Sailing boats and motorhomes

[pappajohn]

I had a raft (with some mates) on the local river...... Does that count?

 

[Lanerboy]

I had a few motor boats kept in Weymouth main differences I find are

Fuel to fill motorhome £95.00
Fuel to fill last boat £700.00

Motorhome mpg approx 24mpg
Boat used 90 lts per hr

Marina fees to store boat £6500.00 PA
motorhome kept on drive for free

Putting boat back in berth caused lots of arguments with the wife
Motorhome goes on drive very easily

Boat was a pain in the arse to wash about 4 hrs entailed getting in the tender
Easy to wash motorhome all sides accessible

Boat always needed little jobs doing on it
Motorhome sits there for weeks ready to go

Left the berth a couple of times and had to abandon trip and turn back to base due to weather.
Never had to abandon trip in motorhome due to weather

Had to have boat lifted every year to anti foul it cost about £500
Never have to clean underside of the motorhome

Boats cost thousands to run
Motorhomes are cheap in comparison

 

[Chuns]

Interesting the degree of commonality in the pros and cons.

I first took the helm of a boat at the age of five, and recently sold our boat, so more than 60 years boating of different types. My latter career was in the RNLI, so you could say I was pretty steeped in boating.

I would not say motorhoming has taken over, as it doesn't quite provide parralel experiences, but they both were for us a way of enjoying food and wine and (mostly) French culture as we kept our boat in Brittany. However operating a sailing boat safely is a lot harder than operating a vehicle.

i got bored by noisy and inconsiderate people in marinas, and you can only experience so many deserted sandy coves. We had done all we wanted to do that a boat offers, having no desire to cross the Atlantic, nor go to the Med, so time to stop while we could, rather than when we were obliged to.

Planning a stop in an aire isn't quite the same intellectual challenge as 'passage planning' (I wrote a book on that) but the whole process is every bit as rewarding, and the geographical options are far greater.

 

[Nigel Crompton]

We have both, still. Just downsized from an A class to a small Hymer, and a few years ago we downsized from an 18m converted Dutch barge to a 12m cruiser. They complement each other, cruise northern Europe in summer and (usually) spend the winters in southern Iberia.

" one cannot take the boat Inland except the canals,"
And rivers, the contiguous navigable inland waterways of Europe stretch from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, North Sea and Black Sea - tens of thousands of km. We usually cover over 2000km in a summer season, not bored yet.

Blue water sailors have it easy, we 'ditch-crawlers' are seldom more than 30 seconds away from hitting something!

In Germany you can hire a motorised raft on which to park your camper or caravan and go cruising ...

 

[David and Sally]

What a brilliant idea. Love that. I think I'll check that out for next year. Bet it's not cheap though.

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[Nigel Crompton]

Be wise to check your insurance first ....

 

[Jake Royd]

We have both, still. Just downsized from an A class to a small Hymer, and a few years ago we downsized from an 18m converted Dutch barge to a 12m cruiser. They complement each other, cruise northern Europe in summer and (usually) spend the winters in southern Iberia.

" one cannot take the boat Inland except the canals,"
And rivers, the contiguous navigable inland waterways of Europe stretch from the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, North Sea and Black Sea - tens of thousands of km. We usually cover over 2000km in a summer season, not bored yet.

Blue water sailors have it easy, we 'ditch-crawlers' are seldom more than 30 seconds away from hitting something!

In Germany you can hire a motorised raft on which to park your camper or caravan and go cruising ...

View attachment 353636View attachment 353636View attachment 353636

Now, I wasn't aware of that!