Student considering living on board

Some Macwesters out there at half the price of centaurs - same, if not more room, adequate space. Spend some of the savings on a good boom tent and make another one with spinny pole to pulpit to cut down on condensation. A good oil filled radiator and coupla' tube heaters should keep you cozy. Cook on board cheaply.

Do it while you can - you don't know what's going happen after uni and at least you'll have a boat to sell and probably would have met some valuable friends at end of the 3 years :encouragement:
 
Have none of you noticed that the OP - student - has disappeared? Think about it? I used to build student residences and believe me a university student is not a neighbour to desire. Toilet flushing lessons spring to mind. Living aboard is too challenging for most mammy licked 20 year olds.
 
I've come across quite a few seasoned liveaboards whose personal habits are frankly more suited to a farmyard. Don't knock him til he's tried it
 
My £0.02p worth? Just do it. If you don't like it, don't do it anymore. It's not a permanent choice like getting a tattoo or something. Do it in your first year so if it impacts on your studies it won't matter too much. Do your studying in the uni library, that's what they are there for, and they are warm. The one at Plymouth Uni is open 24 hours. Cold is unpleasant but the British dampness will sap your soul and will ruin anything precious.

Best tip is to get yourself a girlfriend (or whatever) who lives in a nice warm house so you have somewhere else to hang out in the evening during those grim stormy evenings. I suppose even a friend will do!

Buy a cheap boat that can be moved safely, even go sailing occasionally. Buy some decent earplugs and get plenty of bedding and cushions.

Just do it, then see if you like it. Best of all, you can advise anyone else thinking of doing it...


http://onkudu.com/
 
ronsurf said:
If you don't like it, don't do it anymore. It's not a permanent choice like getting a tattoo or something.
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Problem with that is that the guy's then left with a huge chunk of the available funds (which would be required for deposit and rent on a room) tied up in a boat, and we know they don't always sell very quickly unless at a big loss.
 
>My financial situation:
I can will get 7 thousand pounds in loans and grants next year. Some 5 thousand the year after that. If I commit myself and spend the summer working, I could get more. I am expecting to spend about £100 per week on a flat next year. Do you reckon that it would indeed be cheaper to live on a yacht (all things considered) over the course of 3 years?

I think the problems are you need reasonable amount of capital to buy a boat, then you have marina fees, insurance, transport, maintenance costs, university course fees and living costs.You can guarantee that if you live on a boat everything will break at some point so you need spares, appropriate tools , exploded diagrams for everything, the knowledge of what has gone wrong and be able to repair it. To put that into context we lived aboard for six and a half years long distance sailing, I generally spent two days a week repairing or maintaining things and the longest I went without something breaking was a month then three things broke on the next day.

Thus I would suggest a flat would be cheaper without the capital cost, so I definitely wouldn't do it.
 
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There's a lot of capital tied up with a flat as well - deposit and endless amount of fees. At the end of the day, he'll own a boat.

I think the weakest part of your plan is this one: "If I commit myself and spend the summer working".
 
Most letting agencies require a month's deposit, a month in advance, a letting fee (between £25 ~ £250), a viewing fee (£25 ~ £100) and a credit check (£15 ~ £25). Letting is big business as buying a house becomes more unaffordable. Around here it costs around £1500 - £2000 to move into rented accommodation. You can easily buy a boat for that much.

I'm not sure if uni's have their own halls of residence any more. The student letting business is starting to be dominated by large private companies. Student letting is such big business round here it's driving most of the development around the uni - in general it's a 10 floor block of student flats with a supermarket (Tescos and Sainsbury's usually) on the ground floor.
 
ronsurf said:
Most letting agencies require a month's deposit, a month in advance, a letting fee (between £25 ~ £250), a viewing fee (£25 ~ £100) and a credit check (£15 ~ £25). Letting is big business as buying a house becomes more unaffordable. Around here it costs around £1500 - £2000 to move into rented accommodation. You can easily buy a boat for that much.

I'm not sure if uni's have their own halls of residence any more. The student letting business is starting to be dominated by large private companies. Student letting is such big business round here it's driving most of the development around the uni - in general it's a 10 floor block of student flats with a supermarket (Tescos and Sainsbury's usually) on the ground floor.
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Most universities try to have enough Halls to accommodate at least first years and a portion of final years. They may not own them - most newer ones are externally financed but contracted to the uni. The growth in rented accommodation is a consequence of the overall growth in student numbers, particularly non EU students, a proportion of which stay after their course is finished for work experience. The overall number of such students is expected to double in the next 10 years!
 
There are 3 universities in Liverpool - of those, I believe, only the eponymous, has any Halls of residence and is the only Russell Group one.

Increasingly, for "soft" subjects especially, one has to query why students have to build up a pre-career debt and can't go for distance learning.
Of course the OP may be doing a Masters or a PhD. In which case we hope he's getting some funding.
My daughter, as a senior Prof in her School, spends more time on matters budgetary and managerial than directing research or teaching - which is a pity...
 
The rationale is important...

Feldon,

the key question is just how committed are you to boating, regardless of accommodation considerations.

If the idea is rooted mainly in the economics of living afloat versus living ashore, but you don't have a very determined passion for being afloat I think you will find it very tough and quite likely detrimental to your studies.

I lived afloat as a university student (this was over 30 years ago) because I wanted the boat and the cruising opportunities that came with her. She was an old, wooden and very cheap, but fully equipped, fast sloop. I sailed every Easter and Summer Vacation on the English Channel coast and in the Channel Islands - great fun!

She had no running water and onboard facilities were decidedly limited, but the university had excellent shower and laundry facilities, which I used to good effect.

My choice was essentially about the way of life, rather than any prospective financial benefit; if you are going to sea properly, the cost of proper maintenance and replacements for equipment cannot be ignored.

Heating is certainly an issue (I won't forget a few winter nights at -12C in a hurry!), but you can wrap up well for that.

The university library is a good place for warmth and getting some work done, as you will probably be too cold and cramped onboard and it is simpler to keep your 'work' 'at work', rather than cluttering up the boat.

It certainly can be done, but you need to be deeply committed, rather than whimsical. As to practical tasks, what you don't know you can learn - regard all challenges as practical physics experiments and you won't go far wrong!

Good luck if you go ahead with your eyes wide open, but there is no shame in deciding not to do so.

Let us know how you get on!
 
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>Around here it costs around £1500 - £2000 to move into rented accommodation. You can easily buy a boat for that much.

Would you honestly want to live on a boat that costs that much, I wouldn't. Or perhaps you have some examples?
 
I know of a couple of people that have come to an arrangement with boat owners to live on, and look after, their boats, just for the cost of paying the berthing fees.
 
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