Real narrowboat living battle with CRT - Off the Cut

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Off the Cut provides unique insight into a community of boaters living on the Kennet and Avon canal. The film follows a family on their pedal powered boat as they embark on a journey in which their way of life, and that of the whole community, comes under threat.

If you are interested in narrowboat cruising + lifestyle and want to live on a narrowboat then watch this first.

Narrowboat Life Won't Make You Happy necessarily if you go in unprepared. However there are Reasons Why Living on a NARROWBOAT is the Best Decision. It all depends upon your preparation and understanding of all 4 seasons.
Is It Really Cheap Living On A Narrowboat? - Again its all about preparation. It is an off grid lifestyle. Electricity can be provided for free using solar panels so this saves costs and there is one licence fee to pay which covers water and toilet facilities. This is about the same as the UK's council tax payments for the year. So yes it is less expensive than renting a house. However if continuously cruising without a home mooring Canal & River Trust expect you to move every 14 days for a total of 20 miles per year. This means work can be 20 miles away, which can make life awkward and more expensive

Thanks for use of the video Wendy - Kennet & Avon Canal
Kind regards

© SomeRoom

[formidable]

Basically, it looks like the CRT don't want the water version of a piece of inland waste ground littered with caravans and ford transit pickups.
Can't see the problem myself.

[sfcmmacro]

The CRT spokesman said something about basic human rights that every liveaboard should use in court “we are not a public office.” If that’s the case then they have no right to remove boats or regulate the PUBLIC waterway. They are either a public office and have to answer to the people and respect public laws, or they are a charity and have no legal standing to make and enforce rules for the public on public waterways.

[ElementofKindness]

Seems to me like CRT is trying to prevent its waterways from becoming cluttered shantytowns, without directly coming out and saying it.

[josephwinkler]

I don’t think I have ever seen a pair of blue jeans look so good in my entire life !!

[billleskeep]

You good folks need to get that public administrator down to the river and have dinner on the boats with him so he can know you and see you. Paper notices are not efficient. Face to face conversations are much better. Once he sees the families, children, pets, and ingenuity, he will begin to have compassion. Great video. Tried to sign petition but does not take my zip code.

[memor]

What a fantastic idea "Pedal Power." this is the first time I've ever seen this absolutely brilliant !!!

[stevepowell]

I'm a continuous cruiser. Never had an issue with CRT. Once had an engine problem. Informed them. No problems. Not saying CRT doesn't have an agenda regarding making money. Canals cost. And there all looking after themselves. Living on the road for 38 years met many like this.( travellers) everything for nothing. Everyone against them. How about other boater's who want to Bit of give and take.

[tomjeffersonwasright]

As a professional mariner and lifetime recreational boater, I noticed the lack of care of most of those boats, and the lack of seamanship in their appearance. I suspect those people just prefer boat living because it is cheap, and would pitch a tent on a town common if they could get away with it.

As far as moving 15 miles a year, I row my dingy farther than that in a year, just going to and from my sailboat. The sailboat goes far, far greater distances than 20 miles. A boat is a mobile home. If they want to stay in a single place all the time, they should pay for a flat. How much sympathy would they get living in a truck which never moves, parked on the public right of way. It is very similar.

[frase]

I lived next to the boaters in Hackney Wick for 10 years. Many boats would not move and they would trash the surroundings. Their dogs would attack people and many of the boats were just floating scrap yards. There was fires on the tow path and just stuff dumped for everyone else to deal with. It's these type of boaters who kick up a fuss. If these people respected the cruising rule and had some respect for others and the surroundings I don't think CRT would have any issue. Its the dumping of trash, stationary boats, abusive behaviour and general unpleasantness which is the issue. It doesn't cost anything to be tidy and respectful of others. There are a few on the canals who think they are hard done by even though they act like clowns and spoil it for many.

[georgebrown]

Everywhere you live, you pay. You pay for a house, or you pay rent and all the associated costs with go with that. So here we have a group of people without home moorings, who thus fall into the category of continuous cruising, who don't actually continually cruise. They want to live essentially rent free, moving from one 14 day mooring to another and the same general vicinity. If you are moored for more time than you cruise, then that process is not continuous, and is a breach of the Act. C&RT is a statutory authority with a mandate to enforce the rules. If you comply with those rules you wont have an issue. The term continuous cruising means just that; you cruise continually. *It does not mean* that you move from one 14 day mooring to another in the same area, in your quest to live "rent free".

[lth]

I can't really see the issue with what the CRT are doing.

If van travellers ( gypsies ) set up camp on someone's street. The homeowners would want them moved.

The people shown in this video seem to be like traveller's.

There's live aboard canal boaters who have jobs and manage to contribute. It seems these people aren't bringing anything to the local area. Their boats don't look well maintained and they take over the tow path with chairs, tables, junk.

[Simon-rxsv]

Have I got this correct? 15–20 miles during their license which could be a 12 month license, that works out at having to move .76 of a mile every two weeks, or move a mile every two weeks to add up too 26 miles in a year,

[terrymorris]

I'm a livaboard continuous cruiser, shock horror is that I couldn't agree less with this film. I've been positively welcomed by the CaRT people I've met. I move regularly and have never, ever had any issues (other than the time my licence had fallen off my window, which is kind of fair enough)
My personal take on this is that too many people for too long ignored and flouted the rules in the 1995 act of Parliament. These people are now finding that the rules are being enforced, the rules haven't changed.
The people saying a distance should be given should realise that when a distance was inputted into the T&Cs people fought against it stating that as no distance is in the 1995 act it couldn't be legally enforceable and so it was removed and the guidance of 15-20 miles inputted. Do people here really feel that 15-20 miles per year is a struggle to comply with? I make that kind of move every two weeks (other than the last 2 months as I needed to stay put to deal with a family crisis. The local enforcement officer stated I would be okay to stay but I paid for a mooring anyway because I like to stay within the spirit of the act)
Another shock horror, I manage to hold down a job in a permanent place whilst having a range of around 100 miles a year. Trust me its not gentrification of the system otherwise I would definitely be in enforcement!
If you need to stay in one place, you can, pay for a mooring. If you want to cc then move, to comply with the guidance its less than a mile every two weeks. I know hundreds of boaters that manage it.
I hate the fact that some parts of the system are difficult for me to use as having two dogs means I don't feel comfortable not being along the tow path so parts of the K&A and London are pretty much no go for me as the numbers of people barely moving means I struggle to get in.
I must say though the CaRT employee on the film doesn't really do them any favours. No one I've met from them has come across as quite so pompus and up themselves as he does.
Really sorry guys but move it or lose it.

[andrewleivers]

Creating a scrap yard on the canal bank is not what narrowboat life should be about. If your boat looks like it’s ready to sink then get a job for a while and make it better for your child’s sake.

[jamesgraham]

Right off, I'll state that I'm not a great fan of the CRT.. Having said that, people need to cast their minds back to the late 60s/early 70s when these canals were nothing more than dried up mud ditches, no working locks, just rotting collapsed lock gates. Had volunteers not come together to rescue what we considered a valuable part of our history and heritage, they would have disappeared completely over the next two decades. The reasoning behind the immense work and funding put into that rescue was to create an attractive leisure resource. It's clear now that without some legal oversight allowing control of canal usage that there's a real danger of the tow-paths becoming little more than unattractive campsites for people looking for an 'alternative' life-style. I've seen many of these boats ultimately abandoned, sinking or sunk. The owners simply disappearing, leaving the CRT to fund the removal. The tow-paths are maintained to allow people to find a little respite from the bustle of life in towns, the water is there to allow people on leisure craft to enjoy the slow discovery of rural England. Unattractive, rotting and failing vessels stuck semi-permanently on their slow way to the bottom of the canal are not what people walking the tow-path should expect, and cruising boats should be able to tie-up and wander into the local village or town not feeling that their boat is at risk. No, I'm not a great fan of the CRT.. but in this case, I have to agree with them.

[allanxxx]

im a live aboard boater, and live in a marina. These people who moan on and on about the CRT and continuous cruising...well I have little sympathy. If you have a family and school to consider then you cant be a continuous cruiser..if you want to remain say 5-6 miles from a base you cant...Marinas are not that expensive...55p to 70p per foot per week +vat..I pay around £3000 per year... for that I get all handy if I want it...I can come and go as I please, take off for a couple of weeks of peaceful cruising then come back....total freedom. The CRT give me no hassle at all...and my boat/home is safe.Its the hillbilly types who want it all and pay little or preferably nothing, and live in a heap of junk who are the problem.

[MOOSEDOWNUNDER]

Play by the rules, keep your boat in a good working safe condition, don't take over walk ways and land with planting veggies and other lifestyle choices, pay your fees and all will be ok with the World. Take the piss and this happens.

[ExplorerJust]

I lived on a boat near to these people for a summer. I loved it, but I did have the benefit of a 'home mooring'. I've also kayaked from Bristol to London on the K&A, several times, and met some of the people in this video on my journeys and enjoyed the company and hospitality of them all.

[johnd]

Presumably these characters knew the rules before they dropped out and started creating gypsy sites along the canal banks? Must be galling for the majority of respectable boat owners seeing their capers.

[jasonwoods]

I continuously cruised for my first 8 years of living on my boat. I cruised an average of 300 miles a year travelling mostly round Yorkshire and I stayed 1 to 2 weeks at every stop. I have now had a mooring 6 years, but cruise 9 months of the year... had just one ticket from CRT but was cleared with a phone call ! .
This year I spent the winter away from my mooring, fancied a change . I've cruised roughly 70 miles this year up to now.