Excellent video, I enjoyed this a lot. Brought back memories of all the torrent of stuff I needed to get sorted in the first few weeks of owning my boat. Not at all a "whinge" as another commenter suggested, just realistic first experiences of the boat.
Thank you! Yeah, there are the jobs we knew about which were fine, then there are the jobs we didn't know about. Then there is the fact that no job is straight forward. Please tell us the list of jobs to do comes to an end eventually. Or at least slows down a little!
I was literally ducking down at my desk while you were going under that bridge! Scary! Then I had to laugh out loud! Don't know why I'm shouting! Haha! This is fun to go back to your beginnings of boat life!
Your reaction going into town from the Boat, sound like how I felt when I first came home from Africa the first time. The simple life has a definite comfort level that many people may never experience. Like Retiring from a life where I was constantly on the move, to lockdowns looking after a semi invalid wife. Our house is like a boat in a huge social storm.
Please correct me if I am wrong, most of the UK is covered by Cell Service, I presume you have the Canal Trust guides, I assume this as David Johns, speaks about this on his blog. I know my GPS in the truck, allowed me to deliver at night with greater ease than attempting to use high power lights, and stop at every intersection urban or in the back country. When I finally got the GPS I also had to obtain the Electronic Maps, to include my areas of travel, in my case this involved the back country roads, which to most is the middle of no where, but there are Oil base camps which I had to deliver to.It always seems to be in the middle of winter, in the dead of night. Like when we went to school, up hill both ways, bare foot in two feet of snow. ha ha While David comes across very professional, you are very down to earth and add a very home felt welcome. Thanks
At that point we had only google maps, but the GPS on phones often gets screwed up as your phone picks up different towers, and also is really only accurate to within about 25M… on the Wey this left us with an interesting problem: google shows all the channels around those islands, but not which are actually navigable, and the dot on the phone would sometimes be where the boat actually wasn’t! M
Really enjoy your videos Jo and Micheal, I particularly went back to this one as we have just this week completed our narrowboat purchase from Pyrford Marina where your story began with 'Perseverance' thanks for all the tips on the Wey navigation including licensing 👍
Sad to say i am having a hard time hearing you on these early vlogs. I absolutely love your story. I akso love the idea idea of being a minimalist. As i approach "the end" ,i wish i had learned this. I have told my daughters that the time they get my house cleaned out for sale they will be so p***ed at me that they will no longer feel grief..lol. need some serious swedish death cleaning. Finding your bliss without possessions is the key to inner peace i am beginning to think. ( couldnt eat for 14 years so i bought dishes...and more dishes....and more.....multiple sets for every season, every occasion and every number of people. Need a set for 18 for christmas? Thank you for taking me with ..XOX
Sorry the audio isn’t as good on the early ones, it took us a while to figure out the best way to record our voices effectively. As for the minimalism; in my experience it’s the best way to live, but it’s hard to keep the discipline up when you’ve got space to put things... that’s part of what appeals about living in smaller spaces, there’s a natural force against accumulating too much stuff again. Now I find I really enjoy divesting myself of stuff I’ve picked up and not used... it’s better to give it to someone who will actually use it, whatever it is! M
Yes Icome to think of it there are times when this is very disconcerting, at the bottom of a hill in the middle of a white out snow storm, does the road at the bottom of the hill go left or does it go right. Such fun, especially in the middle of the night in a blinding Snow Storm or as you say on a canal, left over the weir or right onto the canal.. Take Care, Stay Safe I hope both of you have been vaccinated, My son-in-law, who works in the microbiology field says the Delta and Lamda are far worse than what is being admitted to in public.
Rivers are prone to flooding This can raise the level of water To go under bridges safely The Canal trust should pre warn you or the lock keeper You did well on your first trip and don't worry it is just the same when you move into a house finding all about the electrics and central heating boiler satalite tv etc! have a lovely adventure
Very well done and very entertaining. You parked, just up from where our boat is at Walsham Gates. Brought back memories of our first trip down the Wey. Looking forward to hear about Basingstoke canal, We are going up in 2 weeks time.
Boats have a way of surprising you now and again you will get use to it and develop the skills you need. It's nice to hear about your adventures, love the video, keep it up, will be following :)
Get some USB sockets to avoid going from DC to AC and back again. We have our inverter on ALL the time. The fridge is 230 volts as 12 volt fridges are a ridiculous price. I decided to fit solar panels with the money saved on the fridge although they're still sitting inside the boat. My only experience is with Victron inverters and I've not had a problem, yet.
Good ideas. We are planning to stream line our electrics too. Trying to move as much as possible to 12 volt. We will get there and solar panels should help too.
Thanks for the feed back. I think we will probably end up doing a mix depending on what we film. I just didn't want to make them too long if people didn't like watching them.
Thankyou for your reply Minimal List :) As the godalming River Wey is most southerly point of the canal network, what’s the most southerly marina or residential mooring you found along your journey ? i watch your channel and have recently gone back to your first vids as you started on the River Wey.
Looks a bit like our first trip which started when i blocked the loo, found the electric went off, bad connection. Knocked off our chimney and other half ended up in a and e. It got better and we are moving on it in a few months! Keep posting .
Just started watching this evening and I love that you've brought us on right at the beginning! Loving the vids so far!! Length of vid is an odd thing... some of the "boat-tubers" seem to keep them very short (4-6 minutes) while others post longer offerings (20-30 minutes). I tend to like the longer formats that include narrative and collage. Yours have been very enjoyable! I suppose it'll all depend on what you have available to share with us and we (narrowboater wannabes) love it all. :-)
Hi guys just wondering with you talking about buying a desk and so on do you work from the boat or are you having a long time out .if you do work from the boat how do you get on with internet saw your router or internet box must say not seen anything like that on a boat is it ok ..thanks happy boating.
We are taking some time off. Haven't got an exact timescale but maybe 1-2 years depending on how well the savings last. During that time, Michael especially wants to do some studying and maybe some freelance work.
Michael piping in by way of explanation; that box is an LTE (aka 4G) modem + router from TP-LINK; the majority of narrowboat owners use MiFi-branded units made by Huawei, but they do the same job and this one has connectors for two external antennas; as I will indeed be working from the boat we need reliable wifi, and this should guarantee that. Now if only we could find a decent always-on SIM in the UK.
If you haven't discovered it yet during rush hour the bicyclists think they own the towpath and generally won't slow down or try to avoid you. I used to use an old railway line converted to a foot/bicycle path and one time got knocked on my butt by a bicyclist who immediately started yelling at me for being an old fool and not getting out of the way. Before I could get my bearings I heard several others yelling back at him and a couple of guys helped me up where I observed the bicyclist that hit me being held down by five joggers and about 4 minutes later a motorcycle cop showed up and one jogger showed him a video of the bicyclist taking aim at me when there was plenty of room to pass me, he was arrested and later found guilty. The Apple power supply problem I've had in my van diesel powered and the is only one way to fix it. Shut off the inverter before starting the diesel and make sure the alternator is charging before turning the inverter back on, just make it a part of your pre star checklist and you shouldn't have anymore surge problems. My van had 2 batteries connected in parallel at 12 volts and every time I started it even with fully charged new batteries the starter pulls down the voltage so much inverter with fry if I didn't shut it off, after the engine was running I could turn the inverter on and use it without a problem. I burned out three inverters before I learned that lesson. My 410 watt inverter I now use is 7 years old since I learned that lesson. I have to wonder as most narrowboat owners don't have that problem, does your boat have a separate battery strictly for starting and runing your navigation lights? If you only have one bank of batteries and the starter for your engine is taking power from them that's why you had the surge. A starter motor for a Diesel engine even a 4 cylinder will pull your battery voltage well below the safe operating voltage of almost any inverter. If you have a single separate from the house batteries battery to start the diesel the way it should have originally been hooked up it shouldn't have that surge when the alternator starts charging. Hope this helps a bit. And from what I've seen on UA-cam videos and read on builders specifications there should be a separate starter battery and a separate bank of batteries for your inverter to provide mains power to the boat. My apologies for being long winded but I have to to explain the technical side properly. A spring loaded antennae like the CB guys used to use the spring is about 3-4 inches in length and mounts on a screw in mount held in place by three screws with a steel antennae mounted on the front of the cabin and you can cut the length to 3-4 feet will when you go under a low bridge give off a musical note you can clearly hear at the stern as a warning to pay more attention so you don't wreck the stove chimney or wplay whack a mole with your head and the bridge just thinking out loud. :-) Cheers
These things are normal on a boat. There will always be something that needs fixing, something that needs attention, something that leaks and drips and makes strange noises at inopportune times. I've yet to see a cruising boat, of any size, on any body of water, that has more than 80% of all systems running perfectly at any given time.
Give it some time - you'll laugh about all this in a couple of months. Love your videos, keep them coming - if they're not too distracting with the work that needs doing.
chatty is great.. canals are great.. but 95% negative points v 5% positive..hmm....its a fine line between useful info and (sorry...) bit of a whinge? given that, 10 mins was almost long.. many will be looking to escapism as well as informative insight ... ... balance. I am not trolling.. hopefully constructive. Wishing you the very best of times :). Only wish I had the opportunity...one day maybe.
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't really noticed that but see what you mean. Will definitely keep it in mind. Hope you do get the opportunity one day. We are loving it despite the negative points and fell very lucky to be doing this.
Another excellent video. As someone who has always lived in Woking and knows the area well, thought you described it good.
Thanks, that's good to know. Wow this really is another throwback.
Excellent video, I enjoyed this a lot. Brought back memories of all the torrent of stuff I needed to get sorted in the first few weeks of owning my boat. Not at all a "whinge" as another commenter suggested, just realistic first experiences of the boat.
Thank you! Yeah, there are the jobs we knew about which were fine, then there are the jobs we didn't know about. Then there is the fact that no job is straight forward. Please tell us the list of jobs to do comes to an end eventually. Or at least slows down a little!
I was literally ducking down at my desk while you were going under that bridge! Scary! Then I had to laugh out loud! Don't know why I'm shouting! Haha! This is fun to go back to your beginnings of boat life!
Lol! Don’t hit your head!
Having seen several of your recent vlogs, I decided to go back to the first vlog and fill in the missing parts. Very enjoyable insight
Glad you're enjoying them! M
Your reaction going into town from the Boat, sound like how I felt when I first came home from Africa the first time. The simple life has a definite comfort level that many people may never experience. Like Retiring from a life where I was constantly on the move, to lockdowns looking after a semi invalid wife. Our house is like a boat in a huge social storm.
Please correct me if I am wrong, most of the UK is covered by Cell Service, I presume you have the Canal Trust guides, I assume this as David Johns, speaks about this on his blog.
I know my GPS in the truck, allowed me to deliver at night with greater ease than attempting to use high power lights, and stop at every intersection urban or in the back country. When I finally got the GPS I also had to obtain the Electronic Maps, to include my areas of travel, in my case this involved the back country roads, which to most is the middle of no where, but there are Oil base camps which I had to deliver to.It always seems to be in the middle of winter, in the dead of night. Like when we went to school, up hill both ways, bare foot in two feet of snow. ha ha While David comes across very professional, you are very down to earth and add a very home felt welcome. Thanks
At that point we had only google maps, but the GPS on phones often gets screwed up as your phone picks up different towers, and also is really only accurate to within about 25M… on the Wey this left us with an interesting problem: google shows all the channels around those islands, but not which are actually navigable, and the dot on the phone would sometimes be where the boat actually wasn’t! M
Really enjoy your videos Jo and Micheal, I particularly went back to this one as we have just this week completed our narrowboat purchase from Pyrford Marina where your story began with 'Perseverance' thanks for all the tips on the Wey navigation including licensing 👍
You're welcome! And enjoy the new boat and the Wey! Don't skip the Basingstoke, either! M
Beautiful and peaceful ty ♡
Sad to say i am having a hard time hearing you on these early vlogs. I absolutely love your story. I akso love the idea idea of being a minimalist. As i approach "the end" ,i wish i had learned this. I have told my daughters that the time they get my house cleaned out for sale they will be so p***ed at me that they will no longer feel grief..lol. need some serious swedish death cleaning. Finding your bliss without possessions is the key to inner peace i am beginning to think. ( couldnt eat for 14 years so i bought dishes...and more dishes....and more.....multiple sets for every season, every occasion and every number of people. Need a set for 18 for christmas? Thank you for taking me with ..XOX
Sorry the audio isn’t as good on the early ones, it took us a while to figure out the best way to record our voices effectively. As for the minimalism; in my experience it’s the best way to live, but it’s hard to keep the discipline up when you’ve got space to put things... that’s part of what appeals about living in smaller spaces, there’s a natural force against accumulating too much stuff again. Now I find I really enjoy divesting myself of stuff I’ve picked up and not used... it’s better to give it to someone who will actually use it, whatever it is! M
Yes Icome to think of it there are times when this is very disconcerting, at the bottom of a hill in the middle of a white out snow storm, does the road at the bottom of the hill go left or does it go right. Such fun, especially in the middle of the night in a blinding Snow Storm or as you say on a canal, left over the weir or right onto the canal.. Take Care, Stay Safe I hope both of you have been vaccinated, My son-in-law, who works in the microbiology field says the Delta and Lamda are far worse than what is being admitted to in public.
Rivers are prone to flooding This can raise the level of water To go under bridges safely The Canal trust should pre warn you or the lock keeper You did well on your first trip and don't worry it is just the same when you move into a house finding all about the electrics and central heating boiler satalite tv etc! have a lovely adventure
So much great useful tips, thank you for taking the time to share, great vlog.
Very well done and very entertaining. You parked, just up from where our boat is at Walsham Gates.
Brought back memories of our first trip down the Wey.
Looking forward to hear about Basingstoke canal, We are going up in 2 weeks time.
Colin Moss thank you! It's a lovely area, we enjoyed staking there!
Here I am at home and I found myself ducking w/ you. How silly of me. But it looked SOOOOO close. Loved that bit at the end.
Crazy to think that was two and a half years ago. I was so nervous.
Boats have a way of surprising you now and again you will get use to it and develop the skills you need. It's nice to hear about your adventures, love the video, keep it up, will be following :)
Im new to the channel and am lovin' it! You guys are making wonderful videos! Thanks so much.
Thanks you, glad you are enjoying them, its really nice of you to say so.
Get some USB sockets to avoid going from DC to AC and back again. We have our inverter on ALL the time. The fridge is 230 volts as 12 volt fridges are a ridiculous price. I decided to fit solar panels with the money saved on the fridge although they're still sitting inside the boat. My only experience is with Victron inverters and I've not had a problem, yet.
Good ideas. We are planning to stream line our electrics too. Trying to move as much as possible to 12 volt. We will get there and solar panels should help too.
Great Vid guys and it was really cool to meet you at Crick good luck with everything.
It was lovely to meet you too. Thanks for saying hello! Good luck with your boat search!
I have found, and this is just my personal preference, 12-15 minute videos are the best. Not too long and not too short.
Thanks for the feed back. I think we will probably end up doing a mix depending on what we film. I just didn't want to make them too long if people didn't like watching them.
very good video! keep them coming! also that bridge was extremely low. i ducked in front of my iPad. :)
Haha, thank you!
We enjoy the longer videos with views and chat - we learn a lot from them. Thanks.
Hmm, not sure there is much to learn from our ramblings! haha! Glad you enjoy them though!
Are there any residual moorings on the River Wey ? i walked the godalming Wey section recently and am keen to buy my own boat :)
Not as far as we know. The River Wey is managed by the National Trust and they only issue no residential permanent moorings as far as we know.
Thankyou for your reply Minimal List :)
As the godalming River Wey is most southerly point of the canal network, what’s the most southerly marina or residential mooring you found along your journey ? i watch your channel and have recently gone back to your first vids as you started on the River Wey.
Sorry, we have no idea. Your best bet is probably the ones in the river Thames comes to Weybridge.
Looks a bit like our first trip which started when i blocked the loo, found the electric went off, bad connection. Knocked off our chimney and other half ended up in a and e. It got better and we are moving on it in a few months! Keep posting .
That makes our trip sound boring!
Too much information!
👍
Thank for your Videos
Just started watching this evening and I love that you've brought us on right at the beginning! Loving the vids so far!! Length of vid is an odd thing... some of the "boat-tubers" seem to keep them very short (4-6 minutes) while others post longer offerings (20-30 minutes). I tend to like the longer formats that include narrative and collage. Yours have been very enjoyable! I suppose it'll all depend on what you have available to share with us and we (narrowboater wannabes) love it all. :-)
+Marty Rule Glad you're liking them so far, hope you like the rest! M
Your videos are great and I love Michael's sense of humor. Where are you originally from? Sounds like upper Midwest?
He is from all over! Born in Oklahoma, grew up in Saudi Arabia and Canada, lived in California and New Zealand. It is a strange accent for sure.
Hi guys just wondering with you talking about buying a desk and so on do you work from the boat or are you having a long time out .if you do work from the boat how do you get on with internet saw your router or internet box must say not seen anything like that on a boat is it ok ..thanks happy boating.
We are taking some time off. Haven't got an exact timescale but maybe 1-2 years depending on how well the savings last. During that time, Michael especially wants to do some studying and maybe some freelance work.
Michael piping in by way of explanation; that box is an LTE (aka 4G) modem + router from TP-LINK; the majority of narrowboat owners use MiFi-branded units made by Huawei, but they do the same job and this one has connectors for two external antennas; as I will indeed be working from the boat we need reliable wifi, and this should guarantee that. Now if only we could find a decent always-on SIM in the UK.
longer videos please they are to sort... I'm glad your enjoying your time on the cut..
Thanks for the feedback.
Does anyone here know the wey? I'm from Uganda
Wey? No whey!
Yes Wey/way!
6✔
If you haven't discovered it yet during rush hour the bicyclists think they own the towpath and generally won't slow down or try to avoid you. I used to use an old railway line converted to a foot/bicycle path and one time got knocked on my butt by a bicyclist who immediately started yelling at me for being an old fool and not getting out of the way. Before I could get my bearings I heard several others yelling back at him and a couple of guys helped me up where I observed the bicyclist that hit me being held down by five joggers and about 4 minutes later a motorcycle cop showed up and one jogger showed him a video of the bicyclist taking aim at me when there was plenty of room to pass me, he was arrested and later found guilty.
The Apple power supply problem I've had in my van diesel powered and the is only one way to fix it. Shut off the inverter before starting the diesel and make sure the alternator is charging before turning the inverter back on, just make it a part of your pre star checklist and you shouldn't have anymore surge problems. My van had 2 batteries connected in parallel at 12 volts and every time I started it even with fully charged new batteries the starter pulls down the voltage so much inverter with fry if I didn't shut it off, after the engine was running I could turn the inverter on and use it without a problem. I burned out three inverters before I learned that lesson. My 410 watt inverter I now use is 7 years old since I learned that lesson. I have to wonder as most narrowboat owners don't have that problem, does your boat have a separate battery strictly for starting and runing your navigation lights? If you only have one bank of batteries and the starter for your engine is taking power from them that's why you had the surge. A starter motor for a Diesel engine even a 4 cylinder will pull your battery voltage well below the safe operating voltage of almost any inverter. If you have a single separate from the house batteries battery to start the diesel the way it should have originally been hooked up it shouldn't have that surge when the alternator starts charging.
Hope this helps a bit. And from what I've seen on UA-cam videos and read on builders specifications there should be a separate starter battery and a separate bank of batteries for your inverter to provide mains power to the boat. My apologies for being long winded but I have to to explain the technical side properly.
A spring loaded antennae like the CB guys used to use the spring is about 3-4 inches in length and mounts on a screw in mount held in place by three screws with a steel antennae mounted on the front of the cabin and you can cut the length to 3-4 feet will when you go under a low bridge give off a musical note you can clearly hear at the stern as a warning to pay more attention so you don't wreck the stove chimney or wplay whack a mole with your head and the bridge just thinking out loud. :-)
Cheers
Longer cheers colin
I'd forgotten about the soggy bottoms .... but not the cow crap!
+Matt Allen They seem to coincide a lot, actually! M
suggest scenes are a little longer and cut out the ffast sslow framing. much better from the viewing point. ROD UK
These things are normal on a boat. There will always be something that needs fixing, something that needs attention, something that leaks and drips and makes strange noises at inopportune times. I've yet to see a cruising boat, of any size, on any body of water, that has more than 80% of all systems running perfectly at any given time.
True. We are just looking forward to having slightly fewer urgent jobs to do at anyone one time
Give it some time - you'll laugh about all this in a couple of months. Love your videos, keep them coming - if they're not too distracting with the work that needs doing.
chatty is great.. canals are great.. but 95% negative points v 5% positive..hmm....its a fine line between useful info and (sorry...) bit of a whinge? given that, 10 mins was almost long.. many will be looking to escapism as well as informative insight ... ... balance.
I am not trolling.. hopefully constructive. Wishing you the very best of times :). Only wish I had the opportunity...one day maybe.
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't really noticed that but see what you mean. Will definitely keep it in mind. Hope you do get the opportunity one day. We are loving it despite the negative points and fell very lucky to be doing this.