Greetings
This is my first, of hopefully many posts to this forum, so Hi to everyone!
My partner and myself are loking to
purchase a barge (Dutch / Humber / Thames etc) type
boat to convert to a
liveaboard, I have many members of my
family work in the construction
trade so getting the conversion
work done will be a doddle, however finding a barge with a sound
hull / decent
engine is our major concern. I've seen barges around the humber for under £20k that seem ok, see:
http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/display.phtml?aid=36131
as an example, this is a 62' x 14'barge that needs conversion, I have no real idea of its condition and obviously we'll get a professional
survey done before committing to a
purchase. Now I understand a little about the ins and outs of having a
boat on the canals, but what are the costs of keeping a large barge such as this,
i.e,
1. do I need to pay a
mooring fee on a river,
2. is the
insurance many times higher because of the size?
3. what licenses / certificates are required etc.
As a final query I was wondering if, as is the case with property prices, that boats / barges are available more cheaply in mainland
Europe - most notably anywhere from
Germany and beyond -
Poland, eastern
Europe etc. And, if a suitable boat was located / purchased would it / is it possible to sail back along the major waterways of Europe and across the channel (weather permitting of course). Also is it possible to sail barges around the coastline of Britain to access different rivers / navigations etc. Maybe I'm expecting too much from one boat! Anyway any info about this would be gratefully received!
many thanks!
Samantha