2014 06 29 – Extending Your Boat’s Storage Space
At this time of the year, I am food.
My usual uniform is shorts and one of the half dozen embroidered Disley polo shirts I salvaged from the wreckage of my failed cleaning business. The tops are both comfortable and durable but but neither shirt nor shorts offer me any protection from the site’s summertime flora and fauna.
I suffer the most when I’m using the site’s ride-on Husqvarna mower. There are acres of grass to cut. The whole site takes fourteen hours, often through and under low hanging branches.
I weave around the willow on the avenue leading up to reception, charge through curtains of weeping willow on the spur to the south of the marina entrance, brush against the hawthorn, blackthorn and bramble which border the picnic area between the canal and Meadows marina, fight my way through the low hanging branches of ten year old oak and ash saplings, impale myself on the Chilean pine’s razor sharp tips, duck under the solid limbs of a Scot’s pine, and all the time I pick up wildlife.
I feel sudden stabbing pains on my arms and legs and instinctively brush away feeding hose flies. My head itches so I brush off spiders, caterpillars and earwigs. My legs itch and I know that I’ve just provided lunch for yet another lady mosquito.
In addition to the bites, my arms and legs are road maps of scratches, cuts and scrapes received from thorny branches, brambles and jagged stumps. And to cap it all off, my legs constantly tingle at this time of the year from far too frequent brushes with stands of waist high nettles as I walk through the woodland, strimming the sun dappled paths.
It’s hot and painful work at this time of the year but I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
It’s not just the insects which are biting at the moment. The squirrels are having a ball, and they’re destroying our woodland.
Tree bark is a popular food for grey squirrels in the spring and summer when nuts and berries are scarce. They are particularly fond of beech, sycamore, larch and oak trees between ten tears old when the tree is sturdy enough to support the weight of a squirrel and and less than forty years old when the bark is thin enough to get their nasty little rodent teeth into.
At the very least, bark stripping results in an unattractive woodland filled with scarred and unappealing trees. If the bark is stripped completely around any part of the tree or “ring barked”, the section above the ring barking will die and blow out in high winds leaving a still living but deformed tree. Stripped areas can also suffer fungal infections which can lead to wood rot and ultimately death of the infected trees.
Our main woodland area is predominantly oak and ash with a significant number of larch and a few beech thrown in for good measure. All of the trees are between ten and forty years old. It’s an all you can eat buffet for what many people think as cute little woodland creatures. We don’t need to worry about the squirrel destroying our 1,500 ash trees though. Sudden ash dieback will eliminate them instead.
We have a choice. We can keep the squirrels or keep the woodland. We can’t keep both.
Of course the squirrels will have to go but quite how we achieve that is being discussed at the moment. Our office received a number of complaints last winter while I was removing one hundred and twenty ring barked oak. I was destroying the woods, going wild with a chainsaw, spoiling the woods and killing the poor trees. The removal was done after lengthy consultation with the management and the proposed removal was highlighted in Caluctt Boats’ newsletter. But still we received complaints.
We have to be very careful with the even more contentious issue of vermin control. But effective woodland management is all about looking at the eco system as a whole. The squirrels will go and we’ll try not to worry too much about the people who can’t see the wood for the trees.
Moving onto a lighter subject, I didn’t have time to tell you about my recent canal-side socialising. I had the pleasure of a couple of evenings the week before last with Bangkok Tim and his new cruising and drinking buddy Dale.
As with every meeting I schedule these days, I have to think very carefully how I’m going to get there. I gave my car to my ex wife over a year ago so I’ve spent the last thirteen months managing without one. To be honest, I haven’t had to manage very hard because Sally has a car and she tends to do much of the running around on her days off. Our days off only coincide on two days every alternate week though so I have to consider the logistics involved in meeting people on the week when we aren’t off together.
The logistics are made more interesting by the fact that the people I arrange to meet are often continuously cruising boaters who also don’t have cars.
I haven’t really found carless journeys much of a problem. I enjoy walking, especially as many of the journeys are along peaceful towpaths in search of new friendships on strange boats. I strolled along the towpath to Braunston a couple of weeks ago to train a young man on his own boat. Braunston is two hours away by boat but just an hour and a half’s brisk walk. It’s very pleasant at this time of the year.
My meeting with Tim and Dale was a little closer than Braunston. I joined them in the King’s Arms a mile and a half from the marina on the main Napton to Daventry road. I hadn’t met Dale before but it didn’t matter. Boat owners are generally a gregarious bunch, particularly single male boat owners of a certain age.
Single boat owners are often a contradiction. They’re usually very comfortable on their own, living alone but rarely lonely. And then, at the first opportunity, racing to the nearest pub with a total stranger to spend a couple of hours drinking unwise quantities of beer while they discuss anything and everything, but always at some stage boats and breakdowns, canals and catastrophes.
Our evening followed the usual pattern. We promised each other that we’d just have three or four pints before quickly weakening and having six or seven instead before wandering slowly half a mile back to bridge 110 on the Grand Union where Dale and Tim were both moored.
I strolled along the footpath on the pretext of saying hello to Tim’s two Thai “girls”, the dogs he rescued from the cooking pot in Thailand and brought back to the UK at great expense. Of course I was keen to meet the dogs but really hoped that a bottle of wine would appear while I was there. It did.
Consequently, it was very late and dark before I staggered the last mile from the canal back to my boat and a sleeping Sally.
The following morning I received an email, much to my surprise, reminding me that I had arranged to meet Tim in Southam that evening for another couple of pints and a long overdue curry.
I changed quickly as soon as I finished work on Friday afternoon and bid a slightly apologetic farewell to Sally for the second night running. I had intended to walk into Southam but Steve from the office had to do his weekly shop in Southam so he kindly offered me a lift.
Tim joined me in the The Mint next to the Balti Hut restaurant. We had a couple of pints sitting in the garden as far away as possible from a loud and very wobbly group who must have been drinking quickly and solidly for at least a week to get into their Neanderthal state (avoiding people like this is one of the many reasons I live on a boat) . We enjoyed an acceptable curry and another pint and by half past eight were ready to go home, or at least get closer to home so that we could carry on drinking without Tim having to worry about driving.
I paid for the curry and set off at a brisk pace towards Napton while Tim went to buy a couple of bottles of wine and collect his bike.
Tim has been a biker for most of his life. He suits bikes. He suits large and manly bikes. He’s 6’4″ tall, is tattooed and sports shoulder length hair and beard. He suits Harley Davidson motorcycles. He doesn’t suit mopeds.
As I reached the outskirt of Southam I heard a cowboy “Yee Ha!” behind me. I turned, and nearly fell over laughing. Tim, with a Jerry helmet perched on his head and wearing a too short pastel yellow cashmere cardigan passed me. I may be wrong about the colour and fabric of his top, but I’m sure it was a cardigan. He didn’t so much as flash as crawl by with his knees folded up near his ears on the tiny bike.
That’s one of the problems with living on a boat. There’s very little room to store the basic necessities of life so keeping a manly motorbike on board is out of the question. I’ve seen one or two boats with specially fitted turntables on tug bows but they all look a little cumbersome. Tim’s 50cc bike sits comfortably on his cruiser stern. It may not have the aesthetic appeal of a Harley, but it’s much more practical.
By the time Tim had chugged back to his boat, put his bike to bed and persuaded Dale to join us for a dram, I had joined them. We polished off both bottles of wine by 10pm and ,with the day’s failing light to guide us, took Tim’s two dogs for a walk along the towpath. A towpath which was completely blocked by four friendly hippy types sitting in a circle enjoying a footpath barbecue. They apologised, threw a sausage to each of the dogs, then carried on rolling a suspiciously long cigarette.
I left Tim and Dale at bridge 110 so I missed Tim falling flat on his face when he tripped over the barbecue in the dark on his way back. Apparently the verbal exchange wasn’t quite so pleasant as it had been twenty minutes earlier.
That, to me, was a very pleasant couple of nights out. We didn’t have to dress up, didn’t have to mingle with polite company and didn’t have to spend a great deal of money. We spend much of our time in or around the boats we love enjoying the simple pleasure of a few drinks in relaxed company.
Talking of relaxing and enjoying oneself, I had a Hamlet moment earlier in the week. Do you remember the Hamlet adverts, “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet!”? They featured men in embarrassing or unfortunate situations who, despite their recent misfortunes, forgot all their worries when they smoked “the mild cigar from Benson & Hedges”. The adverts ran from the mid sixties to the early nineties. I loved them.
Tuesday was filled with minor and slightly painful accidents. The first was when I asked Pat to help me free the pull cord on the Flymo mower we use to cut the grass on the steep banks next to Locks marina. The casing around the pull cord split as I was starting the mower, jamming the cord deep in the crack.
Pat’s a large and very strong fella. He jammed a screwdriver into the crack, grabbed the handle with two hands and pulled upwards with all his might while I, bending over him, tried to pull the cord out of the gap as he widened it. “Watch your face!” he warned as he heaved. Too late as it happens, as the screwdriver slipped out of the crack and he punched me in the mouth with the back of his hand.
When I came round I looked like an honoury member of the Suri tribe with a noticeably enlarged lower lip. I took myself off into the woods later in the morning out of harm’s way where I used a strimmer to cut back the nettles which were growing over the paths. I tripped over a tree root and, as I fell, dragged the thorns of an inch thick bramble up the back of my right leg leaving a scratch the width of the M1 from ankle to mid thigh.
Later on in the afternoon, just before I finished work for the day, I caught my head on a jagged willow branch as I passed under the tree as I cut the grass around it with our Husqvarna ride on mower. I wasn’t happy.
I finished work at 5.30pm and as usual stripped off as soon as I reached the boat and dived into the shower to wash off the day’s dirt. Historically it’s been a hit and miss affair trying to get the temperature right because of the gas water heater so showers have been brief and frustrating affair. However, with the gas heater now disabled and hot water being provided by my calorifier’s immersion heater, showers are absolute bliss. I washed the day’s scratches, cuts and bruises away under a jet of perfectly heated water and thoroughly enjoyed my “Hamlet moment”.
In Praise Of Deck Covers
I’ve written about them before. I don’t like them, but it’s an entirely subjective point of view. I often move boats around the marina. Some have pram covers fitted. Pram covers are head high covers usually, but not always, fitted on cruiser stern boats. Because I don’t usually know the boats I move very well, I don’t know how to take down the covers quickly and I don’t have time to work it out, I have to move the boat with the cover up. In my experience, and in the experience of the other staff here at the marina who regularly move boats, moving boats with fitted covers can be both difficult and dangerous.
You can’t easily manage the boat’s centre line if the pram cover is raised, something which is essential if you are handling the boat on your own. You also can’t feel the wind on your face, so can’t judge its direction. It’s far easier to steer a narrowboat into a wind than away from it. Accurate and effective steering is very important when trying to moor a boat, especially one belonging to someone else and which needs reversing into a tight space on an often windy marina. Raised pram covers do not help at all.
However, boating isn’t all about moving short distances around a marina on an unfamiliar boat. If you’re living on your boat you may well be moored in one spot for days or weeks at a time. Spending ten or fifteen minutes raising or lowering a pram cover doesn’t matter then and offers you an effective solution if you want space to accommodate three or four people in comfort on the rear deck while you are cruising and additional storage space on the rear deck when you are not.
Site blogger Our Nige has a pram cover on his boat. He felt strongly enough about its virtues to write a post about it. You can read it here.
I may not like pram covers, but I love cratch covers.
Fitting a cratch cover over your front deck is like having an extension built on your house. We have a removeable table for al fresco dining on our front deck but we rarely use it these days. If we want to eat outside, we have two very comfortable folding chairs and a table we can set up on the towpath. We use the front deck as very well organised storage space so removing the cratch cover and reorganising the front deck just so that we can sit at the table for an hour just isn’t worth the hassle.
The front deck is home to a hose reel, long handled brush for boat cleaning, a pair of garden shears for cutting back the grass on an otherwise ideal canal-side mooring, two folding chairs and a matching table, dog toys, a thrower and balls, two leads and a towel for drying wet dogs, half a dozen pairs of shoes, boots and wellies, a bag of coal, an ash bucket for the stove, a mop bucket, a dustpan and brush and a cuddly toy. I was joking about the cuddly toy.
Not only is it a great place for storage but it’s also fantastic for taking off shoes and sorting out the dogs on wet days. One final advantage is that it acts as a buffer between inside and outside temperatures on cold and windy days. We don’t have to open the front doors directly onto the frigid world outside and lose all of our precious heat. It’s a great addition to the boat, but it isn’t a cheap one.
A high quality cratch cover will set you back £1,000 or more from a high end cover supplier such as A J Canopies of Braunston. A pram cover over a cruiser or semi trad stern can cost you twice as much. But who said boat ownership was cheap? Remember the acronym? B.O.A.T. Bring Out Another Thousand.
I Need Some Help!
Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.
Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.
Newsletter Index
I created the site just over four years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.
Naming your boat – The legal requirements when naming, renaming and displaying your boat plus the inland waterways’ two hundred most popular boat names
Speeding boats – Are rocking stationary boats the fault of speeding passing boats or the fault of boat owners who can’t moor securely?
Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.
Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges
Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.
Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.
How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.
What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment
A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.
A further update to the site content index.
The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.
How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?
Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.
Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?
Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.
Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.
Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou
Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.
I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.
Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.
Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.
Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.
Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?
If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)
Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.
The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?
Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.
Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.
Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?
Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.
Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel
Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.
Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content
Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.
Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?
Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.
Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.
Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013
Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.
The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.
Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.
20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.
A new organisation for liveaboard boaters
On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.
Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.
Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.
Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.
The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free
Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.
A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees
Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site
Managing your water supply
An American blogs about his travels
Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube
All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller
8th September
A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!
Effective fly killers for boats
The downside to living on a narrowboat
Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.
CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!
Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers
Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous
Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?
A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles
Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring
The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?
The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.
Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.
Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.
Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.
Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.
Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.
23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?
Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.
Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.
The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt
Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours
Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.
I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.
An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list
Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.
Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story
My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.
Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.
Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.
An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network
An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings
Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold
Meet one of your legless canal side companions
The canal network’s largest floating hotel
Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.
The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?
Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop
RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?
The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.
Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article
Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.
Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.
Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.
Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.
Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.
Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.
Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start
Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution
Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013
Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.
James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring
Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test
Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.
Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.
Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013
The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.
Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.
Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat
Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis
I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.
Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis
Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer
Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat
Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer
Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat
First tests and reviews of the budgeting application
The best aerial for a narrowboat television
The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application
An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways
Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else
I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date
Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs
Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home
The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners
I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.
VAT on narrowboat sales
Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans
Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson
Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels
Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)
How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.
Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke
DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and
Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly
DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports
Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips
Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all
Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats
As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.
The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments
Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.
Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat
eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)
Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat
A review of Debdale Wharf marina
Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.
The first four narrowboat case studies published
I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study
Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study
Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study
Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.
Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter
1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter
Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners
Comprehensive Site Article Listing
There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.
Popular Forum Posts
There’s a wealth of information on the site in general, but if you’re struggling to find the answer to a particular issue, the forum is the place to find it. I’ve listed some of the more popular posts below but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask your question on the forum. If you don’t know how to create a post, or if you can’t log in, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to get you up and running.
- Aluminium Boats – They don’t rust so why don’t you see more of them on the inland waterways?
- Ironing Board On Board – How do boaters manage a crease free life?
- Freezing Water – How to stop your pipes and pumps from freezing in the winter
- CRT & Continuous Cruising – The Trust and their enforcement of the rules
- Heat – Advice for the owner of a cold boat
- GPS Devices and Canal Mapping – Are there any decent ones available for your narrowboat and do you need them anyway?
- Battery Monitors – Replacing your leisure batteries is one of your more expensive maintenance costs. Here’s some detailed information about a device for looking after your batteries
- Survey Costs – How much should you pay to have your boat removed from the water for a survey?
- Battery monitors – Gimmick or essential boating equipment?
- Engine size and performance – Most engines are suitable for pottering about on the canal but what size engine do you need if you plan to cruise on rivers?
- A Big Inverter Or A Suitcase Generator – What are the pros and cons of either option?
- Who Owns Your Boat? – How do you find out if there’s still finance attached to your boat when you buy it.
- Boat Shares – A low cost alternative to outright narrowboat ownership. Advice from a current share owner
- Plumbing In A Back Boiler – Advice Offered
- Inverter Installation – What do you need and can you fit one yourself?
- Getting Rid Of Space Wasting CD’s & DVD’s – The solution is to digitise your collection. Here’s how to do it.
- Depreciation – How much does a new narrowboat lose in value as the years go by?
- The Cost Of Continuous Cruising – How much does the nomadic lifestyle really cost?
- 12v Narrowboat Washing Machines – Is there any such animal?
- “Chiggers” – It’s a mite you can pick up from the ever growing population of Canada Geese. Beware!
- Post & Postal Addresses For Continuous Cruisers – You need an address in order to receive post and open bank accounts, register for doctors and hospitals etc. How do continuous cruisers with no fixed abode manage it.
- Keeping Cool On A Narrowboat – How to keep people and pets cool in the summer
- It’s Official: There’s No Need To Pay Mooring Fees – Or so this Daily Mail article claims. You may disagree. I do.
- Overcrowded Waterways – More and more people are choosing a life afloat. Are the waterways becoming congested?
- VAT On New Narrowboats – Can you knock 20% off the cost of your new narrowboat?
- Lock Techniques – How do you handle a narrowboat in a lock on your own?
- Narrowboat Burglary – Two boats burgled at the same location. Where is it and what can you do to minimise the risk of theft from your own boat wherever you are?
- Insuring Your Car When You Live On A Boat – A boat owner had his car insurance cancelled when he told them he lives on a narrowboat. How does he approach other insurance companies?
- Remedies For Sooty Stove Glass – For me, one of the great pleasures of living on a narrowboat is a winter evening in front of a flickering fire. Here’s how you can keep your stove glass clear so you can see the fire in all its glory
- Visitor Moorings With Shore Power – Sometimes you need to hook up to the mains when you moor for the night. Where can you find these moorings?
- Steam Power – Are there any steam powered narrowboats on the network?
- Lightning – Is there a risk of your narrowboat being struck by lightning?
- Overplating/Replating – What’s the difference between the two and what’s involved in having the work done?
- The Logistics Of Buying A Boat – A fascinating account from a potential narrowboat owner as he tried to get a boat out of the water so that it can be suryeyed.
- Winter Stoppages 2013/2014 – The Trust carry out essential scheduled repairs during the quieter, cooler months. Here’s their planned stoppages for the coming winter.
- A New Narrowboat Dog – Alan recently moved on board his own floating home. He loved his new boat but something was missing. Now he has a new best friend and he’s in love, although his new best friend has proven a bit of a challenge.
- Electric Boats – What do they cost to run? Why would you want one? There’s a huge amount of information for you here if you’ve ever considered an alternative to a diesel narrowboat engine.
- Pram Covers – “Pram cover” is the term for a cover over the rear deck, usually on a cruiser stern narrowboat. Here are the pros and cons.
- The difference between cruising on canalas and rivers – This is a very popular thread for very good reason. It’s packed with advice if you’re new to river cruising.
- Checklists – What do you need to check before you set off on a cruise? There’s some very detailed information including a very useful post by fellow Calcutt moorer Graham who has issues with his mobility after an RTA many years ago.
- Television Aerials – If you can’t live without your Corrie, you’ll need a decent aerial for your boat.
- My New Life – I urge you to read this forum thread. If you dream of living on your own narrowboat one day, reading this post, written by a new liveaboard boater, may well prove the catalyst you need. It’s essential reading for any aspiring narrowboat owner.
- Narrowboat Ownership – How do you prove that the person offering a narrowboat for sale is the real owner?
- Tips For Continuous Cruisers – He’s making a bit of a habit of it; Pearley’s back with some great cruising tips
- The Llangollen Canal – One of the country’s most beautiful canals discussed
- Deliveries to your boat – Excellent information from regular forum contributor Pearley
- Mobile Broadband – All you need to know about internet connectivity on board
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that fellow boaters can steal your internet data allowance?
- Boat Planning & Design – Is there any free software available to hel you plan your dream boat?
- A Narrowboat Checklist – What checks do you need to carry out before you set out on a cruise?
- Tunnels – How do you navigate them? Who has priority?
- Windows Or Portholes – Round or square, which is best? Is it just a matter of personal preference?
- Day To Day Questions About Narrowboat Life – How can “newbies” find out the answers to questions about day to day life on a narrowboat? The answer is simple. Find out by reading this post.
- Beds – The pros and cons of fixed doubles and cross beds. You need to read this if you are taller or slightly wider than average.
- Flushing Out a Toilet Waste Tank – Emptying your pumpout toilet holding tank isn’t just a case of sucking out your unmentionables. You also need to flush water through the tank to remove the built up solids. Here’s how to do it.
- Narrowboat Knots – Do you know your bowline from your buntline hitch, your cleat hitch from your clove hitch or your poacher’s knot from your square knot? No? It’s about time you did!
- Free Narrowboat Heating – Is there any such thing? Read this post to find out
- Narrowboat Furniture – Not everyone wants fitted furniture on their boat. Here are a few ideas if you want to add your own.
- Weight on a narrowboat – How many people can you carry on a narrowboat, and how much luggage can they bring with them?
- Narrowboat Finance – A Canadian hoping to move to the UK, buy a boat and cruise the network.
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that you can have your boat’s broadband allowance stolen? Here’s what you can do to prevent the theft.
- Problems Powering An Inverter With A Generator – Why didn’t it work and what’s the solution?
- Diesel Costs – You need it to run your boat and maybe your heating system. How much can you expect to pay for it?
- Stove Top Fans – Are they worth the money?
- Mooring Pins and Piling Hooks – What are they and when do you use them?
- Water Pump Problems – What to do if your water pump appear to have a life of its own
- Fuel Contamination – How do you know if you’ve water in your diesel… and what do you do about it when you have?
- Anchors – What’s the best size and weight anchor for narrowboats on tidal rivers
- Single Handed Boating for Ladies – Can a lady on her own pass safely through locks?
- Different Types of Mooring – What’s the difference between residential and leisure moorings? How long can you stay on your boat with each type?
- Which Ropes To Use? – There are so many different types available. Are the more expensive ones worth using or is it just a case of money for old rope?
- Windows – Why do narrowboat owners tolerate condensation? Why don’t they have modern uPVC windows fitted?
- Best Ex Hire Boats – Are you considering buying an ex hire boat to live on? Should you? Here’s some important information for you.
- Liveaboard Conclusions – Mel Davies has been doing plenty of research into her hoped for lifestyle afloat. Here are the conclusions she’s reached and comments from a few existing liveaboard narrowboat owners.
- Handling Floodwaters – How safe is a river mooring during and after heavy rain? Can you stay on a river when the level rises? What can you do to minimise danger?
- Narrowboat steel thickness – How thick is your boat’s steel? How long does it last?
- Retro fitting a solid fuel stove – Where’s the best place to put your stove and what’s involved in fitting it?
- Converting from a cassette toilet to a pump out – A pump out toilet is far more convenient to use than a toilet with a portable cassette but how easy are they to retro fit in a narrowboat?
- Gas free boating – If you don’t fancy heaving unwieldy gas bottles into a difficult to reach bow locker, a gas free boat might be the solution
- Winter on the cut – Are you able to cruise all year on your boat or should you find a mooring for the winter?
- Transporting your boat – Sometimes you may want or need to take your narrowboat by road rather than cruise along the canal. Here’s an idea of the cost
- Bike types and preferences – If you don’t have a car parked near your boat, you’ll probably want a bike, but which type of bike is best?
- Towing a butty – I’ve upset someone. I didn’t mean to. Wainbody wanted to know the best way of towing an unpowered second narrowboat (butty). I came across as patronising when I replied. It was unintentional but to make amends I thought I would ask anyone with boat handling experience to reply to his thread with some constructive advice. If you can help him, please reply to the post.
- The best flooring for a narrowboat pets – What’s the best way to protect your floor from a dirty doggy?
- The best time of the year to buy a boat – Is there a deal to be done by buying a boat in the winter?
- The best length for a liveaboard narrowboat – What’s the best length to buy? What are the pros and cons of different length boats
- ONE tip to offer a potential narrowboat owner – If you are already a narrowboat owner, you can share your experience. If you haven’t bought one yet, you need to read this thread.
- Powering your computer on a narrowboat – Can you power your computer/laptop from the boat’s 12v supply or do you need mains power?
- Must-have gadgets and necessities – The most useful/useless gadgets for life on a narrowboat
- Choosing a stove for your boat – Are domestic solid fuel stoves as good as the ones designed specifically for boats? Which is the best one to buy?
- Diesel heating for boats – How important is a solid fuel stove on a liveaboard narrowboat? Is a diesel heating system OK as a primary heat source?
- Computers on boats – Can a computer be powered from your boat’s 12v system or does it need to be plugged into the mains
- Receiving post on your boat – How does the postman find you when you’re cruising? How do you apply for a driving license, a TV license or a bank statement when you have no official address?
- Bikes on board – Many boat owners do not have cars so they rely on bikes to get them to the shops (or the pub). Some use bikes to collect their cars after a day’s cruising. There’s a huge selection of bikes to choose from. Which are the best for your boat? To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer. Can you point forum member Ainslo in the right direction?
- VAT on narrowboat sales – Does the price of your narrowboat contain a VAT element? Can the VAT be reclaimed?
- Internet access – How do you connect to the internet when you live on a boat?
- Living off property rental income – Do you have a property that you indend to let while you cruise the waterways? Read this before you work out your budget.
- How to find a narrowboat to live on – Here’s an article about choosing a liveaboard narrowboat, and a question about finding a narrowboat with a steering wheel.
- Vertigo – How to deal with walking over lock gates if you’re frightened of heights.
- Long term narrowboat hire – If you aren’t ready to buy a narrowboat yet, what are your chances of hiring a narrowboat for more than a few weeks?
- Residential moorings and single handed boating – How do you handle a narrowboat on your own? What do you do about a mooring if you live on board and only want a mooring for part of the year
- Too tall for a narrowboat? – Is a narrowboat suitable for you if you are above average height?
- Dealing with condensation – Do all narrowboats suffer from damp? What can you do about it?
- Solar panels – More information about portable and fixed solar panels
- Heating systems – Hurricane and Mikuni heating systems discussed
Useful Links
Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.
In praise of Pram Hoods and Cruiser Sterns
I have been aflost now for about 14 months and I love the cruiser stern with it’s pram hood and thought it time to put a post on my blog in praise of said Pram Hood. I’ve been very lax of late, thanks for any concern but no it’s not a bowel problem it’s just finding the time. I take my hat off to Paul, especially, and some of you other bloggers who post more regularly, but the time it comsumes is alarming so Paul very well done to keep the newsletter going every week and the quality of the writing and content.
My pram hood is wonderful. In the winter I have somewhere to get into while I sort my keys, somewhere to put wet and soggy things while I get sorted. My phone signal is appalling inside the boat so it’s somewhere to stand with only one coat and pair of gloves needed to make a december phone call and of course it’s somewhere to put things you might need that you don’t want in side and to store your coal.
In the summer it makes for a lovely conservatory where you can sit with a nice glass of Talisker single malt and listen to the 
rain or provide a little respite from the hot burning sun. It makes a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by when moored up after a long days cruising. I’m not sure that actually makes sense when you think about it so I won’t think about it. I think?
I would however have to AGREE with Paul about being careful when cruising. I’m fortunate that the design of the pramhood is such that the side doors are full length and don’t leave a bit at the bottom to climb over. It also only takes 5 minutes to drop it down and at most 10 minutes to put it back up again and I never travel with it up even if it rains. I don’t think it would go under the bridges here anyway but visibiliy and overall feel of whats happening around you is greatly impaired with it up and getting at the centre ropes easily is a must, as Paul and others have said, 
especially when single handed. There are 2 large side pieces which when removed leave just the top and the frame. This is good in summer as it keeps some of the rain off but allows air to flow and acts as a sunblind should we have a few hot days too. The top unclips from the windscreen, I have a wooden windscreen which is quite rare I think as I haven’t seen another one so far, and then it and the tubular frame just drop nicely down to the taff rail where it is held in place by 2 arms which hold it off the tiller so it moves freely.
Before I got my own boat and was trying to understand what I might want a friend of mine took me out on his trad stern to wind round and take it to be blacked and the only way to travel with him and talk was to stand on the gunnells up the side of the boat. This gave me the only hard 
opinion I made of what I wanted. No trad stern, so unsociable and a lot have the door at the side so you have to duck down, bend and twist to get in and out. I’m getting older and not so bendy now days.
I’m quite happy with my own company but when having friends on board there is lots of room for 2 people and not bad with 4 people. Brian who I bought the boat off did a bit of customising on the stern and put a seat across the taff rails so you can sit in comfort to steer and he also made a short tiller which is great, especially when sat down as it doesn’t throw you over the side when manouvering. It also means there’s more room for other people. There is plenty of places to put and store anything you might want while travelling solo. I would recommend that you think about what you might need while travelling and especially what you might need in a hurry, mooring pins and armco fastenings and hammer to hand is useful.
The cruiser stern also gives another little benefit, or it does on mine though I’m not sure about all cruiser sterns, I have what I 
like to call my cellar. The engine sits very nicely in the middle with plenty of room all round. I have a small generator on one side with the anchor next to it. There is just my ash bucket really on the other side of the engine. Then there is the shelf made by the swim which has a bag of coal, a bag of sticks, a folding trolley, various paint tins, some weights to ballance the boat, a bucket to mop up with, some spare bits of pipe, a couple of lengths of chain and a few other bits. The battery bank sits on the other swim shelf. It really is amazing how much storage space is down there with out any of it going anywhere near the engine or exhaust.
My boat is only 50ft long and it has no well deck or cratch area as there is a dinette built right into the bow. The only thing at the front is the gas locker. The cruiser stern is about 6ft long and I love it. It makes accessing the engine and engine compartment very easy indeed. The social aspect is for me a big part too but I enjoy it even when on my own. The pram hood makes it a useable space in the winter, no matter what the weather, to store many things including the coal and a few logs amongst the other jumble.
Oh and a cautionary tale regarding trad sterns. My friend who I mentioned bought his boat new and had it done how HE wanted. Trad stern with a nice little cratch space in the bow but he liked to be on the move 5 or 6 hours a day when they went out, it was a leisure boat rather than a liveaboard, but his good lady got a bit fed up of being inside and on her own and reading while they were cruising and then became a bit disinterested in the boating and was “encouraging” him to more work on the house and garden etc. Reading somewhat between the lines and in these cases you’ll never know the full story but it seems to me he may have shot himself in the foot with his trad stern has he has just about sold his boat now and isn’t looking for another one yet as far as I know.
So make sure you’re both happy with whatever layout of boat you choose bacause as with so many of the options regarding boat structure and fit out there are just about as many opinions as there are options so it’s about finding what’s right for you. I side with the cruiser or semi trad stern myself and here’s a nice little quote by some clever sod to finish with.
Every thing you hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything you see is a perspective not a truth.
Stay safe and enjoy the sun and the boating too.
Nige
2014 06 22 Newsletter – Naming Your Boat
Are you thinking of mooring your boat on one of Calcutt Boats’ two Warwickshire marinas?
Don’t!
OK, the marinas are located at the heart of the inland waterways network just a stone’s throw away from the canal capital at Braunston. From here you can head north west along the Grand Union towards Leamington Spa, Warwick and Birmingham, south for half a mile to Napton Junction where you can join the South Oxford and meander through beautiful rural countryside to Oxford where the canal meets the mighty Thames.
If that route doesn’t suit you, you can turn left at the junction, follow the combined Grand Union and Oxford canal to Braunston for two hours before either turning left along the North Oxford towards Rugby and Coventry and then on to the stunning and little visited lock free Ashby canal.
Not for you? You can turn right at Braunston junction then, past the village rich in canal history, feel your way through a mile long tunnel and then make another choice at Norton Junction. You can turn left, endure close proximity to a busy A road, a motorway and a railway as you negotiate the staircase locks at Watford then enjoy over twenty miles of idyllic lock free cruising along one of the network’s most peaceful waterways. Or you can turn right at Norton and follow the Grand Union south towards London. There are a huge variety of routes available to you.
Granted, the marinas themselves are stunning. Set in 110 acres including three SSSI wild flower meadows, over 8,000 trees in two different woodland areas, miles of regularly maintained footpaths through the site and around the adjacent 40 acre Napron reservoir, the moorings on the two tranquil marinas are perfect for nature lovers, dog owners and anyone just wanting to escape the speed and stress of modern day life.
I suppose the on site facilities might attract one or two boat owners too. There’s a fully equipped workshop staffed by three full time engineers who can accommodate anything from a simple service to a full engine rebuild, another workshop for carpentry and general repairs and boat fitting, three paint tents where you can either book a complete boat repaint, or hire the tent to do the work yourself, a slipway and boat lift for pulling your boat out of the water, doing a survey or work on the hull, anode replacement and hull blacking, and a comprehensively stocked chandlery stocking everything from shackles to shore lines, pumps to paint and tiller pins to toilets.
The marinas may well offer stunning scenery, a wide range of services and be ideally located at the heart of the canal network BUT the showers in the site’s toilet block are rubbish!
I nearly caused myself serious injury at the beginning of last week. We knew that our water heater was on its way out, but it was working in a reasonable fashion if the hot tap was opened fully and continuously. I don’t mind a hot shower and as our water heater has never produced water too hot to stand under even with the cold mixer tap turned off, I thought I would give it a go.
I was lucky to escape without serious burns.
I stayed outside the shower while I turned the water on, tested the temperature with a finger gingerly poked into the shower head jet, discovered that it was running at about the same temperature as normal, then stepped into the shower tray under the jet. The water was OK for a minute until the Vailant heater began to rattle and hiss. As a precautionary measure I quickly took the shower head out of its clip and turned it away from me. I’m very pleased I did. Seconds later the shower cubicle was instantly filled with scalding steam. Some of the super heated water splashed back onto my chest and burning it slightly, but if I had remained standing under the jet I would have been seriously scalded.
I turned the gas off to the shower and made sure that Sally was aware of the danger. For the rest of the week we had no hot water on the boat so we had to use the site facilities to wash our dirty little bodies.
I’ve been living at the marina for four and a half years now but Tuesday’s shower in the gents toilet suite was my first. The advantage over the boat’s shower was that, as it was connected to the mains, I had an unlimited supply of water and the ability to enjoy a long and relaxing wash. So I turned the shower on full and stood under it for twenty minutes… and probably used about a pint and a half of water. I think if I had covered myself in dog food and let Charlie and Daisy lick it off I would have had a more thorough clean.
I couldn’t be bothered dragging myself a quarter of a mile to the shower block on Wednesday to be dribbled on so I went without. On Thursday morning I took James across the marina to the enclosed double dock behind Locks marina to have the problem sorted out.
The Vailant gas water heater had to go. I don’t know how many years it’s been fitted in the boat. It’s possibly the original 1977 water heater. It’s certainly too old to find any spares for. Rather than remove the Vailant completely, which would have involved taking the shower cubicle apart to get to it, the heater was disconnected from the boat’s water supply and left in place.
Rather than have a new gas water heater fitted, I’ve come at the problem from a slightly different angle. I’ve never had hot water supplied by the engine. I discovered that the reason for this was that the calorifier under the bed wasn’t actually connected to the engine. It is now.
Actually that’s not quite right. The engine has been connected to a new SureCal fifty five litre calorifier fitted with a 1KW immersion heater. The old forty litre calorifier needed removing first which was an interesting exercise. Of course the calorifier was too large to come out through the access hatch in the bed base so the base itself had to be removed.
The mattress of course had already been removed and manouvered into the passage through the galley. The bed base, constructed from a sheet of 12mm ply held in place with what seemed like hundreds of screws hidden under a coating of thirty year old varnish eventually followed it.
The calorifier was still filled with water and couldn’t be drained where it was so the 100lb deadweight had to be carefully lifted from under the bed, over the bed drawers and into the bathroom where the water was drained into the shower.
The SureCal calorifier was fitted into the empty space, connected to the engine and to the boat’s water supply and connected to the shore line socket. The bed was put back together again, the mattress brought back into the bedroom, the wardrobe, emptied to allow access to the pipes behind the Vailant, was filled with clothes again and the job was done.
I now have hot water from two different sources. I get piping hot water when the engine is running and also via the immersion heater when I’m plugged in to a shore supply. In theory the immersion heater could be run from the battery bank using the inverter but it would be too much of a drain on the batteries. If I’m out cruising I’ll either have to run the engine for an hour to heat the fifty five litre calorifer tank or keep a suitcase generator on board to provide power to the immersion heater.
The new hot water system on board is wonderful. The shower temperature was impossible to manage with the Vailant. I either had water almost too hot to use or too cold to be pleasant as the burner would cut out if cold water was introduced. Now the mixer taps work perfectly. I had my first shower from the calorifier hot water supply last night. It was marvelous. I could have stood there for hours. I was a very happy bunny!
My first week back at work after a fortnight away has been very busy. Of course, unlike the days when I was running my own business, or the decade before that when I was managing pubs for a national brewery, there was no stress coming back to work. In my previous life the last few days of a two week holiday were ruined by the constant worry of anticipated work related problems. Would the outstanding bills have been paid? Would the staff have done all they they should have done? Would enough new business have come in to allow the outstanding bills to be paid and, in the case of the often violent pubs I ran, who would have been injured and how badly while I was away?
The only problem I came back to was grass a little longer than I went away. A lot longer actually. Pat hadn’t been able to keep up with the phenomenal growth caused by the mixed rain and sunny spells while I was away. It’s not a bad life though when the worst problem you can expect to return to is grass four rather than two inches long.
There have been other projects to fit in as well though. While I was away marina manager Martyn and his wife Sue left. They had been living in the cottage next to our offices and chandlery. With the property now empty it’s time to do some long overdue maintenance.
The overgrown walled garden had to be cleared as an interim measure before we landscape it in the autumn. The hawthorn hedge and the adjacent damson tree next to the cottage in front of reception needed a little TLC courtesy of a two man cage bolted to the front of our Merlo tele handler and either Pat or I suspended above the twenty feet high hedge armed with an underpowered blunt electric hedge trimmer and our far more useful pruning saws and long handled loppers.
While we had the Merlo out with the cage attached we cleared the cottage gutters, rodded a blocked drainpipe, unblocked the drain beneath the gutter, removed a very comfortable nesting toad from the leaf mulch and generally tidied the place up.
Another part of the project was earmarking several trees in the cottage’s orchard for removal. One is an old Christmas tree planted in the cottage garden in the mid seventies after enduring a two week stint in the house wrapped in tinsel. It’s now forty feet high and totally dominates the small orchard. I’ll take it down at the end of the year along with a too large pear tree and several self seeded ash saplings which are growing out of the lock wall in the garden.
Oh, I nearly forgot. My stainless steel chimney arrived on Tuesday. Isn’t it a thing of beauty?
Obviously it will work better if I actually fit it on the roof over my chimney collar but it’s one of those rare weeks of the English summer when thermals and a roaring coal fire aren’t my first priority.
The piece in the centre is the one which is fitted over the collar. The piece on the left is a coolie hat specifically designed for this chimney. See the bayonet fittings on it to keep it in place in a high wind? Clever design, isn’t it? The separate coolie hat is to fit over the centre piece to use as a short chimney when cruising. When the boat is moored safely away from the dangers of low tunnels, bridges and overhanging trees, the coolie hat is replaced by the section on the right which, because of the increased length, allows the fire to draw better.
All I need now is to wait for some cooler weather to test it out. Next week? The week after? Surely not as far away as the autumn?
Displaying Your Boat Name
It’s not often I’m right and I’m wrong again. It’s something my father used to say to me jokingly but far too often when I lived at home, but he was usually right.
Last week in the newsletter I told you about my return journey back to the marina from Market Harborough. I mentioned that when Sally booked in to come back up the Foxton flight. When she told him that the boat name wasn’t displayed anywhere on the boat, he told her off. I told him that the boat’s license number was displayed and that that was all we were required to do.
I was wrong.
I don’t know why I was under the impression that the boat name didn’t need to be visible. I think it was something I was told when I first came to the marina. I took the statement as fact and didn’t look for confirmation anywhere else, including on the licensing terms and conditions.
You can call your boat anything you like within reason as long as it isn’t offensive. We used to have a boat moored on the canal close to Caluctt with a name verging on the unacceptable but it was quite cleverly done so you needed to work quite hard to take offense. The registered boat name was “The Dogs” then, as often is the case, the “home port” was written underneath. In this case the home port was “Bow Locks”. See what I mean?
Anyway, you can call your boat anything you like and you can change your boat name as often as you like, but you must inform CART in writing of a name change and you must display the boat name clearly on each side of your boat. Here’s an extract from the licensing terms and conditions…
Page 4
7. Your other obligations
7.1. You must display the Boat’s name, index number and the Licence on both sides of the Boat so that they are always easily visible by our employees on the towpath or on the Waterway. If you do not, we may place a sticker on the Boat or on any cover on the Boat showing the number, which must not be removed unless the number is displayed in some other way.
Page 14:
Change of details
The licence is specific to the boat and to you so it is important that you notify us if anything changes. We can take change of home address information by telephone, but if you change the name of the boat, if your home mooring changes, or if you sell or give the boat to someone else you must let us know in writing. You should include details of any changed names, addresses or telephone numbers.
We will record any change to the name of the boat, so that the next licence issued carries the new name. We will not issue new licence discs before the current licence expires unless you specifically request this (a £20 charge applies for the replacement).
You can call your boat what you want. You may want something which is unique, something which is not displayed on any other boat on the waterways network. If that’s the case, stay away from waterway themed names like Kingfisher, Dragonfly, Willow, Osprey, Mallard or Kestrel. You will also want to avoid boat names which reflect a tranquil state of mind such as Serenity, Tranquility, Free Spirit, Harmony, Patience, Nirvana or Bliss. How about the clever “Festina Lente”. It’s the Latin translation of a Classic Greek phrase meaning “make haste slowly”. It’s far from unique though. Festina Lente just sneaks in to the most popular boat names top one hundred at number ninety eight with thirty three boat registrations.
The most popular name on the database with nearly twice as many registrations as Dragonfly’s 138 registrations is Kingfisher, proudly displayed on 228 boats throughout the network. My favourite unique boat name is Cirrhosis Of The River. At least I thought it was unique. I’ve just checked and there are about ten boats with the exact or very similar names.
Another name I like, and this one is unique, is Baggers & Bling. The boat pulled on to our wharf for fuel a couple of years ago. I asked the make owner about the name’s origin. He told me that he ran a successful business selling plastic bags to industry. In fact the business was so successful that he purchased his narrowboat from the profits and also kept his wife in flashy jewelry, hence the “bling” part of the name.
How do I know which are the most popular boat names and how many there are of them? Due to the freedom of information act and the hard work done by the owners of two of the more popular narrowboat sites, there’s a free to access listing of over 100,00 boats pulled from data belonging to CART, the Broads Authority and the Environment Agency. You won’t find any personal details but the boat’s name, registration number, length and sometimes year of build and builder.
You can search for boats here or view the top 200 most popular names here.
Tips And Tricks
I received this helpful hint from Richard Straton last week…
“I am delighted to say your account of your recent adventure amused me! A great many single boaters, male and female, are the least chatty people . . . until they end up in a lock with you. Talking of which, your boater who assumed that everyone else would do the work to ensure his passage through locks at Watford, is certainly not the only one about. Some people are appreciative of those who offer assistance, others … well I am also retired and quite happy to sit aboard the boat, drink coffee and watch the world come to a grinding halt!
SPEED – I often wonder about this aspect. What is the actual problem? Using a pin to secure the boat to a bank seems to be the only real problem. One thing that I have found to be the most useful is the use of tyres as fenders! I have a tyre with holes drilled through to allow water to drain away quickly when lifted … hung by rope from the roof of the boat … the rope is attached to a ring … a rope passes through the ring and is tied across the roof from one side to the other … this permits the tyre to be used on either side of the boat. Why not just unclip from one side and re-clip on the other?
Experience has shown that (a) one might either forget to secure the clip and let go of the tyre and it disappears under the water! – or (b) the clip just somehow fails to work and the tyre falls off. Having the ring enables the tyre to be moved easily and safely. Anyway, the TYRE is used as it soaks up a lot of the movement caused by passing boats, it is far better than the thin tubing or thin rope fenders when moored up and there are projections from the bank such as bolts, kinks, bits of wood, etc. It does no damage to the boat. It might not look super-duper or be traditional! How many “traditional” boats have horses pulling them?”
Low Cost Narrowboat Ownership
I wrote about narrowboat shared ownership in this post. It’s a great way of dipping your toes in the water of narrowboat ownership. Forum contributor Paul Biggs has added a very useful post to the forum detailing the cost of his own boat share. You can read it here.
I Need Some Help!
Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.
Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.
Newsletter Index
I created the site just over four years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.
Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.
Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges
Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.
Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.
How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.
What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment
A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.
A further update to the site content index.
The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.
How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?
Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.
Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?
Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.
Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.
Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou
Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.
I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.
Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.
Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.
Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.
Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?
If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)
Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.
The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?
Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.
Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.
Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?
Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.
Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel
Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.
Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content
Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.
Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?
Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.
Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.
Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013
Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.
The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.
Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.
20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.
A new organisation for liveaboard boaters
On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.
Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.
Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.
Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.
The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free
Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.
A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees
Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site
Managing your water supply
An American blogs about his travels
Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube
All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller
8th September
A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!
Effective fly killers for boats
The downside to living on a narrowboat
Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.
CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!
Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers
Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous
Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?
A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles
Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring
The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?
The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.
Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.
Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.
Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.
Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.
Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.
23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?
Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.
Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.
The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt
Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours
Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.
I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.
An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list
Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.
Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story
My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.
Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.
Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.
An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network
An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings
Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold
Meet one of your legless canal side companions
The canal network’s largest floating hotel
Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.
The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?
Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop
RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?
The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.
Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article
Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.
Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.
Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.
Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.
Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.
Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.
Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start
Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution
Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013
Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.
James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring
Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test
Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.
Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.
Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013
The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.
Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.
Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat
Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis
I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.
Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis
Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer
Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat
Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer
Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat
First tests and reviews of the budgeting application
The best aerial for a narrowboat television
The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application
An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways
Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else
I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date
Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs
Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home
The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners
I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.
VAT on narrowboat sales
Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans
Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson
Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels
Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)
How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.
Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke
DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and
Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly
DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports
Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips
Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all
Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats
As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.
The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments
Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.
Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat
eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)
Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat
A review of Debdale Wharf marina
Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.
The first four narrowboat case studies published
I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study
Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study
Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study
Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.
Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter
1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter
Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners
Comprehensive Site Article Listing
There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.
Popular Forum Posts
There’s a wealth of information on the site in general, but if you’re struggling to find the answer to a particular issue, the forum is the place to find it. I’ve listed some of the more popular posts below but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask your question on the forum. If you don’t know how to create a post, or if you can’t log in, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to get you up and running.
- Aluminium Boats – They don’t rust so why don’t you see more of them on the inland waterways?
- Ironing Board On Board – How do boaters manage a crease free life?
- Freezing Water – How to stop your pipes and pumps from freezing in the winter
- CRT & Continuous Cruising – The Trust and their enforcement of the rules
- Heat – Advice for the owner of a cold boat
- GPS Devices and Canal Mapping – Are there any decent ones available for your narrowboat and do you need them anyway?
- Battery Monitors – Replacing your leisure batteries is one of your more expensive maintenance costs. Here’s some detailed information about a device for looking after your batteries
- Survey Costs – How much should you pay to have your boat removed from the water for a survey?
- Battery monitors – Gimmick or essential boating equipment?
- Engine size and performance – Most engines are suitable for pottering about on the canal but what size engine do you need if you plan to cruise on rivers?
- A Big Inverter Or A Suitcase Generator – What are the pros and cons of either option?
- Who Owns Your Boat? – How do you find out if there’s still finance attached to your boat when you buy it.
- Boat Shares – A low cost alternative to outright narrowboat ownership. Advice from a current share owner
- Plumbing In A Back Boiler – Advice Offered
- Inverter Installation – What do you need and can you fit one yourself?
- Getting Rid Of Space Wasting CD’s & DVD’s – The solution is to digitise your collection. Here’s how to do it.
- Depreciation – How much does a new narrowboat lose in value as the years go by?
- The Cost Of Continuous Cruising – How much does the nomadic lifestyle really cost?
- 12v Narrowboat Washing Machines – Is there any such animal?
- “Chiggers” – It’s a mite you can pick up from the ever growing population of Canada Geese. Beware!
- Post & Postal Addresses For Continuous Cruisers – You need an address in order to receive post and open bank accounts, register for doctors and hospitals etc. How do continuous cruisers with no fixed abode manage it.
- Keeping Cool On A Narrowboat – How to keep people and pets cool in the summer
- It’s Official: There’s No Need To Pay Mooring Fees – Or so this Daily Mail article claims. You may disagree. I do.
- Overcrowded Waterways – More and more people are choosing a life afloat. Are the waterways becoming congested?
- VAT On New Narrowboats – Can you knock 20% off the cost of your new narrowboat?
- Lock Techniques – How do you handle a narrowboat in a lock on your own?
- Narrowboat Burglary – Two boats burgled at the same location. Where is it and what can you do to minimise the risk of theft from your own boat wherever you are?
- Insuring Your Car When You Live On A Boat – A boat owner had his car insurance cancelled when he told them he lives on a narrowboat. How does he approach other insurance companies?
- Remedies For Sooty Stove Glass – For me, one of the great pleasures of living on a narrowboat is a winter evening in front of a flickering fire. Here’s how you can keep your stove glass clear so you can see the fire in all its glory
- Visitor Moorings With Shore Power – Sometimes you need to hook up to the mains when you moor for the night. Where can you find these moorings?
- Steam Power – Are there any steam powered narrowboats on the network?
- Lightning – Is there a risk of your narrowboat being struck by lightning?
- Overplating/Replating – What’s the difference between the two and what’s involved in having the work done?
- The Logistics Of Buying A Boat – A fascinating account from a potential narrowboat owner as he tried to get a boat out of the water so that it can be suryeyed.
- Winter Stoppages 2013/2014 – The Trust carry out essential scheduled repairs during the quieter, cooler months. Here’s their planned stoppages for the coming winter.
- A New Narrowboat Dog – Alan recently moved on board his own floating home. He loved his new boat but something was missing. Now he has a new best friend and he’s in love, although his new best friend has proven a bit of a challenge.
- Electric Boats – What do they cost to run? Why would you want one? There’s a huge amount of information for you here if you’ve ever considered an alternative to a diesel narrowboat engine.
- Pram Covers – “Pram cover” is the term for a cover over the rear deck, usually on a cruiser stern narrowboat. Here are the pros and cons.
- The difference between cruising on canalas and rivers – This is a very popular thread for very good reason. It’s packed with advice if you’re new to river cruising.
- Checklists – What do you need to check before you set off on a cruise? There’s some very detailed information including a very useful post by fellow Calcutt moorer Graham who has issues with his mobility after an RTA many years ago.
- Television Aerials – If you can’t live without your Corrie, you’ll need a decent aerial for your boat.
- My New Life – I urge you to read this forum thread. If you dream of living on your own narrowboat one day, reading this post, written by a new liveaboard boater, may well prove the catalyst you need. It’s essential reading for any aspiring narrowboat owner.
- Narrowboat Ownership – How do you prove that the person offering a narrowboat for sale is the real owner?
- Tips For Continuous Cruisers – He’s making a bit of a habit of it; Pearley’s back with some great cruising tips
- The Llangollen Canal – One of the country’s most beautiful canals discussed
- Deliveries to your boat – Excellent information from regular forum contributor Pearley
- Mobile Broadband – All you need to know about internet connectivity on board
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that fellow boaters can steal your internet data allowance?
- Boat Planning & Design – Is there any free software available to hel you plan your dream boat?
- A Narrowboat Checklist – What checks do you need to carry out before you set out on a cruise?
- Tunnels – How do you navigate them? Who has priority?
- Windows Or Portholes – Round or square, which is best? Is it just a matter of personal preference?
- Day To Day Questions About Narrowboat Life – How can “newbies” find out the answers to questions about day to day life on a narrowboat? The answer is simple. Find out by reading this post.
- Beds – The pros and cons of fixed doubles and cross beds. You need to read this if you are taller or slightly wider than average.
- Flushing Out a Toilet Waste Tank – Emptying your pumpout toilet holding tank isn’t just a case of sucking out your unmentionables. You also need to flush water through the tank to remove the built up solids. Here’s how to do it.
- Narrowboat Knots – Do you know your bowline from your buntline hitch, your cleat hitch from your clove hitch or your poacher’s knot from your square knot? No? It’s about time you did!
- Free Narrowboat Heating – Is there any such thing? Read this post to find out
- Narrowboat Furniture – Not everyone wants fitted furniture on their boat. Here are a few ideas if you want to add your own.
- Weight on a narrowboat – How many people can you carry on a narrowboat, and how much luggage can they bring with them?
- Narrowboat Finance – A Canadian hoping to move to the UK, buy a boat and cruise the network.
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that you can have your boat’s broadband allowance stolen? Here’s what you can do to prevent the theft.
- Problems Powering An Inverter With A Generator – Why didn’t it work and what’s the solution?
- Diesel Costs – You need it to run your boat and maybe your heating system. How much can you expect to pay for it?
- Stove Top Fans – Are they worth the money?
- Mooring Pins and Piling Hooks – What are they and when do you use them?
- Water Pump Problems – What to do if your water pump appear to have a life of its own
- Fuel Contamination – How do you know if you’ve water in your diesel… and what do you do about it when you have?
- Anchors – What’s the best size and weight anchor for narrowboats on tidal rivers
- Single Handed Boating for Ladies – Can a lady on her own pass safely through locks?
- Different Types of Mooring – What’s the difference between residential and leisure moorings? How long can you stay on your boat with each type?
- Which Ropes To Use? – There are so many different types available. Are the more expensive ones worth using or is it just a case of money for old rope?
- Windows – Why do narrowboat owners tolerate condensation? Why don’t they have modern uPVC windows fitted?
- Best Ex Hire Boats – Are you considering buying an ex hire boat to live on? Should you? Here’s some important information for you.
- Liveaboard Conclusions – Mel Davies has been doing plenty of research into her hoped for lifestyle afloat. Here are the conclusions she’s reached and comments from a few existing liveaboard narrowboat owners.
- Handling Floodwaters – How safe is a river mooring during and after heavy rain? Can you stay on a river when the level rises? What can you do to minimise danger?
- Narrowboat steel thickness – How thick is your boat’s steel? How long does it last?
- Retro fitting a solid fuel stove – Where’s the best place to put your stove and what’s involved in fitting it?
- Converting from a cassette toilet to a pump out – A pump out toilet is far more convenient to use than a toilet with a portable cassette but how easy are they to retro fit in a narrowboat?
- Gas free boating – If you don’t fancy heaving unwieldy gas bottles into a difficult to reach bow locker, a gas free boat might be the solution
- Winter on the cut – Are you able to cruise all year on your boat or should you find a mooring for the winter?
- Transporting your boat – Sometimes you may want or need to take your narrowboat by road rather than cruise along the canal. Here’s an idea of the cost
- Bike types and preferences – If you don’t have a car parked near your boat, you’ll probably want a bike, but which type of bike is best?
- Towing a butty – I’ve upset someone. I didn’t mean to. Wainbody wanted to know the best way of towing an unpowered second narrowboat (butty). I came across as patronising when I replied. It was unintentional but to make amends I thought I would ask anyone with boat handling experience to reply to his thread with some constructive advice. If you can help him, please reply to the post.
- The best flooring for a narrowboat pets – What’s the best way to protect your floor from a dirty doggy?
- The best time of the year to buy a boat – Is there a deal to be done by buying a boat in the winter?
- The best length for a liveaboard narrowboat – What’s the best length to buy? What are the pros and cons of different length boats
- ONE tip to offer a potential narrowboat owner – If you are already a narrowboat owner, you can share your experience. If you haven’t bought one yet, you need to read this thread.
- Powering your computer on a narrowboat – Can you power your computer/laptop from the boat’s 12v supply or do you need mains power?
- Must-have gadgets and necessities – The most useful/useless gadgets for life on a narrowboat
- Choosing a stove for your boat – Are domestic solid fuel stoves as good as the ones designed specifically for boats? Which is the best one to buy?
- Diesel heating for boats – How important is a solid fuel stove on a liveaboard narrowboat? Is a diesel heating system OK as a primary heat source?
- Computers on boats – Can a computer be powered from your boat’s 12v system or does it need to be plugged into the mains
- Receiving post on your boat – How does the postman find you when you’re cruising? How do you apply for a driving license, a TV license or a bank statement when you have no official address?
- Bikes on board – Many boat owners do not have cars so they rely on bikes to get them to the shops (or the pub). Some use bikes to collect their cars after a day’s cruising. There’s a huge selection of bikes to choose from. Which are the best for your boat? To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer. Can you point forum member Ainslo in the right direction?
- VAT on narrowboat sales – Does the price of your narrowboat contain a VAT element? Can the VAT be reclaimed?
- Internet access – How do you connect to the internet when you live on a boat?
- Living off property rental income – Do you have a property that you indend to let while you cruise the waterways? Read this before you work out your budget.
- How to find a narrowboat to live on – Here’s an article about choosing a liveaboard narrowboat, and a question about finding a narrowboat with a steering wheel.
- Vertigo – How to deal with walking over lock gates if you’re frightened of heights.
- Long term narrowboat hire – If you aren’t ready to buy a narrowboat yet, what are your chances of hiring a narrowboat for more than a few weeks?
- Residential moorings and single handed boating – How do you handle a narrowboat on your own? What do you do about a mooring if you live on board and only want a mooring for part of the year
- Too tall for a narrowboat? – Is a narrowboat suitable for you if you are above average height?
- Dealing with condensation – Do all narrowboats suffer from damp? What can you do about it?
- Solar panels – More information about portable and fixed solar panels
- Heating systems – Hurricane and Mikuni heating systems discussed
Useful Links
Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.
Your place or mine?
There are a lot of things on which I hold an opinion! Some I know more about than others. Some I know nowt about but have an opinion anyway! As any woman can tell you its a “man thing!
One thing I do know is when someone is making legal claims that the case law does not support. I am a Litigation Solicitor and I carry out advocacy in the courts too. I have 10 years experience of doing it under my belt. I can smell shaky case a mile off.
In this weeks “Living on a Narrowboat” newsletter Paul addressed the matter of Continuous Cruising and then mentioned CARTS opinion of what the law says about it which is based on “THE CASE” (BW v Davies 2011)…that they pull out like a six shooter in the old west and then wave at us all like Krushev and a Cuban missile. In fact it is equally useless.
CART use it like it was a High Court Decision. But it is not. It is a County Court Decision that is binding ONLY on the cases in hand and (theoretically at least) on those cases dealt with by DJ’s in that court. Even the Judge himself stated that
” It is obvious that a boat owner who follows the Boards guidance will be able to satisfy them that his use of the boat is “bona fide for navigation”. I think it right to say however that my decision is not to be taken as fully endorsing the boards guidance. It is possible to envisage use of a vessel which fell short of the Boards concept of continuous cruising but which still qualifies the vessel for a license ..”
It was also clear that Mr Davies had not impressed the court by not paying mooring fees etc and had generally taken the mick with BW!
However, as a lawyer I still think it was wrongly decided. Also that the interpretation give to the statute was wrong. His Defence lawyer was correct.
The statute is clear that you must move from “Place to place”. Where there is no particular meaning given to a word in a statute (and here there is none) then the ordinary “plain” meaning applies.
Watford is a place, Rickmansworth is a place. Geographically their boundaries touch. In terms of the canal they are three locks and 4 “pounds” apart. They are in fact a 5 minute car ride, a 20 min cycle ride or a 40 minute walk. Now Harefield is two miles beyond Rickmansworth possibly 3 locks etc. Yet from Watford to Harefield is a half days journey by boat unless you speed!
But all are “places” and you pass through other “places”, cross Parish, borough, and county boundaries in between.
So which “place” is a “place” that counts as a “place” for the purposes of the regulations? Depends on which CART bod you speak to.
One cc’er was told they had not moved far enough from their last mooring and was directed to go…another 100 yards below a lock in the same political, county and geographical area as where they stopped!
So, by all means follow the CART guidance just be aware that it IS only guidance and do not let them push you around!
Not that I mean to be argumentative. I am sure there are many good “roving enforcement officers” just as there are honest politicians…you just have to dig DEEP to find them. CART is like any other statutory body it has limits on its powers. Also like other bodies it likes to try and add to them and if not challenged will get away with it.
The old BW was often slack in policing the regs. There are a lot of of BW staff in CART with axes to grind and grudges held. Also CART has a big lot of assets to be sold off. Not always to the highest bidder and it has its own vision for the system. One in which cc’ers are seen, at best, as a bit of a nuisance.
So take your place in the fight for a place and do not let them place you in an invidious place.
2014 06 15 Newsletter – Speeding Boats
I’m sorry, but I haven’t done a very good job of writing my holiday blog. I’ve been too busy setting up the new service.
The more I think about the service, the more I find to do, and the more emails I deal with from those of you interested in coming on a discovery day.
I have to make sure that the boat is as safe as possible for those new to boating in general and narrowboats in particular. A few of those who want to learn more about living afloat have told me that they want to see if the lifestyle is possible for them given their limited mobility. I have to ensure that spending a day on board is as safe and comfortable as possible.
I’m nearly there now. If you’ve already expressed an interest via the feedback form I’ll be emailing you in a day or two with a link to the booking form. If you don’t know what I’m talking about and would liket the opportunity to spend a day on a live aboard narrowboat talking about the lifestyle and narrowboat design, and learning how to operate one, you can find out more about the service here.
Back to the holiday. When I finished my account last Sunday we were moored on the Market Harborough Arm halfway between Foxton and Market Harborough. The intention had been to explore a little more of the Leicester line towards Leicester before tackling Foxton locks again but we needed water. The only reasonably accessible water point marked on my Pearson’s Canal Companion was back at Welford, so we spent a hot but uneventful hour ascending the staircase locks before I realised that there are water points both below and above the flight which aren’t marked on the map. They’re clear enough to see as you’re passing, they’re just not marked on the map.
(Update 17th June 2014 – As has been pointed out to me several times since I published this post, the water points are marked on the Pearson’s guide, just not on the actual map where I expected to see them. They’re on an enlargement of the lock flight and are clear for any idiot to see. Any idiot that is, apart from me. Sorry Mr. Pearson!).
We stopped at the water point at the top of the flight, spent most of my weekly wage on two ice creams, then stopped for the night at the most beautiful spot facing the setting sun and overlooking distant Theddingworth church. In fact, we liked it so much there that we stayed two nights.
On Tuesday we visited Welford again to top up with water, empty the cassette and eat at the Wharf before once more at tranquil Welford junction. It wasn’t quite as tranquil this time thanks to a scruffy live aboard boat moored there with work benches set up on the towpath, a working boat and butty moored breasted up, and two holiday narrowboats.
What I particularly liked about mooring on the junction was the complete absence of roads and road bridges for three miles along the towpath here. It’s great for letting the dogs run free without having to worry about traffic.
Sally had to leave on Wednesday to sort out some family stuff. I stayed another night at the junction before beginning the journey back to Calcutt. I stopped at Yelvertoft for a quick bite to eat and to top up with water then headed towards my afternoon shower.
The northern end of Crick tunnel is very wet. I didn’t bother with a waterproof as I had been cruising for three hours in hot sun but after a comprehensive drenching before fifteen minutes in a chilly tunnel wearing a soaked tee shirt I was pleased to get out into the sun again.
Half an hour later I was at the top of the Watford flight and thankful to see a lock keeper on duty to help me go down. There are two ways of tackling the Watford flight on your own. One involves plenty of climbing in and out of the locks using the ladders. The other is far easier. You just stand on the back of your boat, ignore everything around you, and wait until the lock keeper does all of the work for you. That’s what the single bloke on the boat in front of me did.
He helped the lock keeper set the top lock, climbed onto his boat and stayed there until he reached the bottom lock half an hour later. The lock keeper understandably wasn’t happy. “Perhaps he thinks the lock gates open by magic”, marvelled the veteran volunteer as we wound the paddles on yet another gate for him.
It is quite physically demanding going through the flight on your own, but if you’re a lone boater you have to accept that you need to work that little bit harder. This man was just rude and unappreciative.
It was 5pm and a beautiful evening. I moored just past Welton Haven marina, set up my camp chair and table on the towpath facing the sunset, placed two cans of ice cold Strongbow cider within easy reach and relaxed for two hours in the sun with my Kindle.
I was off again at 8am. An hour later I pulled over just before the entrance to Braunston tunnel to make sure I was ready for the mile and a quarter journey in the dark. Have I mentioned my boat’s headlight before? It’s a very sad affair which fails completely to show me the way in the dark. I have to help it out a bit.
I turn on all the lights inside the boat and make sure that the curtains are open. The light shining out of the windows really helps to illuminate the tunnel walls and helps me stay away from them. I also make sure that I have a powerful torch with me on the back of the boat so that I can see the tunnel roof and walls immediately in front of me. The combination works very well… until I meet a boat equipped with a headlight better equipped for searching the night sky for bombers.
I met one such boat in Braunston tunnel. The headlight was so bright I had to hold my hand in front of my face and peer through my fingers. I still couldn’t see where I was going so I stopped. So did he. He didn’t stop because I was blinding him. He could probably barely see my headlight but he stopped anyway. I didn’t realise he had stopped as he was half a mile away hidden behind a halo of white light.
Eventually I began to inch forward, grinding my way along the right hand wall as his boat grew slowly larger. The passing boat was no more than thirty feet long. He must have used the enormous searchlight on the front deck partly as ballast. The rest of his ballast was probably achieved by a battery bank large enough to power the light. It was ridiculous.
Back out in the sunlight I had the pleasure of accompanying two of the Trust’s landscaping contractors down the Braunston flight. These guys work very hard and they perform an essential service but it isn’t pleasant stepping on and off the boat and handling ropes on a towpath buried inches deep in grass cuttings.
As the bottom lock was emptying I treated myself by dashing into the shop on the towpath to buy an ice cream. A word of warning if you’re boating on your own. Climbing down the ladder into an empty lock carrying a windlass, centre rope and a Magnum Classic isn’t easy. I managed to wipe the chocolate off my tee shirt and I’m sure it will come off the roof but I don’t know if it did the engine any good, even if it smelled very pleasant as it sizzled.
I reached Braunston junction but rather than turning left for Calcutt I couldn’t resist spending a night on what is usually a very quiet spot a mile out of the village on the North Oxford. Unfortunately the canal was like rush hour on the M25 on the Friday before a bank holiday. Virtually every available spot was taken by boats moored nose to tail but I managed to sneak in behind a single live aboard boater.
The problem with mooring so close to other boats is that you often have to talk to people. I am antisocial most of the time. I enjoy being on my own and I like nothing more than an isolated mooring where I can sit in the sun, enjoy the solitude and read. I can’t complain though when I make the conscious decision to moor almost within reach of another boat.
I suppose it was reasonable to expect the single and elderly guy in front of me to wander over and start a conversation. Actually, it wasn’t so much starting a conversation as beginning a monologue. He told me about his failing health, his wife’s failing health which has resulted in him spending much of his time cruising on his own, his daughter’s failed marriage, his mother’s recent demise and the impact it’s had on his own health, and his boat’s failing health. Overall, it wasn’t a very uplifting hour we spent together.
As a direct result of our conversation and my need to get away, I walked back to Braunston marina then up the footpath to the very well stocked village shop. I didn’t really need anything but I came away with a tin of hot chocolate, a loaf of bread, a small bag of M & Ms for the walk back and a small pack of self adhesive hook and loop tape (Velcro type stuff).
I’ve used the tape to secure my Three MiFi unit to the window above my office desk where it can get a decent signal. I am delighted with the way the MiFi has performed while we have been out. I’ve managed to get a good enough signal to surf and work on the site at every place we’ve stopped.
Yesterday, with Sally back on board, we returned to Calcutt. The two hour journey back from near the junction took four hours. Because we were moored facing away from the junction we had to find somewhere to turn before heading back. The closest point was in the entrance to Barby Moorings about an hour’s cruise away.
We saw more boats moving yesterday than we had in the entire previous week. There are quite a few narrowboat hirers in the area so quite a few were novice boats including a stag party on a Willow Wren boat, all subdued and looking very hung over and one with a face full of bumps and bruises and nostrils stuffed with cotton wool to stem a nose bleed.
I followed another stag party on a Rose Narrowboats hire boat. I first saw them as they were getting ready to set off after a night apparently moored almost under the M45. Why would you want to do that? By the time I had reach Barby Mooring’s entrance and turned round they had set off. They were cruising at tick over though and weaved erratically from side to side in a very odd manner.
They too looked a little the worse for wear but they were polite and considerate and moved over to let me pass. They passed me nearly an hour later when I was moored at the ridiculously positioned water point on Braunston junction and then turned right to head towards Napton junction. They were still cruising at the speed of a very slow walk but rather than overtake them again I pulled over and moored up to give the dogs some exercise and to make myself a cup of coffee.
If you’re thinking of cruising on your own, that’s another logistical obstacle you need to overcome. Making a hot drink for yourself is just about possible on the move if you have a reverse layout boat with the galley next to the rear deck. If you’re very careful you can bring your boat almost to a half in the centre of the canal if there’s no other traffic about, dive into the boat to put the kettle on, dive back outside to carry on cruising until the water boils, then dash into the boat once more to make your coffee and return to your cruising.
I can’t do that because my galley is nearly thirty feet away towards the front of the boat. I either have to make a flask of coffee before I set off or moor quickly while I make a drink. I prefer to moor and make a fresh cup rather than use a flask. Mooring takes less than a minute. I make sure that I pick a spot where there are Armco rainings, bring the boat to the side almost at a stop, jump off holding the centre line and carrying a mooring chain, then chain the boat to the railing just using the centre line. It’s quick and easy to do once you’ve tried it a few times.
I set off again a few minutes later with a steaming coffee and thankfully without any sign of the wobbly stag party. I met them half an hour later though as they were trying to turn their boat around. They’ve taken a wrong turn at Braunston Junction but didn’t realise until they had nearly reached Napton Junction.
I stopped briefly at our wharf to top up with fuel. I’ve run the engine for eighty five hours since I last topped up. I put in one hundred and fifteen litres yesterday so the average was 1.36 litres per hour. Nearly half of the running time was for battery charging.
I’ve come to the conclusion that my domestic battery bank is terminally ill. I haven’t been using much power while I’ve been away from the marina. The fridge is on all of the time of course, and the inverter’s on in the evening to power the television for a couple of hour of mindless entertainment, and there have been a few low power devices plugged in during the evening to charge them, but that’s about it.
Each morning my battery bank is down to about 65% capacity. Each day, despite plenty of free power from the sun via my 3 x 100w solar panels, I have to run the engine for at least five hours to get the batteries back up to 100%.
I have four 135ah batteries. The accepted wisdom is to change all of the batteries in your domestic bank at the same time to prevent one from dragging the others down when it fails before the others. Unfortunately I didn’t do that.
When I moved on board, the boat electrics, like everything else on James in 2010, were in a bit of a state. The batteries on board, one 110ah starter and one 135ah leisure battery, were just about OK for taking the boat out for a day’s cruise, not that the engine was in a fit condition to take the boat out for a day, but they were totally inadequate for a live aboard boat. Being able to live off grid wasn’t really a consideration at that stage but I had another 135ah battery added and a charger to keep them fully charged when I had the shore line plugged in, which was pretty much all of the time.
Nothing much happened in the electrical department for the next two years. I had bigger fish to fry. I had the boat taken away to have the original ply cabin over plated with steel and had the engine, which broke down on the two occasions I was brave enough to leave the marina, fully serviced and repaired.
In March last year I had a 1600w Sterling inverter fitted. In order to supply the inverter with enough power I added another two 135ah batteries to the leisure bank.
I suspect that the latest batteries are still OK. One, or both, of the older batteries have failed so it’s time to get all of the batteries in sync and replace the lot. It’s an expensive maintenance cost. A 135ah leisure battery retails at about £120. Hopefully I’ll get them a little cheaper than that through Calcutt Boats but it’s still going to be enough to make my bank balance wince.
The battery bank needs replacing, and so does my old Vailant gas water heater.
The heater finally died two days ago after thirty seven years of faithful service. I suppose I can’t complain.
The Vailant still heats the water. It heats the water rather too much actually. The burner doesn’t shut down properly when the hot tap is closed so it carries on heating the water in the coil until the water reaches boiling point and then starts to turn into steam. At this point the whole unit starts to pop and hiss and groan. If the hot tap is turned on in the bathroom at this stage, the tiny room quickly fills with scalding steam.
It’s not safe to use.
I may or may not fit a new gas heater. I haven’t made up my mind yet. In the meantime as a stop gap I’ll get the 55 litre horizontal calorifier fitted which I bought a few months ago to replace the small calorifier under the bed which has never worked.
Next week Calcutt Boats will fit the new calorifier and try to integrate it with the hot water produced by the engine so that I can have water from (A) the calorifier’s 1KW immersion heater when I’m plugged in to a mains supply and (B) the engine when it’s running.
I’ve never had hot water from the engine. I understand that the facility is in place but it’s slightly unusual because my engine is raw water cooled. At the very least I will have hot water back on the boat in a dew days’ time via the calorifier’s immersion heater. I suppose I’m fortunate that the heater has failed in the summer when we can just about tolerate cold showers. I don’t think that either of us would be quite so happy with an icy shower in the winter when the water in the boat’s tank is close to freezing.
Beware! Free Newspaper Advice
It’s summer. The days are long and, surprisingly, mostly warm and dry, narrowboat owners and hirers are out in force and journalists, no doubt after a pleasant stroll down the towpath, like to write about the idyllic and low cost lifestyle you can achieve on board a boat on the waterways network in England and parts of Wales.
In July last year the Daily Mail published an article about a family of four who sold their home, purchased a narrowboat, and then lived happily ever after moored on the river bank close to Stratford-upon-Avon. Happily ever after that is for the very short, and warm, period they had been enjoying life afloat before they were interviewed.
The costs quoted in the article were inaccurate and the need for a hard to find residential mooring wasn’t mentioned at all. Maybe you should expect such inaccuracies from the Daily Mail but last week the Daily Telegraph ran an article which was just as misleading. You can read it here.
The journalist suggests that one of the best places to live on your boat is the Kennet and Avon which “is well supplied with boatyards and suitable moorings”.
Poppycock! The Canal and River Trust acknowledge that the Kennet and Avon is a problem area with a high concentration of non compliant continuous cruisers. If you are new to boating on the inland waterways, let me explain. A non compliant continuous cruiser is a boat owner who, when applying for a license, states that he doesn’t have a home mooring. If he doesn’t have a home mooring, he is obliged to observe the continuous cruising guideline and cruise continuously around the network. Moving backwards and forwards between two close geographical locations to stay close to work, school or medical facilities isn’t allowed. Staying in one spot without an official mooring is what hundreds, maybe thousands, of live aboard boat owners do and the Trust don’t like it.
The Trust have a team of roving enforcement officers. They are traffic wardens for the waterways. Their job is to look for unlicensed boats and boats which stay too long on short term moorings. Persistent offenders face legal actions and in extreme cases their boats can be removed from the canal.
The Telegraph article fails to mention the need for residential moorings at all and then quotes a very misleading total of £3,760 as the cost of running a 55′ boat kept on a “premium” mooring and then using it to travel 3,000 miles during the warmer months. The main reason that their figure is so low is that the figures used to calculate the total are eleven years old. Diesel, for example, is quoted at 30p – 40p per litre.
Three thousand miles is also an enormous distance to travel in a narrowboat in twelve months especially if the 3,000 miles is done in just 100 days as suggested in the running costs breakdown. Three thousand miles in one hundred days is thirty miles a day. Even if you could achieve an average of 3mph during a day’s cruising you would need to keep going for ten hours every day to reach the thirty miles a day total.
Of course the average boater doesn’t manage anywhere near this distance. There are locks and queues at locks to negotiate, tunnels, bends, bridges and other boats to slow down for and leisurely lunches to enjoy. Two popular routes taken by hirers at Calcutt are the out and back trip along the south Oxford to Oxford and the circular Warwick Ring. Both are about 100 miles. One has about 80 locks to negotiate, the other has closer to 100. Both require seven days of fairly intensive cruising to complete at an average of fourteen miles a day.
On my journey towards Market Harborough two weeks ago, on the second day I started cruising at 8.30am reached Brauston at 9.30am, moored on the water point for twenty minutes to top the tank up, empty the cassette then dash into Midland Chandlers to buy some engine oil, went up the Braunston Flight, through the tunnel, joined the Grand Union Leicester Line, negotiated the seven locks in the Watford flight, enjoyed an unexpected shower in Crick tunnel and arrived at our mooring for the night opposite Yelvertoft marina at 7.30pm. Over a very tiring eleven hours we had travelled just under fifteen miles.
Don’t use newspapers as a source of reliable information about the cost of living afloat. The facts they quote are often wrong. If you want to know the true cost of living afloat, you won’t find a more comprehensive guide than this one.
A Perception Of Speed
By Peter Earley
It’s that time of year when the forums are full of complaints about speeding boaters. We’ve all experienced them. You’re sitting comfortably with your pint in hand when suddenly a boat comes past. ‘Too fast’ you say to yourself as the beer sploshes over the top of the glass but you’re too polite to say it out loud. Instead, you smile and wave hello to the steerer as he goes by and you tell your partner that when you pass him later you’re dammed if you are going to slow. But, of course, you do.
However, was he really going that fast? Was his engine noisier than yours making it seem he was? Were you moored with loose lines allowing your boat to move too much?
Nothing is as simple as it first appears. I’m not an hydrologist – I think that would be the right expert for this – but long observation leads me to believe that most perceived speeders aren’t. They may not be going as slow has you think you do but they’re probably going as slow as they can. There are so many factors to take into account.
Firstly there is boat design – big engine or small, prop sizing, bow design, long swim or short, rounded counter or square. And it’s not just the design of your boat, take a look at how much some boats move around next time you pass them, despite being adequately moored.
Then there is the waterway itself. If you’ve ever moored on the Bridgewater Canal you will have noticed that local boaters only pay lip service to slowing down but it doesn’t have much effect on you because the canal is deep and wide. Compare that with the adjacent Peak Forest with its shallow water, narrow width and its sloping sides. Unfortunately, our passing Bridgewater boater still thinks he is on his home water!
Yes, I would agree that there are some boaters who don’t slow very much. They probably think you can’t tell from their engine note how much they’ve slowed or when. There are some who say its the hirers, others blame private boaters and some say its the share boats. I don’t think there is any one group that can be blamed. We can all get caught out by long queues at locks or lines of moored boats upsetting our timetable. Fortunately we rarely have to get anywhere in a hurry but I recognise that others do but it is not helped by the promotion of the ring cruises as something that can be done in a week or whatever.
All you can do is make sure you tie yourself boat up properly. Ideally your ropes should lead forward or back so as to be about a 45 degrees angle to the bank. If this is not possible then consider extra ropes leading in the other direction, called springs. This is all to resist the drag of the passing boat pulling your boat to and fro. Do not use a centre rope for anything other than short term mooring. It will only cause your boat to list as it gets dragged forward causing even more problems.
If there are rings or bollards use them. If they are not in the right p!ace, and sods law dictates they won’t be, consider a chain or hook through the piling, if there is some. Be careful where in the piling you put these. As near to one of the through bolts is best to prevent the chain or hook getting jammed behind the rail. If you have to use pins, try to make sure they are in solid ground or put another pin through the eye at a different angle to prevent it being pulled out.
If you’re one of those early starters, please bear in mind that some of us like a leisurely start to the day and that moored boat may just have someone enjoying a lovely dream who might not like a rude awakening. So as slow as possible and no loud talking with the rest of your crew.
If you are the passing boat remember, it is not engine speed that causes problems, it is speed through the water. So slow down in plenty of time. I always cut my speed about 2 boat lengths before but you can put the power back on as soon as the steerer is alongside the far end of the moored boat. Unless it is that boat that sped past you earlier in the day.
I Need Some Help!
Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.
Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.
Newsletter Index
I created the site just over four years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.
Boat Handling – lock and paddle gear types.
Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges
Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.
Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.
How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.
What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment
A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.
A further update to the site content index.
The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.
How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?
Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.
Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?
Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.
Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.
Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou
Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.
I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.
Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.
Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.
Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.
Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?
If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)
Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.
The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?
Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.
Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.
Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?
Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.
Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel
Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.
Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content
Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.
Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?
Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.
Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.
Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013
Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.
The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.
Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.
20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.
A new organisation for liveaboard boaters
On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.
Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.
Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.
Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.
The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free
Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.
A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees
Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site
Managing your water supply
An American blogs about his travels
Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube
All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller
8th September
A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!
Effective fly killers for boats
The downside to living on a narrowboat
Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.
CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!
Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers
Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous
Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?
A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles
Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring
The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?
The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.
Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.
Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.
Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.
Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.
Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.
23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?
Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.
Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.
The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt
Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours
Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.
I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.
An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list
Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.
Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story
My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.
Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.
Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.
An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network
An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings
Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold
Meet one of your legless canal side companions
The canal network’s largest floating hotel
Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.
The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?
Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop
RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?
The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.
Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article
Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.
Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.
Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.
Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.
Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.
Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.
Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start
Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution
Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013
Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.
James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring
Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test
Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.
Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.
Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013
The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.
Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.
Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat
Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis
I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.
Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis
Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer
Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat
Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer
Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat
First tests and reviews of the budgeting application
The best aerial for a narrowboat television
The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application
An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways
Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else
I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date
Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs
Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home
The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners
I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.
VAT on narrowboat sales
Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans
Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson
Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels
Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)
How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.
Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke
DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and
Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly
DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports
Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips
Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all
Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats
As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.
The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments
Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.
Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat
eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)
Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat
A review of Debdale Wharf marina
Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.
The first four narrowboat case studies published
I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study
Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study
Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study
Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.
Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter
1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter
Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners
Comprehensive Site Article Listing
There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.
Popular Forum Posts
There’s a wealth of information on the site in general, but if you’re struggling to find the answer to a particular issue, the forum is the place to find it. I’ve listed some of the more popular posts below but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask your question on the forum. If you don’t know how to create a post, or if you can’t log in, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to get you up and running.
- Aluminium Boats – They don’t rust so why don’t you see more of them on the inland waterways?
- Ironing Board On Board – How do boaters manage a crease free life?
- Freezing Water – How to stop your pipes and pumps from freezing in the winter
- CRT & Continuous Cruising – The Trust and their enforcement of the rules
- Heat – Advice for the owner of a cold boat
- GPS Devices and Canal Mapping – Are there any decent ones available for your narrowboat and do you need them anyway?
- Battery Monitors – Replacing your leisure batteries is one of your more expensive maintenance costs. Here’s some detailed information about a device for looking after your batteries
- Survey Costs – How much should you pay to have your boat removed from the water for a survey?
- Battery monitors – Gimmick or essential boating equipment?
- Engine size and performance – Most engines are suitable for pottering about on the canal but what size engine do you need if you plan to cruise on rivers?
- A Big Inverter Or A Suitcase Generator – What are the pros and cons of either option?
- Who Owns Your Boat? – How do you find out if there’s still finance attached to your boat when you buy it.
- Boat Shares – A low cost alternative to outright narrowboat ownership. Advice from a current share owner
- Plumbing In A Back Boiler – Advice Offered
- Inverter Installation – What do you need and can you fit one yourself?
- Getting Rid Of Space Wasting CD’s & DVD’s – The solution is to digitise your collection. Here’s how to do it.
- Depreciation – How much does a new narrowboat lose in value as the years go by?
- The Cost Of Continuous Cruising – How much does the nomadic lifestyle really cost?
- 12v Narrowboat Washing Machines – Is there any such animal?
- “Chiggers” – It’s a mite you can pick up from the ever growing population of Canada Geese. Beware!
- Post & Postal Addresses For Continuous Cruisers – You need an address in order to receive post and open bank accounts, register for doctors and hospitals etc. How do continuous cruisers with no fixed abode manage it.
- Keeping Cool On A Narrowboat – How to keep people and pets cool in the summer
- It’s Official: There’s No Need To Pay Mooring Fees – Or so this Daily Mail article claims. You may disagree. I do.
- Overcrowded Waterways – More and more people are choosing a life afloat. Are the waterways becoming congested?
- VAT On New Narrowboats – Can you knock 20% off the cost of your new narrowboat?
- Lock Techniques – How do you handle a narrowboat in a lock on your own?
- Narrowboat Burglary – Two boats burgled at the same location. Where is it and what can you do to minimise the risk of theft from your own boat wherever you are?
- Insuring Your Car When You Live On A Boat – A boat owner had his car insurance cancelled when he told them he lives on a narrowboat. How does he approach other insurance companies?
- Remedies For Sooty Stove Glass – For me, one of the great pleasures of living on a narrowboat is a winter evening in front of a flickering fire. Here’s how you can keep your stove glass clear so you can see the fire in all its glory
- Visitor Moorings With Shore Power – Sometimes you need to hook up to the mains when you moor for the night. Where can you find these moorings?
- Steam Power – Are there any steam powered narrowboats on the network?
- Lightning – Is there a risk of your narrowboat being struck by lightning?
- Overplating/Replating – What’s the difference between the two and what’s involved in having the work done?
- The Logistics Of Buying A Boat – A fascinating account from a potential narrowboat owner as he tried to get a boat out of the water so that it can be suryeyed.
- Winter Stoppages 2013/2014 – The Trust carry out essential scheduled repairs during the quieter, cooler months. Here’s their planned stoppages for the coming winter.
- A New Narrowboat Dog – Alan recently moved on board his own floating home. He loved his new boat but something was missing. Now he has a new best friend and he’s in love, although his new best friend has proven a bit of a challenge.
- Electric Boats – What do they cost to run? Why would you want one? There’s a huge amount of information for you here if you’ve ever considered an alternative to a diesel narrowboat engine.
- Pram Covers – “Pram cover” is the term for a cover over the rear deck, usually on a cruiser stern narrowboat. Here are the pros and cons.
- The difference between cruising on canalas and rivers – This is a very popular thread for very good reason. It’s packed with advice if you’re new to river cruising.
- Checklists – What do you need to check before you set off on a cruise? There’s some very detailed information including a very useful post by fellow Calcutt moorer Graham who has issues with his mobility after an RTA many years ago.
- Television Aerials – If you can’t live without your Corrie, you’ll need a decent aerial for your boat.
- My New Life – I urge you to read this forum thread. If you dream of living on your own narrowboat one day, reading this post, written by a new liveaboard boater, may well prove the catalyst you need. It’s essential reading for any aspiring narrowboat owner.
- Narrowboat Ownership – How do you prove that the person offering a narrowboat for sale is the real owner?
- Tips For Continuous Cruisers – He’s making a bit of a habit of it; Pearley’s back with some great cruising tips
- The Llangollen Canal – One of the country’s most beautiful canals discussed
- Deliveries to your boat – Excellent information from regular forum contributor Pearley
- Mobile Broadband – All you need to know about internet connectivity on board
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that fellow boaters can steal your internet data allowance?
- Boat Planning & Design – Is there any free software available to hel you plan your dream boat?
- A Narrowboat Checklist – What checks do you need to carry out before you set out on a cruise?
- Tunnels – How do you navigate them? Who has priority?
- Windows Or Portholes – Round or square, which is best? Is it just a matter of personal preference?
- Day To Day Questions About Narrowboat Life – How can “newbies” find out the answers to questions about day to day life on a narrowboat? The answer is simple. Find out by reading this post.
- Beds – The pros and cons of fixed doubles and cross beds. You need to read this if you are taller or slightly wider than average.
- Flushing Out a Toilet Waste Tank – Emptying your pumpout toilet holding tank isn’t just a case of sucking out your unmentionables. You also need to flush water through the tank to remove the built up solids. Here’s how to do it.
- Narrowboat Knots – Do you know your bowline from your buntline hitch, your cleat hitch from your clove hitch or your poacher’s knot from your square knot? No? It’s about time you did!
- Free Narrowboat Heating – Is there any such thing? Read this post to find out
- Narrowboat Furniture – Not everyone wants fitted furniture on their boat. Here are a few ideas if you want to add your own.
- Weight on a narrowboat – How many people can you carry on a narrowboat, and how much luggage can they bring with them?
- Narrowboat Finance – A Canadian hoping to move to the UK, buy a boat and cruise the network.
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that you can have your boat’s broadband allowance stolen? Here’s what you can do to prevent the theft.
- Problems Powering An Inverter With A Generator – Why didn’t it work and what’s the solution?
- Diesel Costs – You need it to run your boat and maybe your heating system. How much can you expect to pay for it?
- Stove Top Fans – Are they worth the money?
- Mooring Pins and Piling Hooks – What are they and when do you use them?
- Water Pump Problems – What to do if your water pump appear to have a life of its own
- Fuel Contamination – How do you know if you’ve water in your diesel… and what do you do about it when you have?
- Anchors – What’s the best size and weight anchor for narrowboats on tidal rivers
- Single Handed Boating for Ladies – Can a lady on her own pass safely through locks?
- Different Types of Mooring – What’s the difference between residential and leisure moorings? How long can you stay on your boat with each type?
- Which Ropes To Use? – There are so many different types available. Are the more expensive ones worth using or is it just a case of money for old rope?
- Windows – Why do narrowboat owners tolerate condensation? Why don’t they have modern uPVC windows fitted?
- Best Ex Hire Boats – Are you considering buying an ex hire boat to live on? Should you? Here’s some important information for you.
- Liveaboard Conclusions – Mel Davies has been doing plenty of research into her hoped for lifestyle afloat. Here are the conclusions she’s reached and comments from a few existing liveaboard narrowboat owners.
- Handling Floodwaters – How safe is a river mooring during and after heavy rain? Can you stay on a river when the level rises? What can you do to minimise danger?
- Narrowboat steel thickness – How thick is your boat’s steel? How long does it last?
- Retro fitting a solid fuel stove – Where’s the best place to put your stove and what’s involved in fitting it?
- Converting from a cassette toilet to a pump out – A pump out toilet is far more convenient to use than a toilet with a portable cassette but how easy are they to retro fit in a narrowboat?
- Gas free boating – If you don’t fancy heaving unwieldy gas bottles into a difficult to reach bow locker, a gas free boat might be the solution
- Winter on the cut – Are you able to cruise all year on your boat or should you find a mooring for the winter?
- Transporting your boat – Sometimes you may want or need to take your narrowboat by road rather than cruise along the canal. Here’s an idea of the cost
- Bike types and preferences – If you don’t have a car parked near your boat, you’ll probably want a bike, but which type of bike is best?
- Towing a butty – I’ve upset someone. I didn’t mean to. Wainbody wanted to know the best way of towing an unpowered second narrowboat (butty). I came across as patronising when I replied. It was unintentional but to make amends I thought I would ask anyone with boat handling experience to reply to his thread with some constructive advice. If you can help him, please reply to the post.
- The best flooring for a narrowboat pets – What’s the best way to protect your floor from a dirty doggy?
- The best time of the year to buy a boat – Is there a deal to be done by buying a boat in the winter?
- The best length for a liveaboard narrowboat – What’s the best length to buy? What are the pros and cons of different length boats
- ONE tip to offer a potential narrowboat owner – If you are already a narrowboat owner, you can share your experience. If you haven’t bought one yet, you need to read this thread.
- Powering your computer on a narrowboat – Can you power your computer/laptop from the boat’s 12v supply or do you need mains power?
- Must-have gadgets and necessities – The most useful/useless gadgets for life on a narrowboat
- Choosing a stove for your boat – Are domestic solid fuel stoves as good as the ones designed specifically for boats? Which is the best one to buy?
- Diesel heating for boats – How important is a solid fuel stove on a liveaboard narrowboat? Is a diesel heating system OK as a primary heat source?
- Computers on boats – Can a computer be powered from your boat’s 12v system or does it need to be plugged into the mains
- Receiving post on your boat – How does the postman find you when you’re cruising? How do you apply for a driving license, a TV license or a bank statement when you have no official address?
- Bikes on board – Many boat owners do not have cars so they rely on bikes to get them to the shops (or the pub). Some use bikes to collect their cars after a day’s cruising. There’s a huge selection of bikes to choose from. Which are the best for your boat? To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer. Can you point forum member Ainslo in the right direction?
- VAT on narrowboat sales – Does the price of your narrowboat contain a VAT element? Can the VAT be reclaimed?
- Internet access – How do you connect to the internet when you live on a boat?
- Living off property rental income – Do you have a property that you indend to let while you cruise the waterways? Read this before you work out your budget.
- How to find a narrowboat to live on – Here’s an article about choosing a liveaboard narrowboat, and a question about finding a narrowboat with a steering wheel.
- Vertigo – How to deal with walking over lock gates if you’re frightened of heights.
- Long term narrowboat hire – If you aren’t ready to buy a narrowboat yet, what are your chances of hiring a narrowboat for more than a few weeks?
- Residential moorings and single handed boating – How do you handle a narrowboat on your own? What do you do about a mooring if you live on board and only want a mooring for part of the year
- Too tall for a narrowboat? – Is a narrowboat suitable for you if you are above average height?
- Dealing with condensation – Do all narrowboats suffer from damp? What can you do about it?
- Solar panels – More information about portable and fixed solar panels
- Heating systems – Hurricane and Mikuni heating systems discussed
Useful Links
Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.
Try and stay on the towpath…That stuff in the cut is wet!
I can confirm that Canal water is wet!
Cycling along the tow path from Ricky to Watford, as I do on a regular basis, the other night I was balancing a strimmer on the handle bars in the direction or travel when I struck a bump (BW used building rubble in places to shore up the path and the soil has subsided leaving bricks sticking up at inopportune times) this caused the strimmer to swing left, catching on a bush (CRT are even less effective in towpath maintenance than BW and the outgrowth severely narrows the path) , which pitched me to the right where my wheel went down a crumbled edge (Yep, they are not much better at edging either-frankly that whole stretch is awash with awful or not done maintenance) and I pitched into the cut…bike strimmer and all!
I managed to pull myself and goods out and squelched the last mile home! Just glad it was not a winter night!
But it does bring home the differing views of the cut. I am both a dog walking-cycling-use of the towpath AND a boater (albeit still on friends boats) and there are differing views between the groups.
As a cyclist I want a clear, reasonably smooth path and hi-vized mooring pins please! and I appreciate the way nature adapts and adapts to this man-made watercourse.
As a dog owner I clear up after him but want to be able to let him run.
As a boater I want;
1. Not to be knocked down by speeding bikes (come close twice now);
2. not to have to step in others dog shit 3. If you’re dog is not “other dog friendly” keep it on a lead!
4. Able to moor without the bank giving way or so narrowing the channel I have to “thread a needle”.
5. Able to navigate the waterway without either getting my head knocked off by a branch or fouling my prop on submerged obstacles!
A little thought about other people makes life on the cut a whole lot pleasanter! As would a bit more CRT maintenance.
In fact I have just acquired a video camera and once I figure out how to use it I will take some vids of this stretch for CRT to see what needs doing.
So, I finish this missive in line with the safety tips that Paul has been giving in the newsletter and I add my own for towpath users and” boatie folk”…
“Try and stay on the towpath…that stuff in the cut is wet!”
2014 06 08 Newsletter – Lock And Paddle Gear Types
I’m afraid that there isn’t a huge amount in the newsletter this week. I’m sorry, but I’ve been busy on two different areas of the site.
Firstly, I’m on holiday at the moment, doing what I enjoy most of all; cruising aimlessly around the canal network without a care in the world. We’re currently moored about three miles away from Market Harborough on our way back to the Grand Union Leicester Line at Foxton locks.
A canal route planner will tell you that the journey from Napton Junction to Market Harborough takes about twenty hours. We’ve taken a week to get here, but we haven’t been in a hurry. We’ve stopped often along the way, usually on very peaceful moorings, eaten regularly and very well in village and canal-side pubs and generally just chilled out.
I’ve written about our trip so far here. I hope the account makes up for this week’s content poor newsletter, and I hope you’ll find this followup to last week’s announcement interesting too.
Last week I told you that for a while now I’ve been thinking of offering a new service to both potential and new narrowboat owners. I said that the intended service would be part helmsman course and part discovery day. I asked for feedback on the proposed service here. If you haven’t yet given me your feedback, there’s a very short form to complete. Filling it in will take you less than a minute and will still help me tremendously.
The response I’ve had so far has been phenomenal. I have received emails from over one hundred potential boat owners and several existing boat owners expressing an interest. I have decided to offer the service, starting within the next month.
The service will include…
Helmsmanship
- Pre cruise equipment checklist
- Pre cruise engine checklist
- Post cruise checklist and security
- General health and safety on the cut
- The dreaded weedhatch
- Man overboard
- Steering
- Steering backwards (this “black art” is not that difficult to master once you have the technique right_
- Mooring securely using pins, chains and hooks
- Winding (turning)
- Tunnel techniques
- Operating single and double locks
- Operating swing and lift bridges
- Doing all of the above in less than perfect weather
- Doing all of the above as a lone boater
Boat Function And Design
- Different types of mooring and how to choose one before you buy your boat
- Different sterns – Pros and cons
- The importance of storage space
- Essential equipment
- Power generation and management
- Onboard weight management and the danger of an overloaded roof
- Toilet types – Pros and cons
- Lifestyle management
- The physical aspects of life on board
- Living on board with a disability
- Cooking on board
- Heating systems and fuels
- Boat insulation – hulls and windows
- Living on board in winter
- Managing pets on board
- “Free” power – Solar, wind and canal-side logs
- Just about anything else you want to know!
To comply with RYA safety guidelines for training carried out on traditional stern narrowboats, each training day will be limited to two singles or one couple. The day will begin at 8am and finish at 6pm. Helmsman training will take place on the Grand Union and Oxford canals where there are both wide and narrow locks. The discovery days will be on my boat, usually on our beautiful mooring at Calcutt Boats Meadows marina.
I’m setting the booking process up at the moment. Once that is done I’ll detail it in the newsletter. I will be running the discovery days around my current full time work commitments so the slots will be limited to one day each week. Given the number of people who have emailed me so far, the slots will go very quickly. If you are interested in the service, and you haven’t filled in the feedback form yet, please complete it now. Everyone who has completed the short survey will be notified as soon as the availability calendar is live. You can complete the survey here.
Lock And Paddle Gear
There are a wide variety of lock styles and operation, far too many of which I know very little. Once more I’ve turned to widely travelled continuous cruiser Peter Earley for the information I need. Here’s what he has to say about the different styles you’ll come across in your travels.
“I’ve always been interested in industrial archeology, especially railways and motor vehicles, but canals tick all the boxes for me. There are so many variations of lock gear across the country that it is almost possible to tell where you are just by looking at the paddle gear and other lock furniture.
First there are the lock gates. Narrow locks can have single gates at both ends such as at Walsall, making for hard work pushing those heavy bottom gates. Single gates at the top and double at the bottom or double gates at each end. Obviously, these are much lighter and, theoretically easier to push but, unless a bridge is provided, a lot of walking round is involved. Some locks, like many on the Oxford, are shallow enough to allow you to walk across the roof of the boat to access the other side but some boaters will jump across the gap between a closed and open gate. Something Jeannette has forbidden me to do. Other boaters say the steerer can pull the bottom gate closed with a boat hook on entering or exiting a lock, a trick I tried and failed. The working boatman used a strap or rope to pull the gate closed as the boat entered the lock and you still see locks on some canals with strapping posts, often with cast iron caps on them.
You will see steel gates as well as wooden with nasty, thin balance beams and some wide locks may have wooden gates but steel balance beams that, from a distance, look like wooden ones. Those on the GU are one piece but on the L & L they are made from two pieces of wood bolted one to the other give a nice, hefty appearance as befits a Northern canal.
But, it is really the paddle gear where the regional differences show. Even the names change across the country – paddles, sluices, slackers, cloughs – all names for the thing that lets the water in or out. We are all familiar with the rack and pinion gear but if British Waterways had had their way in the 80s these would have been consigned to history in favour of those horrible hydraulic gear you still see on some locks. I don’t know whose idea this was but I’m glad common sense prevailed in the end. But even that rack and pinion gear changes depending on the canal. The most common being the ones mounted to a cast iron frame but on the Southern part of the Grand Union they use a large wooden post and in other places a steel frame pleasingly curved such as the Rufford Arm or unashamedly utilitarian as on the Wigan flight.
And then there are the windlasses. You’ve probably got one of those double ended ones for the tapered spindle and the GU square but they are no good for the Middle Levels or Great Ouse. And if you visit the River Wey, that too requires a different one. A lot of Leeds and Liverpool boaters carry a special double ended windlass which is about 18 inches long and has two sets of eyes, one at the normal length and another at the end to give the necessary leverage required for their hefty gear.
Speaking of the Leeds & Liverpool, it has probably the greatest variety of gear. Ground paddles that are huge square boxes with a spindle stuck out of the top, sometimes with a handle permanently fitted and a chain to drop over it to stop it dropping. There are simple wooden sliding cloughs that are opened by grasping the handle and heaving it upwards. There is a gate paddle at Burnley operated by a long rack and pinion. This same lock has gates that are opened by winding a handle on the side of a big gearbox. This was necessitated by the adjacent road bridge being widened and encroaching on the lock, meaning conventional balance beams would be too long. This shortening of balance beams is not restricted to Burnley. There are several other locks where road widening takes scant account of the boats ability to open the lock gates. They may be cranked, have a chain and windlass or just be left shorter meaning you need to exert more effort to open them.
Having wound your paddle up, you need some means to keep it there. The most usual is the pawl and ratchet. Never lift these off when winding the paddle up. If you leave go of the windlass and the paddle drops it can cause you a nasty injury. When winding down, only lift them enough to clear so as to be able to drop it quickly if your windlass comes off. Of course, there are as many methods of keeping the paddle up as there is lock gear. Those massive ones on the Northern part of the GU have a shaped bit of steel hanging on a chain to drop over the square spindle though looking at the casing I suspect that when new they had a piece that slipped into place. If you’ve attempted the Rochdale 9 they too have a bit of steel dangling on a chain. This time however, you just jam it into the gear. They end up covered in grease so some now have a cable tie in an attempt to stop the grease getting onto your hands.
It is an unfortunate sign of out times that much lock gear is now fitted with the nicely named ‘water conservation locks’ known by most of us as anti-vandal locks. Mostly these use a square ended socket or handcuff key to unlock but some need the BW Watermate key. Which you find the chances are it will be stiff to use or broken. I find the handcuff key will often slip because the square has been worn away due to over-tightening by boaters although, having said that, the keys are a pretty loose fit even on new locks. Placing the end of the key on a mooring bollard and a few smart whacks with your lump hammer will usually flatten it enough to ensure a better fit.
I’ve missed a lot of variations out but I’m sure you will find it great fun finding them for yourselves.”
A Swing & Lift Bridge Tip For Solo Boaters
These bridges are a pain in the neck for solo boaters. The usual operation involves the helmsman dropping off a crew member on the towpath next to the bridge and waiting, whistling tunelessly and counting clouds, while the hard working crew crosses the bridge, discovers how it works by either trial and error or a set of written instructions pinned to the bridge, moves the bridge, waits for the helmsman to wake up and take the boat through to the far side of the bridge before lowering and then crossing the bridge to rejoin the boat.
Of course this method of operation doesn’t work if you are a lone boater.
An often effective solution is to simply wait for another boat to arrive and ask the crew to help with the operation. This option is less likely to work of course in the winter, in bad weather, early in the morning or late at night.
An alternative is to try to tie your boat up on the offside before the bridge, making sure that you are not going to obstruct it when it swings, raise or swing the bridge, pull the boat through the gap, tie the boat up again, replace the bridge then continue with your cruise.
A variation of this, and one which is guaranteed to produce a steady stream of boaters on an otherwise empty canal just at the time when you want them least, is to tie one end of the boat to a towpath bollard and the other to a point on the offside. Although it’s slightly more difficult to get on and off the boat on one side or the other because you’ll have to hop on or off your boat at the bow, you’re more likely to find a single point to tie your boat to on the offside rather than two points and a straight stretch of bank to moor against.
The downside is that there is a fair amount of messing around maneuvering the boat into position in the first place, getting off the boat to operate the bridge, getting back on to the boat to bring it through the gap and then going through the whole procedure again. The good news though is that you can get through on your own.
Please note that this won’t work with short boats and wide canals!
I Need Some Help!
Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.
Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.
Newsletter Index
I created the site just over three years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.
Boat handling – Swing and lift bridges
Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.
Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.
How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.
What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment
A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.
A further update to the site content index.
The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.
How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?
Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.
Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?
Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.
Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.
Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou
Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.
I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.
Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.
Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.
Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.
Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?
If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)
Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.
The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?
Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.
Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.
Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?
Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.
Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel
Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.
Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content
Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.
Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?
Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.
Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.
Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013
Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.
The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.
Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.
20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.
A new organisation for liveaboard boaters
On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.
Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.
Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.
Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.
The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free
Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.
A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees
Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site
Managing your water supply
An American blogs about his travels
Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube
All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller
8th September
A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!
Effective fly killers for boats
The downside to living on a narrowboat
Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.
CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!
Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers
Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous
Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?
A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles
Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring
The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?
The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.
Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.
Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.
Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.
Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.
Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.
23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?
Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.
Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.
The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt
Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours
Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.
I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.
An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list
Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.
Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story
My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.
Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.
Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.
An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network
An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings
Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold
Meet one of your legless canal side companions
The canal network’s largest floating hotel
Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.
The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?
Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop
RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?
The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.
Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article
Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.
Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.
Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.
Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.
Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.
Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.
Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start
Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution
Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013
Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.
James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring
Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test
Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.
Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.
Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013
The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.
Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.
Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat
Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis
I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.
Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis
Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer
Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat
Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer
Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat
First tests and reviews of the budgeting application
The best aerial for a narrowboat television
The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application
An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways
Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else
I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date
Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs
Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home
The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners
I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.
VAT on narrowboat sales
Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans
Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson
Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels
Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)
How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.
Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke
DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and
Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly
DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports
Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips
Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all
Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats
As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.
The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments
Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.
Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat
eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)
Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat
A review of Debdale Wharf marina
Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.
The first four narrowboat case studies published
I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study
Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study
Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study
Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.
Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter
1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter
Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners
Comprehensive Site Article Listing
There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.
Popular Forum Posts
There’s a wealth of information on the site in general, but if you’re struggling to find the answer to a particular issue, the forum is the place to find it. I’ve listed some of the more popular posts below but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask your question on the forum. If you don’t know how to create a post, or if you can’t log in, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to get you up and running.
- Aluminium Boats – They don’t rust so why don’t you see more of them on the inland waterways?
- Ironing Board On Board – How do boaters manage a crease free life?
- Freezing Water – How to stop your pipes and pumps from freezing in the winter
- CRT & Continuous Cruising – The Trust and their enforcement of the rules
- Heat – Advice for the owner of a cold boat
- GPS Devices and Canal Mapping – Are there any decent ones available for your narrowboat and do you need them anyway?
- Battery Monitors – Replacing your leisure batteries is one of your more expensive maintenance costs. Here’s some detailed information about a device for looking after your batteries
- Survey Costs – How much should you pay to have your boat removed from the water for a survey?
- Battery monitors – Gimmick or essential boating equipment?
- Engine size and performance – Most engines are suitable for pottering about on the canal but what size engine do you need if you plan to cruise on rivers?
- A Big Inverter Or A Suitcase Generator – What are the pros and cons of either option?
- Who Owns Your Boat? – How do you find out if there’s still finance attached to your boat when you buy it.
- Boat Shares – A low cost alternative to outright narrowboat ownership. Advice from a current share owner
- Plumbing In A Back Boiler – Advice Offered
- Inverter Installation – What do you need and can you fit one yourself?
- Getting Rid Of Space Wasting CD’s & DVD’s – The solution is to digitise your collection. Here’s how to do it.
- Depreciation – How much does a new narrowboat lose in value as the years go by?
- The Cost Of Continuous Cruising – How much does the nomadic lifestyle really cost?
- 12v Narrowboat Washing Machines – Is there any such animal?
- “Chiggers” – It’s a mite you can pick up from the ever growing population of Canada Geese. Beware!
- Post & Postal Addresses For Continuous Cruisers – You need an address in order to receive post and open bank accounts, register for doctors and hospitals etc. How do continuous cruisers with no fixed abode manage it.
- Keeping Cool On A Narrowboat – How to keep people and pets cool in the summer
- It’s Official: There’s No Need To Pay Mooring Fees – Or so this Daily Mail article claims. You may disagree. I do.
- Overcrowded Waterways – More and more people are choosing a life afloat. Are the waterways becoming congested?
- VAT On New Narrowboats – Can you knock 20% off the cost of your new narrowboat?
- Lock Techniques – How do you handle a narrowboat in a lock on your own?
- Narrowboat Burglary – Two boats burgled at the same location. Where is it and what can you do to minimise the risk of theft from your own boat wherever you are?
- Insuring Your Car When You Live On A Boat – A boat owner had his car insurance cancelled when he told them he lives on a narrowboat. How does he approach other insurance companies?
- Remedies For Sooty Stove Glass – For me, one of the great pleasures of living on a narrowboat is a winter evening in front of a flickering fire. Here’s how you can keep your stove glass clear so you can see the fire in all its glory
- Visitor Moorings With Shore Power – Sometimes you need to hook up to the mains when you moor for the night. Where can you find these moorings?
- Steam Power – Are there any steam powered narrowboats on the network?
- Lightning – Is there a risk of your narrowboat being struck by lightning?
- Overplating/Replating – What’s the difference between the two and what’s involved in having the work done?
- The Logistics Of Buying A Boat – A fascinating account from a potential narrowboat owner as he tried to get a boat out of the water so that it can be suryeyed.
- Winter Stoppages 2013/2014 – The Trust carry out essential scheduled repairs during the quieter, cooler months. Here’s their planned stoppages for the coming winter.
- A New Narrowboat Dog – Alan recently moved on board his own floating home. He loved his new boat but something was missing. Now he has a new best friend and he’s in love, although his new best friend has proven a bit of a challenge.
- Electric Boats – What do they cost to run? Why would you want one? There’s a huge amount of information for you here if you’ve ever considered an alternative to a diesel narrowboat engine.
- Pram Covers – “Pram cover” is the term for a cover over the rear deck, usually on a cruiser stern narrowboat. Here are the pros and cons.
- The difference between cruising on canalas and rivers – This is a very popular thread for very good reason. It’s packed with advice if you’re new to river cruising.
- Checklists – What do you need to check before you set off on a cruise? There’s some very detailed information including a very useful post by fellow Calcutt moorer Graham who has issues with his mobility after an RTA many years ago.
- Television Aerials – If you can’t live without your Corrie, you’ll need a decent aerial for your boat.
- My New Life – I urge you to read this forum thread. If you dream of living on your own narrowboat one day, reading this post, written by a new liveaboard boater, may well prove the catalyst you need. It’s essential reading for any aspiring narrowboat owner.
- Narrowboat Ownership – How do you prove that the person offering a narrowboat for sale is the real owner?
- Tips For Continuous Cruisers – He’s making a bit of a habit of it; Pearley’s back with some great cruising tips
- The Llangollen Canal – One of the country’s most beautiful canals discussed
- Deliveries to your boat – Excellent information from regular forum contributor Pearley
- Mobile Broadband – All you need to know about internet connectivity on board
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that fellow boaters can steal your internet data allowance?
- Boat Planning & Design – Is there any free software available to hel you plan your dream boat?
- A Narrowboat Checklist – What checks do you need to carry out before you set out on a cruise?
- Tunnels – How do you navigate them? Who has priority?
- Windows Or Portholes – Round or square, which is best? Is it just a matter of personal preference?
- Day To Day Questions About Narrowboat Life – How can “newbies” find out the answers to questions about day to day life on a narrowboat? The answer is simple. Find out by reading this post.
- Beds – The pros and cons of fixed doubles and cross beds. You need to read this if you are taller or slightly wider than average.
- Flushing Out a Toilet Waste Tank – Emptying your pumpout toilet holding tank isn’t just a case of sucking out your unmentionables. You also need to flush water through the tank to remove the built up solids. Here’s how to do it.
- Narrowboat Knots – Do you know your bowline from your buntline hitch, your cleat hitch from your clove hitch or your poacher’s knot from your square knot? No? It’s about time you did!
- Free Narrowboat Heating – Is there any such thing? Read this post to find out
- Narrowboat Furniture – Not everyone wants fitted furniture on their boat. Here are a few ideas if you want to add your own.
- Weight on a narrowboat – How many people can you carry on a narrowboat, and how much luggage can they bring with them?
- Narrowboat Finance – A Canadian hoping to move to the UK, buy a boat and cruise the network.
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that you can have your boat’s broadband allowance stolen? Here’s what you can do to prevent the theft.
- Problems Powering An Inverter With A Generator – Why didn’t it work and what’s the solution?
- Diesel Costs – You need it to run your boat and maybe your heating system. How much can you expect to pay for it?
- Stove Top Fans – Are they worth the money?
- Mooring Pins and Piling Hooks – What are they and when do you use them?
- Water Pump Problems – What to do if your water pump appear to have a life of its own
- Fuel Contamination – How do you know if you’ve water in your diesel… and what do you do about it when you have?
- Anchors – What’s the best size and weight anchor for narrowboats on tidal rivers
- Single Handed Boating for Ladies – Can a lady on her own pass safely through locks?
- Different Types of Mooring – What’s the difference between residential and leisure moorings? How long can you stay on your boat with each type?
- Which Ropes To Use? – There are so many different types available. Are the more expensive ones worth using or is it just a case of money for old rope?
- Windows – Why do narrowboat owners tolerate condensation? Why don’t they have modern uPVC windows fitted?
- Best Ex Hire Boats – Are you considering buying an ex hire boat to live on? Should you? Here’s some important information for you.
- Liveaboard Conclusions – Mel Davies has been doing plenty of research into her hoped for lifestyle afloat. Here are the conclusions she’s reached and comments from a few existing liveaboard narrowboat owners.
- Handling Floodwaters – How safe is a river mooring during and after heavy rain? Can you stay on a river when the level rises? What can you do to minimise danger?
- Narrowboat steel thickness – How thick is your boat’s steel? How long does it last?
- Retro fitting a solid fuel stove – Where’s the best place to put your stove and what’s involved in fitting it?
- Converting from a cassette toilet to a pump out – A pump out toilet is far more convenient to use than a toilet with a portable cassette but how easy are they to retro fit in a narrowboat?
- Gas free boating – If you don’t fancy heaving unwieldy gas bottles into a difficult to reach bow locker, a gas free boat might be the solution
- Winter on the cut – Are you able to cruise all year on your boat or should you find a mooring for the winter?
- Transporting your boat – Sometimes you may want or need to take your narrowboat by road rather than cruise along the canal. Here’s an idea of the cost
- Bike types and preferences – If you don’t have a car parked near your boat, you’ll probably want a bike, but which type of bike is best?
- Towing a butty – I’ve upset someone. I didn’t mean to. Wainbody wanted to know the best way of towing an unpowered second narrowboat (butty). I came across as patronising when I replied. It was unintentional but to make amends I thought I would ask anyone with boat handling experience to reply to his thread with some constructive advice. If you can help him, please reply to the post.
- The best flooring for a narrowboat pets – What’s the best way to protect your floor from a dirty doggy?
- The best time of the year to buy a boat – Is there a deal to be done by buying a boat in the winter?
- The best length for a liveaboard narrowboat – What’s the best length to buy? What are the pros and cons of different length boats
- ONE tip to offer a potential narrowboat owner – If you are already a narrowboat owner, you can share your experience. If you haven’t bought one yet, you need to read this thread.
- Powering your computer on a narrowboat – Can you power your computer/laptop from the boat’s 12v supply or do you need mains power?
- Must-have gadgets and necessities – The most useful/useless gadgets for life on a narrowboat
- Choosing a stove for your boat – Are domestic solid fuel stoves as good as the ones designed specifically for boats? Which is the best one to buy?
- Diesel heating for boats – How important is a solid fuel stove on a liveaboard narrowboat? Is a diesel heating system OK as a primary heat source?
- Computers on boats – Can a computer be powered from your boat’s 12v system or does it need to be plugged into the mains
- Receiving post on your boat – How does the postman find you when you’re cruising? How do you apply for a driving license, a TV license or a bank statement when you have no official address?
- Bikes on board – Many boat owners do not have cars so they rely on bikes to get them to the shops (or the pub). Some use bikes to collect their cars after a day’s cruising. There’s a huge selection of bikes to choose from. Which are the best for your boat? To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer. Can you point forum member Ainslo in the right direction?
- VAT on narrowboat sales – Does the price of your narrowboat contain a VAT element? Can the VAT be reclaimed?
- Internet access – How do you connect to the internet when you live on a boat?
- Living off property rental income – Do you have a property that you indend to let while you cruise the waterways? Read this before you work out your budget.
- How to find a narrowboat to live on – Here’s an article about choosing a liveaboard narrowboat, and a question about finding a narrowboat with a steering wheel.
- Vertigo – How to deal with walking over lock gates if you’re frightened of heights.
- Long term narrowboat hire – If you aren’t ready to buy a narrowboat yet, what are your chances of hiring a narrowboat for more than a few weeks?
- Residential moorings and single handed boating – How do you handle a narrowboat on your own? What do you do about a mooring if you live on board and only want a mooring for part of the year
- Too tall for a narrowboat? – Is a narrowboat suitable for you if you are above average height?
- Dealing with condensation – Do all narrowboats suffer from damp? What can you do about it?
- Solar panels – More information about portable and fixed solar panels
- Heating systems – Hurricane and Mikuni heating systems discussed
Useful Links
Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.
Calcutt Marina To Welford Junction
As a beginning to a canal cruise, it wasn’t very impressive.
We had one or two jobs to do on Sunday before we could leave. The first and most important, although Sally may disagree, was to finish off the newsletter. I made an early start to get it out of the way so that we could begin our holiday and had it finished by 9am.
Then we had to sort out my internet connectivity problem. As I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, my Three mobile broadband problem has been a bit hit and miss recently. After two years of very good service my dongle stopped working. The dongle was strapped to a four feet long wooden mast on the cabin roof. While static the hinged pole was vertical to give the dongle a fighting chance of receiving a signal at the marina where phone and mobile broadband signals are normally weak at best. The dongle was attached to my laptop via a five metre USB extension cable fed through a roof vent and up to the top of the mast.
A couple of months ago the dongle died so, after many long and interesting conversations to deepest, darkest India, I was sent another dongle free of charge. The dongle, I was reliably informed by the enthusiastic technical services guy, used the latest technology to achieve wider coverage and faster download speeds. Unfortunately, what he didn’t tell me, what he probably didn’t realise, was that the dongle wouldn’t work with my USB extension cable.
It worked very well indeed plugged into my laptop providing I sat on the front deck with my head bent at an unnatural angle to avoid the cratch cover. Obviously I couldn’t spend hours at a time working like this so I needed to find a solution.
I did some research on the interweb. The solution appeared to be an “active” USB connection. Many frustrated dongle users claimed that it cured the connectivity problem. I ordered one but, alas, it didn’t work for me.
I didn’t fancy calling Three’s technical support line. The thought of another couple of hours spent on the phone to well meaning but script driven operators five thousand miles way filled me with dread. I decided to visit a Three store instead to see if they could offer an effective solution.
They did.
My visit to the Leamington Spa shop was brief but very productive. The store manager was knowledgeable and very vocal about the inefficiency of my current setup.
“Why are you using a dongle which plugs into your laptop when you are living in a steel box? Why do you have an unsightly cable trailing out of the boat and up a pole on the roof? Why aren’t you using one of our latest quad speed, super connective mobile WiFi unit? What idiot recommended you use a dongle on your boat? All our canal boat customers use the MiFi unit. The guy who sold you the dongle wants sacking!”
I couldn’t interrupt his monologue for long enough to tell him that the MiFi unit wasn’t available when I took my mobile broadband contract out nearly two years ago or that it was his particular store I used.
I asked him how the MiFi could get a signal if it was inside the boat. He told me that the solution was simple. All I had to do was Velcro it to a window.
I was sceptical but desperate, so I bought one for £49.99.
The MiFi unit, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, is wonderful. It worked perfectly at the marina where many devices don’t work at all, so I had high hopes for it out on the cut.
We picked up some fresh food on the way back to the boat, realising that large supermarkets are few and far between between on the route to Market Harborough.
We eventually left the marina at 1pm, bathed in early summer sunshine and with high hopes for the fortnight ahead. We didn’t get very far.
Within an hour we were nearing the mid point between Calcutt and Braunston. There are some very tranquil spots to moor near Flecknoe. We couldn’t resist stopping for the day to enjoy the fine weather.
By 5pm Sally baked a spicy fish pie which we enjoyed sitting on the towpath in the early evening sun. It was a very relaxing start to a lazy two week cruise.
The following day wasn’t so relaxing. Neither of us like moorings close to roads or within hearing of too much traffic noise so the first reasonably quiet mooring opportunity was somewhere around Yelvertoft. Sally wanted to go to Midland Chandlers at Braunston on the way “just to look around” so we popped in to the chandlers while we were topping up our water.
“Just to look around” meant homing in on the fridges as soon as we walked through the door. Our fridge came with the boat when I moved on board and is now looking a little the worse for wear. The plastic hinges on the freezer compartment door have broken so the door won’t stay in place. Does that mean that the fridge is working harder than it should, and draining the batteries more than it should, to try and keep the freezer compartment frozen? I don’t know, but I do know that we can’t use it to freeze stuff. Anyway, it’s not 100% functional and it’s starting to look scruffy so it’s next home will be a skip. Twelve volt fridges don’t come cheap though. We won’t get much change out of £500.
We left without the fridge but with a couple of fenders, a spare mooring rope and a wire brush for removing the crud from the chimney collar. After a quick about face at the junction by reversing up one side of the triangle and moving forward along another, we were on our way again.
Sally has been looking forward to the cruise for months. She doesn’t get as much exercise as she feels she needs so she couldn’t wait to get to grips with the locks. She certainly had plenty of exercise at the bottom lock of the Braunston flight. She couldn’t raise the paddle an inch. The lock keeper came to help her and struggled himself. The elderly chap’s determination made up for his slight frame though and we were soon on our way.
In the third lock we stood chatting to a couple waiting to come down the lock as we waited for our lock to fill when we were joined by a red faced and stressed looking lycra clad lady peddling her folding bike furiously between the locks. She threw her bike on the ground and jogged over to where we stood.
Without introducing herself she began to offer advice we didn’t particularly want. “Did you know that if you open all the gate and the ground paddles you can fill up the lock twice as quickly? Did you know that if all of us push on this gate as hard as we can, we’ll be able to open it a few seconds early? Did you know that I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I don’t know how to relax, and I’m not enjoying my first narrowboat experience at all?” She may not have said the last bit entirely as I’ve written it, or even at all, but I think that’s the way she probably felt.
We let Mrs. Stressy Knickers pass us in the next pound. Sally and I weren’t in a rush so didn’t want to feel under pressure to pass through the flight at the speed of light. As her hire boat passed us I heard her imploring her husband to get through the tunnel as soon as possible while she hyperventilated and looked wildly around her. I didn’t feel that she was going to have a particularly relaxing trip.
We stopped briefly just before Braunston tunnel to let the dogs out for a wee and to make sure that we drew back the curtains and turned all the lights on in the boat, and made sure that we had a powerful torch handy on the back of the boat.
Changing James’ headlight is on my To Do list. I’m sure the one we have at the moment is an old bicycle lamp. It’s just about capable of illuminating the palm of my hand if I hold it about six inches away but fails miserably to show us the way through dark and dismal tunnels.
A sharp left hand turn at Norton junction and we were on the Grand Union Leicester line. Half an hour later we were squeezing through Watford gap alongside the a busy railway, the hectic A5 and the frantic M1.
We pulled up just before the bottom lock of the Watford flight and walked up to the lock mouth where a hire boat was waiting mid stream with an elderly and slightly confused looking gent at the helm. “My son went to find out the lock procedure for this flight. He’s been gone for quarter of an hour.”
I told him I would set the lock for him so that he could come in. I had him safely in the lock and almost ready to exit before the lock keeper caught me and gave me the best telling off I’ve had since I left school in 1976. I hadn’t seen the clearly written A board instructing all boats to see the lock keeper before entering a lock.
I apologised, he booked me in and strode off. Minutes later, he told the hire boat in front of me to go up the four staircase lock, but told me that I had to wait until the boat in front of me had reached the top, and two boats waiting at the top had come down. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have followed the boat in front of me. I assumed it was my punishment for not booking in when I arrived. The “punishment” cost us an hour sitting in the pound beneath the staircase listening to the roar of traffic on the motorway.
By the time we reached the top of the flight it was late afternoon. We dashed through Crick tunnel and where thankful that we keep waterproof jackets within easy reach. Crick tunnel is very wet, more streams than drips from the roof. Out of the tunnel, past Crick marina, thoughts of stopping for a quick walk up Crack’s hill to exercise the dogs immediately discounted because of the dozens of sheep dotting the hillside and onward towards Yelvertoft marina.
We reached Yelvertoft at 7pm. The intention had been to reach bridge 28 and the quiet and pretty moorings we had been told about. By that time of the day though my heart wasn’t in it. We stopped for the night a hundred metres south of the marina entrance. It wasn’t as pretty a view as I would have liked but it was a peaceful spot and a very welcome rest after a ten hour cruise.
The following morning we wandered into Yelvertoft to visit the butcher, the post office/village shop and the Knightly Arms. The pub visit was to use the toilet. Our cassette toilet is reserved almost exclusively for liquids. Wherever possible we use toilets attached to a mains water supply for solids. You get a much better flush where mains water pressure is available!
We always have a drink in exchange for using the facilities. We sat in the beautifully kept pub garden in the shade of a towering tree with peeling bark. I thought it was a eucalyptus. When we took our glasses back to the bar on the way out we asked the shaven-headed silk scarf wearing barmaid what it was.
“How would I know? I’ve never been as far as the garden!”, she exclaimed as she gave me the kind of look normally reserved for small children asking annoying questions.
Next we visited the village’s high end Italian delicatessen, Squisito. Exquisite by name maybe, but certainly not by nature.
We walked though the open front door into the brightly lit shop interior. After a couple of minutes one of the two men hunched over a slab of meat on a table behind the counter lifted his head to acknowledge our presence before telling us, rather surprisingly, that Tuesday is a training day and one which the shop is closed to the public.
We didn’t fare much better at the village general store. The shopkeeper seemed reluctant to stop working on his laptop long enough to charge us for the pack of bacon and two bottles of beer we wanted from him.
We began a very short day’s cruising mid afternoon. We pulled over at the water point at Yelvertoft Wharf to top up but weren’t quite quick enough to get there before a BW working boat. They didn’t delay us for longer than a minute though. The “water tank” which needed filling was a large kettle.
What we did and where we went after that is a complete mystery to both Sally and to me. I’m writing this on Saturday morning but neither of us can remember where we moored on Tuesday night or what we did when we got there. We’ve just spent half an hour studying our Pearson’s guide. We know where we were Monday night, Tuesday during the day and everything which has happened since then, but Tuesday night was a mystery.
All I can say is that we moored somewhere between Yelvertoft Wharf and Welford Junction and that we probably enjoyed the experience. Other than that, I’m at a loss. Sorry!
After our missing night on the cut we travelled what was probably quite a short distance to Welford Junction then along the Welford arm for half an hour before stopping on the tree shaded visitor moorings just before the marina. This leg of the journey was short but memorable.
Three times on the cruise up until then we saw a solitary grey heron standing motionless staring intently at the water. As the boat approached, the bird would spread its wings, lift effortlessly into the air and flap slowly along the waterway to another spot a few hundred metres ahead of us.
I took a few photo’s one handed as I steered but the bird was too far away. I was determined to get a decent photo so I asked Sally to take over at the helm while I lay on the roof at the front of the cabin. The combination of me looking through the camera’s viewfinder for the bird, Sally scanning either bank as we progressed, and neither of us watching where the boat was going didn’t work very well.
Sally spotted the bird first, took her hand off the tiller to point enthusiastically to where it was hiding behind a bush, and promptly buried the boat’s bow into the undergrowth as she veered off the main channel. Of course the sound of hawthorn scraping like nails across a blackboard along the cabin side caused the heron to fly off again.
After returning to the centre of the canal, we resumed our search. Eagle eyed Sally was the first to spot a blue/grey flash in the undergrowth. We weren’t going to miss it this time. Sally slowed the boat to just over tickover, I zoomed my telephoto lens in on the spot, and nearly fell off the boat laughing.
The hiding “heron” was a discarded twenty five litre plastic drum. Sadly I don’t have a photograph of it due to my convulsions at the time. The photo below is the best I could manage…
At Welford we had a quick walk around the village before returning to the Wharf Inn for lunch. The pub was empty at 2pm apart from one retired couple eating and a group of five well lubricated gents in their early seventies taking a slightly incoherent stroll down memory lane.
After a very acceptable beer battered cod and chips we turned the boat in the winding hole at the marina entrance and headed back towards the junction. I managed to pick up something on the propeller when I slowed to pick up Sally after the lock. The billowing smoke from the exhaust and reduction in power alerted me to the problem, but a quick and enthusiastic burst in reverse cleared the obstruction.
Half an hour later we were back at the junction. It was such a quiet spot far, far away from roads, houses or even walkers and cyclists that we couldn’t resist staying the night. I’m pleased we stopped when I did. Within minutes of securing the boat the heavens opened. The rain was heavy and continuous for the rest of the evening and the temperature dropped enough to warrant lighting the stove.
We’ve had our fair share of overcast skies and intermittent rain on this trip. The rain doesn’t really stop us from enjoying the cruising. We both have a decent set of waterproofs so even in heavy rain we carry on cruising regardless but dull days mean that we have to run the engine to top up the battery bank for much longer than we do on sunny days.
When we are away from the marina I realise how much effort is needed to keep the battery bank fully charged when the boat’s off grid. When we’re on our mooring we are plugged in to the shore supply so our batteries are always at 100% regardless of the appliances we have connected to the mains.
We should reduce our power use. We often have chargers plugged in to live sockets but not charging any devices. We regularly use and 1800w coffee machine, an equally power hungry vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer and straighteners (Sally sometimes uses these too) and an iron. The twin tub washing machine isn’t particularly high powered but it’s used a lot. It’s not unusual for Sally to spend most of the day using it. The wash tub is 120w. The spin tub is 180w.
I’ve only realised just how much our various devices drain the battery bank since I’ve had our Smartgauge battery monitor fitted. Sally’s had a couple of halfhearted sessions with the washing machine. I can keep the batteries at the same level providing I run the engine when she’s using it but I struggle to keep up with our most power hungry appliance, the fridge.
The fridge is a constant and significant drain on the battery bank. Over the last week we’ve had the inverter running all day. It’s a bad habit to get into and one which we need to break if we want to conserve power but at the moment it’s what we do. The battery bank is fully charged by the time we moor for the day either via the engine running or the solar panels. By the time we go to bed, usually at about 10pm, the battery bank capacity has dropped to about 90%. I turn the inverter off at night so only the 12v lights, water pump, shower pump and fridge have power. All lights are off and the pumps aren’t used overnight but the fridge is on constantly.
I get up at 6am at the latest. Overnight, with just the fridge running, the battery bank capacity has dropped to 75%. The missing freezer compartment door appears to be costing us a lot of money in engine running time to replenish the power it’s used. We will replace the fridge as soon as we get back. I’ll be very interested to see what difference a new fridge makes to your power consumption.
The following day, Thursday, we decided to stay at the junction. The torrential rain had stopped, the clouds had cleared and the forecast was for a warm and sunny day. We needed water though and we needed to empty the toilet cassette. We had also just about run out of food so we popped back into Welford to feed both the boat and ourselves.
Back in the pub, the same group of elderly revellers were propping up the bar. After an excellent Cajun chicken and chips we took the boat back to the junction and enjoyed an early afternoon and evening in the sun.
By midday on Friday we were at Foxton Top Lock. We tied the boat up on the visitor moorings then walked down the flight to find one of the three lock keepers on duty and find out what the procedure was. We were told to book in as soon as we were ready to descend. As the boat was devoid of any fresh food we decided to have lunch at the Foxton Locks Inn before tackling the flight.
The lock flight and the pub are very popular with tourists. By the time we ordered our food at 1pm most of the two dozen tables outside next to the junction were full. It was the perfect spot and the perfect day to enjoy an al fresco meal. We couldn’t hang about though, we had some showing off to do.
There were about fifty tourists standing next to the the locks photographing the boats passing through. I haven’t been able to persuade Sally to take the boat through a lock yet, so she was on paddle duty. The watchers didn’t realise, or didn’t care, that they were standing in the way much of the time so Sally had to ask them repeatedly to get out of the way of the paddles or off the gates when she was trying to open them.
Other than that, and the shock of paying £6 for two ice creams as we waited at the top of the flight for our turn, the passage was fairly quick and uneventful as was the immediate right turn onto the Market Harborough arm through the pedestrian swing bridge. The pedestrian swing bridge passage was uneventful. The road swing bridge ten minutes later was not.
Sally didn’t fancy manhandling a 20′ length of road out of the way of the boat so she reluctantly agreed to take the boat through while I opened the bridge. Sally steers the boat quite often but up to that point she hadn’t started it from rest or brought it to a halt. Consequently, and understandably, she made one or two mistakes, which caused one or two more and resulted in the bow being embedded in the undergrowth on the offside, much to her embarrassment and the amusement of the five pedestrians waiting to cross the bridge.
After a little careful coaching she had the boat past the bridge so I could close it and hop back onto the boat from the towpath. The cruise from the bottom of Foxton locks to Market Harborough takes about two hours. There are very few decent moorings along the way. Most of the towpath is obscured by long grass and reeds but we found a short stretch of deep water and Armco rail exposed to the early evening sun to stop for the night.
The canal bank was overgrown but five minutes work with the pair of garden shears we keep on board soon sorted the problem out. We settled down for a couple of hours reading in the sun interrupted only by the occasional cyclist and the distant roar of the A6.
We woke to rain again on Saturday morning but by midday the sun was out and we were on our way again. By 1pm we were in Market Harborough basin, moored next to the Elsan point for long enough to empty our cassette and have a chat with South African continuous cruiser and ex Calcutt resident Monique (Mons) McNaught on her boat Pern.
The subject of the swing road bridge near Foxton came up. I asked her how she managed it on her own. She has an interesting but very effective technique. If there are no other boaters about to help her out, and there’s nowhere for her to tie up to on the offside where the bridge controls are, she ties her boat across the canal so, once the bridge is open, she can hop back onto the boat, take it through the gap, tie it across the canal again, then close the bridge. Crude, but effective!
We walked half a mile from the basin into the town centre to stock up with essentials from the Tesco Metro, stopped at Subway for a steak sandwich, then trudged back to the boat with our shopping. I’ll be OK once I get the circulation back in my fingers.
We stopped for the evening close to our previous night’s mooring, enjoyed a very large bowl of fresh fruit salad, meringue and double and settled down to watch a DVD as we had no television signal.
And that’s where we are now. We’ll stay here until I send the newsletter out later today, then we’ll set off again. I don’t quite know where yet. I don’t think we’ll head back up the Foxton flight yet. We’ll probably explore the Leicester line towards Leicester for another day or two before a very leisurely return to Calcutt.
2014 06 01 Newsletter – Single Handed Boating Part 3
It’s raining AGAIN! More accurately, I should say it’s STILL raining. The rain hasn’t stopped for more than a few minutes since the beginning of the disastrous 2014 Crick Boat Show. Visitor numbers on Saturday were fair, Sunday was poor and Monday was abysmal. In fact, Monday was so bad that by mid afternoon many of the exhibitors in the Kingfisher marquee were playing let’s-see-how-far-we-can-throw-a-paper-plane-without-hitting-a-single-customer. I believe that the winning plane sailed the full length of the tent.
The weather has been a nightmare for Pat and I. Our work is 100% outside. There’s always plenty to do. We work when the ground is iron hard under inches of frost, when the marina is buried under half a foot of ice, when we have to wade thigh deep in snow and when we have to lean in to a wind so strong that boats can’t get through the marina entrance. We work under a sun hot enough to bake the earth and open ankle turning, mower swallowing cracks in the dessicated clay. We work in all conditions, but we really struggle in relentless rain.
It’s the best conditions for grass to grow, but the worst to cut it. Most of the low lying areas are now either under inches of water or just to sodden to cut. And the grass continues to grow. Moorers who usually let their dogs gallop unrestrained around the grounds are now attaching leads to their pets to prevent them disappearing in the long grass.
It’s Wednesday afternoon as I write this. Wednesday is normally a working day for me but there’s not much I can do in the hammering rain. I’ve swapped my days off so I can work later in the week when the weather is supposed to be better. Pat doesn’t have the option of swapping his days. I can hear the sound of his strimmer now over the howling wind and the rain rattling against the windows.
Rather him than me.
The stove is burning of course. I managed about twenty four hours at the beginning of the month with it off, and I let it go out last night, but I lit it again this morning after a quick dash into the woods to break off the dead lower branches from one of the young oaks to use as kindling.
Sally and I are off on our cruise on Sunday. I’m hoping that the worst of the weather will be behind us by then but I know it’s asking too much. We’ll be taking two bags of Pureheat briquettes with is plus a cupboard full of seasoned oak logs. After all, it’s June in England so it’s quite reasonable to have to expect to stoke up the fire and resort to drinking brandy to keep warm.
Talking of drink, I went to a pub for a rare drink on Monday night with fellow live aboard boater Alan Izatt. Alan hasn’t quite cut the apron strings yet. He lives on board during the warmer months but returns to his Somerset home in the winter. He has to visit occasionally during the rest of the year too to comply with a requirement of his insurance policy to occupy the house at least every sixty days. On Monday he journeyed from house to boat by hire car before we journeyed from boat to pub by foot. We walked in the rain of course.
It’s good to get out now and then to relax over a pint or three. I still enjoy the beer as much as I have ever done but I don’t appear to bounce back the following day quite as easily as I did in my youth. Anyway, I enjoyed a quiet night out in an excellent not-quite-canal-side pub. It was the King’s Head at Napton in case you’re in the area. It’s about five minute’s walk from the bridge 109 next to Napton marina. The pub serves excellent food and not a bad drop of beer.
Alan and I touched on the subject of novice boaters and how many struggle to arm themselves with the right information both prior to purchase and immediately after they are are handed the keys to their new boat and unleashed on the waiting waterways. We discussed a service I’ve been thinking about offering novice boaters for a while. We talked about it for a pint or two before drifting onto other subjects and other pints until Sally dragged us kicking and screaming from the bar to her waiting car and then the warmth of the stove-heated boat where I collapsed into an incoherent heap in front of the telly for the rest of the evening. I managed to jot down a note or two to remind me to write about the new service idea in the next newsletter before my mind stopped working completely. The note was effective. The proposed new service is outlined below.
I had Calcutt’s favourite marine electrician, Dave Reynolds, crawling around the engine room on Thursday morning. My alternator was only charging the leisure batteries. I wanted it to charge both the starter and the leisure bank so he had to replace a split charge relay. Because my starter batter wasn’t being charged properly/at all, it had to be replaced. Dave’s back is a little delicate so he asked me to remove the old starter battery and put the new one in place ready for him to finish off the wiring and replace the relay. Dave’s not daft. I thought removing the old battery was going to kill me.
Since the starter battery was fitted (about 1942 if its condition was anything to go by) I’ve had a frame welded around the engine so that I could deaden the noise by fitting insulated deck boards around it. Unfortunately, access to the batteries wasn’t a consideration when the frame was fitted, so I had to lift the battery at a forty five degree angle through a gap roughly one and a half cigarette paper thicknesses wider than the battery. The removal was made even more interesting by me having to lay flat on my stomach to reach it and by the fact that both plastic handles on the battery were missing.
Sally did what she normally does when she hears screams of pain and frustration coming from the engine room. She turned the vacuum cleaner on, turned her music up and moved to the far end of the boat.
I managed to rip the battery out in the end, along with a strip of skin off the knuckles on my right hand. I also managed to splash a couple of drops of acidic water on my face as I wrenched the battery out. Sally prudently decided to leave the boat to do a bit of shopping soon after I raced into the galley with my eyes shut before plunging my head into the washing up bowl to dilute the acid.
I was back in the engine room on Friday. I didn’t really need to but it’s a lovely place to sit and do very little. I emptied my tool box out onto the deck board covering the engine and slowly put all the tools, most of them still clean and unused, back in the box while I watched two proud swans fussing over their four signets as they waited in vain for me to come out of the engine room and throw them some bread. It was a completely unproductive and hugely enjoyable half hour. Then I measured my chimney.
I’ve just ordered a new stainless steel chimney from the Little Chimney Company. My current steel chimney is on its last legs, as is the very poor excuse for a coolie hat which is sitting drunkenly on top of it. Unusually, I can’t find a record of the purchase but I think I bought it about a year and a half ago for about £60. The new chimney costs over twice the price but it’s hand made from far thicker steel, it’s stainless. it’s guaranteed for three years and it’s a thing of beauty. I’ve also gone for the chimney in 2 x 12″ sections so that I can reduce the chimney height for cruising. I have to wait three weeks for delivery. I hope my current chimney will last that long.
A New Service For Soon-To-Be Narrowboat Owners
When I was in the pub in Monday ,I told Alan about a new service I was thinking of offering to anyone considering buying a narrowboat, especially one to live on.
I won’t say too much about it here because I’ve gone into more detail on this page but, basically, I’m thinking of offering a combined narrowboat training and discovery day. The day, hosted on my own live aboard narrowboat, would cost about half as much as a typical RYA helmsman course but would be far broader in scope.
If you are considering buying a boat, whether it’s for leisure cruising or as a full time home, I would be very grateful if you would spend just a few minutes to give me your feedback. I know that every man and his dog wants you to complete feedback forms online but this one will literally take you ten seconds to complete and will really help me decide whether to run with this idea. Additional information about the proposed service, and the link to the feedback form is here. Please take the time to click on the link and complete it.
Boat Handling – Lift and swing bridges
The following is a continuation from last week’s article about negotiating locks. I received an emailed rebuke following this article;
“Fascinating information about locks, but as a single boater how do I get back on to my boat when I’m exiting a downstream lock?”
I should have included the information in the article. I have now so if you want to know how to get back to the helm of your beloved boat when it’s in an empty lock six feet or more beneath you, please reread last week’s newsletter. I’ve added the new information in the bulleted suggestions just above the bogus advert section.
Now that you’re up to speed with locks, it’s time for bridges.
I don’t know much about lift and swing bridges. My only experience of them to date was on my first cruise down the south Oxford and then down the Thames to Beale Park when I took the Calcutt Clipper to the IWA show. I took my then twelve year old son, Brook, with me to help with the bridges and the locks and to enjoy some quality father-son time.
Unfortunately young and slightly built Brook wasn’t strong enough to work the locks and wasn’t heavy enough for the lift bridges. I have a lovely photo somewhere of him swinging on one with all his might but failing to move it an inch.
The following information has been provided, as is often the case when I need the experience of a widely travelled boater, by continuous cruiser Peter Earley…
“Lift and swing bridges are usually a right pain, especially if you’re on an unfamiliar canal and haven’t looked at your Pearson’s too closely.
You’ve pulled over and dropped someone off to open the bridge, backed out into the channel and are patiently waiting. Why is it taking so long you’re thinking when your partner comes back, shouting something to you that you can’t hear over the engine noise. You manoeuvre back to the bank to find they need a handcuff key/BW key/windlass, or all three. Back out into the channel and the bridge is still shut with traffic streaming over and then, AT LAST. Your blood pressure goes back down and you are through. Only another five bridges to go, you think.
Now look at it from your partners view. They’ve had to jump over a 2 foot gap because you can’t get close enough to the bridge. A quick look at the bridge to see how it works, a long wait for the traffic to die down so they can actually get across the bridge to where the lock/console is. Being considerate they wait for that car that has just come round the bend before finally pressing the button. The barriers come down but for what seems an age nothing much else seems to happen except for a lot of whirring noises and then, slowly, the deck starts to move. After you’ve passed through the bridge is closed, again with that long gap without much happening when, suddenly, the barriers are up and that huge queue of traffic you’ve stopped start streaming across. Eventually there’s a gap and they can cross over and get back onboard only to be greeted with you saying ‘why did you take so long’!
Swing bridges and lift bridges come in all shapes and sizes. There are those simple ones on the L & L secured with just a handcuff (probably done up too hard) that may swing with a gentle push or may need you to elicit the help of a group of walkers just get it started. Others just need a turn of the key and a press of the button whilst you look around and count the cars you’ve stopped. In between is very permutation you can think of.
The worst I can recall was the swing bridge next to the Slipway Inn at Burscough. First you unlocked the barrier on the towpath side and lowered it, repeat that on the offside, unlock the retaining latch and pull it up, take your windlass and wind out the wedges then push. When the boat is through you repeated it in reverse. Boaters are saved all this now as it has been converted to fully mechanised. Dock Lane at Shipley is similar except you wind it open with the windlass.
I know we all moan about these bridges but failure is not generally down to poor maintenance. Those swing bridges on the eastern end of the L & L are almost all at the bottom of some lane where every rain shower washes a new batch of grit down into the gaps. Most boaters keep pushing the swing bridge until it crashes into the latch rather than allowing inertia to bring it gently to a stop. And then they moan about CRT.
The swing bridges for foot traffic are generally fairly simple affairs. A wooden or steel deck, counterbalanced on one end and turning on a pintle. A arm stuck out at one end generally gives you enough leverage to enable the bridge to be swung. Likewise with the lift bridges. Those on the Oxford have large wooden beams to provide the counterbalance which you pull down on to open the bridge. If you are lucky, there will be a chain and a hook or nail to attach it to to keep the open, if not, just sit on the beam until the boat has passed. There are other simple ones on the Peak Forest and Northern Stratford that require a windlass to open.
The swing bridges that carry heavy vehicle traffic are a different matter. These have wedges at one end that are pushed into the gap between the bottom of the bridge and its support and so force the other end of the bridge down so that it is rigid for the traffic. This is why there is that big delay between the barriers coming down and the bridge starting to turn. If you watch the deck at this time you will see the bridge deck seeming to twist. Lift bridges of course don’t have these.
Then there are the bridges over very busy roads. These tend to have timers built into the control system to prevent their use during rush hour. Be aware of these if your cruise is to a timetable as you may be waiting for up to 90 minutes.
Now, if you think like me, that these bridges are a pain, then think of the poor single handed boater. Yes, some of these will have landing stages on the offside or operating consoles on the towpath side but these are in the minority and, even where they are provided, may not be us able. A lot of the bridges down to Liverpool have offside landings. Great, except that BW allowed the house owners to extend their gardens to the waters edge. And, of course, you tie your boat to these landings, unlock the bridge and push, only to find that the bridge wants to go where your boat is. With no convenient landing our lone boater has to stop on the towpath, take is centre line over the bridge with him, tie it off, open the bridge and then pull the boat through before closing the bridge and get back on. Of course, if it is a lift bridge he has the added complication of getting the rope around the the obstruction of the raised bridge deck.
No wonder that many will wait until another boat happens along. Which brings me to one last point. If you opened a bridge and another boat arrives, it is convention that you let them through before you get back onto your own boat, even if several boats appear.”
Next week I’m going to finish off the boat handling series with some advice on handling a boat in weather which is less than perfect as a result of receiving this email from Richard Straton…
“I read your articles about handling boats on your own … but the weather was obviously sunny, warm, calm as a mill pond and idyllic. What about a few notes on handling a boat on a windy day, when the weather is wet (not necessarily lashing rain, but the dismal wet air that makes surfaces slippery), snowing, icy, or the sort of conditions that boat operators HAVE to deal with when “moving on”?
Live-aboards would simply say … stay where you are til the weather breaks! A lot of people, like myself and my partner Jean who owns “Jeri Kanda”, are “now and agains”. My two brothers and I (three men in a boat) also hire cruisers from time to time for more extensive adventures. There are many boaters who are hirers who read your pages finding the articles interesting and instructive. Holidays are enjoyed all the more. Tips are useful, making not only the handling of the boat better … but also appreciation of other boat users!”
Point taken Richard. I’ll discuss bad weather boat handling next week. I’ll also highlight some boating do’s and don’ts. After all, now that you know how to get your boat safely from A to B, your journey will be further enhanced by pleasant interaction with other boaters. I’ll tell you what you need to know.
A New Case Study
It’s not often I come across narrowboat owners who appear to have the balance right. The majority of narrowboat owners use their boats as an expensive and far too rarely enjoyed hobby. They spend so much of their time working hard enough to afford the boat, the moorings, the license and the maintenance that they don’t have the time or the energy to enjoy it.
Many boat owners overcome the problem of not spending enough time on their boat by moving on to it full time. Unfortunately they still have to earn a living so although they spend all of their free time on board, they don’t have the time to use the boat for its intended purpose.
Some are fortunate enough to be fully functional in both mind and body when they retire, and have enough of a pension pot to support them, so that they can cruise the canal and river network as and when they please.
A few, a very small minority, are able to combine work with pleasure and continue to work as they cruise. Dave and Alison are one such couple. They need to work to support their lifestyle but because they’re the clever techie types, they can work from the comfort of their boat for just one day a week and enjoy their lifestyle as true continuous cruisers for the rest of the week. What a life!
Please take the time to read this case study and to read Dave’s blog too. It’s well written, regularly updated, informative and very amusing. It’s one of the most entertaining blogs I’ve read (apart from this one of course). The case study is here.
RCR Maintenance Course
I’m grateful to Steve Southcoat for taking the time to write the following. He’s just returned from a two day RCR engine maintenance course. I have to admit that I’m the least practical person I know and the thought of playing around with the engine fills me full of dread. I can’t understand it. My father was an engineer who spent much of his free time up to his elbows in oil rebuilding engines. Why haven’t I inherited his skills?
After four years of boat ownership I now know far more than I did when I first moved on board. It’s still painfully little but it’s enough to make sure that the engine is fit to use before going on a cruise. Unfortunately I’ve encountered a few new boat owners who have paid severe penalties for their own ignorance, penalties which have ended up costing them a fortune.
My own experience of RCR is mainly positive. I have an issue with their administration (frequent phone calls not returned) but the engineer who has come to Calcutt twice now to service my boat’s Mercedes engine has been first class.
Here’s Steve’s report.
“The course is run once a month over a Saturday and Sunday and the tutor was Keith Duffy. As I don’t have a boat yet I decided to go and learn about boat engines before I bought a boat and found out it was a real wreck, as has happened with a number of cars I have bought.
The Aim of the course is to help you:
1. Recognise potential problems
2. Carry out basic maintenance
3. Specify reliable components
There were nine of us on the course, including two women. The course takes you through an oil change, changing fuel, changing air filters and oil filters, changing drive belts and throttle cables, lubricating points, bleeding the fuel system and water system, recognising that the engine works better with a good air supply. Fuel fault finding is also covered.
You receive a 107 page manual on what the training course covers, with lots of useful information about maintaining your boat. There was some basic information on boat electrics, but as they run a course on this subject the information was more common sense than over useful. Batteries and battery types, wiring, alternator charging and split charging.
There was an explanation on how the engine works. The injection system gearbox, gear box drive plates. Cooling systems , stern glands, shaft alignment. They covered why it is important to do maintenance on your boat or if you don’t want to do the work yourself, recognise that the engineer you hire is accurately the job right and completely.
Another useful subject was the domestic water system and laying up for the winter.
I found the course very useful in realising the engine is not much different to my Land Rover diesel engine, but the information provided gave me a greater understanding of how it works. One of the more useful bits of information was that RCR will give advice on parts for engines and can recommend and supply things like oil filters cheaper than paying marina prices. One of the guys on the course has hired an RCR engineer to supervise him doing his own engine maintenance, this still works out cheaper than paying a boatyard to do the job for you.
I thought I had a lot to learn and in some respects I did, but some on the course (boat owners already) knew even less than I did. I found the course a good beginning to maintaining our boat when we get one, also when we look for a boat, I will pay more attention to the engine and engine bay rather than the alternative of relying just on the boat inspection.”
You can find out more about RCR’s engine maintenance courses here.
Pram Covers
I don’t like pram covers. I’ve mentioned my dislike of them from time to time. Not everyone feels the same though. In the spirit of providing you with as balanced a view as possible about these rear deck covers, here’s an email I received recently from boat owner Chris Brown…
“Just one comment on the latest news letter concerning the points you make regarding stern pram covers. I have a 60ft cruiser stern narrowboat and getting a pram cover fitted was one of the best things I have done. The golden rule, of course, is that you should NEVER cruise with the pram cover up. I have occasionally moved the boat in a marina with the cover up and even then it can be a bit of a pain and extreme care must be taken. It takes me less than 10mins to put the cover up and down and the main cover remains on the frame (I remove the two side panels) in the down position. When down it takes up very little room at the rear and I use some bungee cables to keep it neat and away from the sides of bridges and locks etc.”
I Need Some Help!
Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.
Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.
Newsletter Index
I created the site just over three years ago to provide a source of information for anyone interested in narrowboats and the possibility of living on one full time. The site has grown to encompass a comprehensive listing of inland marinas in England and Wales, dozens of articles, a forum and regular newsletters. I’ve already created (below) indexes of the site articles and the more popular forum posts. I thought it was about time I created an easy to use index of the newsletter content. Here’s the index so far.
Single handed boating – Negotiating locks.
Single handed boating – Choosing the right type of boat for single handed cruising and equipment to make your solo journeys safer and more enjoyable.
How to avoid common narrowboat accidents. They happen far more often than you might think. Here’s what you need to keep yourself out of harm’s way.
If you want to live on your boat and don’t want to, or can’t, cruise full time, you must have a residential mooring. Here’s how to find one.
What makes a perfect live aboard narrowboat. Two experienced boaters discuss layout, size and essential equipment
A cautionary tale if you are considering buying a wide beam boat to live on.
A further update to the site content index.
The A -Z of everything narrowboat – With over 5,500 posts and pages on the site now, quickly finding exactly what you want can sometimes be a problem. For this newsletter I started creating and A-Z index of all the site content.
How do you continue to earn money to support your boating lifestyle as you cruise the network?
Sharing your narrowboat space – The practicalities of sharing living accommodation the same size as a large shed.
Paying for a narrowboat – What practical steps can you take to ensure you’ve established legal ownership and how do you deal with the transfer of monies between buyer and seller?
Narrowboat Knots – At my first lock on my first cruise I watched my boat drift into the centre of the canal along with my twelve year old son. If you want to avoid the same embarrassment and potential damage to both your boat and your self esteem, you need to know how to tie your boat securely in a number of different situations.
Toilets is a subject often discussed by narrowboat owners but they usually talk about either pump out or cassette toilets. There is a third type though and it’s one which is both environmentally friendly and cheap to run. Here’s all you need to know about composting toilets.
Boat owners who live on board are considered to have a pretty simple and basic life by many living in bricks and mortar homes. Compared with the lifestyle of the farmers I’ve been staying with in the Philippines though, my UK life seems overly materialistic and expensive. Cou
Here’s an account of my very first winter on board and that of one of the site’s subscribers, Nigel Buttery. They’re very different experiences. My first winter was the coldest on record. Nigel’s is one of the mildest winters we’ve had for a long time.
I’ve also included to links to my Philippines blog. I spent the whole of February living in a rural farming community on the island of Negros.
Have you ever wondered how a narowboat is built. Here are the first two parts of a very detailed account of the building of a Sea Otter aluminium narrowboat. You’ll be particularly interested in Sea Otters if you don’t fancy the constant battle with rust that you have with traditional steel narrowboats.
Condensation is something all boat owners have to deal with. Here’s an explanation of why it occurs and what to do about it. I also tested a remote boat monitoring application in this issue.
Cold floors, cold air above the floors and cold hull sides. It’s a combination which can cause your bottom half quite a bit of discomfort. Here’s what I do to deal with the problem.
Weil’s disease – It’s an often talked about and often feared aspect of living, working or playing close to inland waterways but just how dangerous is it and what can you do to keep yourself safe?
If you’re on a budget maybe a self fit our sailaway is the way to go for you. Here’s the story of a wide beam self fit out to give you inspiration (or put you off completely)
Planning for the year ahead – Written plans and goals have always been important to me. They help me see into the future. Here’s what we’ve planned for our lovely floating home in 2014.
The practicality of hosting Christmas afloat – How do you achieve a floating festive event (and do you really want to)?
Liveaboard case study, The Pearl – Tony and Jane Robinson believe in forward planning. They stated their narrowboat fund thirty years before buying their own boat. Now the two retired education workers moor in a marina for the winter then explore the waterways during the warmer months.
Narrowboat Storage Space – How much space is there to store your worldly goods on board a narrowboat? Here’s a video walk-through of my own boat James.
Roses and Castles Canal Art – What is it and why do boaters spend so much money decorating their boats with it?
Fitting secondary double glazing – Fitting the panels is a simple operation for those with the most basic DIY skills, something which I sadly haven’t developed. As you might expect then, the fitting didn’t go as well as it should.
Narrowboat videos – I launched the Living On A Narrowboat YouTube channel
Secondary double glazing for your boat – The pros and cons of double glazing on a boat and why secondary double glazing is a much better bet and a fraction of the cost.
Living on a narrowboat vidoes – My first hesitant steps into the world of video production for site content
Can you either live or holiday on a narrowboat if you have a disability? – Here’s what you need to know.
Winter fuel allowance – Do you qualify for one if you live on a boat?
Case Study – NB Progress. Kim Wainwright recorded her journey on the forum from nervous anticipation to current liveaboard boat owner. Here’s her story.
Narrowboat central heating – I don’t have any. All that is about to change. Here’s the system I’m going to install and why I’ve chosen it.
Narrowboat running costs – I compare my own running costs to those of a prominent YouTube video blogger and detail my exact costs for October 2013
Popular narrowboat terminology – Hundreds or words or phrases used to describe parts of boats and the waterways they cruise through.
The wind chill factor – How strong the wind is blowing and which direction it’s coming from can determine how difficult it is to heat your boat. Here’s what you need to know.
Case study – Another couple from down under living the dream on the inland waterways.
20th October 2013Condensation. It’s a common problem on boats. Here are a few suggestions how to keep your boat’s interior dry.
A new organisation for liveaboard boaters
On demand water heater problems – Discover a common fault with these water heaters and what you can do to resolve the problem.
Know your firewood – Not all timber burns well. Find out which is best and which to avoid.
Managing your boat’s water supply. You can use your water supply as and when you need it when you live in a house with all mod cons. You can pretty much do the same when you’re on a marina mooring with a water supply just a hose length away. It’s a different kettle of fish when you’re on an online mooring.
Liveaboard case study – A prime example of mooring without a water supply on tap.
The folly of using unseasoned wood as a fuel – Here’s essential information if you plan to use logs you find to heat your boat for free
Creating lasting memories of your cruises – Slightly off topic, but please bear with me. You’ll have some wonderful adventures as you travel throughout the network. They’ll be adventures worth remembering but will you remember them? I have a very poor memory but instant and total recall of all my cruises is just a click away.
A tragedy at Calcutt. Sudden Oak Dieback hits our 1,500 twenty year old oak trees
Forum private messaging – Now you can email other forum users from within the site
Managing your water supply
An American blogs about his travels
Solving engine room leaks – A simple solution to a dripping stern tube
All about the weed hatch – Removing debris from your propeller
8th September
A disaster – I inadvertently deleted this week’s newsletter and there wasn’t a backup on the server. What a shame. It was all about the damage you can do to your boat if you don’t watch what you’re doing in a lock. You would have loved it!
Effective fly killers for boats
The downside to living on a narrowboat
Liveaboard Case Study – American Richard Varnes has taken a year out from work to cruise the canal network and write about his adventure. Here’s his case study and a few stories from his journey so far.
CART Guide Approval – The waterways’ governing body is now promoting the information packages available from this site. Yippee!
Narrowboat Insurance – A summary of insurance quotes from the major narrowboat insurers
Liveaboard Case Study – Keith and Nicky downsized their property in Jersey, used the released capital to buy their 57? “go anywhere” narrowboat and now live on their boat full time while they continuously cruise the canal network. They’re ridiculously young to retire, and I’m very, very jealous
Downsizing from a 3 bed semi to a narrowboat – What do you do with a lifetime’s accumulated possessions?
A free download – Living On A Narrowboat: 101 Essential Narrowboat Articles
Narrowboat tips – Handy hints from experienced narrowboat owners
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How one liveaboard boater manages on a shoestring
The perfect narrowboat washing machine? – It’s low cost and doesn’t need plumbing in, but does it actually clean clothes?
The cost of a continuous cruising lifestyle – How much does living the life of a water gypsy really cost?
The cost of living on a narrowboat – An article in the Daily Mail… and why most boaters disagree with what they said.
Hire boat expectations – Fully understanding what facilities will be available to you is essential if you’re going to enjoy a narrowboat holiday. Here’s what not to do.
Fenland river cruising – Another boater’s maiden voyage to whet your appetite.
Anticipating winter weather – You may well be enjoying unusually warm winter weather but the winter will be with us all too soon. Now is the time that you need to plan for the cold weather ahead.
Keeping your stove glass clean – Maybe you think it’s an odd subject for the summer but you can’t trust the English weather. Late June and the stove was still on now and again. At least now I have a crystal clear view of the fire I shouldn’t need to light.
Traffic chaos caused by Braunston’s historic boat rally – On a day with high winds and a canal full of working boats returning home after the rally, I had the pleasure of taking some very nervous hirers out on the cut.
23rd June 2013 – The cost of a two week cruise. If you live on your own boat, what’s the real cost of taking it away for a two week break?
Case Study – Mary Anne swapped dry land home rental for floating home ownership. Now she loves life afloat and works from home.
Life as a continuous cruiser – The Holy Grail of narrowboat ownership. The ability to travel where and when you like. Peter Early tells all.
The Ashby canal cruise part two – We spent a bit more time on the Ashby before heading south again, joining the Coventry canal, this time following it into Coventry’s rather depressing and disappointing city centre, then retracing our steps back to Calcutt
Most popular narrowboat names – Here’s the definitive list of the top 200 most popular narrowboat names and a resource you can use to find out if any other boat has the same name as yours
Considerate boating – An article prompted after a near head on collision with another boat trying to avoid a fallen oak.
I was on holiday for the first two weeks of June. Sally and I cruised from Calcutt to Braunston, north along the north Oxford where we joined the Coventry canal briefly before taking a very sharp right turn onto the Ashby canal. Here’s a daily report of the first week of our holiday.
An encounter with two poorly prepared holiday boaters and my own impending two week cruise encouraged me to put together a pre cruise check list
Laptop hacking – An update on the problems I encountered after buying a brand new laptop which I suspect was tampered with before I bought it.
Diary of a new narrowboat owner – Frequent forum poster “Our Nige” finally moved on to his new floating home. Here’s his story
My comments about an encounter on the Oxford/GU section between Napton and Braunston sparked a debate about the pros and cons of wide beams on the cut.
Keeping dry – You don’t really need to limit your cruising to sunny summer days. There’s something very special about standing on the back deck in the pouring ran protected by a set of bomb proof waterproofs.
Do you really need a car? Living on a narrowboat is all about enjoying a simple and stress free life. Sally and I had a car each. Mine cost £2,000 to run in the previous 12 months so I decided to get rid of mine to see if I could manage without one.
An encounter with a wide beam boat and why they aren’t suitable for much of the canal network
An interview with the Trust’s head of boating. Sally Ash talks about the Trust’s approach to the thorny issue of residential moorings
Narrowboat fuel tanks – How much do they hold
Meet one of your legless canal side companions
The canal network’s largest floating hotel
Narrowboat blogs – My own first cruise, Our Nige takes his new home on its maiden voyage and a chance for you to have your very own blog section on this site.
The Trust target illegal moorers but just what does the Trust consider to an illegal mooring?
Identity theft – The ongoing saga of my hacked laptop
RCR engine servicing – River Canal Rescue (RCR) are well known as the waterways equivalent of the AA but did you know that they will also come to your mooring to service your boat?
The perils of exceeding your monthly broadband data allowance. Learn from my mistakes.
Narrowboat security – A spate of burglaries from boats and a break in at my former family home encouraged me to write this article
Case study – You need to committed to sell your home to fund the purchase of your narrowboat. That’s what Mick and Marlene have done.
Case study – Sarah lives on wide beam Antioch on the Leeds Liverpool canal. She can do man things with her hands. Here’s her story.
Be inspired – There are always reasons why you don’t make the move from bricks and mortar to steel and water. Here’s an anecdote which demonstrates once and for all that there really aren’t any worthwhile excuses.
Here’s an example of what happens when you really don’t understand how your narrowboat works.
Essential boating equipment – Here’s a low cost item which has paid for itself over and over again.
Whilton marina boat sales – Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be. This alleged fact about the boat sales at Whilton has come to me from several different sources.
Where can you find residential moorings? Here’s a great place to start
Getting rid of unwelcome visitors – Geese used to regularly disturb a peaceful night’s sleep where I moor. Not any more. Here’s my solution
Know your narrowboat costs – Detailed costs for my own boat for February 2013
Half a dozen boaters now have access to their own blog section on the site. You can too. Here’s how.
James’ upgrade – Adding solar panels and replacing carpets with oak effect laminate flooring
Stove fuel test – What works best; coal, wood, briquettes or something else entirely – Here’s my own take on a Waterways World test
Essential stove maintenance – Here’s what you need to do to make sure that your stove always performs well.
Internet connectivity – I use the internet four or more hours every day. This is the setup I have on my boat to make sure that I’m always connected.
Detailed running costs for my own boat for January 2013
The real cost of going cheap. An in depth look at the cost of my 36 year old boat, and how much I spent (and still need to spend) before it will be a comfortable full time cruising boat.
Case Studies – I put together 21 of the best case studies and analysed and summarised the data in this low cost guide. If you want ton save yourself hundreds of hours of research and costly mistakes, you need to read this guide.
Case Study – Mike’s circumstances are similar to my own. He moved onto his boat after a failed marriage. He’s upgraded from a 27? GRP cruiser to a 50? narrowboat
Narrowboat electrics part 2 – The concluding article from Tim Davis
I asked newsletter subscribers to send me detailed breakdowns of their bricks and mortar expenses so I could compare them with the cost of running a narrowboat. Quite a few subscribers obliged. I added the breakdowns to my narrowboat costs guide and the budgeting application.
Understanding narrowboat electrics – Another excellent article from Tim Davis
Satellite television for narrowboats – Information from a system installer
Low cost narrowboat ownership – A low cost solution to the problem of funding your first narrowboat
Solar power – All you need to know about installing solar panels on your boat. Written by the inland waterways most popular solar system installer
Case Study – Mr. Solar Panel Tim Davis writes about life on board his own narrowboat
First tests and reviews of the budgeting application
The best aerial for a narrowboat television
The first release of the new spreadsheet based narrowboat budgeting application
An unscheduled dip in the marina prompted me to write about safety on the waterways
Living on a narrowboat – Through the eyes of a young lady who would clearly prefer to be somewhere else
I started to develop the narrowboat budgeting software. This newsletter detailed the concept and the progress to date
Practical flooring for narrowboat dogs
Case study – Mike and Mags use a double redundancy payment to pay for their new floating home
The best tip for a wannabe narrowboat owner – Advice from existing boat owners
I published my guide Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat. When this newsletter was published it was only available as a Kindle edition. Now it’s available in both Kindle and PDF format and is bundled with Narrowbudget, the site’s bespoke narrowboat budgeting application.
VAT on narrowboat sales
Dealing with pests on a narrowboat – spiders and swans
Posh boats – My personal favourite: S.M. Hudson
Repeat prescriptions, diesel heating systems and solar panels
Survey – Do you want a forum on the site? (You already know the answer to that!)
How to clean your stove glass – One of the real pleasures of a living fire is watching the flames on a cold winter’s eve. Here’s what you need to do to ensure you can actually see the fire.
Smoking on board – An alternative to smelly smoke
DIY narrowboat painting – I’ve broken down the complete cost of painting your own boat and
Dealing with wind on the river – A guest article from liveaboard narrowboat owner Alan Cazaly
DIY narrowboat painting – I spent three weeks in April painting my boat. Here’s the first of my progress reports
Life on the river Cam – A guest article on the pleasures of river life by wide beam liveaboard Luther Phillips
Case Study – Freelance writer Anne and her South African farmer partner John reveal all
Case Study – Toni cruises constantly with ex husband Allan. They cruise together but they live apart… on separate boats
As a result of the article about the downside of living on a narrowboat published in the 18th March newsletter, I asked liveaboard narrowboat owners to complete a survey to give a balanced view of the issues raised by Pauline. Here are the survey results and a much more positive article by liveaboard narrowboat owner and frequent forum contributer Peter Early.
The downside of living on a narrowboat – This was a very controversial post. Liveaboard Pauline Roberts wrote about the less pleasant aspects of life afloat… and attracted a storm of comments
Case study: The Woodsman – Pauline Roberts again giving an insight into the life that you may think she doesn’t like.
Reviewed: The Liveaboard Guide by Tony Jones. A great guide to living afloat
eBay Narrowboat scam (and a little bit of flack for me from another forum)
Case Study: Author Toby Jones on his own liveaboard narrowboat
A review of Debdale Wharf marina
Two more case studies. One of them waxed lyrical about life on the waterways and enjoyed every minute of her life afloat. Now (April 2013) she’s selling up to follow another dream in Spain.
The first four narrowboat case studies published
I’ll start with myself; Paul Smith, living on my own, moored in a marina and working full time. Narrowboat James case study
Meet Peggy. She has a husband and two small children, works full time and cruises the network during the summer months. Narrowboat Violet Mae case study
Fancy spending your retirement cruising the waterways of England and Wales? Meet Barry and Sue Horne. They’re living the dream! Narrowboat Adagio Case Study
Here are another working couple. Lina and Warren cruise the cut with their two cats.Narrowboat Olive Rose case study.
Article – Living on a narrowboat in winter
1th January 2011 – 1st Newsletter
Dealing with the coldest winter on record
Digital reading – A detailed review of the Kindle, the perfect solution for book loving boat owners
Comprehensive Site Article Listing
There are dozens of helpful and interesting articles on the site, but have you found them all? I thought you might appreciate a list of the more popular articles that you can glance through and click on the ones that take your fancy. Here it is.
Popular Forum Posts
There’s a wealth of information on the site in general, but if you’re struggling to find the answer to a particular issue, the forum is the place to find it. I’ve listed some of the more popular posts below but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask your question on the forum. If you don’t know how to create a post, or if you can’t log in, please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to get you up and running.
- Aluminium Boats – They don’t rust so why don’t you see more of them on the inland waterways?
- Ironing Board On Board – How do boaters manage a crease free life?
- Freezing Water – How to stop your pipes and pumps from freezing in the winter
- CRT & Continuous Cruising – The Trust and their enforcement of the rules
- Heat – Advice for the owner of a cold boat
- GPS Devices and Canal Mapping – Are there any decent ones available for your narrowboat and do you need them anyway?
- Battery Monitors – Replacing your leisure batteries is one of your more expensive maintenance costs. Here’s some detailed information about a device for looking after your batteries
- Survey Costs – How much should you pay to have your boat removed from the water for a survey?
- Battery monitors – Gimmick or essential boating equipment?
- Engine size and performance – Most engines are suitable for pottering about on the canal but what size engine do you need if you plan to cruise on rivers?
- A Big Inverter Or A Suitcase Generator – What are the pros and cons of either option?
- Who Owns Your Boat? – How do you find out if there’s still finance attached to your boat when you buy it.
- Boat Shares – A low cost alternative to outright narrowboat ownership. Advice from a current share owner
- Plumbing In A Back Boiler – Advice Offered
- Inverter Installation – What do you need and can you fit one yourself?
- Getting Rid Of Space Wasting CD’s & DVD’s – The solution is to digitise your collection. Here’s how to do it.
- Depreciation – How much does a new narrowboat lose in value as the years go by?
- The Cost Of Continuous Cruising – How much does the nomadic lifestyle really cost?
- 12v Narrowboat Washing Machines – Is there any such animal?
- “Chiggers” – It’s a mite you can pick up from the ever growing population of Canada Geese. Beware!
- Post & Postal Addresses For Continuous Cruisers – You need an address in order to receive post and open bank accounts, register for doctors and hospitals etc. How do continuous cruisers with no fixed abode manage it.
- Keeping Cool On A Narrowboat – How to keep people and pets cool in the summer
- It’s Official: There’s No Need To Pay Mooring Fees – Or so this Daily Mail article claims. You may disagree. I do.
- Overcrowded Waterways – More and more people are choosing a life afloat. Are the waterways becoming congested?
- VAT On New Narrowboats – Can you knock 20% off the cost of your new narrowboat?
- Lock Techniques – How do you handle a narrowboat in a lock on your own?
- Narrowboat Burglary – Two boats burgled at the same location. Where is it and what can you do to minimise the risk of theft from your own boat wherever you are?
- Insuring Your Car When You Live On A Boat – A boat owner had his car insurance cancelled when he told them he lives on a narrowboat. How does he approach other insurance companies?
- Remedies For Sooty Stove Glass – For me, one of the great pleasures of living on a narrowboat is a winter evening in front of a flickering fire. Here’s how you can keep your stove glass clear so you can see the fire in all its glory
- Visitor Moorings With Shore Power – Sometimes you need to hook up to the mains when you moor for the night. Where can you find these moorings?
- Steam Power – Are there any steam powered narrowboats on the network?
- Lightning – Is there a risk of your narrowboat being struck by lightning?
- Overplating/Replating – What’s the difference between the two and what’s involved in having the work done?
- The Logistics Of Buying A Boat – A fascinating account from a potential narrowboat owner as he tried to get a boat out of the water so that it can be suryeyed.
- Winter Stoppages 2013/2014 – The Trust carry out essential scheduled repairs during the quieter, cooler months. Here’s their planned stoppages for the coming winter.
- A New Narrowboat Dog – Alan recently moved on board his own floating home. He loved his new boat but something was missing. Now he has a new best friend and he’s in love, although his new best friend has proven a bit of a challenge.
- Electric Boats – What do they cost to run? Why would you want one? There’s a huge amount of information for you here if you’ve ever considered an alternative to a diesel narrowboat engine.
- Pram Covers – “Pram cover” is the term for a cover over the rear deck, usually on a cruiser stern narrowboat. Here are the pros and cons.
- The difference between cruising on canalas and rivers – This is a very popular thread for very good reason. It’s packed with advice if you’re new to river cruising.
- Checklists – What do you need to check before you set off on a cruise? There’s some very detailed information including a very useful post by fellow Calcutt moorer Graham who has issues with his mobility after an RTA many years ago.
- Television Aerials – If you can’t live without your Corrie, you’ll need a decent aerial for your boat.
- My New Life – I urge you to read this forum thread. If you dream of living on your own narrowboat one day, reading this post, written by a new liveaboard boater, may well prove the catalyst you need. It’s essential reading for any aspiring narrowboat owner.
- Narrowboat Ownership – How do you prove that the person offering a narrowboat for sale is the real owner?
- Tips For Continuous Cruisers – He’s making a bit of a habit of it; Pearley’s back with some great cruising tips
- The Llangollen Canal – One of the country’s most beautiful canals discussed
- Deliveries to your boat – Excellent information from regular forum contributor Pearley
- Mobile Broadband – All you need to know about internet connectivity on board
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that fellow boaters can steal your internet data allowance?
- Boat Planning & Design – Is there any free software available to hel you plan your dream boat?
- A Narrowboat Checklist – What checks do you need to carry out before you set out on a cruise?
- Tunnels – How do you navigate them? Who has priority?
- Windows Or Portholes – Round or square, which is best? Is it just a matter of personal preference?
- Day To Day Questions About Narrowboat Life – How can “newbies” find out the answers to questions about day to day life on a narrowboat? The answer is simple. Find out by reading this post.
- Beds – The pros and cons of fixed doubles and cross beds. You need to read this if you are taller or slightly wider than average.
- Flushing Out a Toilet Waste Tank – Emptying your pumpout toilet holding tank isn’t just a case of sucking out your unmentionables. You also need to flush water through the tank to remove the built up solids. Here’s how to do it.
- Narrowboat Knots – Do you know your bowline from your buntline hitch, your cleat hitch from your clove hitch or your poacher’s knot from your square knot? No? It’s about time you did!
- Free Narrowboat Heating – Is there any such thing? Read this post to find out
- Narrowboat Furniture – Not everyone wants fitted furniture on their boat. Here are a few ideas if you want to add your own.
- Weight on a narrowboat – How many people can you carry on a narrowboat, and how much luggage can they bring with them?
- Narrowboat Finance – A Canadian hoping to move to the UK, buy a boat and cruise the network.
- Internet Data Theft – Did you know that you can have your boat’s broadband allowance stolen? Here’s what you can do to prevent the theft.
- Problems Powering An Inverter With A Generator – Why didn’t it work and what’s the solution?
- Diesel Costs – You need it to run your boat and maybe your heating system. How much can you expect to pay for it?
- Stove Top Fans – Are they worth the money?
- Mooring Pins and Piling Hooks – What are they and when do you use them?
- Water Pump Problems – What to do if your water pump appear to have a life of its own
- Fuel Contamination – How do you know if you’ve water in your diesel… and what do you do about it when you have?
- Anchors – What’s the best size and weight anchor for narrowboats on tidal rivers
- Single Handed Boating for Ladies – Can a lady on her own pass safely through locks?
- Different Types of Mooring – What’s the difference between residential and leisure moorings? How long can you stay on your boat with each type?
- Which Ropes To Use? – There are so many different types available. Are the more expensive ones worth using or is it just a case of money for old rope?
- Windows – Why do narrowboat owners tolerate condensation? Why don’t they have modern uPVC windows fitted?
- Best Ex Hire Boats – Are you considering buying an ex hire boat to live on? Should you? Here’s some important information for you.
- Liveaboard Conclusions – Mel Davies has been doing plenty of research into her hoped for lifestyle afloat. Here are the conclusions she’s reached and comments from a few existing liveaboard narrowboat owners.
- Handling Floodwaters – How safe is a river mooring during and after heavy rain? Can you stay on a river when the level rises? What can you do to minimise danger?
- Narrowboat steel thickness – How thick is your boat’s steel? How long does it last?
- Retro fitting a solid fuel stove – Where’s the best place to put your stove and what’s involved in fitting it?
- Converting from a cassette toilet to a pump out – A pump out toilet is far more convenient to use than a toilet with a portable cassette but how easy are they to retro fit in a narrowboat?
- Gas free boating – If you don’t fancy heaving unwieldy gas bottles into a difficult to reach bow locker, a gas free boat might be the solution
- Winter on the cut – Are you able to cruise all year on your boat or should you find a mooring for the winter?
- Transporting your boat – Sometimes you may want or need to take your narrowboat by road rather than cruise along the canal. Here’s an idea of the cost
- Bike types and preferences – If you don’t have a car parked near your boat, you’ll probably want a bike, but which type of bike is best?
- Towing a butty – I’ve upset someone. I didn’t mean to. Wainbody wanted to know the best way of towing an unpowered second narrowboat (butty). I came across as patronising when I replied. It was unintentional but to make amends I thought I would ask anyone with boat handling experience to reply to his thread with some constructive advice. If you can help him, please reply to the post.
- The best flooring for a narrowboat pets – What’s the best way to protect your floor from a dirty doggy?
- The best time of the year to buy a boat – Is there a deal to be done by buying a boat in the winter?
- The best length for a liveaboard narrowboat – What’s the best length to buy? What are the pros and cons of different length boats
- ONE tip to offer a potential narrowboat owner – If you are already a narrowboat owner, you can share your experience. If you haven’t bought one yet, you need to read this thread.
- Powering your computer on a narrowboat – Can you power your computer/laptop from the boat’s 12v supply or do you need mains power?
- Must-have gadgets and necessities – The most useful/useless gadgets for life on a narrowboat
- Choosing a stove for your boat – Are domestic solid fuel stoves as good as the ones designed specifically for boats? Which is the best one to buy?
- Diesel heating for boats – How important is a solid fuel stove on a liveaboard narrowboat? Is a diesel heating system OK as a primary heat source?
- Computers on boats – Can a computer be powered from your boat’s 12v system or does it need to be plugged into the mains
- Receiving post on your boat – How does the postman find you when you’re cruising? How do you apply for a driving license, a TV license or a bank statement when you have no official address?
- Bikes on board – Many boat owners do not have cars so they rely on bikes to get them to the shops (or the pub). Some use bikes to collect their cars after a day’s cruising. There’s a huge selection of bikes to choose from. Which are the best for your boat? To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer. Can you point forum member Ainslo in the right direction?
- VAT on narrowboat sales – Does the price of your narrowboat contain a VAT element? Can the VAT be reclaimed?
- Internet access – How do you connect to the internet when you live on a boat?
- Living off property rental income – Do you have a property that you indend to let while you cruise the waterways? Read this before you work out your budget.
- How to find a narrowboat to live on – Here’s an article about choosing a liveaboard narrowboat, and a question about finding a narrowboat with a steering wheel.
- Vertigo – How to deal with walking over lock gates if you’re frightened of heights.
- Long term narrowboat hire – If you aren’t ready to buy a narrowboat yet, what are your chances of hiring a narrowboat for more than a few weeks?
- Residential moorings and single handed boating – How do you handle a narrowboat on your own? What do you do about a mooring if you live on board and only want a mooring for part of the year
- Too tall for a narrowboat? – Is a narrowboat suitable for you if you are above average height?
- Dealing with condensation – Do all narrowboats suffer from damp? What can you do about it?
- Solar panels – More information about portable and fixed solar panels
- Heating systems – Hurricane and Mikuni heating systems discussed
Useful Links
Living on a Narrowboat: The REAL Cost of a Life Afloat – Narrowboat costs explained in detail. My own maintenance and living cost on narrowboat James for a full year. Use this information to work out your own costs.
CRT (Canal & River Trust) maintain the waterways. Here’s their site.
Find out what parts of the canal are closed and for how long. Essential cruising information for you.
Do you need to find a home for your boat? Here’s a comprehensive list of the narrowboat friendly marinas in the UK
Do you want to see where these marinas are on a map? Here it is.
Here’s a map of all the canals on the system to help you plan your route.
Newsletter Archive – Browse through a wealth of useful content in the newsletters over the last year.
Find out more about narrowboat central heating costs here.