Hi Everyone,

My husband and I will be retiring this year, and are very interested in relocating to the UK. Any advice, tips, or sharing of personal experiences by those who have done the same would be very much appreciated. I am a newbie to this group, and currently live on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Thanks
alexa

We are already in the situation you are considering. We have a home on the Oregon coast and we live aboard our Dutch barge moored at Canary Wharf in London.

The key is a residential mooring. We are on one of two in central London. That means the marinas are gated with security so you don't have to worry leaving your boat for long periods of time.

Current annual fees for a 16 Meter(almost 50 feet) vessel are ?4160. The two marinas are Limehouse and Poplar. They are managed by British Waterways Marinsa Ltd and you can check out boats for sale in both these marinas by going to their web site. Limehouse is particularly good for narrow boaters because you can get right on to the canal network from the marina. Here at Poplar, you would have to go via the tidal Thames to do that.

I spend about ?28 on electricity every two months, ?50 on LPG bottles every three months (heats water, gas burners and oven). The phone runs about ?35 a quarter, the broadband connection is ?29 a month, and the satellite TV system is also ?29 a month. Every two months the waste tanks are pumped out at ?12 a time. Water is free. Diesel for heating and engine runs about ?300 a year but we also make long trips which boosts the cost.

You won't pay council taxes because you are on a moveable vessel. Every three years, any steel vessel needs to come out of the water to clean and repaint the bottom and attach new anodes. I budget ?1000 for this but we are a big 23 meter boat displacing 60 tons so it would be less for a smaller vessel.
Thanks
jimmy