Hi I have wanted to live on a boat since the early part of this decade. I am female and know other females who have boats. I own my own flat at the moment, but not only is it getting too expensive, I have gone off the town I moved to because of many things, and friends have moved on. I am on benefits and due to my personal circumstances, it is only a matter of time before I am left with only £460 a month income. I have sought advice from advice agencies and the DWP itself so I know it to be fact. If I sell my flat, there may be enough money to buy a middle sized boat to live in. I have been getting really depressed living here, and know I need to make changes. There is no sense of community anymore in our town as loads of not so friendly strangers have moved in, and most of my friends have moved out to other towns. The depression has got really bad, as I see no life for myself here, and may get my house reposessed as £460 a month is only half of what money I would need to live here. The stress of it all has been getting me down, that was, until, I thought that as I am getting no suport, despite asking, I should help myself, and decided to sell my flat and buy a boat. The question I have is, I am paranoid £460 a month will not be enough to live on and pay whatever bills I have, if I have a boat. I hope I am just being paranoid though. My question is, is £460 a month enough to sustain me and pay all my bills etc and repairs while living on a boat? Many thanks. I am desperate to get out of this town and live in a sense of community on the waterways.
http://livingonboats.co.uk/2008/03/04/how-much-does-it-cost-to-live-on-a-boat/ this seems like a good resource, i was considering the same thing back when i had a more regular income. your initial outlay is fucking expensive, after that its a pretty sweet deal.
Hi Thanks for your reply. That page was really informative. It says you have to pay mooring fees and council tax band A. I don't want a permanent mooring and am happy with the continuous cruise where you move every two weeks. Can I confirm, Is council tax and mooring fees payable even when you don't have a permanent mooring? Thanks
some moorings are different to others but as far as i know, if you have a residential mooring you do have to pay council tax. you don't NEED a residential mooring (although obviously, you'll need a "Permanent adress") and in London and the SE there expensive as fuck. but having a residential mooring makes everything a fuck of a lot more convenient. three other options to having a residential mooring: continuous cruise- just go from mooring site to mooring site. moor anywhere- what it says on the tin. can be cool, but it means no security and you have to be very self-sufficient. also, i think the police might be able to move you on. mooring by agreement- find a nice friendly, moorings operator and come to a tidy little agreement to moor with them for a bit. remember if you have a continuous cruising licence you have to travel 10 lock miles a week to keep it valid. dunno how that'll affect your work or whatever.
Thank you for your post Auto. I have 4 quick questions, I hope you don't mind, I have really appreciated your help so far. Please can you give me a rough idea of how much it costs for a "permanent address" in London and how often I would need to pay please? When you say you have to be very self sufficient to do a continuous cruise, please could you elaborate so I know what to expect? Why do you have to travel 10 lock miles per week, I thought you only had to travel every fortnight? Is it possible for a single person to operate the locks as I will be living alone on the boat? Many thanks
by "permanent adress" i just mean that you need to have an adress listed so that they know where to send your post and what-have-you. you don't have to pay or stay in a building, just ask a friend if they don't mind recieving your post. if you have no friends, you can use a post restante forwarding service or rent a PO box for around 7 quid a month.( i was refferring to residential mooring sites when i said they were "expensive as fuck" but i can tottally see how it would look like i meant permanent adresses.) in terms of self-sufficiency, if you choose to "moor anywhere" then you have to accept that pretty much all of the time you aren't going to have access to basic facilities etc that you would get with a mooring site. its like camping, essentially. also, remember that during winter, something important WILL break. Your first winter is always a shitty time (freezing temperatures, "stoppages" on the waterways etc.) depends how willing you are to grin and bear it, really. you are only allowed to stop for a maximum of a fortnight, but you also have to be able to demonstrate "reasonable progress" which is irritatingly vague. 10 miles a week is a pretty good average, but looking back, i was told this by a friend who lived aboard, and i'm not too sure whether this was a personal rule or simply to keep authorities from getting up him, certainly if you can demonstrate that as an average, your licence won't be contested. its certainly good etiquette to never stay more than a week anywhere unless you have too, especially where mooring sites are few and far between. operating locks on your own is perfectly possible, its just easier with two or three. normally, while one person works the paddles the other keeps the boat in position, makes sure its going down easily and not being buffeted around too much etc. (bear in mind, any lock in a city will usually have someone absent mindedly watching the boats go up and down, generally they can be enlisted to lend a hand, some look positively downcast when they aren't) heres a copy and pasted step-by-step to single-handed lock operation: "Locking up. [*]Tie the boat up with the nose in against the lower gate, and a tight line off the roof to the bollard below the gate, if any. If no bollard, tie the line to the gate itself. (roof lines are handy when solo boating. My roof line is long enough to extend from the middle of the boat roof to the floor of the stern deck. I keep it neatly coiled next to the back hatch for easy access) [*]If you need to let water out of the lock, the flow of the water will cause your boat to go down and forward against the gate. When this happens, be sure the nose of the boat doesn't catch on a plank of the gate. A good bow fender is recommended. [*]When the lock is empty, open the gate, untie the boat, and navigate it in. Climb up the ladder. In a double lock, like on the grand Union canal, one ladder is near the rear of the lock, the other is usually toward the front. Keep your boat to the REAR of the lock when locking up. Less turbulence. Keep the engine in neutral. [*]Take the line with you when you climb up the ladder, even in a single lock. You never know when you may need to pull your boat back from the front gate if the fender or nose gets caught under it. Always have control of the boat at hand. [*]Close the bottom gate and paddles, and open the top paddles. In a double lock, open the ground paddle on the side your boat is on first, then the gate paddle when the gate paddle is covered with water, then cross the gate and do the other side in the same order. The pressure of the water will keep your boat tight to your side in a double lock. It doesn't matter in a single lock, but I follow the same procedure just to keep the discipline of it anyway. [*]When the lock is full, open the gate and exit by navigating. Moor up just above the lock at the BW bollard or ring. (if any....;( not always there) Close the gates and paddles and go on your way. Locking down. [*]Tie up to the ring or bollard with your topline. If its a double wide lock, nose the front of the boat into the opposite angle of the far lock gate, and use your stern line to secure the boat across the canal to the bollard on your side. [*]Fill the lock. [*]Untie the boat, and pull back to allow for opening the gate. Open gate. [*]Enter the lock, and take a turn with the topline around a bollard. ALWAYS keep the boat well to the front gate when locking down, because you are unable to control it due to the turbulence and the sill can break your rudder, or even sink the boat. Some people keep the boat in forward gear tickover. Never go down without control of the line. I take a turn round the bollard, open one paddle, and then let the boat go slowly down, holding the line against the bollard to keep it in place I use cotton lines for my top line, NOT nylon. A cotton line will break under the weight of the boat if things go wrong, a nylon line will break the boat attachment weld. Also, cotton, though more expensive is kinder to the hands, doesn't shred your skin, and can be washed and bleached nice and clean at the laundry. (Put them in a nylon net bag or they will tangle and harm the washer during the spin cycle) [*]Open the bottom paddle on your side first, then the opposite. Keep your eye on the boat, making sure it is forward to the gate and not getting caught in the gate, and not drifting back towards the sill. Again, keeping the boat in forward gear at tickover will assist here, but some people dislike the boat being in gear when they are not aboard. [*]When the lock is empty, open the gate and bowhaul the boat slightly forward to secure the gate open. [*]With the line on your arm, climb down the ladder carefully. It will be wet and slimy. I wear rubber soled shoes with a heel and deep tread to get good purchase on the ladder. I try to climb down to the gunwale rather than the roof, it's safer, though muddier. Walk back to the counter, and navigate out. [*]Tie up below the lock, and walk back up to close the paddles and gates Special Situations: Stuck gate...not broken, just too hard to move. Be sure the level is correct. Open or close the paddles as appropriate Tie the bow line to the front of gate when going down, and gently reverse the boat to pull the gate open. GENTLY, or you may pull the gate off its pins. BW would probably hate that. Going up, untie the boat, GENTLY nose up to the gate until you are touching it, and slowly and carefully push the gate open with the boat. A gentle nudge is sufficient, or else the gates will slam against the walls and bang back onto your boat. Please note that this is one person's locking method - there are others. Also the technique may need to be modified depending on the locks. In time, you will develop a technique which suits you. Be particularly careful when tying up at the bottom of wide locks - the turbulence as the lock empties can be considerable. Keep an eye out for what other people are doing - if they are opening paddles too quickly for your liking then ask them to stop. Remember, take your time and think out what you are going to do. It's not as difficult as it sounds. " its not really that hard, the gates arent hard to operate if you know what does what etc. just don't let your mind drift off and stop paying attention to whats happening to the boat.
Do it, things have a way of working out. Especially if you have had your heart set on it! I have many boat friends, not sure of the in's and out's - I know it is easier to live on a boat in your youth as two different friends of mine have had to take to land as they aged and could no longer keep up the life style... It is better than living in a flat, you get to be out in the world and I am sure you will learn as you go along. Be free :sunny:
Hi again Thanks for your really helpful messages, I am going to keep this information. as I am currently trying to build up a knowledge base. Me and a friend were talking. My friend used to live in a van travelling around and knows boat people. My friend said that there are new laws regarding diesel, in that you are not allowed to fill up your boat on the canal anymore and you have to take a jerry can to the filling station and back. Given that I am a lone female who does not drive and has no transport, please can someone tell me how I would get around this problem if i was contunuously cruising. Would I still be able to fulfil my dream and live on a boat. Thanks
Bump please. Sorry for forgetting to like your posts. Please can someone help with the above post please, kind thanks.
sorry dude, i know nothing about this, my only knowledge comes from chatting to a continuous cruiser quite a while ago, and my own enquiries which were actually for a permanent mooring. here are some good resources though www.RBOA.org.uk http://www.livingonaboat.co.uk/ this is the only article i found pertaining to diesel: http://www.rboa.org.uk/diesel4
