The Changing Face of Boat Ownership

As costs in other areas continue their steady rise, so do the pressures on the purse strings of boat owners. We are meeting more and more people on our voyages who for one reason or another are downgrading their boats from larger more expensive craft to smaller more cost effective vessels. The benefits may not at first be obvious, but with a bit of thought it is easy to see how the savings will soon stack up.

First there is the licence fee. British Waterways charge a fee based on the length of your boat so a smaller boat naturally means a smaller licence fee.

Then we come onto moorings, these again are usually based on the length of the boat. So it stands to reason that a smaller boat will attract smaller mooring fees. Not only this but with growing pressure on the availability of visitor moorings at busy spots, smaller boats have the added advantage of being able to squeeze into the smallest of available gaps.

The next factor is insurance. Insurance premiums tend to be based not only on experience and age but also on the insured value of the boat and its contents. Smaller boats tend to be, but are not always, worth less than their bigger counterparts so the premiums tend to be smaller.

In these days of rising fuel costs, fuel consumption is also a major player when considering which boat to purchase. Although in theory a smaller boat would use less fuel this isn’t always the case. Naughty-Cal for example is 25ft in length so relatively small, however she has a 170hp diesel engine under the floor so is never going to be economical. Sensibly choosing the right boat and engine set up for your needs can however reduce your fuel bill dramatically.

Having a smaller boat need not mean that you have to sacrifice on your creature comforts. Many cruisers manage to very effectively squeeze in all of the mod cons expected from modern boating into very small spaces often doing so much more effectively than narrowboat designers who are blessed with masses of space.

Whatever the reasons for downsizing I’m sure that these boat owners will have the same enjoyment from their smaller more cost effective boats that they had from their bigger previous boats. Who knows what the future holds for boat ownership but it seems we are going through a time of change and it neednt be for the worse. More variety of craft afloat on the UK's waterways can only be a good thing.