Of all the options we have looked into so far, life on a boat seems the most plausible in the short-term. It is legal, and it is relatively affordable. Here I will consider in more detail the costs involved. From my small amount of research, it seems you can get a half-decent second hand boat for around 20,000-40,000 pounds. The cost of a residential mooring depends on the area and particular marina as well as the length of the boat, but in the Bristol area appears to be between 220 and 450 pounds per month rental. Add into this the fact you may need to pay some amount of council tax, there is a licensing fee for the Canal and River Trust, you have to pay for the hull to be blacked every three years, for a Boat Safety Certificate, insure the boat, pay utility bills, and the costs can still mount up. I am going to research these costs in a bit more detail and hopefully put links to useful web-sites from this blog post as I find them.
Here are the current licensing fees from the Canal and River Trust:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/5545.pdf
For a 50-foot boat, this puts the annual license at £850 for Canals and Rivers, or for Rivers only it would be £510.
You also need a boat safety certificate, which lasts for four years and appears to cost around £100 (i.e., £25 per year):
http://angliaboatsafety.co.uk/boat-safety-certificate-price/.
However, I can't find a specific cost for the certificate from the Boat Safety Scheme web-site:
http://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/
Here is some info on hull blacking and replacing the anodes which seems to be recommended at least every three years:
http://narrowboatinfo.co.uk/narrowboat-maintenance-blacking/
Blacking helps protect the hull from rust/corrosion, and wear and tear when being driven about. The anodes are a clever mechanism - I don't fully understand it at the moment but it is something to do with electrical current - because the anode has a more 'active' voltage than the metal on the hull of the boat, the anode will corrode first and protect the hull from corrosion (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_anode). As such, the anodes need to be regularly replaced in order for them to do their job appropriately.
There is an example of costs of blacking and anode replacement at a particular marine repairs centre here:
http://aquanarrowboats.co.uk/marine-repairs-centre.
In this case, for a 50 foot boat, blacking would be around £550, and replacing four anodes would be around £200. These costs include dry docking and a pressure wash and dry before blacking; anodes should be replaced at the same time in order not to pay for dry docking twice. This means that blacking and anode replacement would cost £250 per year if done every three years.
Here are the current licensing fees from the Canal and River Trust:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/5545.pdf
For a 50-foot boat, this puts the annual license at £850 for Canals and Rivers, or for Rivers only it would be £510.
You also need a boat safety certificate, which lasts for four years and appears to cost around £100 (i.e., £25 per year):
http://angliaboatsafety.co.uk/boat-safety-certificate-price/.
However, I can't find a specific cost for the certificate from the Boat Safety Scheme web-site:
http://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/
Here is some info on hull blacking and replacing the anodes which seems to be recommended at least every three years:
http://narrowboatinfo.co.uk/narrowboat-maintenance-blacking/
Blacking helps protect the hull from rust/corrosion, and wear and tear when being driven about. The anodes are a clever mechanism - I don't fully understand it at the moment but it is something to do with electrical current - because the anode has a more 'active' voltage than the metal on the hull of the boat, the anode will corrode first and protect the hull from corrosion (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_anode). As such, the anodes need to be regularly replaced in order for them to do their job appropriately.
There is an example of costs of blacking and anode replacement at a particular marine repairs centre here:
http://aquanarrowboats.co.uk/marine-repairs-centre.
In this case, for a 50 foot boat, blacking would be around £550, and replacing four anodes would be around £200. These costs include dry docking and a pressure wash and dry before blacking; anodes should be replaced at the same time in order not to pay for dry docking twice. This means that blacking and anode replacement would cost £250 per year if done every three years.
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