Living on a Narrowboat

I don't, but a mate of mine does. I can summarise his musings for you:

Pluses:
- pretty much all the amenities of a normal home;
- relaxing lifestyle, and often a friendlier community with fellow boat owners than in, say, a block of flats;
- can have mates round in summer and sit on the deck drinking beer;
- cheap mortgage and low maintenance costs for a decent boat;
- ability to float down to the pub and drive back pissed without fear of being pulled over by the Filth;
- impresses women;
- Qunicy lived on a houseboat.

Negatives:
- not having a proper address makes it difficult to get things like broadband;
- having to use a chemical toilet, then having to head down the river and pay to empty your own last few months' worth of sh*t out into a tank;
- high eleccy costs;
- cramped, and cold in the Winter;
- going anywhere inevitably means navigating dozens of time-consuming locks, so you pretty much end up staying put.

HTH

Also add the costs of long term moorings - and the ability of the mooring owner to up prices / tell you to sod off at very short notice

BTW didn't Quincy live on a yacht - which was onland

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>BTW didn't Quincy live on a yacht - which was onland <hr></blockquote>
I doubt Quincy would have referred to it as a "yacht" - he was a man of the people, after all.
He only cared about simple pleasures, such as justice for all - and a fit young lady on his arm to "examine"
What a legend

All comments notes. Thanks, although I'm not too bothered about impressing women - being one myself you understand.

And, on that note, how about being a single woman living this way. The practical side is not a problem for me, I'm very handy and can fix my own stuff to a certain extent. I

.....ooops, talk about practical skills eh!

I was trying to say that I wondered if there are any single women living this way and how they get on with it?

You could try posting this on Women Travellers. One of the regular posters there does, tho I forget which one just this minute.

Great. Thanks for the tip!

It occurs to me that my last post makes it sound as if I hated it; on the contrary, I love it, and would do it again tomorrow if I could persuade my other half.

But it's not a romantic idyll, it can be cold, messy, and downright infuriating, and it's worth spending time, as you're doing, researching a bit to find out if it's for you.

You might want to have a chat with people from the Residential Boat Owners Association, btw.

# 8 and #9 thank you SO much for the first-hand information from personal experiences. Exactly what I've been looking for. I'm still researching, looking, reading, thinking .........