Anyone go from boats to motorhomes

[Lanerboy]

Before getting into motorhomes we started off 15 years ago with a caravan for a couple of years then got fed up of towing had a year out then bought a boat
1st one was a 37ft sealine motor cruiser
2nd one was a 40ft fairline phantom flybridge
3rd one was a 42ft sealine sports cruiser
They were all birthed in Weymouth but over the 6 years we got fed up of the 500 mile round trip to go to the boat so ended up selling
Had a year off then bought a new Rapido in 2016 had that 2 years
Now got a carthago let's see where we are in 2 years

 

[Crazylegs]

We live close to the Grand Union canal in Bedfordshire, when walking along the towpath with our dog we occasionally have a chin wag with narrow boat owners. We have met a few couples who have both a narrow boat for U.K. summers and a m/h for escaping our winters.

 

[Lanerboy]

Used to have a time share on a narrow boat till company went bust I was lucky sold out 12 months before the collapse loved every minute of the canal life very relaxing

 

[Burgo]

Me & Mrs. B. chartered yachts a lot, and I raced a bit with our club, but I always used to want my one. Had, and raced, a variety of dinghies and crossed over to power (zapcat racing). Now perfectly happy with motorhoming, and standing in a warm shower tearing up 5 pound notes rather than a cold one tearing up 20s!

 

[MyrtleGuru]

Never actually owned a boat, but rented and borrowed many over the years before owning a motorhome. It gets you familiar with the fundamentals of 12v electrics, diesel and gas heating/cooking, shore-based EHU, mobile TV and internet, grey/black waste. All very similar. Main differences were the lack of weight worries on the water (until you sink) and the need (on inland waterways) to pay for a pumpout of our black waste on a regular basis.

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[DuxDeluxe]

I went from an Osprey racing dinghy to a motorhome. Does that count? In fact towed the Osprey behind the van to various championships.. worked well if you ignore that mast overhang

 

[Snowbird]

I did combine the two for a while.

 

[Lenny HB]

I went from an Osprey racing dinghy to a motorhome. Does that count? In fact towed the Osprey behind the van to various championships.. worked well if you ignore that mast overhangView attachment 310572

He, he, he,
Recently sold my Laser that has been sitting in the garden unused for a few years. I was the treasurer of the local sailing club for 20 years.

 

[Grianan]

Never had a yacht but we do have a Wayfarer and an Arran 16 fishing boat and a couple of sit on kayaks. OH has a solo and son has a Laser and goes river kayaking. We like the water.

 

[BobtheBass]

We had a string of sea fishing boats for years based at Swansea, Dartmouth, Brixham, Cardiff or Plymouth. We live too far from the sea to justify owning a boat though and sea fishing in general has been getting worse over the years so a few years ago we knocked the idea on the head. The last year we had a boat we had 7 trips on the trot cancelled at the last minute by incorrect weather forecasts and that was the last straw. I worked out that the last fish I caught on my own boat cost £5,000!

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[Grianan]

I went from an Osprey racing dinghy to a motorhome. Does that count? In fact towed the Osprey behind the van to various championships.. worked well if you ignore that mast overhangView attachment 310572

Oh and my teenage son has crewed an Osprey several times at local sailing club. Enjoys the speed.

 

[Stealaway]

Yep - Narrow boats for 13 years . The locks got too hard as we got older but still love travelling every day- hence the motorhome.

 

[Nigel Crompton]

We spend five summer months in Meander cruising the inland waterways of northern Europe and four winter months in Iberia in Hattie Hymer.

What'll happen post Brexit I'm still refusing to think about ...

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Oh and my teenage son has crewed an Osprey several times at local sailing club. Enjoys the speed.

They are fabulous boats. The only dinghy that has been a pleasure to sail upwind in a real blow (crack off a bit and plane all the way up) as well as really good to gybe when it is howling

 

[pelican]

We kept our first boat in Brixham and then had Fairline on the IOW before the Atlantis 55 in Spain. Now share a boat Cote D Azure
With the camper we can now coast hop without having to rely on the weather.
Lanerbouy
I remember reading about your boat problems on the web hope you find motorhome less troublesome.

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[jollyrodger]

The old man's use to build boats as a hobby when we were nippers a good friend of scantlebery boat builders ,into hire boats .
Later got my ticket and bought into working fishing charter boats running out of Plymouth deep wrecking from there to the Hurd's deeps and beyond.rewarded handsomly with eec grants to fishermen and stock licences .for the 23'-42'commercial side of things .
From Tamar 2000 to Senior 31-project 32 but rigged as fishing boats wit added keels. -Port Isaac 32 fast fisherman
42' ex admaralty pinnace adapted for the mackerel season hard graft and lost at sea.and a lumpy ride home in a cosy plymouth life boat.
Specialised then with providing a dive platform for bsac and saa. pleasure divers and did rather well at it .
Sold the stock licence was worth much much more than the boat itself .
Then sold the boat back to the liedsure market for those who wanted to look pretty owning a boat ,but not a clue how to helm it.
Still crew when needed ,trawlers back to Holland for refit and also do boat delivery mainly London Saint caths through the French canals to the med ports .
Did find a Dawncraft 37'ILLUSIVE in a sorry state of repair in Sth dock marina London sealed tender cost me £1 .but had to be removed from location ,long story short the right money paid for lift out transport and lift back in down in .Plymouth a year bringing it back to the 21 century .made it a different animal And the last time I saw Dawn Mystique she was reduced down to £48000.
Delivered 42' to Antibes for the owner (on board )and after 4 weeks of trying gave up trying to teach him basic seamanship or even a bowline and boat hitch round turn and two half hitches.
Still deliver now and am thinking of getting a 8-9m catalac .
Keep my hand in on a 38 Bavaria.
So the best of both worlds

 

[Lanerboy]

I remember reading about your boat problems on the web hope you find motorhome less troublesome.

Well people did tell me that BOAT stands for bang out another thousand and there were times when it felt like that
motorhoming so far seems a much cheaper hobby

It was the marina fees that also killed it in the end for us they just kept on going up and up when we packed up I think we were paying about 7k per year for a 42ft cruiser then with insurance and servicing not much left out of 10k and that's before you leave the marina
Then a 30 minute trip down the coast to lulworth cove and back was another £120 in fuel but we had some great trips to isle of white, Torquay and a few other places
Glad we did it but I doubt I will go back to boating if I ever did it would be a small merry fisher type fishing boat

 

[Razamataz]

we sold our beloved Razamataz Fairline Targa which we had berthed in Ardlui on Loch Lomond.
We have owned 5 boats over a 40 year period.
We always believed that some day we would move to a Motorhome.
Glad we did as we are just planning our second 3/4 month winter stay in Spain.

 

[Paulypaul]

We sold our classic Broom 30 recently and much prefer the MH. Weve had a couple of boats on the Broads over the years but the rivers and holiday makers got a bit boring and stressful. Mind you, we transport boats all over the UK by road and have done for 10 years, so we're not really out of it.

 

[David and Sally]

Owned several yachts based in Southampton and later Dartmouth.

Many Channel crossings to our name.

Best boat was a Moody 33 Mk2. Six berth. Great family boat and our four children were basically brought up on her -whether they liked it or not!.

Like this, but blue stripe

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[Lanerboy]

Owned several yachts based in Southampton and later Dartmouth.

Many Channel crossings to our name.

Best boat was a Moody 33 Mk2. Six berth. Great family boat and our four children were basically brought up on her -whether they liked it or not!.

Must admit our kids loved the boat they spent hrs and hrs crabbing off the pontoons riding around the marina in our tender with the vhf round there neck telling us where they were every five minutes swimming in Lulworth cove we have great memories and will never forget them but our lives have changed now our kids dont want to come away with us now (thank god lol) so a MH for us seems the perfect choice and so far its working just as we though

 

[Chockswahay]

We came to motorhomes after sailing ................. now we are about to go back to sailing

For us it is about the sense of adventure! with a sailing yacht we can (literally) go round the world. As much as we like travelling around in our van it does not hold our attention as much as sailing.

Hopefully we will manage to find the yacht we want very soon (looking at another one tomorrow) then if it all goes well the van will be up for sale (the b**ger of it is it's not yet one year old! oh well)

 

[Lanerboy]

Mind you, we transport boats all over the UK by road and have done for 10 years, so we're not really out of it.

I take my hat off to you guys I drove class 1 trucks all over europe years ago but transporting large boats is another thing my last one was transported from Marlow on the Thames to Weymouth it was very tight through the streets of Marlow

 

[Paulypaul]

I take my hat off to you guys I drove class 1 trucks all over europe years ago but transporting large boats is another thing my last one was transported from Marlow on the Thames to Weymouth it was very tight through the streets of Marlow

Thank you. It is so different from simply driving a normal artic. For example, when you have a boat on that's 45' long, 14' wide and you're 15'11" tall, it does present a challenge.

There are very few marinas in the UK that have good access, they're always down a narrow street or track and no amount of flashing amber lights and/or pilot cars will stop the few idiots on the road trying to carve you up.

Mind you, the biggest offenders are other lorry drivers. I've been in transport for 35 years now and drivers aren't what they used to be. When you drove there was probably the commradery and courtesy I got used to...not any more though. Ive done the European thing too when I was on fridges but even that's not the same anymore.

 

[B-well]

Never owned a boat but taken youth groups up and down French canal from Calais on converted barge , we used to cross on ferry as foot passengers sometimes with bicycles to barge ^Petra ^ owned by Kent youth services.

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[TizzyOnTour]

We are lucky to have a canal boat and Motorhome. We love going away on both, although they are a different type of holiday, despite some similarities in technology (12v, solar, etc.).
Biggest challenge is finding enough time to enjoy both. Lucky problem to have I know.