Telegraph property article is all about mooring, not boating

Narrow boats with moorings: a home afloat - Daily Telegraph

Last Wednesday's Telegraph had what amounts to a big free advertisement for Bantock butty Pamela, for sale on a residential mooring in a backwater near Oxford:

Are you thinking of drifting away from big city stress? Living on a narrow boat could be the answer, says Caroline McGhie.

(Mortimer Bones mentioned  a couple of weeks ago that Pamela was for sale on eBay.  It didn't sell there, and is now on the books of estate agent Carter Jonas - see the lovely particulars here in a 4-page pdf.

If you are looking for old, authentic butty tradition, then you won't find it in Pamela.  It's a gorgeous conversion, for sure, a lovely boat; but going by the sale particulars there's not much left inside to remind you of how a Bantock Butty really used to be.  Certainly there's no boatman's cabin left.

The trouble with the Telegraph article is that it's in the Property section.  It's all about getting a boat to live on, and as an investment, not to actually go anywhere.  And the boat is now on the books of an estate agent, not a boat broker. 

They give a six-point 'moorings know-how' list, which doesn't mention actual boating (i.e. moving the boat) at all.

Moorings know-how

1. Getting a mooring is much more difficult than buying a boat.
2. A good mooring can double or triple the value of the boat.
3. Make sure you have access to mains power and other sources of fuel (bottled gas, logs).
4. Ditto running water and waste disposal.
5. Check you have shops within reach and can use television, telephone and internet.
6. Make sure there is adequate car parking and security.

Sure, it's great to see a 'live on a boat' article that - for once - stresses the need to find a mooring.   But it would be nice to see a boat as a form of transport, not simply as a house.  The Telegraph article doesn't mention how you might move the boat.

The article rounds off by mentioning a boat for sale on the Kennet & Avon canal, again for sale through an estate agent (not  a boat broker): 

Be a water gipsy: the Alice Deysia, is a one bedroom 60ft boat on the Avon and Kennett Canal at Claverton, near Bath, Somerset. It has a diesel-powered engine, wood burner and Calor gas heating, and a solar panel. It costs £39,500 through Palmer Snell (01225 482488)

The impression given is that that Alice Deysia - like so many boats near Bath - doesn't have a mooring at all and is simply a house, adrift.

Comments

[Andrew Denny]

Mort: Oops, sorry, when researching my post I automatically assumed your comments would have been made recently. I didn't look close enough at the date, sorry!

[David Mack]

The curious thing about Carter Jonas's particulars is that while they describe the boat in some detail there is scant information about the mooring. Is the land included in the sale, or is it just rented? If rented what is the cost? Is there security of tenure? Does it have residential planning permission? One would expect an estate agent to know more about land issues than boats!

[mort bones]

gosh, I did didn't I, but I really dont recall the boat looking like that!! I wonder what I was thinking, or have they done extensive work on it?

It was last year, not a couple of weeks ago.