Does anyone live on a boat...

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Nicola P

Member
I'd love to live on a houseboat, especially one of the huge ones on the river by the park in Putney, but I refuse to be cold, I don't think the cat would like it. Would I still be able to have my broadband, where would I keep the bikes and what about a real toilet?

Modern boats have proper toilets and central heating - ours also had a woodburning stove, believe me the place was like a sauna sometimes Your cat would love it (king of the castle). Yes to broadband, bikes on the roof (tarpaulined) - ah happy days, maybe I'll take a cycle along the canal path to reminesce some more............
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
Nooo - it's horrible up north. You don't want to move up north...

[don't encourage people! we don't want more people cluttering up the beautiful countryside, clogging up the roads....]


The OP sounds ok. Could we make an exception? Unless he's lying and works for a bank or summat.:eek:
 

Linford

Guest
Bloke I work with has just bought a 'Sea Otter' ally narrowboat for himself and has been livingon it for a month now. One of the prerequisites of it is that it could take his E-bike on the back of it.
It is about 10 years old but in very good nick apparently.
 

Saluki

World class procrastinator
Let's hope you can manage without all the local services it pays for then!
CCing is very common, there are a few thousand CCers in the UK and there is no stigma attached to it. Also, you are never in one locale for longer than 2 weeks. Most CCers figure that they have paid their dues over the years in tax and NI over and above the cost of the facilities used.
Take a look at residential caravan parks, they have 50 week licences and the residents don't pay council tax yet they see doctors, use the roads, schools etc. The residents just go somewhere else for a fortnight a year. Nobody complains about them not paying council tax, CCing narrowboaters are no different. There a whole lot more people in residential mobile home/caravan parks on 50 week licences than there are CCers.
 
I've spent more than half of my adult life living and working on commercial vessels.
Wouldn't consider living on a narrow boat though, at least the ones I'm used to do move around all the time and aren't a floating flat.
 

Jimmy Doug

If you know what's good for you ...
My parents-in-law lived in a barge for 10 years. They loved their barge, and spent huge amounts of money and time renovating it. Then they discovered the hull was rotten - nothing that a standard test could discover, it was only by taking it out of the water for a paint job that it was discovered. The hull was so badly damaged that there was nothing for it but to trash the barge. And the worst thing was that their insurance didn't cover it. So not only did they lose their home, they also lost all that they'd worked for their entire lives. Now they live in a rented flat - they're retired and can't afford to buy.
 

Linford

Guest
My parents-in-law lived in a barge for 10 years. They loved their barge, and spent huge amounts of money and time renovating it. Then they discovered the hull was rotten - nothing that a standard test could discover, it was only by taking it out of the water for a paint job that it was discovered. The hull was so badly damaged that there was nothing for it but to trash the barge. And the worst thing was that their insurance didn't cover it. So not only did they lose their home, they also lost all that they'd worked for their entire lives. Now they live in a rented flat - they're retired and can't afford to buy.
Sad story :-(. Sea otter. My workman has is made of ally so no worries there
 

Jimmy Doug

If you know what's good for you ...
I wouldn't live on a boat after what happened to my parents-in-law. Even before the rotten hull, they had no end of issues - and it cost them a fortune to heat as it was very difficult to insulate (in fact, it wasn't insulated!). I think that living on a boat is much more expensive than a house per square metre and there are no end of worries. But it's true that it was very pleasant - especially when the swans and ducks passed in front of the living room window! I can understand why people would want to do it, even though I personally cannot stand boats!
 
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