Where could someone live aboard in Southampton?

Blueboatman said:
Walk ashore and close proximity to security, water and leccy and mud free commuting I reckon for him
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Agree. It's a good point about water supplies in particular.

Mentioning "maybe in a suit" did make me smile though. Don't think I've ever seen that once, and I've known him since school :)

Pete
 
Blueboatman said:
Those dories don't come cheap, reliable outboard on the back highly attractive to ahem others. Then he has to park it somewhere nontidal and lug water for that shower , in a suit mebbe and deal with frozen quayside tap or filling in the rain...
Your friend is going to have to box clever. Not saying g it can't be done but best to go into these things eyes open eh?

I write as one who has in the past rowed to work. With the right mindset it can be a wonderful thing too. I used to up anchor every Friday evening too and go for a sail, halcyon days, but the climate was better..

Walk ashore and close proximity to security, water and leccy and mud free commuting I reckon for him
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+1

I lived aboard one winter, even in a marina it felt quite a supreme effort to get up and travel to work ( at the time over an hour each way even by Z650 ).

At the time - early 1980's - I was told 3 separate liveaboards had died after slipping or being blown by gales off the icy pontoons; Pete, I agree with others, if your chum isn't used to boats he'd be a lot better off - not least financially - if he could find a liveaboard caravan site, no idea if they exist apart from pikey scum, but I presume decent people must do it too !
 
Wicor marine (not quite Southampton I know but not too far to drive/train) have 'above board' liveaboards and it's not a bad little yard toward the top end of Fareham creek.
 
Seajet said:
if your chum isn't used to boats
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But he is used to boats. Used to sail with his grandfather as a child / teenager, got the Navy (via Cadets) to pay for CC and DS courses while at school, was the nominal skipper for the various charter trips we did as students, and now owns a small motorboat. In fact, I remember him saying when we were about 15, "If one day I can afford either a house or a boat but not both, I'll buy the boat. You can live on a boat, but you can't sail a house." He's been talking about moving onto a boat for well over a year now - it's something he actively wants to do, not just a form of cheap accommodation.

Pete
 
Pete,

fair enough, but he should be warned that liveaboard boats rarely go sailing, they usually have too much junk and connections to the shore in every way !

Do check out the place in Gosport I alluded to, seems just right.

Andy
 
Seajet said:
he should be warned that liveaboard boats rarely go sailing, they usually have too much junk and connections to the shore in every way !
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He's well aware of that. Unless something fantastic comes up, it will almost certainly be a motorboat for max living volume for a given (chargeable) length. Given that, cost of fuel is likely to severely curtail any trips. The expectation is that if he went anywhere at all, it would be an annual move from the home berth to somewhere nearby, stay for a week by way of a holiday change of scene, then come back again. He changes vehicle frequently, but it's always something large like a Transit or a 1-tonne pickup with a box on the back, and the plan would be to use that as a place to leave behind surplus junk on such occasions.

One boat he liked (but sadly sold before we could view it in person) had enough deck space to keep a proper sailing dinghy, and a stump mast that could have taken a derrick to launch and retrieve it. No need for the main vessel to move if you have that :). Even if it has to be stored elsewhere, he's mentioned getting a Mirror or similar to teach his young nephew to sail.

Pete
 
Sounds like a plan; something like a Laser ( or maybe a Topper bearing the nephew in mind but it's a bit small for an adult ) could be literally chucked over the side then rigged, zero maintenance.

Not so versatile or as much fun as a Mirror though.
 
May I suggest that your (savvy) mate considers knackered or nearly knackered engine(s) on a decent mobo? Therein lies the greatest scope for discount and then 'hands on' value adding?
 
Blueboatman said:
May I suggest that your (savvy) mate considers knackered or nearly knackered engine(s) on a decent mobo? Therein lies the greatest scope for discount and then 'hands on' value adding?
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Already on the table, yes. Also old petrol engines that cost an absolute fortune to run if you want to move anywhere.

This thread was supposed to be more about the berth than the boat, though. So far in Southampton we've had Itchen Marine Towage, and a reminder about Quayside which I've already told him to contact but don't know whether he has. Plus various options not in Southampton, which are somewhat useful but definitely not preferred - it's nice to live near people you know. Was hoping to hear about the attitude to liveaboards at, say, Merlin or the other places along there whose names I don't know.

Pete
 
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There are a few livaboards downstream of Universial - technically speaking on the Fareham side of the river. No idea if there are spaces or where to go to find out about them.

The yard at the Chandlery Barge also looks like having them as well.

There is also at least one posh marina that tolerates liveaboards on a month-to-month contract. Might be a way to dip toe in and see if he likes it before signing up to 12 months.
 
Awight. Names change but I would have a chat between the It bridge and Kemps, and opposite and upstream too.
Midstream moorings ( and there was at least one beautiful Dutch sailing trad vessel at Battersea Park in London) tend to shout tender/no tender alongside?
 
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