As part of your research you could try asking questions of residential boatowners who blog their experiences. Try some of these:
http://narrowboater.blogspot.com/</a><BR><a href="http://www.afloat.org.uk/index.htm/">http://www.afloat.org.uk/index.htm/</a><BR><a href="http://www.mortimerbones.blogspot.com">http://www.mortimerbones.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://boatlife.blogspot.com">http://boatlife.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nbbendigedig.blogspot.com">http://nbbendigedig.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nbepiphany.blogspot.com">http://nbepiphany.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nb-iris.blogspot.com">http://nb-iris.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nbperuvianskies.blogspot.com">http://nbperuvianskies.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nzgypsyrover.blogspot.com">http://nzgypsyrover.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://seyellas-journey.blogspot.com">http://seyellas-journey.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://nblyra.blogspot.com">http://nblyra.blogspot.com</a><BR><a href="http://soulsong.livejournal.com">http://soulsong.livejournal.com</a><BR><BR>or join usenet newsgroup uk.rec.waterways - you will get plenty of first-hand info there!
HTH
John
nine9feet
I lived on a narrowboat for a year and a half and absolutely loved it.
I didn't have a mooring, I continuously cruised the Grand Union Canal and Regents Canal and the River Thames. I could moor up for a week or two in touristy places like Windsor and Hampton Court Palace, head into central London to Paddington Basin and Islington, stay in canalside villages like Stoke Bruerne, or head into the countryside miles from anywhere. If you like your freedom to roam but want to take a comfortable home with you, there's no better way to do it.
Echoing what Megaera said, I wouldn't recommend a boat as a cheap alternative to housing, that way lies frustration, you should do it for the love of being on the water. You have to be careful with your water, gas and electricity consumption, boats can be expensive to maintain, and some flights of locks are exhausting.
My boating blog is at www.afloat.org.uk</a>.<BR><BR>You might also like to try this website I created to help boaters find information, it's a customised version of Google that searches 260+ canal websites - www.boatr.org.uk</a>.
Nice blog, it's made me all nostalgic.
Good luck with selling the boat, and life ashore (I'm four years into it, and still miss my boat, though!)
We live in Australia and bought our own 6 months ago. We decided we wanted to experience the canals and living on board more fully. Now we are going to spend the UK winter in our home in Australia, and we left the boat at a marina specialising in hard standing, where they actually lift the boat out of the water and put it on land. It is not cheap to buy a boat, even a second hand one. You have to pay the boat licence for when it is in the water, and you have to pay for gas cylinders and diesel which most NBs use. Also, there is constant repairs. Water is free, but if you have a pump out toilet, you need to pump it out according to how quickly you fill it up. There is heating on cold days. We use free wood we found floating around in the canal and on the towpath.
We have a tiny bath on the boat which is 20 years old, a couple of small inverters for power tool use. I run the laptop of 12V, have LED lighting so we don't use much electricity. No TV, no washing machine (wash clothes in the bath and dry them in the cratch), gas stove, gas fridge which does not work well in hot weather. Internet connection was good, using the laptop with a 3 com dongle. It all depends on what you want. I am not into privation, but certain things I feel are unnecessary to have on a boat, like washing machines, power hairdryers etc. I can watch anything on the computer if I really want to, but lots of people love their telly, so you see the aerials on their boats. You have to warm the boat up, so the best thing is a wood and coal stove. Some boats look really fancy inside. If you like tradition, you could live on a working boat, like the old boating families, who lived in a 6' x 6' cabin, with babies in drawers, and kids sleeping in the coal hole etc. Now those were real boaters, so to speak!
You need to enjoy walking for your shopping, doing the locks, which can be hard work. If you are single, you have to single hand the boat and that is difficult. It is pretty hard to manage a 58ft boat through the locks anyway, and to keep a look out round corners. I have seen women single hand large boats.
On the other hand, it is a fantastic experience and is a real adventure. Canal etiquette is very important. You need to do a lot of research, but if you have hired a boat already, you would have learned quite a bit. Living on a boat is really different though. You are responsible for all the repairs, and that can be expensive. There is insurance, which I did not mention, and you should join Canal and River rescue.
Edited by: hilofoz
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