Co-operation's the key to happy canal boating

This article by Andrew Bibby, in a slightly different form, was first published in the Observer, 2005

Messing about in boats is the only thing worth doing – or at least Ratty in the Wind in the Willows claims as much.

But unfortunately watching the ducks a-dabbling on the canals of Britain can also be an expensive pastime. To hire a six-berth narrowboat for a week this summer is likely to cost almost £1000, and even in the depths of February or November hire rates are typically £450 a week.

There is, however, an alternative. Each year a growing number of people are choosing to join canal narrowboat shared ownership schemes, splitting the costs with other boating enthusiasts and enjoying the right to up to four weeks' cruising time a year in their ‘own' boat.

Two sizeable companies, OwnerShips and Challenger, and a number of smaller firms specialise in narrowboat boatshare arrangements. OwnerShips, for example, has ninety boats on its list, with another six currently being built. The standard deal is for each boat to have twelve owners, each of whom holds a single share in the boat. OwnerShips organises the initial purchase arrangements and makes an annual charge for managing bookings, overseeing maintenance and operating a 24-hour helpline if things go wrong, say, when you're half way down the Shropshire Union. A six-yearly cycle on the booking rota means each co-owner gets a turn to reserve the most popular weeks.

OwnerShips' office manager Deborah McQuade recommends that potential new co-owners should first try out canal boating with a hire boat. “We really don't like to have people in the scheme who haven't previously been narrowboat boating,” she says. She adds that the majority of her boat owners tend to be in the 40+ age group.

She also warns that a canal boat is not an investment which is likely to appreciate. “It's not like buying a house, though it doesn't depreciate as much as when you buy a car,” she claims.

A twelfth share of one of OwnerShips' new boats is currently being offered at £8980, valuing the whole boat at a somewhat astonishing £107,760. The company is also acting as agent for sales of a number of second-hand shares in older boats, which give some indication of likely depreciation. A share in a five year old boat, for example, is available for £5950, whilst a twelfth share in a 1998 boat is offered at £4000. OwnerShips co-owners (who meet annually at meetings in Birmingham organised by the company) are responsible for budgeting for maintenance expenses. Each co-owner also pays the company an annual charge, set at £320 + VAT per share for next year.

OwnerShips offers convenience and reassurance to boat co-owners, though it hardly delivers canal cruising on the cheap. For that you need to do as Chris Keane has done, and get directly involved in your boat's management and maintenance. Chris is a member of one of a small number of narrowboat co-operatives, in his case the West Riding Narrowboat Co-operative whose boat, appropriately enough, bears the name Co-operation .

Co-operation is split fifteen ways (with a small number of shares further sub-divided), with each co-op member investing £800 when they first join and being entitled to £750 back when they leave. The monthly fee, set by the members when they meet up at the annual meeting, is currently £31 a month. “It's a fabulous way to do boating, and it's ridiculously cheap,” Chris says. He says that the co-op members (who have included the former Labour MP David Hinchliffe) work well together, even though they are geographically dispersed (despite the co-op's name, nobody now lives in west Yorkshire ). “We share a common love of boating, and the pride of ownership,” he says.

The booking rotas are also worked out informally, with the boat being picked up at the start of a week at whatever point on the canal network the previous borrowers have reached. It means that, over the years, members find themselves getting to know new canals and new areas of the country. “The whole of the inland waterways system is used,” Chris says.

Another narrowboat co-op owns Quince, a boat which the group themselves commissioned six years ago at a cost of about £33,000. Quince too has fifteen shareholding members who have invested £2200 apiece (this investment is repaid in full when members leave). The co-op sets its monthly charge at £25 and there is an additional small charge for each week the boat is hired, designed to cover diesel costs. Anna Leonard-Williams, one of the founder members, says that the main requirement is that members take on their share of responsibility for the co-op, particularly by attending the twice-yearly meetings. She says that the arrangement has worked well, so that for a small outlay members enjoy a well-furnished boat equipped with such things as a shower, TV and video and CD player. “It's a really smart boat,” she says.

Membership of existing co-ops tends to be passed on by word of mouth, though shares are sometimes advertised in Waterways World magazine, and on the independent website www.boatshare.co.uk . This website, run by a boating enthusiast with considerable knowledge of boatsharing, is perhaps the best place to turn for informed advice on both the advantages and the snags. For those keen to start a new boat co-operative, Chris Keane says that his own co-op is prepared to offer practical support through the start-up process; he can be contacted on ckeaneuk@aol.com.

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