Living on a Narrowboat

[Pip in a Poke]

Anyone ever owned a narrowboat and used it as a base for doing contract work?

I'm thinking I could base myself anywhere from Bristol out towards Reading along the M4 corridor.

I know boats are considered a moneysink (hence the aphorism "the second best day of my life was the day I bought a boat, the best was the day I sold it") but if one were to buy something relatively new, I'm guessing costs and maintenance could be minimised?

I see you can get a nice little 20' butty cruiser for around £20k; if I could recoup most of this in 5 years time, culd be a good accommodation option to see me through to the end of my contracting days.

[northernladyuk]

Anyone ever owned a narrowboat and used it as a base for doing contract work?

I'm thinking I could base myself anywhere from Bristol out towards Reading along the M4 corridor.

I know boats are considered a moneysink (hence the aphorism "the second best day of my life was the day I bought a boat, the best was the day I sold it") but if one were to buy something relatively new, I'm guessing costs and maintenance could be minimised?

I see you can get a nice little 20' butty cruiser for around £20k; if I could recoup most of this in 5 years time, culd be a good accommodation option to see me through to the end of my contracting days.

PC usually kips in a shopping trolley in the canal round the back of Aldi.

[doconline]

Anyone ever owned a narrowboat and used it as a base for doing contract work?

I'm thinking I could base myself anywhere from Bristol out towards Reading along the M4 corridor.

I know boats are considered a moneysink (hence the aphorism "the second best day of my life was the day I bought a boat, the best was the day I sold it") but if one were to buy something relatively new, I'm guessing costs and maintenance could be minimised?

I see you can get a nice little 20' butty cruiser for around £20k; if I could recoup most of this in 5 years time, culd be a good accommodation option to see me through to the end of my contracting days.

I did have a look at doing this once upon a time. I think the problem was you have to either keep moving (continuous cruising), as you can only stay in one spot for 1-2 weeks depending on where you are, so you need to make sure you are always moving, not just backwards and forwards between 2 points with transport access or pay for a berth in a marina, which will push the costs up. Plus you need insurance, licence, diesel, pump out costs (or carrying your waste to the chemical waste disposal point) and the usual running costs of a livable property. Plus will need to be taken out of the water every 2-3 years to have the hull blacked. There are lots of little costs which you don't think about when you first look at it.

[vetran]

Used to work with guy who after the divorce bought a narrow boat. he lived in it happily for years.

He actually did a £2m project for 2 years and managed to convince the bosses they should lift it, paint it & transport it 100 miles south so he could live in it on site.

He loved it as he got a mooring opposite the site and was banging one of the customers. Cost the business ~£10k but it was cheaper than 2 years of hotel / rental costs.

A proper PM though, he turned £2m sale into a £3m sale by adding charges for extras! They did have some signs afterwards.

[Paddy]

Anyone ever owned a narrowboat and used it as a base for doing contract work?

I'm thinking I could base myself anywhere from Bristol out towards Reading along the M4 corridor.

I know boats are considered a moneysink (hence the aphorism "the second best day of my life was the day I bought a boat, the best was the day I sold it") but if one were to buy something relatively new, I'm guessing costs and maintenance could be minimised?

I see you can get a nice little 20' butty cruiser for around £20k; if I could recoup most of this in 5 years time, culd be a good accommodation option to see me through to the end of my contracting days.

Tried that, too narrow

[vetran]

Tried that, too narrow

You fatter than MF?

[Bacchus]

You would be much better off with a motorhome, especially if you have no experience of boats.

There are places where you can park a motorhome for as little as £8 a night, easy to move on your own, easy to get serviced and much faster to get around. I would allow two weeks to do Bristol to Reading in a narrowboat, two hours in a motorhome...

a nice little 20' butty cruiser

This is a contradiction in terms. A butty is an unpowered vessel towed by a cruiser.

Get a narrowboat by all means, I am sure they're a lot of fun (I am equally sure that I will own one at some point), but live on it for a few months between contracts just for kicks. Write your novel, paint your masterpiece, create your killer-app or get wasted on cider, but do it just to enjoy.

[OwlHoot]

Anyone ever owned a narrowboat and used it as a base for doing contract work?

I'm thinking I could base myself anywhere from Bristol out towards Reading along the M4 corridor.

I know boats are considered a moneysink (hence the aphorism "the second best day of my life was the day I bought a boat, the best was the day I sold it") but if one were to buy something relatively new, I'm guessing costs and maintenance could be minimised?

I see you can get a nice little 20' butty cruiser for around £20k; if I could recoup most of this in 5 years time, culd be a good accommodation option to see me through to the end of my contracting days.

I've heard mooring fees are quite high, especially near cities and suchlike.

Also, it's a depreciating asset, in that the wood is rotting from the day you buy it (or long before). I know one could say the same of a house, but then a houseboat needs more than a lick of paint every now and then - the whole thing is wood!

And it isn't a good idea to get too pissed in a narrowboat, as you can easily fall off the side, and if you or a guest hit your head on the way down it's probably curtains!

[NickFitz]

I used to know a chap who lived on a narrowboat. He said that you could expect to be burgled on a pretty regular basis, particularly when moored in a city, so not to bother owning anything you were particularly attached to

[VectraMan]

Don't come to Oxfordshire:

BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | Murder arrest over boat 'attack'