Should I live on a boat?
WHATis it really like living on a canal boat or on the river? So many of us have wondered if it would be a way of avoiding a huge rent bill and staying closer to nature, while holding down a job in the city. The one pictured is a concrete-hulled structure near Shoreham. There is a busy chat going on in The Guardian newspaper.
Here are some of the comments:
buddysparadigm 2h ago
The most important thing that I can’t stress enough: you absolutely have to WANT to live on the water. Secondly, read today’s article on decluttering, boats DON’T have a lot of space, especially narrowboats. Thirdly, be prepared to live frugally, by that i mean not necessarily financially but possession wise. There will be times when money or more importantly, time and in some cases, actual ability to get to where you need to be to get what you need will be severly hampered or in some cases, actually curtailed, eg the floods of 2012/3 winter. Trailing along a very muddy footpath dragging a 20 litre container of water – or worse, poo – can be soul destroying and even if you have a holding tank it needs to be emptied periodically and if you’re stuck somewhere, better have a Porta-potti on standby. Cooking with gas? Oh you will be 99% of the time, got a spare cylinder, is it freezing, hmm, might not give any gas and no, you CANNOT keep it in the warm, it just becomes a waiting fuel air gas bomb.
Okay, the upsides…..see previous comments. I’m in the process of refitting my 24ft 40 year old boat to allow me to spend the occasional period on board and I’m having to draft in help to do this, luckily he’s my brother so cheaper than a professional. This is just for the odd trip, if I had to live onboard full time I’d be looking at a LOT more expense. Finally, did I mention that you have to really, really want to live on the water. Look carefully, DON’T buy from a well known marina up north (W******s) who make a nice living selling overpriced rust buckets to people with a dream of living the boating life as they make their way down to an idyllic life on London’s waterways, all white painted panelling and 3 bits of “artful” furniture, see canalworld forums for unhappy tales of disaster. This missive is not here to put you off, just to prepare you not to be done over by tales of the river bank. Good luck whatever you do.
carolineford 6h ago
My son lived on a boat for a while but boat life wasn’t for him. He missed home comforts – a flushing loo, a shower (he joined a gym), a decent kitchen. He had a boat on a mooring so had to row across …
