we are thinking of buying a moror boat to live on , it has to be 12 netres plus ,my wife is disabled so wheelcahir access or i can adapt

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chrisarvorwilliams@hotmai

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we have had boats up to 20 years ago when we left the uK,, now we are thinking of coming back ,grankids etc
my wife needs a wheelcair to get about
so we are looking for a large boat so i can alter it to suit a chair

my main concern, 1 of many is how good is the internet in the uk marinas????
are there any groups or forums for diasable boaters???
lots of questons but any advice PLEASE
 
Welcome to the forum

Lots of questions indeed. First thing is to recognise that living on a boat in the UK is not easy. Most coastal marinas do not have residential licences, although some permit a small number of liveaboards or tolerate a few. Most are also tidal so access by wheelchair is not easy. Finding a marina that would accept a 12m MOBO for full time liveaboard anywhere around the coast would be extremely difficult. Slightly better on inland waterways as there are residential marinas, although as one would expect very much in demand. Most are on the narrow canal system, but narrowboats, even though they have the volume for comfortable living may not be ideal for wheelchair use. There are a small number of residential marinas on the few rivers and canals that are suitable for widebeam, mostly in the north and again in high demand because of limited supply. Most marinas have excellent internet access.

The majority of 12m MOBOs in the UK are "holiday" boats such as Princess, Fairline etc which are effectively caravans stuck on top of a pair of big engines capable of making them go fast for weekend and short summer holiday use. Although they have the space you need to think about how you can adapt them for full time living, particularly in our long cold damp winters. On the other hand most have good access from the stern so modifying them for wheelchair access would be easy. Most have good accommodation at the same level as the cockpit, although sleeping cabins are usually down stairs.

You don't say where in the UK you want to be based, nor what access you need to shorebased society (work, socialising, shopping, proximity to relatives etc). Budget is also a consideration as good boats this size do not come cheap, nor is living aboard at this level likely to be cheaper than shore based living - depending of course on where you are located. As to forums, this one which is not very active now is used mostly by people living on ocean going sailing boats rather than UK residential boaters. You may find this useful canalworld.net/forums/index.php, although mostly narrowboat canals because that is where the majority of residential boats are. Doubt there is anything specific related to disabled boaters.

Although it sounds like a good idea to combine boats and living I suspect you will find the barriers to actually doing it high. This was not so true 20 or 30 years ago, but there have been huge changes since then. The Covid period exposed the number of people effectively living illegally in marinas that did not have residential licences so most now have specific no liveaboard policies. The general housing shortages have driven demand for alternatives to bricks and mortar and inevitably this has resulted in shortages of berths on the inland waterways. So, suggest that you identify where you want to live and see if there is a residential marina (preferably taking widebeams) nearby. If you are lucky enough to find one, make sure you are sitting down when you get the mooring tariff. You are more likely to find them in the midlands or the north, on the few wide canals in the south such as part of the Kennet and Avon, or the residential marinas in London (deep pockets required!)

Hope this is of help.
 
chrisarvorwilliams@hotmai said:
my wife needs a wheelcair to get about
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Does that mean needs a w/chair to move around on the boat, or is she OK with sticks/frame on the boat and just needs the chair to travel any distance off the boat? will that get worse? electric chair (very heavy, not very compact, needs charging) or manual?
chrisarvorwilliams@hotmai said:
my main concern, 1 of many is how good is the internet in the uk marinas????
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This strikes me as an odd no 1 priority!
Tranona said:
Most marinas have excellent internet access.
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Everything else Tranona said seemed about right - on this point I think he's been reading the marketing material! Most marina's will have Wifi. Its usually pretty rubbish. Fortunately most marinas have reasonable 4G signal on at least one provider. If that's not good enough - you could look at Startlink - its not cheap but not so expensive that if this is your no 1 prioirty that it would be ruled out.
 
Star I think as opposed to Start -at Haslar the Wi-Fi is usually fine at least if low numbered berth anyway. I guess for any boat apart from a landing craft or a special cat say that access in wheelchair will be a challenge. The is a charity in Solent which takes wheelchat users out in a special boat but maybe they are a good source of info on live aboard vessels with wheel chair access.
 
The second photo we would not be able to get the chair on . Some one spoke about river moorings , but sometimes on rivers they are fixed jetties and levels can rise or fall also not stern moored.
 
ashtead said:
The is a charity in Solent which takes wheelchat users out in a special boat but maybe they are a good source of info on live aboard vessels with wheel chair access.
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Wet Wheels. As decent as their cause is, I doubt they think much outside their own box. And that's being kind.
 
Internet is easy - 4G is great now - 30-40 mbps even in remote marinas with an antenna. Starlink gives us 200 mbps for £96 a month and works when sailing etc and was in a Premier Marina the other week and had 120 mbps from their own customer wifi .

Access once in a boat for wheelchairs is hard and of course mobo's have quite narrow corridors and steps up and down to galley etc which may make sticks etc hard to use and leave no room for adaptations . Also at low tide a pontoon bridge head (the ramp from pontoon to shore) may easily be at 45 degrees and make using chair impossible for several hours a day .
 
As lots of people on here put the effort in to help the OP and there is a track record of people posting and disappearing on here, i emailed the gmail mentioned in the users name thus..

"Hi chris,

Quite a few people have put the effort into responding to your question on the ybw forum.

Some interesting responses there for you."

He may just have forgotten he asked for help.
 
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