I live full-time on a boat & save thousands every year – it's much better than a house… but I've seen some awful things
SAIL AWAY I live full-time on a boat & save thousands every year – it's much better than a house… but I've seen some awful things
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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.
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Joel Sanders has lived on water for the past 15 years
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Joel moved out of his flat in Watford and hasn't looked back since
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Joel Sanders on his boat
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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.
Woman who pays no rent and lives in London gives a tour around her amazing houseboat
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."
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