New in here and looking for advice

Windy_Stu

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Hi All

We are in the process of changing from sail to power and sea to in land...

We have cruised my sail boat through the French canals to the med and back, now with grand kids and lifes twists and turns we are thinking of buying a live aboard to use in the UK...

Our research so far leads us to a widish beam steel boat..,and the Thames seems the ideal place to use it!

So given we are looking through very rose colored glasses ...what would the " team" say are the most common pitfalls to avoid

Stu
 

Old Crusty

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One pitfall is to seek advice about boat type on this forum while mentioning widebeams - so a tin hat might be a good idea! :ROFLMAO:
 

Windy_Stu

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One pitfall is to seek advice about boat type on this forum while mentioning widebeams - so a tin hat might be a good idea! :ROFLMAO:
Ah so wide beams not liked on here?... I want a island bed, im to old to be crawling over shmbo... not seen anything "narrow" that can accommodate that...unless you know different??... I was thinking about 3 meter beam...is that "wide"?
 

Windy_Stu

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Ah so wide beams not liked on here?... I want a island bed, im to old to be crawling over shmbo... not seen anything "narrow" that can accommodate that...unless you know different??... I was thinking about 3 meter beam...is that "wide"?
should have said my current boat is a catamaran so they all seem a bit "narrow" to me :)
 

Old Crusty

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Ah so wide beams not liked on here?... I want a island bed, im to old to be crawling over shmbo... not seen anything "narrow" that can accommodate that...unless you know different??... I was thinking about 3 meter beam...is that "wide"?

Widebeams tend to be 60 x 12 or 50 x 10 - about as wide as many of the bigger cruisers found on the river. My Freeman is 9' wide so 10 or 12 feet is not exactly beamy.
 

ProDave

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Why would anyone want to limit themselves to a tiny part of the inland waterway network?

Our retirement plan is a 50ft narrowboat and then there is 2000 miles of rivers and canals to explore at leisure.

The exact max dimensions to "go anywhere" are often debated but 50ft by 6ft 10 should do it.
 

Windy_Stu

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Why would anyone want to limit themselves to a tiny part of the inland waterway network?

Our retirement plan is a 50ft narrowboat and then there is 2000 miles of rivers and canals to explore at leisure.

The exact max dimensions to "go anywhere" are often debated but 50ft by 6ft 10 should do it.
Ah well ours is to travel to Europe...then you see a lot of miles :) why limit yourself to a tiny part of Europe :)... I wanna be able to sleep next to my partner and be as comfortable as possible...each to there own...every boat boat car or motorhome I have owned is a compromise :) good luck with your plans!
 

Scapegoat

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I wonder if you mean a steel boat that has a wide enough beam to accommodate an island double/king size bed - rather than a widebeam ?
If so then you might consider an aft cabin Dutch boat e.g. Stevens/Smelne, Aquanaut, Jetten,. Karl Farrant is a broker for this type of steel boat and you may also find others listed by other Thames brokers
GRP aft cabin cru are very popular on the Thames- eg Broom, Westwood, Fairline - Tingdene in Reading have a few listed at the moment
Hth
 

Gibeltarik

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Ah well ours is to travel to Europe...then you see a lot of miles :) why limit yourself to a tiny part of Europe :)... I wanna be able to sleep next to my partner and be as comfortable as possible...each to there own...every boat boat car or motorhome I have owned is a compromise :) good luck with your plans!
Aah - in which case you might be better off looking at a new-build barge - much better suited to big continental waterways - and even easier to sort the walk-round bed. See www.barges.org for more information including how to qualify for VAT zero-rating.
 

Whitlock

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Ah well ours is to travel to Europe...then you see a lot of miles :) why limit yourself to a tiny part of Europe :)... I wanna be able to sleep next to my partner and be as comfortable as possible...each to there own...every boat boat car or motorhome I have owned is a compromise :) good luck with your plans!
If you want to travel to and in Europe then a widebeam suited for inland water is not the answer, assuming that you want to cross the Channel with it. Consider a Dutch Barge instead.
 

Windy_Stu

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I wonder if you mean a steel boat that has a wide enough beam to accommodate an island double/king size bed - rather than a widebeam ?
If so then you might consider an aft cabin Dutch boat e.g. Stevens/Smelne, Aquanaut, Jetten,. Karl Farrant is a broker for this type of steel boat and you may also find others listed by other Thames brokers
GRP aft cabin cru are very popular on the Thames- eg Broom, Westwood, Fairline - Tingdene in Reading have a few listed at the moment
Hth
Ah so my bad.. that is exactly what I'm looking at....so they are not "wide beams" ? what make a boat a wide beam then??...I just thought something wider than 6'6 narrow boat :)..... yes defo Steel for me...I took my GRP cat though the midi and sweated every time a big metal boat joined me in the lock :cool:
 

CLB

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Ah well ours is to travel to Europe...then you see a lot of miles :) why limit yourself to a tiny part of Europe :)... I wanna be able to sleep next to my partner and be as comfortable as possible...each to there own...every boat boat car or motorhome I have owned is a compromise :) good luck with your plans!

Are you British? If so, have you considered the 90/180 rule for Brits being in the EU after Jan 2021?
 
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