Exploring Life Afloat: Boat vs House Part 1
Since moving from the city centre Madrid to my native lands of rural Lancashire and swapping a warehouse-converted-loft for a narrowboat, I have heard the same thing from many people: ‘I have always dreamt about living on a boat’. It seems that narrowboat life is the romantic dream of many of us.
In this post I want to share more with you about how boat life compares with life in bricks and mortar. What are some of the ways I have had to adapt to life afloat? Narrowboat life can seem very beautiful and romantic, but what are some of the realities that you don’t see on the shiny instagram feeds?
Read on to find out 🙂
“Is it cold in winter?”
For some reason this is the first question people ask when they find out I live on a boat. The answer is boringly simple: just like a house, if it’s heated, it’s lovely and warm. Go away for a few days when it’s cold and prepare to enter an ice box on return.
Indeed there is the one way that boat-life wins house-life hands-down. It’s the cosiness factor. There ain’t many cosier places than being in front of a log burner on a snuggly narrowboat, listening to the rain playing musical notes on the roof.
In the early days when it was all still new, I loved the ritual of lighting the fire in the morning. It felt old fashioned and wholesome to have to rely on fire as my only source of heat. I would clear the ash and stack the kindling and loved hearing that initial crackle as the wood took light.
Next the kettle went on, boiling on the gas stove and whistling when it was time to brew up. Hearing the whistle of the kettle was a simple and soothing pleasure which I savoured. The fact that it took a good five minutes to boil was just part of the charm of the slow life and a good excuse to linger for longer over a cup of tea.
That is what made me fall in love with my boat Graylyn. Her wooden interior and little log burner were exactly the rustic cosy living space I had been dreaming about. I loved her vintage, oldy-worldy vibe. She had character and integrity and I liked that. She offered me a refuge when I most needed one and for that I was grateful.
Life Style
It is fair to say that I was thrown into boat life without much prior preparation. Luckily for me, I was still teaching online so I was able to get used to this new lifestyle without worrying about the morning commute or being away from the boat for long lengths of time during the day.
I guess that is one big difference between a house and a boat. You don’t ever need to get used to living in a house for the most part. We all know how to live in bricks and mortar. On a boat though, you have to learn the tricks of the trade.
For example, you have to be aware of how much water you are using and fill up your tank when it’s empty. (No water in your boat, no water in the taps!). You also have to be aware of how much water you are drinking! Too much tea and you will be emptying your toilet at an inconveniently speedy rate.
Another big difference is that when you are on a boat, you are very aware of the elements. Sometimes when it’s windy you can feel the water moving beneath you. The boat rocks gently making you very aware that you are not on dry land. You have to be careful about how you get on and off, especially in the dark or rain.
Whilst some people may not like the sound of a rocking abode, it has never bothered me. It only adds to the dramatic atmosphere of a storm and makes me feel all the more cosy when I am safely sitting in front of the fire. It also makes me feel much more connected to nature and the great outdoors.
Curiously, on a boat there is a way to tell what the weather is like just by listening. If it is windy, you hear the boat sometimes being knocked around. If it’s raining you hear the pitter-patter on the roof. If it’s hailing it sounds like a god alrighty racket.
If it is hot and sunny, you hear the metal stretching out in random bangs here and there. When water is frozen over you even hear fish banging around beneath (some even speculate there is a resident otter that gives the boat a bash from below!).
These are things you would never experience when living in bricks and mortar!
Practicalities
There is one aspect of boat life that really is different to living in a house and it really isn’t for everyone. It is the toilet situation. Without the plumbing that takes your bodily waste out and away at the push of a button that we take for granted when living in a house, on a boat you have to deal with your bodily wastes yourself.
There are numerous options for this, ranging from the pump out (literally gets pumped out at designated stations for a cost), the cassette or porta-potty, or the more modern compost toilet.
Gralyn has what is called a porta-potty that needs to be emptied regularly. If you have ever used a caravan you will know what I am talking about. I made the mistake of not emptying my porta-potty loo quick enough a few times and it got too heavy to carry it up to the sluice (the lovely toilet emptying place). I had to call in the help of a friendly neighbour boater to drive it up there for me. (Cool boater points: zero).
You also have to get used to having a smaller fridge and generally only a small ice box freezer. Stocking up on fresh veggies is great but will it all get in there? Ditto with your wardrobe. On a boat, you are lucky if you get one. Space can obviously be an issue, as the passageways between the different living spaces are as you would expect them to be, narrow.
You also need to make sure you keep your fuel tank topped up. Boats heat the water when the engine is running (which also charges the batteries just like a car), so without fuel you are going nowhere, will have no hot water and no electricity!
The other thing to consider with all of this is how to get all your fuel onto your boat (including logs and coal for the fire). If you are moored on the canal side you will have to be close enough to a tow bridge to manage your loads without walking too far from your car or the delivery vehicle. Not so easy without the convenience of a driveway!
If you are a continuous cruiser (a boater with no fixed mooring who has to keep moving on everyone for two weeks), then throw into the mix finding a new place to moor. Suddenly boatlife isn’t so relaxing!
As you can see, there is more to living on the boat than meets the eye! It isn’t just a change of home, it’s a change of lifestyle. But that is also the beauty of this kind of life. It keeps life interesting and adventurous. There’s always something to do, rain or shine.
Marina Cheat
In my case though, I do have a fixed mooring on a marina so that is admittedly less adventurous than my continuous cruising counterparts. This makes life infinitely easier. Firstly I have an electricity hook up so I don’t need to worry about running out of electricity if I haven’t been running my engine.
Then there is a convenient water point on my jetty so I don’t need to move the boat to fill up. There are facilities like showers and a laundry room on site (try walking down the towpath in the rain with all your laundry looking for a laundrette. I’ve seen people doing it and it doesn’t look fun).
Admittedly, all of this does take a lot of the essence of boating out of this boat-life experience. Perhaps to some it seems to be a bit of a cop-out, living the life of a static caravan on water rather than using a boat for what it was designed for.
However, holding down a full time job whilst living on a boat isn’t so easy, as I soon found out when I stopped teaching online and started working at the farm shop.
Which is when life intervened and a new development occurred…
Stay tuned for my next post where I share some news on my current living situation 😉
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