The Rock Star and I tend to get a lot of questions about our lives on the boat. A lot of the same questions. Over and over. And you know, that’s cool, but after 7 years, I thought maybe a simple FAQ might be easier.
You live on a BOAT? REALLY?
Word. We live on a 57 ft traditional English narrow boat called Galileo on The Grand Union Canal.
How the heck did you end up living on a BOAT?
 When the Rock Star and I got married, we were pretty broke and lived with his parents for the first six months. I love my in-laws, but all six of us in the house was really a bit much. We ended up at a birthday party at a local canal-side pub where someone had rented a narrowboat for the weekend. Both being tremendously inebriated, we boarded it, had a look around and decided on the spot that we should get one to live on. The very next day, hangovers and all, we came down to the marina that we live in now and found Galileo. (Then called Gloucester)
Is it cheaper than living in a house?
Oh yes. We pay no council tax and get our water for free. (and no, not directly out of the canal, before you ask.) Our electricity bills are very low and in the summer, we only need the gas for cooking, reducing our fuel bills further. A narrowboat will run you anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 pounds, while the average house price in our area is well over 200k. You can do the math.
Isn’t it kind of cramped?
Well, yeah. It’s pretty much like living in a steel tube, but it’s a cozy little bolt hole. We don’t have a table or anything, so dinner tends to be on laps on the sofa. It makes it hard to entertain in the winter, when we can’t go out on the shore. Luckily, the Rock Star and I get along VERY well.
Speaking of winter, doesn’t it get COLD?
No colder than a house if the heating is off. The boat has a gas boiler and an immersion heater as well as a small fan heater which we leave running most days, just so it isn’t completely bum-freezingly cold when we come home in the winter. The bulkheads are also insulated with polystyrene, so heat stays in pretty well. Our biggest problem with heating is going to bed in the freezing cold, turning the boiler up all the way and then waking up having dropped 3 jean sizes due to the Sumatran rainforest conditions that have occurred over night.
Don’t you get seasick?
A canal is a man-made body of water and therefore has no tide or natural motion. Depending on the opening and closing of locks and other boats passing by us, we sometimes get MC-Escher-esque currents running in both directions, but other than that, the boat is completely motionless unless someone gets up and walks around, usually resulting in some other unsuspecting person losing their balance.
How do locks work?
Canals are very clever ways of getting water to flow up hills. Check the cool animated diagram.
Do you have electricity?
We live in a marina with all the amenities of everyday life including electricity, phone and Broadband.
Erm…what do you do about…you know…
What, the toilet? Right, there’s a big black hose that clamps onto the side of the boat that sucks the contents of the toilet into an underground tank. The hose looks like it really enjoys its job. We have to pump out every two weeks or so, depending on how many times we’ve been out for curries. One thing about living on a boat is that it makes you hyper aware of WHERE STUFF GOES.
Do you take it out?
Sure! There wouldn’t be much point in having a boat if you didn’t take it out on the canal. Summer is fabulous; a quick chug and just two locks up from us are two nice pubs that we can cruise to for an afternoon of basking in the sun and having beers on the roof. The furthest we’ve been is up to Stoke Bruene. It took us about 3 days to get there even though it’s only about an hour away by car. The canal moves at a much more leisurely pace than the rest of the world.
What are your plans for the future?
Sadly, our dreams of a bigger boat were dashed by British Waterways; our section of the canal is too narrow to support a wide beam craft. We shall be moving shortly into a flat prior to the birth of The Prawn, but fear not; Galileo will stay in the family as a recreational craft and guesthouse for out of town visitors!Â
