boating information

Keeping a narrowboat on the canal system is not a cheap pastime so it is essential to be fully aware of the likely costs you will incur after buying your boat. The actual costs depend on exactly how you will use your boat and the following is a guide to some of the costs involved, based on a 57 foot boat.

License. This will be around £700 a year; a bit less if you pay early, quite a bit more if you are late. This permits you to use your boat on the BW canal network. Additional costs are involved if you venture on to EA waters (mostly rivers).

Mooring. Unless you intend to cruise continuously around the system (not shuffle backwards and forwards between two or three locations) you must have a permanent mooring. This can vary from around £1,000 for a BW towpath mooring with no facilities up to £3-4,000 for a marina mooring, more in and around London. Continuous cruisers avoid this cost but do of course tend to use more fuel.

Insurance. £150 - £300 per year.

Maintenance. This will depend on how much you use your boat, but allow £500 a year for general maintenance. It could be less if you do some of the jobs yourself and quite a lot more if you employ someone to do all the work.

Fuel, both for the engine and your heating. This will of course depend on how much you use your boat but expect it to run to several hundred pounds a year.

Finance. Marine mortgages or bank loans are available if you are not in the fortunate position to be able to pay cash, but expect interest rates to be significantly higher than a domestic mortgage.

• Overview
• Selling
• Buying

• Styles
• Sailaways
• Details

• Costs
• What you need
• Living aboard