Running your boat
next to each other, and harnessing members’ enthusiasm to keep the site in good order. A 40ft offside mooring on the southern Grand Union cost £1,300 at auction – but with no facilities, and strictly restricted to leisure use. By contrast, a residential mooring at a nearby marina was priced at £5,400 per year, with all facilities and good security. A marina mooring on the lovely River
Wey, on the other side of London, is priced similarly at just under £5,000 for a full- length boat – but there are no residential moorings on this river. And if you want to moor in central London, you might be paying as much as £10,000 every year for a good- quality residential mooring on the Regents Canal or Paddington Arm.
UTILITIES
Utility costs vary greatly with usage. A live- aboard boater will obviously spend more than a weekend-and-holidays cruiser. Mains supply costs for electricity can actually be cheaper than domestic house charges, as most marinas will purchase electricity in bulk; and since marinas cannot charge a premium to their customers, as they are not regulated energy suppliers, this discount is passed on to us down the line. We asked a panel of boaters to keep track of their annual spending on this and other running costs. ey reported annual electricity bills from £30 for a light user to over £200 for a marina-based live-aboard. Gas bottles come in several sizes. Larger ones offering better value, but most boat gas lockers seem to accommodate 13kg canisters. In addition to the gas used for cooking, some older boats have gas- powered instantaneous water heaters. ese increase consumption considerably, though most boaters consider this a small price for instant hot water. Our panel’s gas cost
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ranged from £20 per year, just for occasional cooking, to £288 for hot water and cooking together.
HEATING
Most boats use a multi-fuel stove for heat. e debate rages continually over which fuel is best, and boaters are usually partisan and eager to compare costs and performance. Some boats make the most of the heat produced by their stove to provide hot water and to heat radiators via a back-burner system – an effi cient way to get ‘free’ hot water during winter time.
Diesel-fuelled heaters are another option.
ere are several types to choose from, but running costs depend on whether you have a separate heating tank, or feed it from the main engine tank and ‘claim the tax back’ when buying diesel. Once installed, most diesel stoves have very low maintenance costs, but some types of diesel-fuelled heaters will require regular servicing. A standard service, carried out at least once every two years, will cost around £200. It is recommended that the British Code of Practice BSI 8511 should be consulted before installing a Solid Fuel Stove.
FUEL
Diesel consumption is tricky to monitor, as usage and prices vary so widely. Running your engine to charge the batteries will drink fuel, too.
Although many boaters keep a log of the fuel they purchased, few keep records of engine running hours. Our panel quoted fi gures from 100 to over 200 litres a year, and continuous cruisers might rack up many more.
PUMP-OUTS e main factors governing pump-out costs are frequency of use, and the volume of
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