Would I be mad to sell my house to live on a narrowboat?

[EdinaMonsoonsWardrobe]

It isn't something I'm considering doing now or in the near future. I live in a lovely little terraced house and I'm very happy here. I love my house. But the walls are extremely thin and I get really severe noise anxiety, things are fine at the moment but I'm thinking ahead if I ever get awful neighbours. I read some stories on here and I just wouldn't be able to cope. I doubt I'll ever be able to afford another house that isn't terraced. So I'm trying to think of other ways out.

I have spent loads of time on narrowboats and I absolutely love them all year round be it muddy and freezing or sunny and warm. The physical sacrifices wouldn't bother me (less space, less clothes, smaller fridge etc) it's more the expense and upkeep I have reservations about. I'd want to moor at a marina, which I know will up the costs.

But the way of life and the serenity of it is absolutely perfect for someone like me. Honestly it's my absolute dream. But I know it's not bricks and mortar...

Thoughts? I'm in my early 40s and earn £35k per year. No children, pets or partner.

I know 2 old work colleagues who live on boats when they became divorced, as was what they could afford. They both love it and make the most of it, but both am positive would rather live in a house.

I wouldn't. The value of a house will only go up, the value of a boat will only go down. By all means, see if can rent one with the money you rent out your home for, or find one now as a project to do up yourself to live in while keeping hold of the bricks and mortar then great but honestly, I wouldn't sell your home to live in a boat because you need to think long term.

And I love boats and have often dreamed in living in one!

All of these things are hugely expensive though, including static caravans and you just lose money day by day.

I think I was looking a living static caravan parks recently and the fees are about 10k a year. Then you're expected to buy their own utilities and have the van replaced every so often I think.

It was her dad’s boat.,She graduated and got a job in a different part of the country. Her dad had recently retired and wanted his boat back too. She said moving into a tiny flat for her new job was amazing!

I live on a boat-although not a narrow boat. AMA.

I’d do it. They’re absolutely lovely.

Its not for me but I know a couple of people that do, one being my old manager. She absolutely loves it. She has lived on one for nearly 30 years with her partner.

My BF lives on a narrowboat. Bit different though as he decided not to stay in the marina. He has a permanent mooring on the Thames which is a nightmare for flooding in the winter. He loves it though and can’t imagine living on land again.

You want to, so do it, Op.

Plan for a future on a narrow boat.
It would be amazing!!

Save and invest in your home and pay as much off as you can. Seek advice on how best to achieve your goal.
You might need to plan to own a house but rent it out once you are fifty. Are there any remote housing optons along rivers or canals that include mooring?

Research where mooring is possible and the rules. I used to be involved in mooring licences in my city and we currently have a 20 year waiting list for spaces. You don't get a permenant 'space' just permission to moor in a certain area so if you decide to boat up the river for the weekend someone can nab your space.

It'll be different everywhere so do your research.

The lack of privacy would get me, people walking past and noseying in the windows, and no private outside space.

Tbh my first thought isn't about boats but that it doesn't sound like you're in a very good place if you are spending time making plans for worst case neighbour scenarios you've read on MN.

Your neighbours are fine, your house has no problems you need to fix. Perhaps tackle how sensitive you are to noise as that's the only actual issue you have, and spend less time on line.

Hire boats and see if it actually brings you joy in a way separate from the imagined, potential, but unlikely to happen neighbour change. You might like it, but the current rationale isn't solid.

Im on a FB page called Shoestring retirement and a question like this was posed there. There were a couple of members who live on boats and it did sound lovely but the story stood out about an older lady on a boat who had lost her partner and was now in poor health and immobile. She couldn’t afford a bricks and mortar house and couldn’t really move about the boat. I have no idea what would happen in that situation if you haven’t got an option to back out.

OP my parents did this in the 80s. Not a narrow boat but similar concept. Sold their small house. We loved it because we were kids. But I’m afraid it put them very far behind their peers finally - and for the rest of their lives. Boats depreciate and it doesn’t feel like a secure footing for your future if you are in your 30s. Also you may meet someone one day - and the place will then feel very small.

can you look for other ways to achieve this tranquility? Move house to a new area? More rural maybe? It feels like the community and peace you are after so change of scene might find you what you are looking for

7 years on a boat.

How i now truly appreciate plumbing.

Also B.O.A.T. stands for 'Bring Out Another Thousand"
Bloody expensive things.

Didn’t someone on here once describe narrowboat marinas as floating weirdo communes?

It’s an incredibly labour intensive way to live, and I’m not sure how compatiable with working a full time job. You’d be trying to do a lot of work around the boat in darkness in the winter, before and after work.

Council tax will pale into in significance in comparison with mooring fees in a marina. Marinas are also not the tranquil places you are envisaging!

Finally, my friend has a city centre marina mooring and attempts have been made to set her boat on fire twice in the past two years. Boats aren’t very secure and you are a sitting duck. I always feel nervous when I’m there with her overnight.

I used to talk to lots of people who do this because of where I used to live and know someone who lives permanently on a wide beam he says he loves it.
PROS: stunning views every morning, swans floating by his bedroom window etc and in the right location very peaceful. You can take it out at the weekend go up and down the river, no council tax, he pays no standing on his electricity just for each kWh he uses, it’s cheaper to buy than a similar size house in his area by about 200%, there’s quite a lot of camaraderie with the others moored on the marina, he gets 2 parking spaces in a village where parking is like hens teeth, his boat is exceeding well kited out so it feels like a luxury home when your inside it.

CONS: no address this is a real issue if you’re have no address and are not on the electoral role doing anything is hard, banks insurance and any credit you apply for voting etc is virtually impossible (he uses a generous friends address), the thing is very hot in the summer he has very good heating in the winter, however nice it is and his is lovely inside it’s still a boat and a narrow boat is even worse even a 70’ one, finding a permanent residential mooring can be very difficult, depending where you live/are looking, residential moorings are not cheap he pays £450 pcm, drying clothes bed sheets towels is very difficult especially in the winter, try and find a marina either public washing machines/driers and also you want loose space to one. If your on the Thames and other I’m sure most other canals rivers you pay a yearly fee for the boat, the boat has to come out the water for “blacking” every 3-5 years I believe, if you’re planning on moving around unless you have a really new one can you maintain the engine? Unless you have solar panels and in the winter if your not plugged into the mains or have a generator you have to run the engine to charge the battery. Getting diesel to run the thing doesn’t seem straight forward. Getting anything fixed on it is even harder than getting anything fixed in your home. If you don’t have a permanent residential mooring you are “continuously cruising” so your car if you own one will not be with you this is Im told by those in the know is a PITA. It is lovely on a summer day but in the middle of the winter it’s a different story one lady once said to me that during the darkest wettest 3 ish months of the winter she would just love to be living in a house however small. The person I know who claims he “just loves it” occasionally and wistfully mentions buying a flat/house/piece of land and building a house on retirement frankly I think that sums it up.
My advise is don’t sell your house and buy one they loose their value and unless you’ve got money stashed away are likely to inherit or can save lots your chances buying a house when the novelty wears off is slim.
Sorry to be so boring and practical.

There’s one just outside Hebden Bridge which has a very sinister feeling about it. I’m a pretty bolshy woman but I hate cycling past it.

Having lived on a narrow boat, never had any problem with rats on a boat. Living in a house now - have had a rat problem twice

I live in that area too, I wonder which boat you mean?

A friend of mine lived on one for a number of years. It was freezing in the winter because of the water temperature. Then there were localised floods and it sank. She's in a rented flat now.

I can’t comment on the narrowboat, OP. But I totally get you about the noise issue. I live in a Housing Association flat and it’s my no.1 fear. If you own your own place, you can always move if you get noisy neighbours, although obviously that is a massive disruption. I wish I had that choice…

You could potentially invest in soundproofing the party walls or better windows in a terrace and if your current neighbours ok seems a bit odd to be worrying about something that may not happen.

I've friends who've bought a narrow boat moored on a marina but they were renting and couldn't afford to buy a house, they believe it will save them money each month and liked the idea of that lifestyle but too early to tell if reality matches up but I hope it does.

For the sound sensitive narrow boats don't look particularly soundproof and on marinas neighbours can be close by. A friend had theirs on a busy towpath near a city for a couple of years while at uni and while visiting I really didn't like the feeling of people walking so close and looking in especially as could be in the early hours and he'd told me about thefts and another boat being broken into, perhaps as a female it just felt more vulnerable. It did make me more appreciative of the convenience and space of typical building living seeing how he had to move to fill with water/fuel at a marina regularly, wheelbarrow coal/wood and to maintain a fire for heating, limit electricity use and have the ability to fix various things as they needed to be able to move the boat regularly. I also had never really considered not having a postal address, presumably this is a bit different on a marina.

Made me laugh 😁

My aunty and uncle did this and it ended being hellish for them for all the reasons stated above, made even worse when they both got various health issues. They had sold a beautiful house for a boat that depreciated in value, and over time ended up costing them an absolute fortune in repairs. Then by the time they’d realised they couldn’t stand another winter on the boat they were no longer in a position to buy a house so they ended up renting a tiny house until they both died. It started off as a dream and ended up being a nightmare.