drove it into the back of my work truck.

I pointed out to the repairer that I needed the car to fetch my weekly groceries so we arranged for the vehicle to collected after I stocked up on essentials. I didn’t go mad because they promised to deliver the repaired car back to me on Friday, four days after they collected it. I called them on Friday to find out what times they would bring it back. They told me that they were short staffed so would need the car for a further four or five days.

Once upon a time such news would have sent me into a blind panic and would had me reaching for my hiking boots and rucksack before a time wasting and tiring nine mile round walk to the Tesco store in Southam. There’s a bus service from the main road a mile and a half away from the marina, but as it runs about once every six months, I wouldn’t have seriously considered it. These days I don’t need to consider walking at all. I have technology on my side.

In the dim and distant past, as a time poor, highly stressed business owner, I looked for any opportunity which would enable me to spend more time sticking frantic fingers in the leaking dam of my failing business. Tesco’s home delivery was one such opportunity.

I hadn’t used the service for over five years so I thought ordering from them for delivery to the marina was an option, but I expected it to be a slow and painful process. It wasn’t at all. The process was very quick… and painful.

I didn’t realise that every time I handed the cashier my club card, my transactions were automagically stored in my online account. At the press of a button I was able to see everything that I’ve ordered from Tesco since the beginning of time, and with the press of another button schedule all of it for delivery at the marina.

On Saturday afternoon a fleet of Tesco box vans arrived at our reception with enough to feed everyone at the marina for the rest of the year. Of course, I’ve exaggerated slightly, but the bill for my shopping was far more than I expected. I thought that I would actually save money because I wouldn’t be tempted to make all those impulse purchases which make food shopping such a pleasure. The clever marketing buggers at Tesco have thought about that though so a combination of easy to repeat previous purchases and constant notifications of current not to be missed deals, I arrived a the virtual checkout and a bill 50% higher than my normal in store total. Never mind, I now have enough food to last me another week or even two at a push. Just as well really. I think I’ll need another two weeks before I can afford to go shopping again.

I wasn’t really worried on the food front. Sally and I have more cupboards and drawers on the boat than we can shake a stick at and three of them are full of emergency provisions for when we fancy staying on an idyllic mooring without having to stress over the location of the nearest supermarket. We have dozens of tins of fish, meat, fruit and vegetables and powdered milk, jars of coffee, jams and honey, and a sealed 10kg bucket of rice. There’s also at least a dozen bottles of red on the boat at all times for essential canal-side R & R. A few days without a car wasn’t much of a problem but fresh food is always preferable if it’s available.

I’ve just looked out of the window to rest my weary eyes. The horrible magpies are back again. Two of them started regularly visiting the extremely popular feeder I hung on the cockspur thorn tree in July last year. The small tree now regularly has at least a dozen birds flitting between the lower branches and the feeder, and another dozen waiting on the bare earth underneath for dropped seeds.

One of the magpies, or maybe both of them because I can’t tell them apart, has worked out a system for raiding the feeder. It perches on the nearest branch to the plastic food tube, leans across to grab the bottom of the feeder with its beak and then lets go with its feet and uses the momentum of its swing to tip seeds out of the tube onto the ground beneath. It then drops from the feeder into the milling coots, moorhens, mallards and crows and snatches what it can before repeating the process.

The bird is a pain because it’s technique is very effective. A full feeder used to take two or three days to empty. Four hours was all the bird needed today. I’ve just ordered another 13kg bag of seed. I’m not sure whether to use it to fill the feeder or throw at the magpie!

Over the last few days we’ve had a dusting of short lived snow at the marina. One minute snow, the next slush then nothing at all a few hours later. The wintery weather this week hasn’t been much of a problem, but I’m not particularly looking forward to the coming week. The thermometer’s dropped and there’s a cold north westerly blowing. I’ve just spent half an hour outside with the dogs and come back to the boat chilled to the bone. The wind chill has reduced the apparent temperature to minus eight. Sub zero nights and days just above freezing over the coming week mean that we should see constant ice over the water for the next week at least.

I’m not normally bothered about a little ice on either marina or canal but two weeks today I’m hosting the first discovery day of the year for a couple who want to experience cruising at the coldest time of the year. I’m hoping that we will be able to enjoy the day without doing too much ice breaking.

A cold and lively wind used to chill the inside of the boat very quickly indeed but now, courtesy of my new secondary double glazing panels, the cabin is warm and draught free. The panels have made a huge difference inside the boat. All the hassle I had getting the panels in the first place and then fitting them has been worthwhile.

Another worthwhile expenditure has been my new AGM battery bank. When they were installed eight days ago I turned off the charger which keeps the battery bank topped up via the shore supply. I’ve been totally reliant on my solar panels to keep the batteries charged. They’ve done a magnificent job. One day last week I was getting 14amps from the panels. Even today with a lightly clouded sky I’m getting 3amps. The bank’s capacity hasn’t dropped below 94% since they were installed.

I have to stress that the bank isn’t currently meeting all of my electrical needs. The shore supply is currently powering my 240v devices but the solar panels and batteries are providing power for all my lighting, shower and water pumps and, the biggest constant drain on my batteries, my 12v fridge. I’m absolutely delighted so far.

I’m still fine tuning my preparations for most of the year around the marina. We keep most of the stuff we need on the boat with us all the time but we also have a 20′ storage container where we keep odds and end we either don’t need or can’t fit on the boat. I would like to get rid of the container and save ourselves nine hundred pounds a year, but most of the contents is furniture from Sally’s house, so she has to make the decision to either give it away or sell it.

There are a few things still on the boat which I don’t think it’s really sensible to keep. One of them is my comprehensive high end camera kit. I have a full frame Nikon D700 camera, four lenses to go with it including the highly regarded Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8, a flash gun, spare batteries, memory cards, filters and a sturdy tripod. It’s not a terribly bulky kit but it’s too bulky really to keep on board, and too much of a risk if we’re out on the cut all of the time. I’ve reluctantly decided to sell it all on eBay and get myself a good pocket sized point and shoot camera. If you are in to photography and want a comprehensive, high spec complete kit, please let me know.

Last week I included my December boating expenditure in the newsletter. I received the following email from fellow live aboard boat owner Sarah-May Matthews AKA Baddie The Pirate…

“I reckon on a bag of coal lasting me 5 days, so cost of keeping warm is approx £2/day (average cost of bag of coat £10).

It would be interesting to know if your new double glazing cuts the cost of heating your boat? Sounds like it will.

My boat is 53ft, all portholes and very well insulated. I have a Morso Squirrel stove.

I do regular maintenance on the stove, ie replacing the rope around the doors if the soot pattern on the glass shows that air is leaking in. If I close the 2 vents my stove is airtight enought that it will go out. Keeping it well looked after means it is easier to regulate.

A while ago I removed the dished part (sorry don’t know what it is called) that bolts onto the bottom of the chimney, in the top of the stove. It kept blocking up and made the chimney difficult to clean out. I also put in double fire bricks at each side of my stove so I could have a smaller fire. Once the fire bricks have heated up they keep giving out heat into the cabin for ages, even if the fire goes out. They also serve another purpose…I can balance a metal skewer above the hot coals. If you cook foil wrapped spuds this way the metal skewer helps to cook the centre of your spud. Delicious!

My fire has stayed in for up to 14 hrs on low before.

My boat club sent this info today about burning wood:

I think the ‘acidic tars’ mentioned in the above article can eventually eat their way through your stove chimney? Not a great thing to happen.

It might be a good idea to ask for people’s experiences of different stoves on the market, and how to pick one that will throw out enough heat to warm up the space you have?

I discovered this winter that the more expensive bag of Excel produces more heat and less ash than the cheaper Supertherm. Every winter I try different types of coal available, and every winter end up having a different favourite. Possibly another subject for your newsletter to explore? And topical at this time of year…”

Sarah-May’s economic use of coal is something which I fear is beyond me. As she pointed out, her boat is very well insulated. Mine is not. I’ve managed to reduce the heat loss through the windows but there isn’t much I can do about my rather poor polystyrene insulation. At one bag every two and a half days I don’t think I’m a million miles away from many other live aboard boat owners though, given fact that my stove has to heat a 48′ long cabin.

Sarah-May cooks jacket potatoes by balancing skewers on her fire bricks. I can’t do that, because I don’t have any fire bricks to balance the skewers on, so my method is to put the foil wrapped potatoes in the ash tray beneath the stove. I throw them in at 11am. By the time I finish work at 5.30pm they’re perfectly cooked. I have them at least once a week at this time of the year.

Cruising In London

I’ve published material on the subject of London moorings, or lack of them, in previous newsletters. The mooring situation around the capital probably deters many boaters from visiting the congested waterways, but where there is a will, there is a way. Regular forum contributor Peter Earley (Pearley on the forum) has just added a very useful post to the cruising section of the forum to help you plan your London cruise. It’s a wonderful source of information and very much appreciated. Here it is.

New Forum Recipe Section

Talking of the forum, I’ve just added a new section to it to allow users to add recipes which are easy to cook in the little space available to you on board a boat. Former professional chef Alan Cranford has added some content to the section already. Alan is an aspiring narrowboat owner born in the USA but now enjoying all year round pleasant weather in Mexico. Many of the recipes have a transatlantic flavour (or should I say flavor?) but they will all work here. The new section is here. I welcome any contributions from site visitors.

Boating Businesses

There’s an interesting article about roving traders in February’s edition of Waterways World. It details a number of boat owners who sell products and services from the boats they live on along the banks of canals and rivers on the inland waterways network.

I regularly receive emails from potential boat owners who want to live afloat but who can’t afford to do so without working. Some of them consider starting their own boat based business to solve the problem.

Running a business afloat is just as difficult as running one on dry land. More so if you have to rely on passing trade in order to make sales. Stretches of canal which are a hive of activity in the warmer, kinder summer months are often silent, deserted spaces in the winter.

There are four different styles you can consider if you want to earn a living afloat; creating or providing physical products at physical locations such as the roving traders featured in the Waterways World article, creating or providing physical products from a location of your choosing which you then dispatch to customers, providing services which you take orders for wherever you happen to be on the network and then deliver by visiting your customers and best of all if you want total freedom, providing services which you can deliver remotely from wherever you are.

Physical Products/Physical Location

In effect, your boat becomes a shop. You either invite customers on board to sample your wares or display your goods for sale on or near your boat. Businesses include coal boats, fender makers, tiller pin sellers, jewelery makers, gift sellers and floating cafes. One of the roving traders featured in WW was Alison Tuck on board narrowboat da Vinci. I emailed her to ask if she would be interested in answering some questions for this site’s case study section. She agreed. The link to her case study is below. Here’s a little additional information she’s provided about starting a floating business.

“We have a get started page on the RCTA website and CRTs pages have loads of info about trade license.

We also have a Facebook group if you want to talk to other traders.

I always tell any one considering a business on the cut, its the same as on land to set up and run. Being on the canal offers a great livestyle and we have many who are part time traders who use it as a supplement to their income and are not reliant on it.

The traders (like me) who its their only income. The successfully ones you will find have a business model that would work just as well on land as on the water. The thing to remember the trading season on the canal is a very short and weather dependant. It is essential to have other sales outlets be that internet or land based Markets/craft fairs if you want to make a living from it. “

Here’s Alison’s case study

Physical Products/Virtual Location

With this type of business you either make or source products which you then dispatch to your customers. Disruption to your boat will depend on the equipment you need to make your products and/or the amount of stock you need on board. I’m struggling to think of many businesses in this category but an eBay seller is one of them and so is the business belonging to Illia Price, although hers is quite unique. Here’s what she has to say about running a business while living afloat.

“I’m lucky enough to have built up a specialist business supplying engraved botanical labels to gardens and arboretums throughout the UK and beyond. It only requires a small space, internet connection for receiving orders, communication and banking. An occasional stock up on materials and a Post Office for sending out orders. I use what would be bedroom space for my office/ workshop. To build up this business I’ve obviously put in many hours over the years, invested in good and costly equipment and software and learned how to use it all, as well as becoming an expert at botanical Latin spelling, presentation and CAM/ CAD.

I need a decent sized screen, mouse and keyboard, also serial ports to run my engraving tables so use a PC. I run a portable generator which powers this, the engraving tables, printer, drill, cutter grinder and swarf extractor.

Generating electricity for work is relatively expensive compared to a mains supply. About £1 per kw/ hour with my LPG generator. Doesn’t sound much but it adds up. It’s a real nuisance if the generator stops mid way through a job. Save often when working on the PC is my motto. Also simple things like my mono laser printer and swarf extractor suck a huge amount of power on start up and my 1kw generator struggles. I have to turn other things off to switch them on. A bigger generator would cope better but is heavy to move around and more costly to run. I will look into converting my PC to 12v or using a small inverter when I’ve more solar panels.

Working aboard one has to be fairly tidy with little spare space. My total indoor space is only around 30′ x 6′ 6″. Office/ workshop takes up about a quarter of this. Dust from the stove gets everywhere and a lot of dusting is done to ensure orders go out looking neat and tidy.

The basics of living can take up a surprising amount of time and as a CC I would be pretty rushed if I had to work an 8 hour day. My aim is to make enough to live on. I don’t hanker after an extravagant lifestyle so 4-6 hours is generally sufficient and as I’m an early riser work is normally done by lunchtime.

Stocking up on materials could be tricky without a land based delivery address though I’m sure a friendly boatyard would take deliveries. I buy in bulk and get stuff delivered to my daughter’s house. I also use this as my official address and have a garden shed for storage. Mostly my customers pay by BACS. I post the odd cheque l get to my bank.

Insurance for expensive equipment kept aboard seems hard to come by and would most likely be rather costly. I am generally in. I have an early warning system in the form of dog. I keep the the blinds down on the towpath side so office space looks like a bedroom and I don’t moor in dodgy locations. My generator and gas bottle are always chained and padlocked and my PC and engraving tables locked down. I also have a tv simulator (Thanks Paul) which is on if I’m out after dark, along with a light and radio.

Running one’s own business requires a lot of dedication. It’s sometimes tempting to put off work in favour of leisurely pursuits but personally I can’t relax if there’s jobs waiting. I’m a perfectionist and will always do the best I can which has brought success in several fields over the years. Repeat custom is precious and doesn’t need to be sought. Word of mouth is the best advertisement you can get and it’s free! One needs to be realistic in pricing jobs – cost of materials/ stock and time taken to carry out, but also factor in workspace running costs, heating etc. Time taken quoting, invoicing, bookkeeping, banking. Equipment repairs and replacement. On the other hand I don’t believe one should be too greedy, prices need to be realistic. I have an hourly rate I aim to achieve and calculate output per hour and base my prices on that.

Luckily most of my work comes from organisations rather than individuals and I invoice when I send the goods out. I almost always get paid within 30 days and very rarely need to send out statements. However, I had a signmaking business in a past life. Most work was for individuals or small local businesses and I used to spend as long chasing debt as I did doing the work. Would have been much better to stipulate payment in advance or upon collection/ delivery.

Creating one’s own website and doing one’s own accounting is not difficult and will save a fortune. I use Frontpage express for website creation and Quickbooks for accounting. I fill my own tax return online. I bought my domain name years ago so my only cost is £4.80 a month for web hosting.”

Illia’s case study is here. There’s some great advice if you are thinking of living afloat and links to some wonderful posts detailing her first weeks afloat.

Virtual location/Physical Products And Services

These are the tradesmen who are so much in demand. They can live where they like on their boats providing they can drive to their customers. They are carpenters, heating specialists marine electricians and engineers and a very popular solar panel installer.

Tim Davis is the solar panel installer. Unfortunately he’s become the victim of his own success. Tim quit his hectic and stressful life for a leisurely and stress free existence on the cut. He’s very competent around boats after building and fitting a few out himself. Soon after he moved on board he decided that he wanted to enhance his boat’s off grid capabilities by adding solar power. He sourced the best components he could find and then fitted them to his own high standard. A friend saw his installation and asked Tim if he could fit a system on his boat. Onboard Solar was born.

Before long, Tim had to give up his nomadic existence, rent a storage unit to keep his stock in and work seven days a week to keep up with demand. All of his business comes through word of mouth. Tim fitted a system for me which I’m delighted with. You can read his case study here where you will also find a link to his web site.

Virtual Products/Virtual Location

Some of the boat owners who feature in the case studies on this site fall into this category. They provide digital services so their location doesn’t matter, as long as they have an internet connection and enough power for on board equipment. Graphic designers, programmers, writers and those providing remote secretarial services are among those who need to work bit can do so almost anywhere they like.

I fall between the last category and this one as I have to return to a physical location to host my training and discovery days. I created my “business” with a long term goal in mind. I lost everything when my business failed in 2009 so I knew that I would have to work for quite some time to come. However, I wanted to lead a less stressful life than the one I had endured for most of my working life. I moved onto my boat out of desperation rather than a desire to live afloat but almost immediately I was smitten by the boating bug. I loved the lifestyle and loved the canals. I wanted to spend my time cruising the network and taking it easy. Unfortunately I still had to earn a living.

Soon after I moved on board I created this site. I realised what a steep learning curve buying an living on a boat required so I though my incidents and adventures as I tried to cope with a completely new way of life would benefit others. I became aware that, although there is a huge amount of information available on the internet about living afloat and the costs involved and the practicalities of living afloat, it’s quite difficult to put together.

I published a few guides to help people out and to provide me with a very modest additional income to that of my relatively low paid but enjoyable and stress free full time job working at a marina as a groundsman, then added another revenue stream to the site in the form of a bespoke narrowboat budget calculator.

The additional income was OK but only just covered the considerable costs of maintaining the site and the software I use to manage site subscribers and to promote the site in the search engines.

In July last year I dropped the final jigsaw piece in place. I added my training and discovery days. Now I can take things easy and reduce my current 80+ hours a week workload.

Building this new revenue stream has taken me nearly five years. I earned nothing from the site for the first two and a half years but spent at least forty hours a week, every week, adding content to the site. The site has consumed nearly all of my free time, but it’s worked which I’ve enjoyed doing, and it’s been a means to an end.

Working from home is difficult and the best of times, but when your home is boat with a limited amount of space, it’s quite a challenge.

I’m lucky, I don’t need to carry stock, and I don’t need fancy and bulky equipment. However, given that I’m male and can’t multi task, I need peace and quiet so that I can focus on what I’m doing. As my home is nothing more than a glorified hallway and one which I share with another person and two dogs, getting the peace and quiet I need isn’t easy.

If I was starting from scratch and had a big enough wedge of the folding green stuff, I would have a boat with a boatman’s cabin, a cabin separated from the rest of the boat by the engine room. I would have the boatman’s cabin altered to allow me to sit comfortably at a desk with enough room to hold my printer/scanner/copier and, of course, my Nespresso coffee machine.

Even in the perfect environment, working from home, from the boat in this case, requires a fair degree of self discipline. There’s a window in front of me where I sit and work. In the summer I can see inviting grassy banks and tree shaded towpaths. I can often see Sally sitting in the shade reading quietly or just watching the world go by. The temptation is to join her and do my work “later”. Sometimes the temptation is too much.

I’ve invested thousands of hours of my time, and just as many pounds, to get where I am now. The missed leisure days and nights were painful at the time, but the sacrifice has been worthwhile. I have been very lucky having Sally as a partner. She has accepted that our free time on the rare days off we have had together has been limited to the occasional walk or shopping trip. She realised, I think, that I was working towards a goal which would allow us to have all the free time together we wanted.

Living where you work has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages too. It’s very difficult to switch off for some people. I am one of them.

I don’t have the problem of people knocking on my door, or with my phone constantly ringing or, for that matter, ever ringing at all. My problem is with email.

I get an awful lot of email. Much of it is unwanted advice on how to improve some of my bodily dimensions in exchange for a modest fee, but many are either the result of newsletters, Narrowbudget Gold purchases or Discovery Day bookings. I answer all of them as quickly as I can but answering the emails quickly means spotting them in my inbox in the first place so I’ve become obsessed with checking for new messages day and night. I’m getting better. I no longer check for messages when I wake up in the early hours of the morning but I think that may have something to do with Sally snatching my phone off me and throwing it on the floor on two occasions. I’m learning, but very slowly.

Getting to where I am now has been a long and sometimes painful process, but it’s been worth it. There’s no real difference from the work you need to do to start a business on dry land. In my own particular case, and in the case of many of the boat owners I know, the businesses they run are there to earn them a modest income they need to sustain and enviable lifestyle rather than as a means to accrue substantial material wealth.

In my own case, being able to earn a living while staying close to nature is all the reward I need. My own slightly outdated case study is here.

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I’ll be running the discovery days approximately on the first ten days of April, June, August, October and December next year. There is now just one date remaining for April. There’s space on 12th April for either two singles, an exclusive single, or a couple. Some of the dates in June are already taken so if you are considering a place next year, please check the diary before it’s too late. I have just started advertising the service on eBay which has significantly increased the volume and frequency of bookings so you will need to act quickly if you want to book a date in the first half of the year. I’m receiving bookings at the rate of one or two each week at the moment so the available dates won’t be there for long.

In the meantime, meet discovery day attendee John Lord.

John Lord joins me on a July discovery day

“First of all we would like to thank you for such a brilliant day on James, we both really enjoyed it along with your company. It was great to spend the day with such a knowledgeable and super guy, you were a fantastic, calm and patient instructor, a real pleasure to spend the day with.

Yes my shoulders did ache, and I have never felt so exhausted in my life, but a deep bath soon sorted that out!
The sun sparkling on the wind ruffled water is etched on my brain forever.

The amount of information that you shared with us was excellent and answered all of our questions, and more, about living aboard and maintaining the boat. Your instructions on boat handling were delivered in a very calm, patient, clear and confidence building way, it was an absolute pleasure to learn from you and you put at ease right from your greeting, by your two loveable dogs, the best, latte I have had for a long time, and the wonderful cups of tea. We don’t think you could of added any more to the day as you covered all of our questions regarding live aboard, boat handling and canal etiquette.”

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

25th January 2015

A detailed breakdown of my own narrowboat running costs for December 2014

18th January 2015

An unexpected cruise – A surprise cruise to Braunston, secondary double glazing panel fitting, and why dogs and laminate flooring don’t go well together

11th January 2015

Battery Banks – The pros and cons of lead acid and AGM batteries

4th January 2015

More winter cruising – The tail end of my Christmas break afloat

28th December 2014

Winter cruising – A narrowboat isn’t just for the summer months. Winter cruising is a joy. Here’s my account of a week on the cut over the Christmas break

21st December 2014

Cooking on the cut – Here are some gourmet festive recipes suitable for a narrowboat’s small galley

14th December 2014

A Cautionary Tale – Canals and narrowboats offer all the ingredients for some pretty nasty accidents. Here’s one which could have been much worse.

7th December 2014

Shared ownership – If you can’t afford a whole boat, why not buy part of one? Here’s how you can enjoy narrowboat ownership but at a fraction of the normal cost.

30th November 2014

23rd November 2014

16th November 2014

Narrowboat fuel consumption – How many miles to the gallon can you get out of your floating home?

9th November 2014

How to spot bogus narrowboat adverts – Beware narrowboats for sale at bargain basement prices. Here’s a cautionary tale to make you think twice about reaching for your wallet.

2nd November 2014

Narrowboat CO2 emissions – Is living on a boat a green alternative to a home on dry land? You’ll have to read this newsletter to find out.

26th October 2014

19th October 2014

Anti social behaviour on the cut – How common are the unpleasant incidents you sometimes hear about on the canal network and who are the worst offenders? You’ll probably be surprised.

12th October 2014

The pros and cons of buying an ex hire boat to live on – How suitable are ex hire boats for living on board full time?

5th October 2014

28th September 2014

21st September 2014

Cruising in adverse weather conditions part two – A continuation of the previous week’s newsletter.

14th September 2014

7th September 2014

Following your dream – Is your goal to some day spend a life of leisure out on the canal network? This article might encourage you to make a move sooner rather than later.

31st August 2014

Route finding for narrowboat owners – Here are the popular paper and digital route finders to help make navigating the network child’s play

24th August 2014

Long term narrowboat hire – Is hiring a boat long term a realistic alternative to buying one?

17th August 2014

10th August 2014

Narrowboat heating, electrics and engine specifications – How is the perfect live aboard narrowboat configured? Here are a few suggestions

3rd August 2014

Essential boating equipment – Here’s the stuff every boater should carry on board

27th July 2014

20th July 2014

13th July 2014

Digital aids for narrowboat owners – Digital applications and maps for inland waterways boaters

6th July 2014

29th June 2014

Extending your boat’s storage space – The pros and cons of fitting covers to your front and rear decks

22nd June 2014

Naming your boat – The legal requirements when naming, renaming and displaying your boat plus the inland waterways’ two hundred most popular boat names

15th June 2014

Speeding boats – Are rocking stationary boats the fault of speeding passing boats or the fault of boat owners who can’t moor securely?

8th June 2014

Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.

1st June 2014

Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges

25th May 2014

Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.

18th May 2014

Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.

11th May 2014

How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

4th May 2014

If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.

27th April 2014

What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment

20th April 2014

A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.

13th April 2014

A further update to the site content index.

6th April 2014

30th March 2014

How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?

23rd March 2014

Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.

16th March 2014

Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?

I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.

9th February 2014

2nd February 2014

Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.

26th January 2014

Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.

19th January 2014

12th January 2014

If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)

5th January 2014

Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.

29th December 2013

The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?

22nd December 2013

Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.

15th December 2013

Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?

8th December 2013

Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel

1st December 2013

Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.

Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content

Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.

24th November 2013

Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?

Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.

17th November 2013

Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.

10th November 2013

Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013

3rd November 2013

Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.

27th October 2013

The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.

Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.

20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.

A new organisation for liveaboard boaters

13th October 2013

On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.

Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.

6th October 2013

Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.

29th September 2013

The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free

22nd September 2013

A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees

Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site

15th September 2013

Managing your water supply

An American blogs about his travels

1st September 2013

Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube

All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller

8th September

25th August 2013

Effective fly killers for boats

The downside to living on a narrowboat

18th August 2013

CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!

Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers

Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?

11th August 2013

A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles

Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring

4th August 2013

The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?

The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?

28th July 2013

The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.

21st July 2013

Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.

14th July 2013

Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.

7th July 2013

Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.

30th June 2013

23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?

Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.

Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.

16th June 2013

Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours

Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.

9th June 2013

2nd June 2013

An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list

26th May 2013

Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.

Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story

19th May 2013

My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.

12th May 2013

An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network

An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings

5th May 2013

Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold

Meet one of your legless canal side companions

The canal network’s largest floating hotel

28th April 2013

Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.

21st April 2013

The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?

Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop

RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?

14th April 2013

The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.

7th April 2013

Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article

Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.

31st March 2013

Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.

24th March 2013

Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.

Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.

Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.

17th March 2013

Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start

Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution

Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013

Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.

11th March 2013

James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring

3rd March 2013

Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test

Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.

Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.

Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013

20th February 2013

The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.

8th January 2013

Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat

24th December

Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis

18th December 2012

Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis

Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer

2nd December 2012

Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat

Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer

Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat

21st November 2012

First tests and reviews of the budgeting application

The best aerial for a narrowboat television

6th November 2012

The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application

28th October 2012

An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways

Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else

17th October 2012

I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date

14th October 2012

Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs

Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home

30th September 2012

The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners

18th September 2012

VAT on narrowboat sales

20th July 2012

Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans

Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson

7th July 2012

Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels

10th June 2012

Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)

27th May 2012

How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.

Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke

13th May 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and

Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly

29th April 2012

DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports

15th April 2012

Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips

Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all

Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats

1st April 2012

18th March 2012

The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments

Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.

4th March 2012

Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat

eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)

Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat

A review of Debdale Wharf marina

22nd January 2012

Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.

8th January 2012

The first four narrowboat case studies published

I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study

Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study

Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study

Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.

2nd February 2011

Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter

1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter

Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Useful Links

A Case Study Of Liveaboard Narrowboat Idlewild

A single lady and a continuously cruising floating business. Illia has managed to combine working for a living while she cruises the English canal network. It’s the Holy Grail for many.

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)

I’m Illia Price. My dog Morgan is a Patterdale/ Border terrier cross. She’s named after the spiced rum to which I am very partial.

Tell me a little about yourself and why you decided to live a life afloat

I’ve bought houses in need of TLC, lived and run my business in them whilst renovating them for years. With increasing age and two small grandsons I wanted a bit more free time. Life afloat offered to satisfy my wanderlust and my own detached, movable home seemed ideal. I read Paul’s excellent guides and spent many hours on the net learning all I could about narrowboats, costs and equipment. I looked very carefully at the rules of CC’ing to see if it would be practical for me. I like living in small spaces and am pretty outdoorsy and handy so it seemed ideal.

What is your boat called and why did you decide on that name?

NB Idlewild

She’s called Idlewild but I shall be changing it to Caledonia with a renaming ceremony when she’s out for blacking, in honour of my 30 years in Scotland.

Do you have a permanent mooring? If so, tell me about it.

No, I like to move around and choose my distance from neighbours. I have a winter towpath mooring permit so I can stay close to my grandsons for babysitting duties during the dark months.

What is you boat length and style?

48′ cruiser. She was built by Harborough Marine Ltd in 1971.

How long have you been a narrowboat owner?

6 months

How did you finance your boat?

Sale of my house.

How much time do you spend on your boat each year?

All of it.

Are you still working? (If so, what do you do?)

I’m an industrial engraver. I make botanical labels for gardens and arboretums throughout the UK and as far afield as Madeira and Mexico. I use a PC which drives two engraving tables.

What do you like least about narrowboat life?

Muddy towpaths and abandoned dog mess.

What do you like most about narrowboat life?

Having the freedom to go where I want when I want. Not having grass to mow or gutters to clean out. Listening to the rain and wind outside whilst cosy by the fire. I love it all.

If you could change just one thing about your boat, what would it be?

A quieter engine would be nice but other than that she will be perfect once I’ve finished working on her.

When you are cruising how do you resupply (How do you get to the supermarket without a car)?

I cheat a bit at present as I still have a vehicle but look forward to doing without. When away from it I moor within walking distance of shops and dog gets lots of walkies.

How do you do your washing when you are cruising?

I have a smallish plastic twin tub. One of my best purchases at only about £100. Does a great job.

What type of toilet do you have and are you happy with it?

I’ve a cassette and very happy with it. I wanted to avoid a pump out as I didn’t fancy carrying my waste around for weeks. I also sought to avoid pump out costs and space taken up by a tank. It was the one aspect of live aboard life I was not looking forward to but in fact as long as the loo is looked after it doesn’t smell and even emptying and cleaning it out is not the grim task I was expecting.

How do you connect to the internet when you are on your boat and are you happy with the service you receive?

I’ve a Huawei Mifi thingy which allows me to wirelessly connect PC and tablet. I use Three on a PAYG tariff. It’s great. Occasionally reception is poor but mostly it’s fine. Also use my (paid for) phone for which I have a Three contract sim which gives me many minutes, unlimited texts and 2gb of data for only £10 a month.

What is your favourite canal or section of canal?

Still so much to explore but so far I love it around Hockley Heath and Lapworth (apart from the lift bridges!) I felt privileged to see the Kingfisher(s?) on a regular basis when I was moored there.

How do you generate electricity when you are cruising and how much do you use?

I’ve a Kipor suitcase generator with an LPG conversion. It’s running (by the towpath) every working day for about 4 hours. I also charge my batteries and gadgets while it’s running. A 13kg bottle of gas lasts about 30 hours. I also changed two old (ugly) solar panels for two 100w semi flexibles which I stuck to the roof. They are great and I will be adding more.

How warm is your narrowboat in the winter?

Toastie. My only heat source is a small Villager stove but it warms the boat quickly. With big front and rear decks my inside space is only around 30′ and open plan apart from the bathroom. The stove is close to the centre so the heat percolates through the boat.

What advice can you offer someone considering living on a narrowboat?

Carefully consider the lifestyle. It’s not for everyone. There’s a lot of physical humping of fuel, gas etc. Unless on a serviced mooring one has to plan on cruising to fill the water and stock up on food and fuel, as well as emptying the toilet and disposing of rubbish on a regular basis. It all consumes a surprising amount of time and it’s not pleasant when it’s cold and wet. One quickly becomes frozen standing at the tiller for any length of time in winter. There’s no space for unnecessary stuff and on a basic boat like mine electric kitchen gadgets, powerful vacuum cleaners etc. are a thing of the past. It’s not a cheap option. By the time you’ve taken fuel, maintenance, license fees etc. into consideration it’s comparable to keeping a small house.

Continuous cruising sounds romantic but is not always plain sailing. I could not do it if I had to go out to work. If you rely on a vehicle it can be hard to find parking near your mooring and it’s a right pain having to move the vehicle as you progress along the canal. In winter the towpath will often be muddy and it gets everywhere, especially if you have dogs. You often cannot moor in that perfect spot you see because it’s already taken or too shallow. In some places there can be a steady stream of walkers, cyclists and dogs going past, which is fine but some will peer in your windows. Your dog may bark every time somebody goes past. My boat is not the smartest looking, planning on repainting in the summer. But I do keep her clean and tidy and I don’t store stuff on the roof or by the towpath. Most people are friendly and curious about the lifestyle but some obviously consider one to be some kind of gyppo.

But if you’re willing to embrace the lifestyle it’s fantastic. Your own detached home wherever you choose to moor. Freedom from noise, bustle and traffic. Hundreds of miles of canals and rivers to explore. The delight of watching the wildlife. The brightness of the stars away from light pollution. The reflections on the water. A sunny summer day is lovely but winter has it’s own special beauty too. I feel very self contained, at one with my surroundings and love the fact that if I choose I can just up and move and not a trace is left behind.

I would always recommend researching as much as possible and getting some training if you’re new to narrowboating. Apart from a bit of easy steering on a hire boat I had no narrowboat experience whatsoever when I bought mine near Reading. My maiden voyage was to be the 130 miles and as many locks to get her up to the Midlands by myself. I booked a one to one helmsman’s course for the first day which was great and gave me the confidence to get on with it.

Also don’t trust the seller, be it an individual or a broker. Get your own independent surveys and advice. Look around at other similar boats for comparison.

If you buy an old boat be prepared to spend a lot of money on it! Think outside the box. You can source stuff a lot more reasonably priced than your average marina by buying online or from DIY store.

Illia’s business web site is here. She has also written a fascinating account of her time afloat on the forum here and here.

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A Case Study Of Liveaboard Narrowboat Da Vinci

One couple and two boats, one to live on and one to work from. Alison and Louise earn a living from their floating home in the centre of Birmingham. The location isn’t everyone’s idea of an idyllic mooring but they are more than happy with it.

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)

Alison on board floating shop Lowry

Alison Tuck Married to Louise Moore (canalartist) we have two dogs Harvey and Squash both rescues staffie cross.

Tell me a little about yourself and why you decided to live a life afloat

I was a senior design engineer working for many of the large Car Companies designing window seals, door lock systems, seats etc. Working in the Computer Aided Design sector. Took me all over the world. I got fed up of the travel and long hours so came up with Davinci crafts. It allows me to live and work on the canals. While still doing what I love which is design and engineering. Met Louise at Uni and we’ve been together ever since (21 years). Louise is a fine artist and works from the boats she also is a director of a Fine Art Company manufacturing Artists Canvases and has a fine art shop in Birmingham.

We moved on 11 years ago, After Louise lost both her Parents. It was the inheritance money that enabled us to start a Life afloat which was Louise’s dream not mine. I soon fell in love with it too.

What is your boat called and why did you decide on that name?

We have two NB DaVinci (our home named after leonardo Davinci who was an artist and engineer! not the bloody DaVinci Code!!! lol) and Butty Lowry (our workshop for Davinci Crafts). Lowry is a cut and shut half bantock and we think old BW hopper. So Lowry being an industrial Artist seem apt!

Do you have a permanent mooring? If so, tell me about it.

I have a commercial mooring at Warwick Bar in Birmingham Digbeth Branch of the GU. I can trade as a shop on site from Lowry (DaVinci Crafts) We have permission to reside at the moorings for 8 months. Which suits because we travel around in the summer Trading from the towpath.

What is you boat length and style?

Davinci is a 54ft Mike christian Josher painted Black and purple so not very traditional! Lowry looks like a covered old working Boat 50ft

How long have you been a narrowboat owner?

11 years

How did you finance your boat?

Inheritance

How much time do you spend on your boat each year?

Full time live aboard.

Are you still working? (If so, what do you do?)

Yes run a small business

What do you like least about narrowboat life?

Grumpy boaters who are in a rush!!

What do you like most about narrowboat life?

The freedom that you get from societal norms. Watching the wood burner and being warm and cosy in the winter.

If you could change just one thing about your boat, what would it be?

cant think of anything as just re modelled and decorated so happy.

When you are cruising how do you resupply (How do you get to the supermarket without a car)?

Walk, cycle or get Tesco’s to deliver to a local pub.

How do you do your washing when you are cruising?

washing machine

What type of toilet do you have and are you happy with it?

composter, very happy no stress about finding an elsan or being full as it goes in the bin!

How do you connect to the internet when you are on your boat and are you happy with the service you receive?

mifi

What is your favourite canal or section of canal?

Staffs & Worcester and the BCN

How do you generate electricity when you are cruising and how much do you use?

Batteries 3000w inverter, and a 4KW generator to run Lowry

How warm is your narrowboat in the winter?

Roasting! I cant stand being cold.

What advice can you offer someone considering living on a narrowboat?

Work out what suits you and the way you want to live. There are loads of different solutions on offer so don’t listen to everyone else because there solution is what suits them. And definitely Hire a narrowboat and spend a couple of weeks on it in the winter because this is the most difficult time of year on the towpath and you will quickly learn what you need and don’t need.

You can find out more about the businesses Alison and Louise run by clicking on the following links…

Da Vinci Crafts

Canal Artist

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Archive

Buying A Narrowboat

Cruising Guide To London

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Popular Forum Posts

Useful Links

Water Tank Capacity

Boating Business Ideas

Buying A Boat

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Popular Forum Posts

Useful Links

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)

Tell me a little about yourself and why you decided to live a life afloat

What is your boat called and why did you decide on that name?

Do you have a permanent mooring? If so, tell me about it.

What is you boat length and style?

How long have you been a narrowboat owner?

How did you finance your boat?

How much time do you spend on your boat each year?

Are you still working? (If so, what do you do?)

What do you like least about narrowboat life?

What do you like most about narrowboat life?

If you could change just one thing about your boat, what would it be?

When you are cruising how do you resupply (How do you get to the supermarket without a car)?

How do you do your washing when you are cruising?

What type of toilet do you have and are you happy with it?

How do you connect to the internet when you are on your boat and are you happy with the service you receive?

What is your favourite canal or section of canal?

How do you generate electricity when you are cruising and how much do you use?

How warm is your narrowboat in the winter?

What advice can you offer someone considering living on a narrowboat?

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Popular Forum Posts

Useful Links

JIM SHEAD sets out from the capital of the Broads to cruise the most popular rivers

The Broads

Our Voyage

The River Ant

The River Thurne

Broad and Narrow

Cruising In London

New Forum Recipe Section

Boating Businesses

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

I Need Some Help!

Newsletter Index

Comprehensive Site Article Listing

Popular Forum Posts

Useful Links

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)

Tell me a little about yourself and why you decided to live a life afloat

What is your boat called and why did you decide on that name?

Do you have a permanent mooring? If so, tell me about it.

What is you boat length and style?

How long have you been a narrowboat owner?

How did you finance your boat?

How much time do you spend on your boat each year?

Are you still working? (If so, what do you do?)

What do you like least about narrowboat life?

What do you like most about narrowboat life?

If you could change just one thing about your boat, what would it be?

When you are cruising how do you resupply (How do you get to the supermarket without a car)?

How do you do your washing when you are cruising?

What type of toilet do you have and are you happy with it?

How do you connect to the internet when you are on your boat and are you happy with the service you receive?

What is your favourite canal or section of canal?

How do you generate electricity when you are cruising and how much do you use?

How warm is your narrowboat in the winter?

What advice can you offer someone considering living on a narrowboat?

Who are you? (and your significant other and, of course, your dog if you have one)