Why a Narrowboat?

It's healthy to have dreams and ambition - even better when you share the same dream with your partner. Making dreams a reality can fill you with excitement and happiness. It can also it can fill you with disappointment when you discover your dreams are not feasible. And when you're finally in a position to make your dream a reality, feelings of anxiety and fear are not uncommon. Here's how we decided upon an Narrowboat.

Sunnier Climes

We both had dreams of a holiday retreat in sunnier climes, and we focussed our efforts on securing a property on the southern coast of Spain. We very much enjoy the culture, the food and the weather that Spain has to offer. However, we soon realised that we'd not be able to use the property for the majority of the year because of our work commitments. After looking at renting a property to family and friends, discovering the taxes and clauses on any revenue you make, (not to mention difficulties with the UK's departure from the European Union) we decided to fold this dream.

Pandemic!

During the global pandemic, the UK Government imposed restrictions around work, shopping, recreation and exercise. We all had to find different ways of working, socialising and keeping fit. We quickly started to take long walks along the canal and realised that this was not only a great way to burn calories, but also great for our mental health,

After the disappointment of folding our "Spanish Getaway" dream, we started looking into owning a narrowboat. The positives all stacked up. The relaxed way of life, the beautiful scenery, the outdoor living, the history! Our great canals had everything we were looking for (except the weather!).

We're very privileged to live in a beautiful part of England, but there is so much more to discover. We live close to two marina's so we had choices around mooring too. The great city of Birmingham is under 5 hours cruising time away, so a weekend moored in the vibrant heart of the entertainment district also appealed.

More importantly we could cruise when we want, with friends and family and as often as we wanted.

Choices

So after making the decision to buy a Narrowboat, we visited many boat yards looking at used boats. None of the used boats appealed to us, so we started to look at a Sail-away (shell only) new boats in an aim to fit out ourselves.. It soon became clear that the time and effort in fitting out a Narrowboat would tie us down for many years and might not ever be complete. We even looked at part-fitted Narrowboats and the costs around these options. We made enquiries with Lymm Marina but they failed to get back to us.

After further discussions we decided we would look at fully fitted new narrowboats. This way we could enjoy the boat as soon as it was delivered.

New and Used Boat Company (based in Hanbury) seemed to be the right choice because they were local and offered fully fitted narrowboats within our price range. The boat we were interested in is built by Collingwood Boat Builders in Liverpool. After looking at the purchase costs, understanding the running costs. (mooring/license/diesel/insurance, etc.), we decided to move forward with the New & Used Boat Company.

In this process, it is important to understand that the Narrowboat world moves at the same pace as the boats, so patience is needed throughout the sales process; especially when build slots are forecast into the following year!