What is a liveaboard?

GUELROSE is still moored at Hopwas and the engine is still not going, however, Diesel Dave, late of Streethay, is on the case and is coming to fix my problems soon . Apparently the problem I am experiencing with my starter motor not disengaging from the flywheel is not that uncommon, so hopefully I will at least be mobile enough to go and get a pumpout soon!

I am not that worried as Jenny and I are off to Les Menuires in the French Alps for a weeks holiday in a ski resort. I am not going for the skiing, I am more interested in the apres ski and being on the piste!!

Now to the main theme of my blog...... Liveaboards......

To my mind there seems to be various categories of liveaboards and continuous cruisers. Obviously the main liveaboards are those that have a residential mooring and go off cruising when they can. Brandywine and Thistle are just two examples. Then there are the genuine continuous cruisers such as No Problem, Gypsy Rover and Sanity. Granny Buttons obviously fits into one of these categories somewhere along the line!!! The one thing that stands out about the boats I have mentioned is there standard of maintenance. They all seem to be loved and are all maintained to a very good standard (yes - I know Granny is badly in need of a paint job but I am sure that Andrew will sort that out very soon!!) Then there are the other boats like the one's that have been moored in the same location for the last three months....... These people obviously have no love of the canals and see a boat as a cheap and convenient place to live, their maintenance standards are far lower and the roof of many of them looks more akin to a scrapyard than a narrowboat....

Yes, I admit I am jealous, I would love to be a continuous cruiser but circumstances prevent that from happening at the moment. But one day it will happen....

But, what really p****s me off is that the residential boaters pay their dues, the true continuous cruisers continuously cruise, the likes of me pay their licence and mooring fees, but the ones that moor for three months in the same place and have no love of the canals and treat a boat as an alternative to a house, pay nothing..... Why do I bother to pay my fair share when they don't!!