Hi Terry,
You wrote (I've snipped a bit here and there .. and **inserted my responses)
....
Welcome to the list Trevor, and don't worry about asking seemingly daft
questions. We are mostly a pretty friendly bunch and are happy to answer
any questions you ask. What may appear as an acrimonious exchange between a
few people is usually a long running wind up between friends.
** LOL - I've gathered that already :-)
** Before I go on (and on, and on ...) I'd also like add that this is one of
the few Yahoo! Groups that I am really pleased to have come across; you have
all been so welcoming that I feel one of the family already :-)
As a (temporarily lapsed) liveaboard, I would strongly recommend you hire or
borrow a boat for a month or two in the winter time. I'm a great believer
in going in at the deep end, and if you can cope with boating in the cold
wet wintry weather then the summertime is an absolute breeze.
** Yup - I've been considering this very idea, and will be looking into the
options - but where would you folk recommend starting from (accepting that
I'd prefer a start location in the south of the UK, if only to ease the
journey there and back)?
** Something I have possibly not made too clear in the past is that I may
well be 'single-handed' for some of the time - but would still wish to enjoy
the option of continuous cruising. Would I need to advertise for temporary
crew perhaps (wow - this opens up a *whole* new world of thought {thinks:
blonde or brunette?} so its a good job that my wife can't completely read
my mind - well not to the best of my knowledge .. LOL).
** Is a 50/60foot narrowboat manageable by one person, with care - and
bearing in mind that the waters are, more or less, non tidal (or have much,
if any, current) and that the wind is likely to be the most influential
force on the boat? Quite as an aside, I've noticed rather a dearth of
fenders - are narrowboaters extremely tidy in this respect or are they not
considered a necessity of life on the waters?
You will either need to find a residential mooring - about as rare as hen's
teeth, and almost as expensive - or declare yourself as a continuous
cruiser. .....
** 'Continuous cruising' was my initial idea - and certainly the main reason
for looking at the lifestyle, in the first instance. It may well be that I
would be forced eventually, as age increases, into a residential mooring
(presumably one can still 'cruise' albeit more locally perhaps) - but I
would prefer to be able to experience the localities before choosing where,
and when, to be settling down.
..... (variously referred to as towpath shufflers or bridge hoppers) ......
as BW are thankfully beginning to crack down on this practice.
** Who, me? Heaven forbid - I'm a badge carrying, law abiding, (and
cowering) citizen; one who is gratefully controlled, managed, labelled,
(soon to be both personally Identity Carded and then indelibly bar-coded) by
our very beneficent government called 'Tony', oops - sorry, Gordon (or ought
this really read Lord Mandie?) :-))>
If you are a continuous cruiser and you need to keep a car as well then this
poses additional challenges....
** Something else that had crossed my mind as it would be quite good to get
away from all of the expenses of keeping a car. My present one is in quite
good nick and so it currently costs me between £1300 and £1500 pa, without
spending out on major services and repairs - that works out as quite a lot
of taxi / coach rides (no bus fares now as I am 'over 60' .. LOL). I might
get an electric bicycle though, esp. if they do folding ones with a shopping
basket!
I don't know if you are planning on keeping your house as a fall back
position, but it is probably a wise course of action. Bear in mind that as
you get older, mobility will become more of an issue. I'm not sure that I
would like to still be boating when I am old and decrepit (stop
sniggering at the back - I mean even older and more decrepit).
** LOL - IKWYM!
I don't know if you are married or not, but if you are, remember that at
some time one of you will die and leave the other with the boat to manage on
their own. Not a nice thing to think about, but it does need considering.
** Unfortunately I'll probably have to keep the 'bricks and mortar' in the
mid-term as the kids are still living at home - and I'm also not too certain
just how much time my wife will manage on the boat, at least initially,
because her father is getting closer to the 'old and decrepit' stage. The
kids are both independent now, and both have cars, so I guess they will do
most of the longer distance ferrying around. If the worst came to the worst
then I guess the boat would go back on the market - or be used as a holiday
home of some sorts.
Errm, how many dog watches are you planning on keeping? I prefer to stick
to the traditional two myself - usually known as first dog watch and last
dog watch.
** Well *many* years ago, back in the very early 90's, I used 'dogwatch' as
my Bigfoot address (when Bigfoot was free); but as time progressed, and more
and more people joined the Internet, so it became harder and harder to find
a free mail service that hadn't had it claimed already - so I stuck 'middle'
into the er, middle ......
(I now have my, very own, 'special place' in the boat's 'Watch and Station'
list!) :-))>
Regards,
Trevor .S
Aka - Middledogwatch :-)
