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.

Is it this one?

Sorry if it's been suggested already

MN is not displaying properly this morning

There is a book by Alastair Hilton about living on a boat. It's expensive though. I mean the book (as well as living on a boat, probably). That just came out, I think.

It's called "Is it cold in winter?"

I spent one night on a canal boat at Regents Canal about 25 years ago. It was snowing outside. It was absolutely bitter. Or we had to put this horrible heating thing on that just blew hot air at you and made you feel like you were suffocating

I presume it's changed a lot since then!

I did have a colleague who bought a houseboat and was trying to sell it within a year. He absolutely hated it. However, he hadn't spent a lot of time on boats. If you have done it and you know you like it that's a very good start.

In about 2004 I met someone on a training course who told me all about how she and her husband were selling their house, giving some money to their children, selling all their possessions and buying a houseboat for a happy and simple retirement.

The house they owned was in Chiswick.

I wonder what their children think about this plan now…

It's expensive living on a boat and potentially as much, if not more, maintenance than a house. There's also a lack of security when it comes to mooring. You can be told to move on with little notice and as a boat dweller you have far fewer rights than a home owner or even a tenant. You will be quite vulnerable. And apart from all of that, if you sell your house and invest your capital in a narrow boat, you might never get back on the housing ladder.

I have lived on a narrow boat for 25 years and done it all - marina, end of garden, off side, leisure, residential, on line mooring and continuous cruising. Absolutely loved it. But! The amount of people who thought it was easy, cheap and idyllic and subsequently left after their first mild winter was insane. I think the average newbie lasted around 8 - 12 months.
please do a lot of research and actually even rent a boat for January, at least a fortnight, and see how you fair. Plan for the worst - a canal breach and you sinking or a fire breaking out and having to deal with it in the freezing (-10) conditions with no power or water or heat and on your own, then anything else is easy. Be prepared to learn how electrics both 240 and 12 volt work also basic plumbing and how to service a diesel engine - again often in the worst conditions and not a nice warm sunny afternoon.
It exacerbates any physical or mental health conditions if you cannot be 100% self reliant.
Basic cost for a residential boater will be likely to be around £10k budget a year for immediate costs and future maintenance planned and unexpected. A house in comparison is a lot cheaper to run.

You'll need to live on dry land if/when you become in any way physically reduced or health wise, ie you can't comfortably grow old on a boat.

My friend lives on one but she's finding it so hard to cope with she's not caring for herself or the boat and I don't know what's going to happen to her. She's about 75.

This response tells me you actually have very very limited experience @EdinaMonsoonsWardrobe

They are very warm in winter if you are
a) a millionaire if it has gas heating.
b) proficient in fixing diesel heating and a millionaire.
c) know how to keep a multi fuel burner in 24/7 use from September to March. Can repair it and ideally able to use a chainsaw, have space to dry out wood for a year before use and can lug 25kg sacks of coal along pontoons or muddy towpaths or wait for the coal boat to deliver sometime maybe next week if it’s frozen in. And be a millionaire.
d) don’t even consider electric heating.
e) must be able to understand ventilation to avoid condensation and associated mold.
have been in shorts and t shirt cooking Xmas dinner with all windows and doors wide open due to being too hot.
warm and toasty yes. Cheap no.

Added to which, presuming the OP’s budget is not huge- so the narrow boat itself liable to be drafty and poorly insulated

@ThatGoldFinch DH and I lived on a barge for a few years too before we settled down on land and our experience was similar to yours - I miss lots of things about liveaboard life, especially on days like today when the sun is out and we'd have all been out on deck, having impromptu bbqs and drinks from boat to boat, but there were a lot of downsides too and I agree it definitely wasn't cheaper.

It wasn't cold in winter....IF one of us was home all day stoking the fire, or you shelled out £££ for heating (which we didn't have, so we didn't!) DH and I were both working full time, we'd leave for work and get home at dinner time to an icebox of a boat, get the fire started and go straight to bed and watch films under the covers. Many nights we slept in dressing gowns, hats and bedsocks and a few times we got completely frozen in when the hatches froze shut. Also the gas lines would sometimes freeze up even with lagging so we'd have no hot water, or the bottle connection would seize up with the cold so it was impossible to change the bottle over.

The first time that happened we weren't so au fait with boat electrics, so in a panic (as we were freezing and needed to get to work) we decided to boil the kettle to make tea, and run a hairdryer on the hatch at the same time. That shorted out all the fuses, which could only be accessed through the engine hatch on deck. So then we were late to work, in the dark AND frozen in and had to ring our neighbours to rescue us at 7am (luckily we were on a pier and knew our neighbours well enough to have their numbers!)

The trouble with boats (and also static caravans) which seem appealing, is that they require a lot of maintenance and depreciate in value very quickly which is an expensive way to live.

A house, on the other hand, is likely to appreciate in value so if you have dwindling finances later in life, a house makes for sense from a financial point of view.

I did it for three years with an ex and I hated every second.

And I was young then, 18-21. Now, in my mid 40s, I wouldn’t even consider it.

Its not an easy way to live.

Not all the community are idyllic, they can attract some lost and troubled people which can disrupt the peace living there.

The person I know has an diesel fired aga on his wide beam barge it heats the water and runs central heating it’s fantastically warm in winter but in the summer when you turn it on to cook it is like living in a slightly humid version of the Sahara even with every window/hatch open.

This is very much my friends who permanently lives on a wide beams experience.

A lady I used to work with did it. Aged perhaps 50, with one young adult child who had left the nest.
She and her then husband/partner (not sure) sold their house and purchased and moved onto a boat. The relationship collapsed within a year. He moved off the boat - she stayed.
She's pretty quiet on social media these days, but is still living on the boat, and seems happy from what I can tell.
I've no idea what she does for money though, as she's no longer working in the industry I knew her from.

Ha no but that did make me laugh 🤭

I actually meant an area between Tod and Hebden, it has several boats, all of which are just creepy and sinister. Tatty boats, crap infringing on the tow path, etc. it’s hard to describe but I don’t like it.

This. How will you cope as you get older?

I don’t think we gave the OP the answers she wanted / expected from the thread - so doesn’t want to engage anymore!

As a district nurse I had several patients who lived on houseboats and there were many problems with the practicalities of caring for a very unwell, immobile patient. Just day to day activities like personal care were infinitely more difficult than for someone in a house. When one patient needed to go to hospital it took the fire brigade and the ambulance several hours to extricate them after they’d had a fall.
These patients weren’t elderly, they couldn’t get fuel or food onboard without the help of others and none of them had contingency plans for when an emergency arose. Who was going to empty the sewage tank, refill fuel or water?
In winter it was even worse.
in one case I had nearly a mile walk along a muddy towpath to visit a patient, I was limited in how much I could carry. He actually died alone which was incredibly sad, he’d refused to leave his boat.

Thats where I ended up with my ex many years ago and why I fucked off into the night, never seeing him or that bloody boat again.

Surrounded by insufferable hippies and it was hell. I used to have to hide supermarket bags under my coat or I’d be lectured to death on consumerism.

Their boats fucking stank as well.

You're young at the moment but what about when you get older and less mobile, possibly needing care? I think the suggestion of renting your house and renting a boat is a good one, I would be worried about not having a house to go back to if needed.

My DH wants to do this when we retire! Not for me but I think it sounds lovely as long as you look into it all properly (you sound very sensible, I’m sure you will) and it’s what you want!

Yes, I think you’re mad to consider this. Living on a boat is physically hard work. You’re only going to get older and less able to do the work that’s needed. If you really want to do it, just rent your house out and do it. Then you have a house to move back to when you need to.

Interesting thread. The Canal Boat Diaries programme is an enjoyable watch but practically every episode there is some repair he has to do on his boat. Robbie is very adept at tackling all these but it highlights how day to day living in one is far from the romantic ideal. Seems to be a lot of work involved.

A way of life not for the faint hearted. Not surprised so many give up after a year. I'll stick to watching tv to see what living on a boat is like!