Ms TR made me cut my boat in half - Annual Foolish birthday post

[tonyreptiles]

Hi All,

Long time no see! I received a calendar notification that it was my Foolish birthday so I thought I'd pop in for a beer and a post.

The big news here is that I recently cut my narrowboat in half! It came about because MsTR decided she didn't want to live in a house anymore, so she quit her job and sold her house as part of the plans to join me aboard on my merry adventures. The sticking point that had prevented this occurrence before now was the fact that my boat was only just big enough for me. After weighing up the pros and cons of buying a new bigger boat, and the option of buying an unpowered tow-along craft to use as a floating office (It's called a 'butty'), we eventually plumped on the idea of having my current boat stretched.

Essentially this meant cutting the boat in half and adding in an extra 11ft, taking it from 50ft to 61ft. The stretch meant we had room for a proper office with two standing-desk work stations, a bigger galley, bigger bathroom, a utility/laundry area and another wardrobe and shelf space for her clothing etc. The project cost £32,000 for the steelwork, electrics, gas, plumbing and interior joinery fit out. We've been aboard now for a couple of months and we're very pleased with our purchase. It's been a glorious summer for boating.

MsTR has been a fully signed up member of the normal world for the years before I met her. Meeting me was a bit of a culture-shock to say the least. Living on my boat has meant that I'd managed to avoid the pressure to keep up with the Jones's, and thereby avoided the mortgage payments, house maintenance and the need for a new shiny car every few years. It's also meant that I couldn't (and didn't want) a proper job with a boss and a fixed location. To be honest, I've worked for far too many plonkers and I am far too much of an unemployable renegade (read: gobby git) for that to have worked out anyway. Working for myself as a writer meant I could not only do that from anywhere I could get an internet connection, but it also meant I could put my money where my big fat mouth was and prove that I could do it my way all by myself thank you very much. Anyone who runs their own business will know that you live or die based on your own decisions. And there were certainly times in the early years where I was close to flatlining financially. Those were the times when living a frugal life on a boat with no mortgage was a lifesaver, because I couldn't have afforded to pay a mortgage at that time for sure. Hell, I couldn't have even paid rent in the scummy part of scumsville some months! Yes, the boat saved me and allowed me to build my business as a writer.

Anyway, MsTR was similarly dissatisfied with having to work at an unfulfilling job, just because she had to pay the mortgage. First she sold her three bed house in the Lake District and rented a cheap place in Lancaster. It wasn't posh, but it was in a lovely village and a great place to initiate part two of the plan. This involved quitting her shitty job to go part time in another role, allowing her to begin building her own business. This took two years to do - 24 months of paying £1000 in rent and bills. The quicker we got on board the sooner we could pocket that money.

What it costs
Remember the £32,000 cost of stretching the boat? Well, the rough fag-packet calculations show that within three years we'll have paid for the boat stretch by saving the £1000 rental expenses each month. Our approximate annual expenses on the boat pan out something like this.

Boat Licence (Like a tax disk for a boat) - £1000
Boat and contents insurance - £350
Safety certificate (Like a boat MOT, except every 5 years) - £150
Diesel (£1 per engine hour) - Not sure yet, but we estimate around £500-£800 per year
Moorings - Essentially no cost if we cruise around, as is our intention, but for a few months each year a marina will be no more than £500 - £1000.
Gas - A bottle lasts us a month and costs about £30
Boat maintenance - how long is a piece of string? We recently installed solar (£1200) and bought a new inverter when ours blew up in the heat of summer (£1500 fitted). There's bottom blacking to do and a few niggly jobs on the list, but I'd be surprised if our maintenance budget of £2000 each years gets used.

Costs we don't have
Mortgage/rent etc - nope!
Our newly installed composting toilet means we don't have toilet pump put costs.
Because we don't have an address we don't pay council tax. (These facilities costs are what we pay our licence for.)
Water charges are also included in our licence fee.
We cut down from two cars to one, and we hardly use that one now we both live and work aboard. We kept the two seater soft-top (Mazda MX5) and sold the Seat Ibiza, of course!
Electricity - Solar provides all of our needs and more in the summer. When we get rid of the 240v fridge we expect we'll be largely sorted in the winter too.


The downsides
Our water tank only seems to last for about 5 days, then we must go find a tap to fill up. This was a shocker as a tank used to last me a month or so when I was on my own. MsTR points out that I shower more often and wash clothes more often. I say it is because I would shower and wash clothes at her place previously. Filling up once every 5 days isn't ideal, but we will live.
Piggy-backing the car every time we move the boat. I'm ready to get rid of the car and hire when we need one, just like I did before I met MsTR and had to travel to the Lake District every few days.
Post is difficult to get. Thankfully most things can be done online, but we have to change our delivery address every time we move a significant distance and this isn't always easy or possible.

Why I wouldn't change it for the world
I've moved around so much during my life that stability wasn't always good. I've been homeless as a youngster, and there have been times when I have been on the road for months on end. And there have been times when I have been close to homeless since then. The boat saved me. Our businesses as a writer and a graphic designer are going pretty well and there isn't really much chance of us finding ourselves in financial trouble given our low cost of living. Despite this, I still get nightmares that if it all goes Pete Tong I'll be on my [expletive deleted] in the gutter. The low monthly expenditure of our boatlife means that, even if we have some really lean months, we can still live comfortably. As long as we have a bit of diesel, a bottle of gas and enough money for food, we're sorted.

It also means we don't have to put up with a work situation if we don't want to. We're not beholden to a boss or a company who have us over a barrel because we have to pay the mortgage. We don't even have to put up with a crappy client if we don't want to. Last year I sacked a client because they weren't very nice. I lost about 20% of my income, but gained back my (largely) happy, stress-free life. It's a liberating position to be in. And of course, I soon filled the gap with another client.

I'm currently writing the second edition of my book, The Liveaboard Guide. It's been interesting to compare my life back then with how it is now. There have been many changes and I have spent lots of time reflecting on my life over the last decade. After 10 years aboard the only thing that was missing was a soulmate to share my adventures with. Now I have MsTR and it seems like my life is set to get even better now that we can live aboard together. The next step is to spend a few months each year abroad, probably in countries with a low cost of living. To take our income from well-paying jobs in the UK/USA/AUS, we can live quite handsomely in Bulgaria, India, Tanzania, Nicaragua and Thailand - just a few of the places on our list.

I remember back to when I was thinking of buying the boat in the early 2000s and a mate of mine was very disparaging. He wanted me to put a deposit on a house instead. "Buy a house, get some equity, get a car, move to London, buy nice things and you'll be respected."

"No, I said, I just can't see myself doing that. It seems stressful and I'm just not cut out to do well in that world."

"You're a fool. You'll never have any of the nice things that I have ."

I thought about it for a while. I was going to reply, but I realised that he just wouldn't get it.
So I just smiled, and I thought to myself. "I'll have something you'll never have."

I have enough.

Lemony Foolish regards
RE

[Itsallaguess]

Long time no see! I received a calendar notification that it was my Foolish birthday so I thought I'd pop in for a beer and a post.

Brilliant to hear from you TR - I can't be the only one who often finds themselves wondering how you're getting on, and it's great to hear that you're happy and co-habiting on your newly-extended floating palace.

Two questions came to mind when reading your very interesting update -

1. When you say 'piggy-backing the car', do you actually mean driving the car onto the boat and moving around with it attached?

2. Given what you've always said about the relatively low-cost of boat-living, what has been your experience over the past 10 years or so in terms of others taking up this cheaper way to live? You've not specifically mentioned any sort of 'water-way over-crowding' issues in any of your updates in the past, but I thought I'd ask about this, given what we know are really expensive conditions in the world of 'bricks-and-mortar' living...

It's great to hear that you've found a water-living soul-mate TR. When I read your 'cut my boat in half' thread-title, and then saw that you're now sharing your boat with MsTR, I imagined some sort of Steptoe-and-Son 'boat-divide', with a large mooring rope splitting your living-quarters down the middle, so I was pleased to read further and see that you meant a long boat-extension instead!!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[nimnarb]

Lovely post TR. Always looked forward to your posts of old.

Really pleased for you and Mrs TR. You always were different. Please stay that way. Some people could learn a good lesson from you. Life is for living and living it the way that most makes you happy, I think is wonderful.

[tonyreptiles]

1. When you say '[i]piggy-backing the car', do you actually mean driving the car onto the boat and moving around with it attached?[/i]

Ha ha! I wish! No, when we move the boat we have to trek back to the last place we parked the car and then drive it to where we hope we're going to moor the boat next. It's a bit hit and miss and often means long walks, train rides or taxis.




2. Given what you've always said about the relatively low-cost of boat-living, what has been your experience over the past 10 years or so in terms of others taking up this cheaper way to live? You've not specifically mentioned any sort of '[i]water-way over-crowding' issues in any of your updates in the past, [/i]

There are no official figures to quote because Canal and Rivers Trust doesn't ask for this info when they issue licences, but anyone with eyes can tell you that living on the canal has taken off MASSIVELY. In cities especially it is wall to wall liveaboards in many places - particularly in London where liveaboards often are moored four abreast. I've written London off my list of cruising options as it's a logistical headache.

The waterways have become a kind of social housing option. Unfortunately the waterways aren't set up to accommodate this. And I say this as someone who certainly benefitted from this in the early days of my writing career, so I'm not judging. There are loads of divorcees who got just enough money from the split to buy a boat, but times are hard and they can't afford a mooring. If they have a job or kids in a particular area this leaves them cruising the local system, hoping to stay ahead of the CRT 'waterways police' who monitor overstaying at visitor mooring sites. This lifestyle is far from stress free.

There are also loads of people, like me, who'd just had enough of the rat race. The boating community is full of freaks and weirdos and dropouts and addicts and artists and creatives and people who just don't fit the mold and can't compete in the high-stakes capitalism that is the normal 9-5 world. It's interesting that there are those who are doing rather well in the traditional 9-5 world and, instead of looking down on us with our tiny home, they're really quite admiring and complimentary.

Boating isn't for everyone, and the recent upsurge of liveaboards has proven that to be true. I sell around 2,000 copies of my book each year - which is a lot for a small, niche, non-fiction title. I wish I could find a way to better monetize my boating experience and expertise without selling my soul to the man!

[redsturgeon]

Hey Tony, great to hear from you and I am pleased things are going well.

A boat extension, who would have thought it would be a thing, fascinating.

Have you thought of having a folding bike on board for the piggy backing thing? Would make things a lot easier I think.

I still have fond memories of my night on board in deepest Nottinghamshire and the snakes and naked model episode!

Cheers

John

[tonyreptiles]

Hey Tony, great to hear from you

I still have fond memories of my night on board in deepest Nottinghamshire and the snakes and naked model episode!

Cheers

John

Hi John,

I've not had any naked-model-with-snake photo shoots for a while. Those were the days!

I can't remember where you're based, but if you let me know I'll drop you a line when we're next in that area. You'll be amazed at the old tub's transformation. It's less of a man-cave now and rather more domesticated. I guess I'm less feral now too - just a little.

TR

[Stonge]

Brilliant.

How do you deal with HMRC, doctor and dentist issues?

[Itsallaguess]

I've not had any naked-model-with-snake photo shoots for a while. Those were the days!

You'll be amazed at the old tub's transformation.

Come on though TR - none of us are getting any younger...

Has she still got the snake?



Itsallaguess

[tonyreptiles]

Brilliant.

How do you deal with HMRC, doctor and dentist issues?

Yes, you've hit the nail on the head here. The price you pay for a cheap and easy boat like is convenience. Finding bins to put your rubbish in, finding taps to fill up with water and running out of gas while MsTR is in the shower in the middle of winter - all a mighty nightmare at times if you've not got your shizzle sorted. Preparation and being organised is the key.

Administration and bureaucracy can be a headache too. We use a friend's address for HMRC/DVLA etc. She takes photos of our post and emails them to us to keep us up to date with the rare instances of snail mail arriving. Doctors can be fussy, but most are happy to register you if you turn up on death's door. I have been known to pull the "Are you discriminating against me because I'm a traveller?" card - at which point they can't do enough to help.
Dentists are a weird one. We've decided to stick with our old dentist and make provision to go there when we visit folk back near where MsTR formerly lived. It means we sometimes miss the six-monthly check-ups, but we're OK with that on the whole.

Yes, there are frustrations, but the pros outweigh the cons.

[tonyreptiles]

I've not had any naked-model-with-snake photo shoots for a while. Those were the days!

You'll be amazed at the old tub's transformation.

Come on though TR - none of us are getting any younger...

Has she still got the snake?



Itsallaguess

<snigger>