Canal boat

[bigpaul]

certainly sounds a lot cheaper than buying house. and you cant move a house like a narrowboat(well most houses you cant-there are exceptions to everything I suppose).

[Steve]

I know a man who has a sheltered estuary mooring in West Wales ( he's actually pulled his 35ft boat up on the beach and attached legs to it ) that costs just under £200 per year. That's a bargain, he wakes up to a glorious view every morning and if he ever gets bored with it he can sail off around the world. The boat is totally seaworthy, cost £12k.

[Nemesis]

The costings average: (this is my area which tends to cost more then most areas)

Insurance £120 year, this insurance is on the boat not a person.

Boat Safety Certificate £130 - £150 every 4 years. (BSC) equivalent to (MOT)

Dry dock to black boat about £200 two days blacking done by yourself.

Crane lift out black and crane back £400 two days.

Boats over 25 foot must be craned out and hull inspection done every 4 years, most people combine this inspecting with hull blacking to save money.

Problems replace anodes "prevent electrolytic corrosion" and over plate welding if necessary.

My boat needs a rudder bearing £20 - £60 easy fix diy.

Mooring around my way is expensive i don't pay to moor i am classed as a Continuous Cruisers.

Continuous Cruisers:

This gives me the freedom of the canals and allows me to go to remote areas to moor up.

The law is 14 days mooring unless notice reads other wise, the canal trust interpret this law and claim it as 14 days in parish A then to parish B to parish C to parish D and then can go back to parish A again, it is unlawful of them and they are losing a lot of court cases trying to enforce it, but they do enforce it they use there interpretation to bully Continuous Cruisers.

Next post I will talk about fuels.

[bigpaul]

(4 January 2016, 19:52)Steve Wrote: I know a man who has a sheltered estuary mooring in West Wales ( he's actually pulled his 35ft boat up on the beach and attached legs to it ) that costs just under £200 per year. That's a bargain, he wakes up to a glorious view every morning and if he ever gets bored with it he can sail off around the world. The boat is totally seaworthy, cost £12k.

there was a guy who did this near where I used to live, boat was on a sandy beach up the River Tamar, I don't think the boat was useable as a boat-it looked a wreck but he lived on it for many years, may still do for all I know.

[Nemesis]

So after 3 years this is what I feel meets my needs.

Wood
Coal
Calor gas
Red diesel
Meths
Gas Cartridge
Solar
Candles


Wood I use for both cooking and heating I have a log burner on my boat and I also like to build camp fires in the woods in remote areas and cook, I also camp out in my tents of which I now use two, I will talk about these another time.

I also use the fire to lift my spirits and as light, plus a small wood burning stove I use next to the boat on the path in remote spots, because I enjoy doing it and I have learned when alone we must keep ourselves busy with tasks.

Wood is maybe the number one fuel and there is plenty of it along the canals, prepping for winter is a task in its self and splitting wood to help it burn better takes up a lot of my time.

I also burn coal for long lasting heat in my log burner I find if you burn coal along side wood even when the fire dulls it can be brought back to life constantly where as with wood alone I run risk of it going out, I guess this is due to my boat log burner being quite small, in my home I never had this problem.

[Nemesis]

Calor gas:

On my boat I have a small fridge and a small oven grill and two hobs.

Calor gas is very useful it makes for a easier life and some mornings just being able to turn on the two hobs to help warm the bones is a good thing, metal boat open land on water equal bloody cold.

The fridge just uses to much gas and this year I am not going to light it, 13kg every four weeks for my fridge at £25 a time is to much.

The cooker is a luxury and worth paying for, as of today I will not light the fridge and I have tonight fitted a full 19kg Calor gas bottle I will test how long it last.

Gas Cartridge I use this in a camping type stove, I tend to use the roof of my boat to cook on as I like outside cooking.

Last of all Meths, some of you might remember the very old post I made about The rule of "3" and so I tend to back up x3 sometimes more for example I could add wood and even coal making it a rule of "5" as all these can heat water and heat food and even oneself.

So I added meths cooker to this one to maintain the rule 3 and also because I collect and make stoves. On my boat I have one of my German turm stoves and its a Pleasure to cook on.

[Nemesis]

Red diesel is legal on canal boats and it is what I use to power my engine, which in turn powers my battery bank x1 as well as the starter battery.

I am also using solar and find it best to run two separate banks.

Bank one, 110ah, 75ah, 75ah total 260ah connected to the engine, this bank is recharged by a 80Watt solar panel. (this bank also has the started battery which is wired so as to not power any thing, its role is simple to start the engine).

Bank two, 75ah and 40Watt solar panel.

I use bank one, for lights and to recharge my mp3 player and rechargeable lights also I recharge a speaker and a mobile power station, and now due to my son giving me a android mobile I now charge that as well.

I use Bank two, for my TV and nothing else its simple setup but works quite well, and again note the rule of "3" two times solar battery banks and a mobile power station.

I might do a few photos another time to better explain this.

[Lightspeed]

Re gas consumption for cooking.... you may be in for a nice surprise.

We ( 2 permanent and two weekend residents) use bottled propane for our 4 ring gas hob (nothing fancy, just the lowest cost Ikea model)

Most of our food is prepared on this, with exception of boiling water for drinks and occasional roasts that are done on the multi-fuel stove.
We could easily use this in stead of the gas hob, but the latter is so much more convenient that is used almost exclusively.

10 or 12Kg propane bottle lasts us approx. 6 months summer and winter alike. Used frugally and with geater use of the multifuel stove's capabilities, we would be using less than one x10kg per year I think.

I was really surprised at the economy of cooking this way. It highlights how much energy we waste in conventional homes.

[Nemesis]

I do hope to get a good few months now my fridge is no longer in use, I could maybe use the water as a cooler I am sure there is a way to do this, would help during the summer.

[Sunna]

are their rules on how long you can stay in one place and when you move what do you do with your car .[if you have one]