How is the cost of living crisis affecting those that live in narrowboats?

12 comments

1. Trying to stay afloat I guess

2. My mate told me Rosie and Jim have resorted to prostitution

   Sad really

3. Before it they lived in wideboats.

4. We need people living in a narrow boat to answer this.

5. Coal, fuel and food prices have gone up.

6. The whole thing is a lot to take on board. It’s becoming moor difficult by the day. I have a sinking feeling that some won’t survive.

7. I heard a lot of them had to get narrower boats.

8. My mum lives on one. Energy is much much cheaper. Mooring fees have gone up but overall she isn’t getting hit as hard as she would be in a house.

9. They will be impacted by food prices exactly like everyone else.

   I live at the Kennet & Avon canal (on dry land) but know a few boaters around here. The mooring fees around here have shot up to ridiculous amounts. In addition to that they have to pay the fee to the canal trust. If memory serves me right the canal trust fee was somewhere around £1000/year for an average size narrowboat. The mooring fee for a permanent mooring (if you can actually find one) I think was a couple grand/year. Or in other words, just to keep your boat on the canal you have to pay a couple thousand pounds (unless you’re a constant cruiser, in that case you only have to pay the canal trust fee).

   Fuel prices will have gone up just like other fuel prices, be it for gas bottles or diesel. Only potential saving some might get is from collecting wood for their wood burning stoves to keep them warm. Just keep in mind you’ll probably need quite a lot of it if we get a cold winter. Most boats have single pane windows and aren’t particularly well insulated.

   While I don’t know for sure I suspect running a generator to provide your electricity isn’t very cheap/economical either. Many have solar panels these days, but with the shorter darker days I suspect they won’t be anywhere near sufficient to cover all your needs.

   Those are my thoughts as a canal shore dweller (the K&A canal is literally below my windows)

10. My brother lives in one. Apart from the obviously increased fuel costs over the past 12 months he hasn’t had too much increases. Has 1kw of solar power on the roof and and a huge battery system so has energy for free for 24 hours even if the solar was not generating anything.

11. They’re just sailing through it.

12. The boats are becoming more narrow.

    Sadly they’re really feeling the squeeze.