Want to live aboard your own narrowboat, and/or extensively cruise the English Canals?
Living aboard a narrowboat and continuously cruising our UK canals can be a wonderful way of life, free to move and change the view from the window whenever you want, we know, we've been doing it for over a decade! Starting out there are new skills to be learned if you want to be a successful 'liveaboard', and important considerations when buying a narrowboat to live aboard.
We have a narrowboat liveaboard training and consultancy course specifically designed for those wishing to continuously cruise the canals. The emphasis of the course is on becoming 'canalwise' as to numerous issues, such as the buying and/or setting up a liveaboard boat; boat licensing; moorings; dealing happily and comfortably with winter; what to do about addresses etc etc. But we also cover aspects of advanced boat handling and locking practices which can only come from understanding the principles involved. Click to see our Training & Consultancy Courses.
You may just be unsure of whether or not narrowboating will suit you in the long term - and you just cannot judge this from a hire boat holiday. A short break with us on Willow can help you decide whether the lifestyle would suit you personally, one way or the other.
If you are in the process of buying a narrowboat to live aboard, we may be able to save you a considerable amount of money. Boat builders' ideas on necessary equipment may be profit driven, at worst, or just unsuitable for the liveaboard lifestyle or for continuous cruising (many new boat owners have bought boats merely for summer holiday use, which are otherwise kept in a marina).
As a narrowboat liveaboard you
will want your boat's heating, electrical, and charging systems to suit
all year round boating. This needn't cost the earth and we may even be
able to save you money. An efficient liveaboard boat is set
up very differently to a typical holiday or hire boat.
Liveaboard
Equipment 12v
Charging systems Water/Space
Heating
Can you bring your boat to a stop in a straight line?
Will your boat be set up to take the, albeit pretty, winter weather?
Winter Blakemere