Growing on a Narrow Boat

[Chooklady]

The Butty is so cute and I love the colour, she's pretty! Boats come in all sizes/design/fittings TeakDesk and you can buy a 20 year old one for around 20-30K... if you don't mind the inside looking like a fight in a wood mill! We were thinking of buying this kind of thing and selling that on in due course when we have saved up more for a swankier variety

[Chooklady]

This one is 50ft and costs a tad under 42k

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/...html?id=377407

[Potstubsdustbins]

If that is as good as it looks its well worth the money. The only problem with a 70ft boat is that they won't fit in some locks. Like the Leeds to Liverpool which takes broad beam but only up to 60ft long.

[Chooklady]

This one is a 50ft Pots

[bearded bloke]

The very first thing to do,is to secure yourself a british waterways long term mooring with planning consent for residential use for the main boat,then you are going to need a vessel with a current houseboat certificate.
I would also urge you to check with British Waterways on their rulings/requirements regarding the use of a vessel solely for business purposes on a residential mooring.

A good starting point would be ... https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/1132.pdf

[Chooklady]

Thanks BB for the advice I am just window shopping at the moment... I have 5 years until I am a fully fledged water rat. Your recommendation sounds like the best thing to do, this lark is a bit complicated isn't it?

[bearded bloke]

No prob's Chook A few years back Mrs.BB & I rented a narrowboat,we did a fair amount of chatting to our mooring neighbours,most agreed that the hardest thing was to get the residential mooring.
Also worth remembering is that to maintain a houseboat certificate the vessel needs periodic inspection by a qualified inspector in a dry dock.
It does have to be said that there is great camaraderie amongst canal dwellers

[Potstubsdustbins]

Complicated yes but it is good, very good. Sorry about the boat size some how I had it in my head she was 70ft.

There does seem to be an awful lot of folk who run small business's from narrow boats these days so everything is very doable and its a lovely dream just hope you get to the end of your own rainbow.

The waterways are improving all the time, more being restored, improved locks etc. The boats available now are fitted with every convenience, I took my first trip 38 years ago in a Trentcraft grp cruiser, no heating and a hand pumped shower and loo. My last trip was a 67ft narrow boat, full gas central heating, flushing loo, shower bath with power shower, fridge freezer, even a wine cooler.

[bearded bloke]

Ay up Potty,if you fancy a day out over the weekend,not to much of a drive ...... Canal & River Trust News | Foxton Locks celebrates 200th birthday ...... such a shame there is so little left of the incline

[Patchninja]

You've still got to empty the tank of your lovely flushing loo somewhere!
I was very happy for my daughter to live in hers when she was a student because, as has been said above, there's great solidarity on the canals and I felt she was safer than in some anonymous flat where the neighbours don't care.
Her then boyfriend did up canal boats beautifully - he had a 70' boat that he re-built. It was featured in a canal boat magasine - absolutely stunning.

[Bill HH]

And you can move the boat to the sunniest spots!!! what a bonus.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Loo tank emptying now is no chore, pull up to the site, switch of the engine and along comes a man with a vacuum hose takes and external cap of the effluent tank attach hose and away it all goes not even an odour on the breeze.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Thanks for the heads up BB I will give it some thought. But the last time I was there on a nice day it was busier than Piccadilly Circus, I reckon the crowds put 40 minutes on the drop down the flight.

I agree about the incline plane there has been some talk about restoring it but whether it will happen is anyone's guess. Still they did the Anderton Lift and that must have been one heck of a project.