Anyone have any houseboat experience?

[love machine]

Is anyone familiar with the economics of owning a houseboat?

In short, I'm looking at moving to Brissle with a mate and I reckon a houseboat is a good idea. I've been having a chat to some people about hardware and it's favourably priced. I was curious about the order of the "other" costs.

[vixpy1]

I've had some Loveboat experience, would that help?

[lotuslad]

vixpy1 said:

I've had some Loveboat experience, would that help?

I thought you only went on cottaging holidays!

[vixpy1]

lotuslad said:

vixpy1 said: I've had some Loveboat experience, would that help? I thought you only went on cottaging holidays!

Shut it hag, or Those pics of you and the pumpkin will find there way onto the net ..

[mechsympathy]

Meanwhile back on thread

LM, have a word with Incorrigible - he had a narrowboat for a while. IIRC the main expense is the mooring fees.

[B17NNS]

There was a programme (on Discovery H&L IIRC) about a couple who bought an old Thames barge and turned it into a houseboat.

[NikB]

mechsympathy said:

Meanwhile back on thread LM, have a word with Incorrigible - he had a narrowboat for a while. IIRC the main expense is the mooring fees.

Yep, Incorrigible is the man to talk to. I think you also need to account for taking it out of the water every year to clean it's bottom (not a pleasant job!).

[Nevin]

Check out www.waterscape.com for mooring details on inland waterways and which British Waterways office to call.

>> Edited by Nevin on Tuesday 31st May 13:43

[lotuslad]

NikB said:

mechsympathy said: Meanwhile back on thread LM, have a word with Incorrigible - he had a narrowboat for a while. IIRC the main expense is the mooring fees. Yep, Incorrigible is the man to talk to. I think you also need to account for taking it out of the water every year to clean it's bottom (not a pleasant job!).

Are we still talking about boats, or are we talking about Charlie?

[Incorrigible]

mechsympathy said:

IIRC the main expense is the gin and tonic fees.

I lived on mine for 4 years. It's an interesting lifestyle. Certainly very ecconomical I was paying £800 a year for mooring, which was about the same as council tax. This wasn't an official permanent mooring though, I was prepared to pay the extra because of the power supply and secure car park that came with the deal

There are basically 2 types of licence (sort of like road tax) a "cruising licence" for basically pleasure/weekend stuff and official residential licences. A lot of people just buy a cruising licence (half the price of a residential one ~£500) and live on public morrings, you're meant to only be allowed places like that for 14 days a year but if you're not too blatant about it (mooring up at Camden lock for example) you can usually find a nice quiet spot and remain undisturbed for years

Drop me a PM if you want to chat about it. Although my info is a little out of date, I moved off mine 8 years ago. Boat people are usually very freindly, have a walk along the towpath and chat to a few

[Incorrigible]

NikB said:

I think you also need to account for taking it out of the water every year to clean it's bottom (not a pleasant job!).

It's every 4-5 years really, and yes it is a PITA job, Helps when you have mates with very little sense to help

Thanks again BTW