Narrowboat Life

'A colourful and comprehensive guide to life on the waterways. Practical, pretty and accessible, it's charmingly designed while providing excellent advice.'
– BBC Countryfile Magazine

Full-time life on a narrowboat is a novelty for so many of us, and is endlessly fascinating. How do people downsize their lives and belongings into what looks like a large, crayon-coloured floating toy-box? Narrowboat Life answers all the questions we've wanted to ask about the ins and outs of liveaboard life on the inland waterways.

The book is filled with beautiful, enthralling photography of the waterways themselves, the narrowboats that occupy them and, most importantly, every nook and cranny of their insides. Should you become seduced, the author gives solid hands-on advice about how to make a narrowboat (or widebeam, cruiser or small Dutch barge) your home.

Accompanying these absorbing images, the playful and always informative text satisfies our curiosity to know, among other things:

• How do you fit all of your stuff into such a restricted space?
• How much does a narrowboat cost?
• How do you hold down a job if you're always on the move?
• Does s/he (the cat, dog, parrot) live on the boat as well?
• Is it cold in the winter?

This revised edition of Narrowboat Life features new and expanded sections on ecological living on the waterways – recycling, upcycling and living green – and the costs of living aboard in cities and countryside versus living on-land, as well as new 'step-aboard' profiles of more beautiful boats.

About the Author

Jim Batty is a photographer, graphic designer and writer who has lived aboard a narrowboat as a continuous cruiser for over five years. He has written for Canal Boat magazine and LeCool's A Weird and Wonderful Guide to London, amongst other publications, and had his photography featured in numerous travel guides, magazines, books and newspapers.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1 What's it like... living on a narrowboat?
• 2 How safe is it?
• 3 Is it cold in the winter?
• Step aboard... A recycled, repurposed narrowboat
• 4 How much did you pay for your narrowboat?
• 5 How green is living on a boat really?
  • Green Tips: A greener galley
  • Green Tips: Rudimentary to radical recycling
  • Green Tips: Eco Energy
• Step aboard... A narrowboat designed for escape
• 6 Did you paint it yourself?
• 7 Does he (the cat, dog, parrot) live on the boat?
• Step aboard... A well-read ark
• 8 How much does it cost to live on a narrowboat
• Step aboard... A widebeam cabinet of curiosities
• 9 Four canny questions... about continuously cruising
  • How do you receive post?
  • How do you see a doctor?
  • How do you use the internet?
  • How do you hold down a job?
• Glossary
• Index