Short, direct answers to what people ask before they buy a boat, and to what comes up once they've got one. Where a paragraph isn't enough, the answer hands you on to the guide that takes its time over it. All of it is written by Craig Fearn, who runs the studio, and cost figures carry the body that published them and the date they were checked.
Most people arrive here with a single practical question, often before they own a boat: do I need a licence, what does it cost to keep one afloat, how do you manage without a bathroom on land. Each answer below is kept short and checked against the body that sets the rule, with a pointer to a longer guide where the subject deserves one.
The questions fall into a few groups. Rules and money come first, from whether you need a narrowboat licence to what a year of running one adds up to. Next is life aboard, covering toilets, how far a day's cruising takes you and whether you can live on the water legally. The last group is about the boat's appearance: the history of roses and castles, how signwriting works, and how to pick a name you will be happy to say for years.
If you are looking for a present for a boater instead, the page of canal boat gifts gathers the ideas in one place. For anything that needs more than a paragraph, the guides pick up where these answers stop.
Thinking about it
One question decides whether the rest of this is available to you at all, and it is the legal one rather than the financial one. The answer is short because the rule is short; the guides take longer over what living under it is like.
Buying her
What a boat costs to buy, how long one lasts, what it costs every year after that, and whether the licence is optional. Every figure carries the body that published it and the date it was checked.
Living aboard
The questions that arrive once the boat is yours: how far you get in a day, what happens to the toilet, and what the cruising rules mean if you have no home mooring.
Making her yours
Naming, lettering and paint: what the traditions are, who does the work, and what it costs. These come before anyone thinks about a print.