Complete newbie thinking of buying one
I know some people who own them, nobody who lives on them full-time.
Are you planning to live on it?
Thanks, no not full time. I’m looking to buy one with a good mate. We both live at different points of the Regents canal and its really nice in summer (it also doubles up as a dog box when the mrs is in one of her moods hehehe), love the idea of being able to move it around different points of the canal all the up to Camden.
There are heaps of better priced boats outside of London, like Bristol, one of my initial questions is if its actually worth looking at those, ie physically possible to transport, and will not cost thousands to do so. Time is not an issue.
There was the big Cornish bloke that came to BM every now and then, he lives on one permanently.
I looked a buying one a few years ago, it’s not something to buy as a investment from what I could see. Also unless you get a static mooring you’ll have to move every 2 weeks (i think) and have heard they are enforcing this rule more regularly these days. Which is fine for some people, but could be a hassle.
The main thing that put me off was having somewhere safe to leave my bikes. The Cornish lad had a smaller bike he could actually put on the boat. Not sure I’d want to ride a bike up a possibly wet plank!
BM=Burning Man?
I’m definitely not looking to live on one permanently, my bike is staying in the garage 
Or will it be an investment as I know for a fact the depreciate in price. This is purely recreational.
Yeah have to look into the mooring but moving once every 2 weeks is not bad for me. Mate and I have about 1 to 2 clicks of canal between us and at the moment plenty of parking particulalry behind my building.
In terms of license or tax and “on canal costs” is it expensive to keep one?
Do you have to go on a boat driving course? LOL
BM= Borough Market. the place we meet on a Wednesday evening.
This was a good article I found a while ago https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/29/ten-years-living-on-a-boat-its-a-fun-life-im-not-a-watery-hobo
I think when they say move every few days, they expect you to be genuinely navigating the canals, not just moving back and forth over a 2 mile stretch.
haha right.......Ill one day come to that :) Any requirements to join?
BM= Borough Market. the place we meet on a Wednesday evening.
me_groovy
Well that kinda changes things then......
I think when they say move every few days, they expect you to be genuinely navigating the canals, not just moving back and forth over a 2 mile stretch.
monkimark
do you like bikes and can you participate in some piss-taking?BM= Borough Market. the place we meet on a Wednesday evening. me_groovyhaha right.......Ill one day come to that :) Any requirements to join?
Dingo-Biker
Sense of humour and money to buy coffee 
look into hiring one for a weekend with your mate and see if you enjoy
The moving thing is based on what waterways license you buy and if you have a permanent mooring. if you have a permanent mooring and pay for a normal license you can leave it there all year (license £1000 ish plus mooring fees), you will need a residential mooring if you plan to live on it full time (council tax low band).
people normally buy a boat on a mooring already as they’re like hens teeth in london.
The ones they move on have all bought the continuous cruiser license and don’t have a perm mooring. Its far cheaper and as they don’t need perm mooring they get stung when the enforcers come along as they just moor anywhere and aren’t actually cruising. these licenses are meant for retirees spending their days travelling the system.
a good site for second handers is http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/
I think when they say move every few days, they expect you to be genuinely navigating the canals, not just moving back and forth over a 2 mile stretch. monkimark
That’s the expectation but I don’t think it’s quite the rule.
They’re “visitor moorings” and they’ve each got their own rules (signposted there); each one’s got a set amount of time you can stay before moving on, and how long before you can return. The norm is that you can stay for 14 days, then need to bugger off for at least a night and can arguably go back, but on some busy ones you can’t come back for six months or a year.
It’s not-uncommon to live on a canal boat by pinging around five or six moorings on rotation, but it’s not especially comfortable - you’re reliant on the engine for all your electricity and heating, mobile data for Internet and whatever toilets you can find.
Also, it’s impolite to move before dawn or after dusk (and often tricky too) so during winter, when the few hours it can take to get between your hoped-for moorings occupies much of your available moving time, you might have to allow a weekend to moving around finding a spot. Almost everyone who does that enables it by having a bicycle.
Yeah, it’s the license that requires continuous navigation rather than the mooring but ultimately it’s the same thing unless you fork out for (and can find) a home mooring
Ahh, my experience is all on borrowed boats that had a home mooring, so all that was down to politeness and expectation rather than license requirements.
I guess you could get a home mooring somewhere out of London and just be perpetually ‘visiting’ London, rather than actually moored at ‘home’.
I grew up by the Leeds Liverpool canal (not in a boat but in a house next to the canal) - I think it was about 3 or 4 grand a year for a home mooring in the marina down the road and that was in rural Lancashire so I imagine it could get expensive down here.
You guys are crushing my dreams!! 
Thanks heaps, specially for those links very handy. Alas, that’s a lot to take in…slowly putting action points on paper(eeerrr excel) and putting together a plan.
Looks like I have a lot of reading and research to do. I saw you have to get insurance etc also…eeek and a lot of money…you are almost forced to move in indefinitely!
May also walk down on the weekend and speak to some boaters.
PM Terry Moto he lives on one full time
They float?