A practical guide to buying, living aboard, and building a life on the waterways
Three short live lessons on Zoom. Learn which boat suits the life you want, what it really costs to run, and what to check before you buy.
Shows on board Widgeon Theatreboat, my working boat on the canal.
Write a one-page brief for the boat that suits your life.
Build your own yearly running-cost budget.
View a boat with a checklist and know the steps from offer to handover.
Each lesson comes with a worksheet you keep.
The same three lessons run three times. Pick the week that suits you. All lessons are at 7.30pm UK time, 45 minutes each, live on Zoom.
Lesson 1 is Choose the Right Boat, Lesson 2 is Know the Real Costs and Lesson 3 is View, Survey and Buy. Recordings of all three lessons are sent afterwards, and you can watch them for 30 days after your last lesson.
I'm Mj Morgan, and for nearly 14 years my home has been a narrowboat. I've lived aboard as a continuous cruiser, moving on every couple of weeks, and on a residential mooring.
It began with Speedwell, my first boat. A friend who already lived on the cut showed me how continuous cruising worked and backed me up while I haggled hard on the price. The rest I learned the way most boaters do: the water pump that gives up, the mooring that falls through, and the towpath neighbours who come to help.
The idea for a theatre on the water took root while I was travelling to London on Speedwell and came across a boat festival. Today that idea is Widgeon Theatreboat. Widgeon is 89 years old, 90 next year, and we're about to begin our 10th year as a theatreboat. She's a floating stage and a radio station, Widgeon Airwaves, and we take her along waterways around the UK for comedy nights and live shows.
So I know a boat as a home, a way to travel and a place of work. Over the years I've also got to know widebeams, fibreglass cruisers and houseboats, and the people who live on them.
Two other threads run through my life: film production, which matters most to me, and hospitality, where I hold a personal licence. I'm now writing a book about boat life, The Narrowboat Compass.
I teach from my own experience. I'm not a surveyor, broker or financial adviser.
That's fine. Everyone gets the recordings of all three lessons within two days of their last one, so you can catch up when it suits you. You can watch them for 30 days.
A phone, tablet or computer with Zoom, a notebook and pen, and a rough idea of how you'd like to use a boat. Nothing to buy.
Yes. Lesson 1 compares narrowboats, widebeams, fibreglass cruisers and houseboats, so you can see which fits the way you want to live.
Yes. If you ask before your first lesson starts, I'll refund you in full. You can also move to a later date instead.
No. This is general information from my own experience. It isn't financial, legal or survey advice. For a specific boat, use a qualified marine surveyor.