Living aboard in London

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G12

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Hi everyone,

I have a few questions to ask those of you that liveaboard in and around London.
I'm hopefully returning to London in a few months time to live. The thing is that I don't want to live in a house - been there done that and I just have too much salt water in my veins for it ever to provide me with the same feeling of being afloat - I pretty much grew up on a yacht.
I'd like to buy a boat that I can live on comfortably, maybe move about a bit and generally enjoy the lifestyle. My background is mostly yachts with the occasional motor vessel thrown in but I've got no inland experience whatsoever.
With yachts being out of the question (tall masts and bridges are a bad combination), I now stray in to unknown territory.

My questions are mainly about practical stuff. Is there a preferred lender for financing a livaboard? What sort of things should I be looking to avoid both financially and in any other sense?
I'm looking for something fairly low maintenance but I'd like her to have something special about her. I'm a practical guy but I don't want to spend my life polishing brass for example.
I should be working abroad on a rotation later this summer so I will be away a fair bit and will need somewhere with good security and friendly neighbours.
Where are the good places to get a berth? Are there any berths available or is it all brim full at the moment?
Who are good brokers to speak to in the area - there seem to be many!
Someone will ask about budget no doubt - Well that depends on what I can get lent and how much deposit they require etc so I can't advise just yet.
What have I forgotten to ask?

All opinions/advice greatly received.
 
London is big. If you want East London you could try Limehouse for mooring. If you want West then expect to pay £400 per month. Beyond Teddingdon you need a Boat Safety Certificate. Don't buy a small live abort boat anywhere near London - put it on a lorry or if bigger sail it. If you are living on it then a narrow boat may work. There are lots of places where people pay nothing but obviously this won't work if too many people do it.
 
Hi Gordon,
I've lived in London for 9 months before. I don't really mind where I'm at as long as it's reasonbly well connected and secure.
So you think the london boats are overpriced? I'm not surprised really. Everything seems to be at premium levels in the capital. I've been looking at various boats all over the place and you seem to be able to get a reasonable amount of boat for your money up north.
I am just tempted to buy a bigger yacht and just put her in a marina. My current boat isn't really big enough to live aboard and my girlfriend certainly wouldn't entertain it! The idea of a narrowboat (or similar) is quite appealing however and would enable me to travel inland and sample areas I'd never get to visit in a yacht.
I've been checking out marine finance companies this afternoon, I will have to make some calls on Tuesday when everyone wakes up again.
 
I'd suggest your first stop should be the finance companies to see how much they will lend you, and perhaps more importantly, what type of craft they will lend against given that you're looking for residential. My understanding is that anything other than a narrowboat/widebeam or houseboat could be problematic.
 
Deefor said:
IMO, if you're going to be a legit residential boater, find a mooring then go boat hunting ;).
Click to expand...

I see, so it IS pretty tough finding a spot then?

I'm lucky in that I do have a house so I don't have to say the boat is for residential use to the finance company - this can keep options open :-)

I will just start keeping an eagle eye on as many places as I can then and see what comes up.
I had a look at some narrowboats advertised outside of London and it seems that you can get something quite tidy for say 65K whereas in London that'd be 90something K.
 
Having bricks and mortar certainly helps in your quest to spend as much time on the water as marinas, boatyards and finance institutions will see that i) you've got a permanent residence, ii) you have an address where post can be sent, iii) you're on the electoral register "at home", iv) you have landline phone (strange one I know but this does/will affect your credit rating).

What you're planning to do in effect is to be a bertholder that spends more time on his boat than at home. Nothing in the rules at most mainas about doing this although some places may say that you can only spend certain days sleeping aboard per week/month (MDL @ Penton Hook, Windsor & Bray used to say this in the very small print).

The giveway of a liveaboard in a marina generally is when people start to get their mail sent to the marina office and alarm bells start to ring :eek:. Many marinas often think that narrowboats in particular equal full time liveaboards but if you explain your situation then I can't see a problem. As I said earlier, you've just got to find a suitable mooring - 40 foot boats can usually be accomodated in most marinas subject to available berths but mention 50 or 60 foot boats and your options become limited.

I'd also advise that you buy a well known marque or something popular that could be sold on quite easily if you find life on the water isn't for you. Nothing worse than having a £100k boat that you can't shift :o.

Good luck in your search - hmmmm, I'm jealous now ;).
 
If you're going to buy a boat and want treasonable comfort, then to my mind a narrowboat is not the best solution.

A stretched NB - 10ft beam would be a lot better,
12 or 14ft but NOT a NB style as they look 'orrible and don't work that well.

Proper Dutch Barge style or Humber keel and variants thereof work much better as there's room to move and space for watercooled generators and the like.

If going for finance it would be worth stretching the money a bit....
 
As a couple of other posts have said the mooring will be the issue, many marinas do not allow live aboards.

The marine lending market is pretty tight at the moment but there are a couple still lending.

For a chat to a friendly broker :) click my signature for contact details. Happy to help.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I've decided to get myself down there next month and get on the case then. Much better when you're on the ground rather than 500 miles away. Looking forward to not being stuck in a boring house :-)
 
Marinas can be ambivalent about live-aboards.

The official line is usually that you cannot live aboard for long periods. This is usually in the small print of the berthing agreement. It is also probably a condition of their Planning Approval fom the local council.

On the other hand, some marinas see a resident as an unpaid security guard and will turn a blind eye.

You need to make some discreet inquiries if you do consider staying in a marina rather than finding a n official residential mooring. Just don't take up residence on a public mooring as that will make you very unpopular on this forum.
 
I think you will find it very hard to find a mooring of any kind till after the Olympics - my son was trying a few weeks ago and one of the London Marinas told him that they could have sold ten times more places than they had available.

After the Olympics, it will still be difficult to find anywhere that will officially let you in with residential status. The only moorings I know of that officially permit liveaboards are Southdock on the Thames opposite Docklands and some of the narrowboat marinas on canals. You can get away with it in quite a lot of marinas provided you keep your head down and make it easy for the management to not notice you, but you have no security of tenure.
 
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