The canal / narrowboat thread

[Itsallicanafford]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. I suppose the challenge is finding a boat which has genuinely been maintained, someone’s pride and joy. Not looking seriously this year, bit of a watching brief at present so will keep looking where prices go. Thanks for the link, another website to help while a way a few hours!

[Simpo Two]

Itsallicanafford said:

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. I suppose the challenge is finding a boat which has genuinely been maintained, someone’s pride and joy. Not looking seriously this year, bit of a watching brief at present so will keep looking where prices go. Thanks for the link, another website to help while a way a few hours!

Does it have to be a narrowboat (ie for 7' locks) or would you consider a cruiser? You can of course get narrowbeam cruisers - fine for a day or week but not big enough to live on.

A Shetland 32: https://www.jonesboatyard.co.uk/boat-sales/shetlan... So much easier to handle than a narrowboat, if you can find one.

Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 10th March 20:23

[Itsallicanafford]

Thanks for the reply, I think the romantic idea of exploring the whole extent of the waterways has led me to the narrow beam, although currently with time constraints,I would be much to explore more than a few miles! I had a good look at the Viking range as they do a narrow beam range and I like the simplicity of an outboard, but they have failed to really click with me. Maybe I need to sit in one rather than just look at pictures…ultimately, with the upkeep costs of a boat, I feel it’s got to be something I really love to make the constant upkeep costs a pleasure rather than a chore?

[Simpo Two]

Itsallicanafford said:

Thanks for the reply, I think the romantic idea of exploring the whole extent of the waterways has led me to the narrow beam, although currently with time constraints,I would be much to explore more than a few miles! I had a good look at the Viking range as they do a narrow beam range and I like the simplicity of an outboard, but they have failed to really click with me. Maybe I need to sit in one rather than just look at pictures…ultimately, with the upkeep costs of a boat, I feel it’s got to be something I really love to make the constant upkeep costs a pleasure rather than a chore?

A cruiser would be much cheaper than a narrowboat, but obviously smaller. Don't know how small you can go, but Freeman made narrow beam versions of their 22' and 23' models. Only two tons, and will turn on a sixpence.

Either way it's worth adding up the fixed overheads first - somewhere to keep it, river licence (both based on length) and insurance. The big plus side of owning your own boat is that you can just nip off and enjoy it whenever you want. Also a good social platform with friends.

If you want to see waterways all around the country it's probably easier to hire one for week on the canal/river of your choice, than drive your own one there at 4mph!

[dhutch]

MartG said:

May be of interest - Work completed on Stainforth and Keadby canal's unique sliding bridge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-68404...

Yes, saw that at the time, very interesting way of doing it. I guess it works, why change it.

[dhutch]

Simpo Two said:

Tim the pool man said:

Extremely limited experience here, (we don't have canals or interesting rivers where I live!), I've only done a couple of day hires with my brother's family when we visit England. 1 day on the Basingstoke Canal in 2014 and 1 day on the Wey in 2022.

We've enjoyed the experiences so much we've started thinking about buying one when we retire and can spend more time in England, but the next step will be a 3 night hire when we're there in September this year. It will need to be Surrey/Hampshire to be convenient for my brother and family.
So far I've looked at Galleon Marine (their fleet is unavailable for our dates) and Farncombe boat house. I'm a bit shocked at the costs... approx £1500 (AUD $3000) for 3 days, is that the going rate?

Any suggestions welcome

abcboathire and AngloWelsh are two hireboat companies that manage a lot of boats.

https://www.abcboathire.com/our-locations
https://www.anglowelsh.co.uk/
And https://www.hoseasons.co.uk/boat-holidays/canals-a...

A 3 day hire will always cost much more day than a 7 day hire, and prices are also much higher during the holiday periods so you're getting a double whammy. There are also midweek breaks (4 nights) to consider.

As for convenience, if you consider travelling a bit further you'll get more choice.

Overnighting is so much more than a simple day trip - I hope you find a decent cruise and enjoy it

I've not done any real hiring, ad am based in the northwest, but that advice seems reasonable to me/

Obviously you have to balance the constraints of life (annual leave) but as said, a three day weekend costs as much as a week in most places where demand out strips supply and if a hire boat isn't out in August and September you're going bust shortly.

Boats are expensive and don't last for ever, modern high fleets are of a reasonably a high standard, and the demands are highly seasonal. So yeah, costs more than a nice holiday cottage or hotel room!

[Tim the pool man]

dhutch said:

Simpo Two said:

Tim the pool man said:

Extremely limited experience here, (we don't have canals or interesting rivers where I live!), I've only done a couple of day hires with my brother's family when we visit England. 1 day on the Basingstoke Canal in 2014 and 1 day on the Wey in 2022.

We've enjoyed the experiences so much we've started thinking about buying one when we retire and can spend more time in England, but the next step will be a 3 night hire when we're there in September this year. It will need to be Surrey/Hampshire to be convenient for my brother and family.
So far I've looked at Galleon Marine (their fleet is unavailable for our dates) and Farncombe boat house. I'm a bit shocked at the costs... approx £1500 (AUD $3000) for 3 days, is that the going rate?

Any suggestions welcome

abcboathire and AngloWelsh are two hireboat companies that manage a lot of boats.

https://www.abcboathire.com/our-locations
https://www.anglowelsh.co.uk/
And https://www.hoseasons.co.uk/boat-holidays/canals-a...

A 3 day hire will always cost much more day than a 7 day hire, and prices are also much higher during the holiday periods so you're getting a double whammy. There are also midweek breaks (4 nights) to consider.

As for convenience, if you consider travelling a bit further you'll get more choice.

Overnighting is so much more than a simple day trip - I hope you find a decent cruise and enjoy it

I've not done any real hiring, ad am based in the northwest, but that advice seems reasonable to me/

Obviously you have to balance the constraints of life (annual leave) but as said, a three day weekend costs as much as a week in most places where demand out strips supply and if a hire boat isn't out in August and September you're going bust shortly.

Boats are expensive and don't last for ever, modern high fleets are of a reasonably a high standard, and the demands are highly seasonal. So yeah, costs more than a nice holiday cottage or hotel room!

Thanks for both replies, I'll look into the links provided cheers

We always time our visits for just after the schools go back as we assume more availability of accommodation etc?

The first place we tried has all vessels shown as "unavailable" (not "booked") for 2 weeks in Sept so I assume they're closed, although they haven't replied to emails

A week would be great and will probably be the next step, but we've never overnighted yet so want to ease into it

ETA, I missed the comment about cost, yes of course they have additional costs compared to hotels, I'm (unrealistically, economies of scale) influenced by being used to paying $200 pp per day for balcony cruise cabins) but did you see the link I posted for a houseboat hire in Australia for a more realistic comparison?

Edited by Tim the pool man on Wednesday 13th March 10:51

[Itsallicanafford]

If I could raise a thorny subject, cost of ownership and how to keep this manageable.
Doing my sums, my target size narrow beam boat of around 45ft would cost circa £5-£6k a year to keep before you factor in any costs of actually going anywhere in it. Call this circa 10% of the crafts purchase cost a year to keep it in a serviceable condition on the water. A big chunk of this is marina fees. Call this £300 per month so £3.6k a year. Can anybody give me figures for a CRT mooring per year and if such moorings ever come available (looking at a stretch of the grand union from say Watford to tring? Thanks in advance

[dhutch]

Itsallicanafford said:

If I could raise a thorny subject, cost of ownership and how to keep this manageable.
Doing my sums, my target size narrow beam boat of around 45ft would cost circa £5-£6k a year to keep before you factor in any costs of actually going anywhere in it. Call this circa 10% of the crafts purchase cost a year to keep it in a serviceable condition on the water. A big chunk of this is marina fees. Call this £300 per month so £3.6k a year. Can anybody give me figures for a CRT mooring per year and if such moorings ever come available (looking at a stretch of the grand union from say Watford to tring? Thanks in advance

Prices exist online for linear moorings, with CRT (Inc Winter only moorings) and others, who you will likely need to ring.

We're paying around 70p/ft/week or £175/month (58ft) for our private linear mooring.

[classicaholic]

Our 60' NB costs £2000 for mooring at a club with power and £1300 C&RT, £200 insurance then a few quid for maintenance and fuel, so 4-5 K PA.

[Itsallicanafford]

Thanks for the responses, sounds like a good saving if I can get a mooring outside a marina. Will add this to my spreadsheet of potential costs!

thanks again, much appreciated.

[dhutch]

classicaholic said:

Our 60' NB costs £2000 for mooring at a club with power and £1300 C&RT, £200 insurance then a few quid for maintenance and fuel, so 4-5 K PA.

Plus around a grand every 4 years for drydock and blacking.

[john2443]

Our shared ownership boat was moving base from Dunchurch (North Oxford near Rugby) to Great Haywood - we offered to do the move as we had 2 cars and some owners would have found it too far in a week (wimps ).

The direct route was blocked due to the landslide near Brinklow, but that was too short anyway for a full week.

Good to have a one way trip so we went Grand Union Braunston to Kingswood then up the North Stratford into Birmingham, up to Titford Pools as we hadn't been there before, low pound between locks on the Gower branch so had to let water down, through Netherton tunnel.

Then down Dudley No 2 to Halesowen - Gosty Hill tunnel is fun! Started quite high but then lowered - I was sitting down and still had to duck! Nowhere to moor at the end...except the "harbour master" from Hawne Basin trust invited us to stay there from the night (for free!) ; they don't get many boats down there so are happy to see visitors.

From there, down the Delph and Stourbridge locks to the Staffs and Worcs which meant Botterham Staircase and The Bratch which are both novel the chugged up to Great Haywood so we now have a new area to explore - have done most of the canals from there but not for 30+ years so worht doing again.

[dudleybloke]

Nice bit of Black Country boating there.
Did you have any problems with the lack of depth at Titford pools?

[FiF]

Anyone watching Narrow Escapes?

Paul and Anthony's new electric boat they've just picked up looks a cracker, though their old one was rather nice too.

The Mum's boat in Stanilands(?) is looking fine too. Clearly got some design flair, Carrie the daughter not so much, but it's all personal taste. Stop getting your Mum to wash your boat! LoL

[classicaholic]

I had a boat at Great Haywood for a few years, nice marina and a few interesting places to go, hope you enjoy it.

[Simpo Two]

FiF said:

Anyone watching Narrow Escapes?

I had a look but there was too much chatter and not enough boating.

[LimmerickLad]

Simpo Two said:

FiF said:

Anyone watching Narrow Escapes?

I had a look but there was too much chatter and not enough boating.

Same here.

[Ben Jk]

Simpo Two said:

FiF said:

Anyone watching Narrow Escapes?

I had a look but there was too much chatter and not enough boating.

I'm enjoying it but there is some muppetry.

Like the couple with the boat café deciding to tow that boat café AND their canoe too so they had 3 joined vessels snaking down the canal. Sense says put the canoe on the roof of one of your boats. Although I partly think they were told to do it for some "drama" as they said it was a first.

[FiF]

Tending to get irritated by the muppetry, and some of these are annoying MrsF so they must be muppets.