Living on a Canal Boat – Becoming a ‘Liveaboard’

Bricks and Mortar to Boat and Water

Converted lighthouse? Yurt? Earthship? Winibago? No, nothing ticked all the boxes like a canal boat.

Donna, Mike and Inky the greyhound

We bought a magazine; searched the web; imagined a new life. This was in the dark wintery months of the beginning of 2012. We discovered the Canal Cavalcade in Little Venice online and made it a date. Travelling by train into London in May drizzle, the edges of Little Venice were jeweled with skinny boats festooned with bunting. Around the corner and into the main basin and – a Quality Street tin full of boats! So many colourful craft together like neat matches in a box!

We walked greedily on drinking in boat after boat and marvelling at paintwork and shiny brasses. How had such a world existed under our radar? Why had we not discovered canal boats earlier? Well, probably because of south coast dwelling and in my case holidays on the Isle of Wight as a child where Black Gang Chine stood in place of Black Country canals.

Still, life begins at forty, ish, and with it the opportunity to cruise the inland waterways on our semi-trad boat Silber with our greyhound Inky, nine and a half.

Returning from the Cavalcade laiden with information (and strangely, a pair of stripey trousers for Mark) we commenced planning: sell house in the summer, rent small flat in the autumn and locate and buy boat, move onto boat in the spring. And free ourselves from stuff in the process via Ebay, giving to friends, the Friday Ad, Freecycle and local charity shops.

Liberating our lives from the usual accumulation of things began when moving from a three bedroomed house with garden and double shed to a two bedroomed first floor flat. (House sold in two days, flat secured at the eleventh hour). We weren’t ruthless enough at that point, so increasing the ‘stuff miles’ of our belongings. The drain rod set (a stunning and considerate gift from my father) twenty five kilos of potter’s clay, an aluminium ladder with questionable safety catches…such items should have been jetisoned immediately, never reaching the flat via the stuffed transit. Hindsight and wisdom!

Annual leave at the beginning of November and we’re in the starting blocks: a handful of boats and their details and viewing appointments and the parental’s sat-nav plumbed with marinas in the midlands. Day number one: found boat! Hmm, perhaps it’s not so wise to buy the first boat you see. Off to other marinas to view alternate craft. Back to original marina to buy the first boat (subject to sensible survey of course).

Christmas in cold flat knowing that new boat has cosy wood fired stove. Condensation dripped from flat walls – like being in Wookey Hole only with drain rods and dodgy aluminium ladders.

We handed in our notice, completely incapable of waiting till spring as per original plan. All set for moving on board middle of January 2013!

We left Worthing warm-hearted from the generosity of friends, their physical help and their unwavering faith that we were doing the right thing and their thoughts that maybe they should be doing the right thing too, and could they come along please? Unfortunately no, but they can come and visit.

We arrived at Crick Polar Ice Cap in a transit van and thermals. Thick snow meant we couldn’t drive down to neatly and conveniently unload our belongings and so had to trickle – feed Silber our stuff (alarmingly reduced and how will manage with no aluminium ladder?) The harbour masters thought we had a lot of stuff and were we loading a second boat behind our one with it all? And still stuff remained on the transit with nowhere for it to go but the charity store.

And so we have made the change from bricks and mortar to boat and water. We are having a grown up gap year and learning the ropes and experiencing the waterways.

Having given up our jobs we are incomless, supported by house sale monies, expenditure aware. We shall see where the wind blows us and what opportunities will come our way in the future which will fit in with our live aboard lifestyle.

As complete novices (no former canal boat holidays in our caps) we are sucking up information constantly and cataloguing mistakes on a daily basis but we are so happy and invigorated and excited to be able to experience living in this way.

Next – Donna discovers the hazards of Towpath Foraging!

Thanks to Donna, Mark (and Inky) for writing, and permission to publish, this.