Canal Boat

[Slazanger]

Has anyone ever thought of giving the living in a boat thing a go and tried the canal boat ? Seems like it would be a decent way of saving some cash and having a nice mobile life... was just wondering if you could make a go at the sustainable living thing with one...

Slaz.

[triffid]

Oooh must of been 25 years ago a friend of a friend was at Uni. Rather than pay £50 a week for a room in a shared house (£2600 plus £600 in bills pa * 3 years) he borrowed £1500 from his father & bought a canal boat. It was pretty small (only 40 feet) had no electricity/ running water but over the 3 years of his degree he lived for about £500 a year (BWB licence, petrol for the generator) and 'did' the boat up (spent £1500). He sold it for £8000. So by my reckoning his 'made a profit' relative to renting a room etc of just over £13000. Not bad! (ie 8000 selling price less 3000 cost = 5000 plus saving on renting of 3200*3 less 500*3)

The boat was a ferro -cement narrowboat and the only heating was a tiny pot-belly stove. Although with the stove lit the interior was as warm as toast apparently it could be pretty miserable in the morning - until the stove got going. I remember chugging along in this thing standing in the open steering position in a t-shirt while the boat was breaking ice that had formed on the top of the canal! There was no shower & hot water came from a pan on a camping type stove (I think he did put a HW system in eventually). A very cheap but not always comfortable way of living!

[damaralenoire]

It does sound appealing to me in some aspects however, i would feel i was restricted in where you can actually go, canal network is limited and everywhere you go have to register to moore up etc and if it is anything like the canals around where i live here in wales you only get to moore for a short period of time unless you are prepared to wait on a long waiting for a permanent / semi permanent mooring

[Malthouse]

Living on a boat is a wonderful experience and all the mod cons are available nowadays, even better really because small-scale renewable power is very much the norm. It takes living off grid to a whole new level.

And of course it is ideal in many SHTF scenarios, the ability to pick up your house and move is highly valuably.

Go for it.

60k will get you something like this:

[2ndRateMind]

My Dad, who's a sea-going sailor, and took part in that stormy Fastnet race and survived it intact, refers to canal boating as 'ditch-crawling'. I'm not so dismissive; any lifestyle that avoids council tax and rent and water rates seems good to me. My only issue would be, from a prepping consideration, and post apocalypse, how you camouflage a canal boat to avoid the attentions of undesirables. But I love the whole eccentricity of the idea, and wish all the boating community every happiness in their unconventional and independent way of life.

Cheers, 2RM

[lonewolf]

I believe mooring fees can be quite expensive.

[Malthouse]

I believe mooring fees can be quite expensive.

Not all

[lonewolf]

the ones I had quoted were I guess it depends on the location.

[RuralPrepper]

Ditch crawling haha made me chuckle

I can see canal barges as a sustainable life style but not secure or private. As when moored you are living next to footpaths people can easily get on the barge and break in

[Malthouse]

Most narrow boats are made out of 4-6mm sheet steel, they are usually easy to secure.

And as for moorings, free is not unheard of if you look in the right places.