Purchase of river boats in England

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 10 Aug 2005 21:08 PDT

All punts?

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Clarification of Question by trudence-ga on 11 Aug 2005 00:47 PDT

I am after the purchase of one of those river boats that people live
on in England.  Not sure if they are punts or not.  They are only low
to the water and propably accomodate two poeple comfortably.

Boats for full-time living, usually semi-permanently moored, are
called houseboats. There is an overview of the legal position on the
Shelter housing advice website:
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-2623.cfm

A common type of boat for this purpose is the canal barge or narrowboat.

There are two main issues: buying or renting the boat, and locating a mooring.

The Living on Boats site appears fairly comprehensive
http://www.livingonboats.co.uk/

It has a FAQ at
http://www.livingonboats.co.uk/houseboat%20faq.htm
as well as Links and Discussion Board pages.

The website of the National Association of Boat Owners, for British
river and canal boat users, is at
http://www.nabo.org.uk/

You might also find the newsgroup news:uk.rec.waterways useful. 

Two other links are
Canal Boating in the U.K. and Europe
http://www.canals.com/

Mike Steven's Inland Waterways Pages
http://www.mike-stevens.co.uk/index.html

Owain

There is also the Residential Boat Owners Association at
http://www.rboa.co.uk/

Owain