Whats it's really like to live on a narrow boat?

[Derrell Mcraee]

To escape the rat race I am considering buying a boat to live on, but being on my own I am not sure about managing the practical issues i.e locks, mooring the boat ect. Does anyone have first hand experience in this? Is it a good idea? or any other suggestions as to how I can live a quiet life ?

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[Twister_Ken]

Derrell,

Welcome! But maybe you're in the wrong place. Although this lot are knowledgeable about many things boaty, our prime concern is salt water and sailing boats.

There's bound to be a canal boat forum where you'd get a broader range of answers and more pros and cons.

 

[Poignard]

To escape the rat race I am considering buying a boat to live on, but being on my own I am not sure about managing the practical issues i.e locks, mooring the boat ect. Does anyone have first hand experience in this? Is it a good idea? or any other suggestions as to how I can live a quiet life ?

Not first-hand experience, but last time I was in Stourport I was talking to a man living on a 70-foot narrow boat. He had been single-handing since getting divorced a few years before and he told me he had no problem handling the boat alone.

 

[AliM]

My daughter lived on one for about 5 years. She could handle it herself, locks, mooring, everything (and she is quite small). To live on they tend to be small, cold and damp in winter, unless you set them up properly. My daughter loved living on hers - but it was the community of local boaters which made it such an attractive life. She's now in New Zealand, otherwise she'd still be living on her narrowboat.

However, you'll not get much sense from this forum - our boats are very different (although some of the problems are similar).

 

[raven]

Welcome Derrell,

Whilst it may be worth signing on to one of the canal boat forums I dont see any reason why, if you go ahead and take the plunge, you shouldnt stick around here as well - there are many, many issues that will cross reference between canal and sea / lake boats and there is huge wealth of expertise hereabouts.

This branch is PBO (Practical Boat Owner) Reader to Reader so dont see why a canal boat is any less a boat than a sea boat

I have met a number of people who have happily lived solo aboard canal boats and wouldnt think that, providing you are able-bodied and reasonably fit, there should be any reason why you couldnt handle the boat, locks etc yourself - I guess loads of people do it.

Most people I have met that live on the canals thoroughly enjoy the experience and seem to benefit greatly in terms of less stress through living life at 4mph.

Good luck!

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've often thought about this myself - gentle pace, no tides, no stormy conditions although slightly boring. I don't think locks would be a problem either they're busy in which case there are plenty of people to give you a hand or they're quiet when you've got plenty of time to tie up, open sluices etc. There are plenty of forums http://www.justcanals.co.uk/ give it a try.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Living on the cut, or cruising?

Mate of mine, wife and Old English Sheepdog lived on 70 footer on the Grand Union at Cowley by the Malt Shovel Pub. And that's where they lived, in a floating community that showed no sign of moving elsewhere. Sort of long thin bungalow.

 

[Poignard]

I don't see why canal boaters shouldn't be encouraged to use this forum as much as any one else. We already have people who keep boats on lakes and the Thames.

 

[Bru]

To escape the rat race I am considering buying a boat to live on, but being on my own I am not sure about managing the practical issues i.e locks, mooring the boat ect. Does anyone have first hand experience in this? Is it a good idea? or any other suggestions as to how I can live a quiet life ?

Having spent 20 odd years ditch crawling on all sorts of boats I can probably answer your questions fairly authoritively

Single handing locks, mooring up etc. is no problem. Don't, however, be tempted into buying some 70' deep drafted monstrostity that will test your physical fitness - as a solo liveaboard something around 45' to 50' would be better and easier. Take your time (what's the rush anyway?!) and develop a system that works for you and it's easy.

As a residential boater you have two choices - a legitimate residential mooring with planning permission or to be a "continuous cruiser".

Legit residential moorings are in very short supply and therefore expensive (relatively speaking - if your used to South Coast marina prices I guess you might think otherwise)

Continuous cruising has been a thorny topic for years now and the arguments rumble on and on. In theory, at least, you are restriced to 14 days within any one parish before having to move on and you cannot just shuttle backwards and forwards between locations a few miles apart (except in winter when BW will fleece you for an overwinter mooring somewhere) - you're supposed to be cruising not lurking!

Which brings us on to the third way - towpath lurking. Towpath lurkers are people who live on their boats and either stay put in one place or, if they do move from time to time, only move a short distance. In theory, they can be prosecuted under British Waterways Byelaws but in practice this rarely happens. However they do incur the ire of other boaters who are paying through the nose for legitimate moorings and licences.

Escape the rat race? Yeah right! OK there are still quiet spots around the cut and it can be very peaceful and tranquil out of season (and winter boating can be a joy) but by 'eck it can be busy in the summer months! Long queues for locks are increasingly common and don't expect to moor up at a popular location with facilities late in the day.

I would suggest you join canals-list@yahoogroups.com, the original and still the best "forum" for canal boaters, hacve a browse through the message archives and post further questions thereon.

HTH
Bru

 

[scotty123]

To escape the rat race I am considering buying a boat to live on, but being on my own I am not sure about managing the practical issues i.e locks, mooring the boat ect. Does anyone have first hand experience in this? Is it a good idea? or any other suggestions as to how I can live a quiet life ?

Main downsides I've heard - Muddy towpath in winter, Iced up canals in winter so locks dont work making winter location a fixture, low water in canals in summer so also little progress. Services, like water/sewage are not on tap, so need to manhandle maybe, same with gas bottles, which you might need for heating as well as cooking. Security might be an issue in some places.

Suggests you might need to decide if you are a traveller, or wanting a more permanent location to eliminate some of the above considerations maybe.

 

[Bru]

Main downsides I've heard - Muddy towpath in winter, Iced up canals in winter so locks dont work making winter location a fixture, low water in canals in summer so also little progress. Services, like water/sewage are not on tap, so need to manhandle maybe, same with gas bottles, which you might need for heating as well as cooking. Security might be an issue in some places.

Suggests you might need to decide if you are a traveller, or wanting a more permanent location to eliminate some of the above considerations maybe.

Muddy towpaths - in some places yes, that's why wellies were invented

Ice in winter - yes but generally not a serious problem. Apart from exceptionally cold spells like we've had recently it's rare for the canals to be completely shut down by ice for more than a few days and in any case most "continuous cruisers" stay put in one place for the worst of the winter/

Low water - an occasional problem in a few locations but rare these days as British Waterways have invested heavily over the last 20 years or so in back pumping equipment and improvements to the water supply

Services - are, in fact, on tap! There are free water points to be found evey few miles, sewage disposal points likewise with DIY pump out of holding tanks usually an option and gas etc. available from canalside outlets. Of course, if you are on a permanent mooring rather than cruising these things may not be plumbed in to your boat (although sometimes they are) and you might actually have to go boating to get to them

Heating - most liveaboards go for solid fuel / wood burning stoves. Diesel fired central heating is another favoured option. Gas heating is often said to be expensive and troublesome. A stove that will burn either is best as you can often glean wood from the bank. Some areas have boats that work up and down the canal delivering coal, diesel etc. to boats along the way

Security - rarely an issue except in urban areas although there was, for many years, an ongoing problem with one particular individual in our area who pretty much lived wild off what he could steal off boats.

It might sound as if I'm extolling the virtues of living aboard a narrowboat and, indeed, I've been tempted myself. There are a couple of caveats though and they're less to do with the practicalities and more the philosophy ....

It worries me that the OP is looking to "get away from the rat race". It's a different rat and a different race but the truth is you'll simply be exchanging one set of hassles for another. That's life I'm afraid

Another concern is that people often fall into the trap of thinking it's a cheap way to live. SWMBO and I thought about it a few years ago and concluded that it was going to cost us roughly the same per annum without the long term financial benefits of owning bricks and mortar. Of course, if you currently live in central London YMMV!

ATB
Bru

 

[ProDave]

I've done a bit of research as later in life we plan to buy a narrowboat and spend about 2 years exploring the entire canal and river network. So here's what little I know:

Buy a narrowboat no more than 6ft 10" beam and 50ft long. That will be able to navigate all the rivers and canals. Any longer or wider and it won't fit some waterways.

You need an appropriate licence, and last time I checked the cheapest was a "continuous cruising" licence, which would be perfect for what we propose doing, but not appropriate if you just want to stay in one place.

If you are cruising, a porta potti is the cheapest form of toilet as you can empty it free at any BW toilet. On the other hand if you have a flush toilet with a holding tank, you will have to pay for regular pump outs.

Single handing a narrowboat is easy. You just need a centre line from the middle of the boat, long enough to lead aft. You step off the boat with the centre line and moor up with that, then fix the bow and stern lines. There are various techniques for locking single handed as well.

The one obstacle to single handed narrowboating can be lift bridges. A lot of lift bridges require a crew member to disembark, cross the bridge, raise it (leaving the crew member on the non towpath side) and hold the bridge up (many are finely balanced). This can leave the single handed boater needing to devise a means to hold the bridge open, then devise a means to get back to the boat. Often just waiting for another boat to come along so you can both go through together is the easiest option.

A liveaboard needs very different facilities to a holiday boat. A holiday narrowboat is usually set up to sleep the maximum number of people. For a liveaboard, you want a permanent bed that's always made up, and the lounge area wants some decent seating, not just convertible bunks. You will probably also want the luxury of a washing machine and a tumble dryer, so you will need an ac mains alternator on the engine, or a mains hookup if you have a permanent berth.

So you either need to buy a boat that's already been set up as a liveaboard, or buy an ex holiday boat and do some substantial alterations.

Regarding "getting away from the rat race" we did that by moving house from the south of England (a long way from the sea) to the northern Scottish Highlands where we live in a much larger house than we would ever have afforded down south, in a much less over populated part of the country where the pace of life is much more reasonable. The bonus is we are near the sea now, so have bought a sailing boat.

Our plan later in life is to live on a narrowboat, and the plan there is to rent out our house while doing so, and hope that will finance the adventure and enable us to retire a little earlier than we would otherwise. But I would never want to be without the security of a proper house, and wouldn't regard a narrowboat as a place I would want to grow old and frail.

Best of luck.

 

[Searush]

I have a friend (and his wife) who are well into their 80's and spend 4-5months a year cruising the canals (plus 3 months in Winter in Spain - the spring & autumn in a nice flat). So old isn't a problem, but infirm unwell, or very frail may be.

 

[mogmog2]

I had the chance to have a couple of weeks on a canal boat & being a boaty sort, jumped at it. If you're a Yachtie, you'll find it very different and not like sailing much - there's a lot less boat work involved and hardly any rope. Some aspects are quite pleasant, others less so: steering is much harder work & you can't adopt such a wide variety of positions. You get through a lot of water which has to be tediously hosed in & expensively pumped out.
I would recommend hiring a narrowboat for a week or two to get a taste.
Cheers
J