Welcome To Your Personal Narrowboat Advisor
This page is a distillation of everything I've learned - everything I've written over the last ten years. If you don't find the answer you're looking for, use the form at the bottom of the page to ask me to write one.
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'My goal is to provide a 'One-Stop-Shop' for you if you're an aspiring boat owner. I've invested ten years of waterways experience in this section, providing information to help guide you through your boat buying process. The real challenge though begins once you have your boat. I hope to make the steep learning curve less of a chore for you by providing you with as much information as possible through links from this page.'
Introduction
Let me introduce myself. That's me, Paul Smith, in the photo above, posing next to Blake Mere on the Llangollen canal for my future wife Cynthia. The ploy worked so we married, cruised England's canals for a while and then explored Europe by motorhome for a couple of years. We missed boating so much that we purchased a classic steel and mahogany Dutch motor cruiser for cruising the Netherlands' 4,000 mile network of rivers, canals, lakes and even an inland sea. That part scared the pants off me.
We thought we would spend the rest of our lives living afloat in Europe, but Cynthia's health and the Dutch boat builders fondness for tissue thin insulation scuppered our plans. While Cynthia's now exploring the great big canal network in the sky, I've carried on splashing through England's muddy ditches in my 62' traditional stern narrowboat, Orient.
I moved onto a narrowboat in April 2010. I've cruised 5,000+ miles since then and negotiated thousands of locks, mainly as a solo boater. Each of my four boats has needed refurbishing to some degree so I know a thing or two about the B.O.A.T. acronym (Bust Out Another Thousand, or something like that).
I've worked at marinas in the UK and in Holland, owned and steered fat boats and thin, and handled every size and configuration narrowboat on the market. I don't like blowing my own trumpet, but I have a great deal of experience on and around the inland waterways.
My goal here is to pass as much of it on to you.
As a subscriber to my Narrowboat Advisor service, you're welcome to email me or phone me with as many questions as you like. Before you do though, please look at the sections below. My goal is to include answers to all of the questions I'm asked by both my Narrowboat Advisor customers and my Discovery Day guests. If you reach the end of this section without finding the answers you're looking for, please use the form at the bottom of the page to share your questions with me.
This section is easy to navigate despite its length. I've broken it into sections which are linked below. Click on one of the titles to go to the section and then on the 'Back to index' link to return to your start point. Off you go then on your voyage of discovery. I hope that you enjoy the ride.
Purchasing Tips, Tricks and Recommendations
Mooring Requirements, Availability and Desirability
Length, Width, Depth and Style
Layout, Equipment, Features and Fittings
If you're buying a boat to use as a home you should know what the lifestyle's really like. I know that probably sounds obvious to you but I meet more boaters than I should who buy a floating home without doing any research. Take this guy for example.
New boats are sometimes delivered by road to Calcutt Boats' slipway. The marina offers a handy central location for boat owners to begin or continue their waterways exploration. A low loader arrived on a sunny spring day carrying a brand new custom built narrowboat costing £150,000. The new owner, a giant of a man, followed in his car.
Our guys lifted the boat careful from the lorry and lowered it onto our slipway trailer. Our normal routine then is for our tractor driver to slowly push the trainer down a slipway into the marina until it floats free. A Calcutt Boats employee rather than a boat owner stands at the helm ready to reverse the craft away from the trailer.
I was the employee in this occasion with the new owner standing next to me at the helm looking a little apprehensive. I backed the boat off our trailer, spun the boat around, stood to one side and offered the tiller to the new owner. 'There you go,' I said, getting out of his way. 'Do you want to take her for a spin around the marina?' He looked positively petrified at this stage. 'Would you mind telling me what to do?' MORE HERE
Yes... No.... Maybe! There are so many factors which will determine how comfortable you are on your boat in cold weather. This post will tell you all you need to know.
I'm not trying to put you off this wonderful lifestyle, but it's not for everyone. Please read this post so you know what's in store for you if you decide to live on England's inland waterways network.
I didn't have anything with me other than a rucksack holding a few clothes when I moved onto my first narrowboat. But I met a lady two years later who thought that moving in with me would be a good idea. She owned a property filled with stuff she accumulated over twenty years. What do you do with a house full of stuff when you want to live on a narrowboat. Here are some insights for you.
You can either make mistakes and learn from them or learn from the many mistakes other first time boaters have made. Because I'm not the brightest button I chose the first route most of the time. I know that you're much more sensible than me and you're champing at the bit to read this post.
One person says, 'What a wonderful day!' Another replies,' You must be joking. It's too wet/dry/hot/cold!' I like to think of myself as a positive person. Even when things go wrong I try to imagine how I can put a humorous spin on the tale in years to come.
Not everyone shares my glass-half-full philosophy. I spent half an hour with one of the most miserable boaters I've ever met a few years ago. Here's what I think she would make of life on board my boat.
To counter the negative view of life afloat recounted by the world's most miserable boater, here's a view of the same boat and lifestyle from someone who's glass is half full.
Ever wondered what a typical day is like for a residential narrowboat owner? Here's a post I wrote six years ago when I was living on my first boat. I spent nearly all of my time moored in the marina then so if you're thinking of getting a residential mooring in a marina you'll find this post interesting. Please note though that there are very few marinas as tranquil, spacious or as aesthetically pleasing as the two at Calcutt Boats.
Purchasing Tips, Tricks & Recommendations
How do you feel now? Do you still want to buy a boat to use on England's inland waterways? You do? Good.
Before we go any further though, I want to address an important issue. There are a growing number of aspiring live aboard boat owners who want a fat boat, a wide beam, a boat which is sometimes referred to as a wide beam narrowboat. That's madness. It's like calling someone a fat thin person. They're one or the other and so are boats on the inland waterways.
If you're considering a wide beam to use for cruising, please read the post linked to under the Length, Width Depth and Style heading. Cruising is not easy in a wide beam boat! If you want one to use as a houseboat, great. But make sure that you thoroughly research the cost of moorings and the logistics involved in hauling your boat out of the water for essential maintenance. OK. I've got that off my chest now. MORE HERE
A narrowboat is likely to be the single most expensive purchase you will ever make after your house. It may even become your new house and cost you in excess of £100,000. Your purchase is not something you should rush into. Here are some topics to consider before you start your search.
Your stern choice can make a big difference to your life afloat. Here are the pros and cons to cruiser, traditional and semi-traditional sterns.
There's always something to fix, improve or change on a narrowboat. Reading this post will give you an idea of the type of challenges ahead of you after you've purchased your boat.
You should arrange a new BSS exam and a survey before you agree to buy a boat and then, if you decide to go ahead with the purchase, arrange a familiarisation day with the previous owner. Find out more here.
Of the four boats I've owned only one of them was purchased conventionally. By that I mean first viewing the boat, then haggling a little over the price and then handing a wad of cash over to the broker or owner.
I didn't have enough money for my first, third or fourth boat. But I was determined to own them so I had to think outside the box. If you find yourself in a similar situation, maybe this post will set you on the right track.
You're very lucky if you buy a boat with a working and large enough domestic battery bank. Keep some money aside from your boat buying budget for battery replacement and fitting. Expect your new bank to fail and check or replace them before your maiden voyage. I wish I could follow my own advice.
After living and working on England's inland waterways I like to think that I know a thing or two about narrowboats. I was pretty sure that I had found a problem free home when I viewed Orient for the first time. Even so, I asked a BSS examiner buddy to confirm my opinion. What he found shocked me and ultimately saved me £5,000. Here's why you should alway have a survey done before parting with your cash.
When you apply to CRT for your boat license, you will be asked to name your home mooring. If you don't have a mooring you will be classed as a 'boat without a home mooring', a phrase which is usually knows as a continuous cruiser.
As a continuous cruiser, you are obliged to adhere to certain rules. The most important of these is that you must agree to cruise on a progressive journey. So you cruise from point A to B to C to D and so on. You are not allowed to flit from A to B and back to A again so that you can stay in one area for work purposes. Boaters who do this are known as 'Bridge Hoppers' or 'Continuous Moorers' Roving CRT enforcement officers geo tag all the boats they pass.
These records are stored on the boat owner's CRT account and used to judge whether continuous cruisers are moving often enough. CRT email, text or phone you if you're not to politely ask you to move more. If you don't comply CRT will, in extreme cases, begin legal proceedings to have you and your boat removed from the network.
If you need to continue working when you move afloat and you can't work from home, either consider an official residential mooring or investigate the viability of a continuous cruising lifestyle
A leisure mooring is for mooring your boat when you aren’t using it. The mooring may have all the facilities you need to live on board (electricity, water and sewage disposal) but you aren’t allowed to live there. You are allowed to visit and you are usually allowed to stay on board for days or even weeks. The duration of your visits will be determined by your particular marina. Unless you have an arrangement with your marina, you can’t use your mooring as a postal address.
A residential mooring requires planning permission. Your marina has to satisfy the local council that they have adequate sewage and waste disposal facilities to accommodate residential moorings. You can stay as long as you like on your residential mooring. It is your home and, as such, you can use it as your postal address. And because a residential mooring is classed as a home, you have to pay council tax.
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Finding a residential mooring is hard, much harder than finding a boat to put on one.
Aquavisita have 700 residential moorings across their eighteen marinas. With 3,800 moorings, CRT is the network's largest mooring provider. You can search available moorings here.
Please note that CRT moorings are often on public footpaths and have limited facilities. When I last looked at their website, a towpath mooring in Braunston was available for £3,400 pa. The towpath mooring is on a narrow and often busy footpath close to a busy road and smelly Elsan point. Check all moorings thoroughly before considering them further.
Many marinas which accept residential boaters don't advertise the fact. The best strategy is to visit a marina you like and look for signs of residential boater moorings like boat-related clutter on cabin roofs or pontoons. Speak to these boaters and ask what the real rules are.
Good luck with your search.
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'Can you tell me the rules of the inland waterways?' Many of my Discovery Day guests ask the question quite innocently and look confused when I laugh so hard I nearly fall off my boat. You see, there aren't really any hard and fast rules on England's canals. Proper cruising form is more about doing the right thing, about etiquette, than orders which must be followed to the letter.
My Discovery route is perfect for training novice boaters. Our route takes us through six miles of beautiful Warwickshire countryside on a canal which twists and turns like a snake with stomach ache. On a route popular with summer boat hirers, we expect to meet an oncoming boat around every tight bend and blind bridge hole. And we expect those at the helm to be completely clueless.
There's a partnership of sorts: I show my guests how to handle a narrowboat the correct way and the dozens of novice boaters we pass demonstrate many silly and dangerous mistakes. Still, they're not to blame. These poor helmsmen and women are given very little practical tuition before being handed the keys to boats longer than articulated lorries.
I'll share more theoretical boat handling tips and tricks with you in this section FINISH THIS
No, the most important part of a narrowboat isn't the nut behind the wheel. It's a length of rope which is fixed to the middle of the cabin roof. The rope stretches back to the rear deck where it can be reached by the helmsman. Here's why it's so important, especially if you are a solo boater.
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Length, Width, Depth and Style
An introduction to that section here
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I live on a pretty boat which turns heads wherever I go. There's more to life than aesthetics though. Here are some practical considerations to bear in mind.
Many aspiring narrowboat owners think that cruiser stern boats are best for them because of the increased deck space for entertaining guests. I don't agree with them. You'll find out why in this post.
A pram cover is the commonly used phrase for the sentry box like structure which covers some narrowboat rear decks, usually cruiser or semi-traditional sterns. There are some major disadvantages with this feature, especially if you expect them to keep you out of the weather when you're cruising. Click here to find out more.
Layout, Equipment, Features and Fittings
Unlike road vehicles, there's rarely a standard style or layout with narrowboats that you can attribute to particular makes and models. No two boats are the same although there are some standard features you can look for.
I'm often asked whether ex hire boats are good buys for people who are thinking about living afloat.
No, they are not!
My boat, Orient, is 62' long. I could accommodate four people at a push because there's more emphasis on living than sleeping space in my cabin. On the other hand, a similar length hire boat will have enough berths for eight people and probably two bathrooms/toilets. Hire boats are designed to accommodate as many people as possible for short periods. The reverse is true for live aboard boats.
Your boat's equipment will also have an impact on its practicality. A narrowboat which rarely leaves its marina mooring doesn't need to be as sophisticated as one used for off-grid cruising. This section will help you to understand how your boat should be configured and the equipment you should have in it.
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There are four different types of toilets on narrowboats; pump out, cassette, composting and incinerating. Here's what you need to know about them.
I have an impressive array of boating tools, most of which are as bright and clean as the day I bought them. I should try to learn how to use them.
Anyway, here's what I keep on board, plus a list of tools owned by other live aboard boat owners.
Both narrowboats I've owned were fundamentally suitable for living on. They had the best configuration to maximise living space and each had plenty of built in storage. Here's an analysis of the first of those boats, James No 194.The post is in two parts. You can read part one here and part two here. I hope you find this article useful when deciding what you want on your boat.
Logistics
How do you plan to use your boat? If your goal is to buy a boat, plonk it on a mooring and then live in your floating flat for ever more, your life won't change much. However, if you plan to live off grid you have to adapt to a completely different way of thinking.
THE most difficult hurdle to overcome is learning how to manage your electricity generation and consumption. If you don't change the way you think, you'll make your life exceptionally difficult. The solution isn't to turn your boat into an electricity generating powerhouse. You need to make do with less and adapt to life on England's canals and rivers.
I've wrestled the following gems of information from bitter experience. They're here to pave the route towards an idyllic life afloat.
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There's no reason why a good narrowboat engine should let you down. You're cruising at an average of 2-3 mph so the engine isn't stressed at all. Get a boat with a decent engine and look after it. Here are a few tips.
The more carefully you manage your utilities the happier your off-grid life will be. I wrote this post after three years living on my first narrowboat, James. It makes me chuckle now. James' 350 litre water tank was quite small by narrowboat standards. I shared my boat with a lady at that stage of my life and we filled the tank every three or four days. I was in awe of a lady who reported that her tanks contents lasted a staggering six weeks. I have a much larger tank these days. Even so, my 750 litre tank now lasts me for eight weeks. Now that is careful water management. (And, no, I don't smell!)
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Here's another cautionary tale for you. You need to take care if your boat is fitted with a coal or wood burning stove. Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are designed to save lives. One of my four smoke alarms saved my life three months after I purchased Orient.
There are roughly 35,000 registered boats on the inland waterways network. Finding out how many of those have people living on board is difficult, and the percentage of those still working harder still. But one thing is clear; the percentage of boat owners who continue to work for a living is growing quickly.
The need for social distancing and home working is a factor, as is better digital connectivity. There's probably no need to wait until you retire before moving afloat. I hope that the following section will help steer you in the right direction.
I know many people who work from their boats. In fact, I'm one of them. Even though I've worked at a marina for the last ten years, I've also managed my boating business from my boat.
I struggled with internet connectivity when I first moved afloat but technology has advanced since then. I have a Three SIM costing £20 a month which gives me unlimited data. The SIM goes into a router which connects to a rooftop booster.
I have a 645w solar array which provides me with plenty of power. I'm on a remote and beautiful mooring at the moment, happily working in a tranquil environment far away from the stresses of modern day life. It's pure bliss!
A friend of mine is a senior operations manager for an international company. Last year he was flying to either China or the USA every week. He's out on the cut this year working from pretty moorings and wondering what to do with all of his free time.
If you currently work from home, I promise you that you can do so just as easily from a narrowboat on the inland waterways.
Are you one of those clever people who fixes something just by looking at it? You are? Then there's plenty of work waiting for you on England's inland waterways.
I don't belong to this illustrious group. If something breaks on Orient I need someone to fix it for me. The good news for you is that skilled and reliable tradesmen are in short supply.
I waited two months last year for a guy recommended to me by the guy who carried out Orient's commercial Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) examination. Despite being thrilled when he finally arrived I couldn't wait for him to leave.
Despite spending the day dithering and telling me why jobs I wanted doing couldn't be done, this guy charged £45 an hour. And he was fully booked for weeks!
Obviously you couldn't hope to achieve a full time income immediately doing this kind of work, but news travels fast throughout the network. The work's there if you want it providing you know what you're doing and you treat your customers with the respect they deserve.
Roving Traders are boat owners who sell products or services from their boats on the inland waterways network. I am a Roving Trader.
Roving Traders sell beer, wine, cheese, sweets, hot drinks and snacks, clothing, narrowboat ropes, tiller pins and fenders, artwork, embroidery and, one of my favourites, bespoke ballpoint pens made from wood reclaimed from old working narrowboats.
If you want to join this group you must apply for a Roving Trader License. You'll find information about events you can attend on the Roving Canal Traders Association website.
Please note that Roving Trader income is usually seasonal and often unpredictable. Most events were cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic so many Roving Traders made no money at all.
Do you like hard work? Then this is the lifestyle for you.
You can read about CRT's expectations here. The guys and girls who look after our inland waterways are reasonable people. If there's a genuine reason for you not cruising as much as they want, they'll work with you to resolve any issues. However, they'll tell you what they expect from you when you apply for your license.
Even though some boaters manage to abuse the system for a while, they're eventually hauled over the coals. If you want to live a tranquil life afloat make sure that you're going to be able to play by the rules.
Sample Adverts and Critiques
Narrowboat adverts are often as confusing as they are misleading. They're sometimes written by brokers who have the integrity of an estate agent. They talk about spacious narrowboats (empty), projects (wrecks) and boats which are perfect for liveaboards (anything which floats).
In addition to their flowery descriptions you have to establish from an online advert filled with bewildering terminology whether a boat sometimes moored hundreds of miles away is worth visiting. I've added my comments to the adverts below. I hope the information helps you identify boats worth further investigation.
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Tell Me Which Questions I've missed
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