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A MAN who moved out of his home to live on a narrowboat has saved a fortune after growing tired of suburban life.
Joel Sanders, 57, ditched his one-bedroom flat in Watford, Hertfordshire, after getting the bug during a stint on water.
The comedian was offered a gig on a cruise ship and wanted to replicate that feeling when he got back to the UK.
After a brief chat with boat owners along the canal in Hemel Hempstead, Joel put his money where his mouth is.
“Within a week I had bought a boat, travelled across London in it and was in that same marina,” he said.
“I am very intolerant to noise and in a flat I felt that my private space was invaded by other people’s noises.
“You could always hear your neighbours.
“A boat has all the benefits of a detached home and if you don’t like the place where you are because it is too loud then you move.
“I live a simple nomadic existence. You get a sense of independence and freedom on a boat which is very hard to get on the land.”
After spending a year in the Hemel Hempstead marina, Joel upgraded to a bigger boat- a 1996 Colecraft- for around £60,000 and began moving across the country.
Since the switch, he has docked in Nottingham, Birmingham, London, Oxford, Bristol, Reading, and Gloucester.
However, life on a boat is not all positive, with Joel adding that it is extremely hard work managing your own limited water, gas, and electricity supply.
Joel forks out around £1,600 annually on his boat licence, is set back £800 on heating and spends tens of thousands of pounds on upgrades and maintenance.
The boat owner has also experienced tragedy since he took up his marine residence.
Recently, Joel found a dead body floating in the canal in Nottingham.
Despite its flaws, he says he doesn’t regret a thing.
He continued: “With boating the good days are great but the bad days are very bad. It is a life of extremes.
“Boating is a fairly intensive part time job. It makes you feel more alive somehow when you have to manage those things that you once took for granted.
“It really toughened me up. I have learned a huge amount.
“Most of my friends when I bought it said I was mad, and I wouldn’t last three months. The things it gave me were so thrilling to me that I ploughed through the difficulties.
“I will take the physical challenges for as long as my health will allow me to for the benefits.”
Joel added that the main trick is to find the right boat, saying that if you buy a bad one with lots of problems then you would “have a better quality of life on a park bench.”
Joel said: “With the housing crisis a lot of people are deciding to buy boats, but it is not a lifestyle that is right for people who just can’t afford to live on the land.
“You need to want the lifestyle.”
It might seem an idyllic lifestyle living on a narrowboat and taking this at a slower pace but it’s not always plain sailing.
The Pros
Freedom – you get to choose where you stay and can move from the countryside to a city in possibly a few hours. If you don’t like your neighbours you can simply move.
Work anywhere – remote working has shot up with the Covid-19 pandemic and what could be better than working from a barge.
Declutter your lifestyle – There’s not a lot of space on a narrowboat but this can be an advantage as it forces your to get rid of things you don’t actually really need. Decluttering your life can do wonders for your wellbeing.
Life at a slower pace – anyone fed up of the 9-5 rat race and the pressure to earn money to pay for high-cost living can benefit from the easy-going life on a barge.
More environmentally friendly – while not entirely carbon neutral, living on a narrowboat can help the environment as you use less electricity, gas and fuel.
Improve fitness – living on a narrowboat doesn’t suit a sedentary lifestyle. There are endless tasks that will keep you active, such as operating locks, carrying coal and gas canisters, toilets to empty, wood to chop and weed hatches to clear.
Sense of community – many boaters feel a strong sense of community as they are with like-minded people to share tips and advice.
Saving money – one big advantage is the amount of money you can save. Big savings can be made on monthly living costs not only from using less gas and electricity but you don’t have any costly mortgage or rent payments to cover.
The Cons
Having to plan ahead – if you have a cruising licence you will need to move every 14 days, so you have to think about the future, where to next, do you have enough supplies to get there?
Limited space – narrowboats are restricted in space and you may find you feel claustrophobic living in a confined space. Plus, you may have to chuck out some prized possessions to fit everything you need in.
Lack of security – criminals may see a narrowboat as an easy target and you may need to invest in some quality security to keep your things safe.
Maintenance – Beware that you will need to learn about engine maintenance, such as how to repair a bilge pump or water pump. You will also need to ensure it is properly insulated and ventilated or you could be battling dampness and condensation.
The cost – while living on a boat is certainly cheaper than living in a property, it is not cost free. You have to pay for things like: a Canal and River Trust licence, insurance, engine and pump maintenance, blacking the hull, as well as running costs such as fuel and a TV licence.
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LYING on the track in a tangled mess, Tai Woffinden admits the last thing he remembers is people crying at the extent of his injuries.
The five-times world champion blacked out minutes after the horror crash where he sustained over 15 BROKEN BONES following a high-speed pile-up in Krosno, Poland in late March.
Great Britain ace Woffy, 34, was given an emergency helicopter airlift to hospital as fears grew over his survival because of chest injuries and a huge loss of blood.
He was then put in a medically induced coma after three lengthy major operations.
But two months after fighting for his life, Woffinden is now walking and eight weeks ahead in his gruelling recovery plan in rehab.
In his first interview since the incident, he reveals how he heard the femur bone in his leg snap on impact and that the first people on the scene were in tears on seeing his condition because his arms were “pointing in the wrong direction”.
He admitted: “I remember everything. In the race that I crashed I made a pretty decent start, so I blipped the throttle a little bit coming into the corner.
“The junior rider off gate one drove over the kerb, ran into the guy that was off gate two, who then collected me.
“As I got collected, as you normally do, you drop it on the side and slide towards the fence. And then while sliding across the track, my bike hit the APD (airfence) first, which lifted it up probably about a metre.
“And the moment I saw that lift, I just went, ‘oh f***’. And then I hit the fence, I heard my femur snap.
“It’s almost like if you’re underwater and you snap a tree branch.
“I then was laid on the track. I remember looking up and seeing everybody around me. The team manager’s face looked like he had seen a ghost.
“One person was crying looking at my body. My arms were pointing all in the wrong direction. My left shoulder was dislocated, pointing upwards.
“My right humerus was shattered at the bottom. My elbow was dislocated and my elbow was broken.
“I actually couldn’t see my hands when I was laying on the track because they were both pointing up.
“So I’m sat there saying, ‘give me some meds’. I was saying ‘bol, bol, bol’ which means pain in Polish just to make sure they knew what I was talking about.
“I don’t know if I passed out from the amount of Fentanyl they’d given me or the amount of blood that I’d lost.”
Woffinden, Britain’s greatest-ever rider, had a double compound right femur fracture, broken back, right humerus compound fracture, dislocated and smashed right elbow, 12 broken ribs,punctured lung, left broken shoulder blade and dislocated left shoulder.
He added: “I remember the blades of the helicopter, the noise of it starting to take off. And then the next thing, I’m in a coma.
“There were so many injuries, I probably wouldn’t have been able to be awake and deal with the injuries. One of the operations was 12 hours long and I had multiple blood transfusions.
“I thought a coma would have been a pleasant sleep. It was quite the opposite. It was the worst thing I’d ever experienced. It was quite scary at times. I was on sedatives and painkillers and antibiotics.
“I was hallucinating, I was dreaming and having nightmares. Normally you have a nightmare and you wake up. Well, I couldn’t wake up.
“I dealt with some wild s***. I woke up from the coma, and everything that I’d dreamt, I believed it was real. And my wife Faye was like, ‘mate, that didn’t happen’. I was getting angry with Faye because she wasn’t believing me.”
Woffinden refused to be drawn on what the future holds in speedway, his only focus is on full recovery from the huge toll of injuries.
He added: “There’s so many variables. We need to give it that extra month to heal and then have the CT scan so we can really see what’s going on from all different angles.
“I might need another operation on my humerus in my arm because it was shattered in 27 places. If the metalwork hasn’t helped it knit together, I’ll need another op.
“I’ve done everything I possibly can. I’ve done four to five hours a day in rehab since I left the hospital. My progress is on another level.
“It’s ridiculous. Where I’m at given the injuries is f*****g phenomenal.
“I would like to ride my bike again, whether that’s competitive or not or just practice, who knows?
“But I just make micro personal goals to keep reaching. Only my recovery comes first.”