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Canal Continuous Cruising - Continuous Cruising Licence - Continuous Cruising License

At the moment there is no difference in the price of a British Waterways Leisure Boat Licence for Continuous Cruisers or those boaters who choose to use a home mooring in a marina.

There is an undertaking by the declared continuous cruiser on the BW waterway network. The reason such a declaration alters the boat's classification and to British Waterways this is important is that a boat claiming continuous cruising status need not declare a home mooring that is paid for. The moorings that are officially recognised by British Waterways as moorings attract both a mooring fee and a BW mooring licence fee element which is passed on by the mooring owner; a boater who is continuously exploring the British canal network on a full-time basis has no need of a permanent base and is not required to have a permanent mooring. With no permanent mooring to declare though, they must make a declaration to abide by the rules for continuous cruisers.

British Waterways recognises a continuous cruising craft as a boat which is always on the move. This movement has to be ongoing throughout the year and is subject to a maximum stay of 14 days in any one location where other restrictions are not imposed, i.e. visitor moorings with a posted time limit, and the boater must be making "reasonable progress" with limited backtracking and reasonable journey lengths between successive moorings, this is in order that someone else gets a fair opportunity to moor next week where you are this week. We have to say that we are generally supportive of BW on this policy. I speak as we are now continuous cruisers, in that we have been moving around the canals this last year sometimes staying in one place for a fortnight, in the last three years we have spent just six months in a marina – but we now usually move every fine cruising day or stay as long as the visitor mooring permits - up to fourteen days. It’s an interesting life!

Anyone genuinely touring the network will have little difficulty meeting these criteria, except when travelling conditions are poor due to inclement weather, particularly in winter or when canals are subject to "stoppages", where exceptions are allowed for in these circumstances. Over the winter of 2009/10 areas were set aside where BW visitor moorings exist as 'This is a designated winter mooring payment required'. A continuous cruising boater is "recommended" to keep a log of their ongoing trip making it less likely that they will have a problem justifying their continuous cruising status.

There are, inevitably, people who do not wish to move their boat far, or often, either keeping their boat within an area from which they can travel to their employment or to avoid the cost of fuel. They may not be able to get, or do not wish to pay for, long term mooring in the area where they 'reside'. These boaters are often referred to by other boaters as "continuous moorers" or "bridge-hoppers". They run the risk not getting their licence renewed or even in extreme circumstances risk having their boat physically removed from the waterway by BW. If however boat owners wish to legitimise their boat licence status, they must claim continuous cruising status. Because of their need to make their shortest journeys long enough to justify the terms of their licence / declaration or at best coming to the attention of local BW officials, but enough to keep them near their desired location.

If you have a canal boat on the English BW system, your yearly licence is not only for the privilege of keeping that boat on their water but being able to take on potable water, the emptying of Elsan cassette contents or the use of holding tank pump-out facilities for a nominal charge (by pre-payment card), the disposal of 'household' rubbish, navigate over 2000 miles of managed waterways. The British Waterways licence is chargeable by boat feet length, and for Maid of The Mist, a 60 foot long narrowboat with 45 feet of cabin, it’s about £675 (2009) a year including the deduction for prompt payment.

History of Continuous Cruising

Prior to 1995, all privately owned boats on the canal system were required to have a permanent base for their boat, known as a home mooring, either a BW licenced mooring or a mooring in a private marina. Historically some boaters used the system 'continuously', living on their boat as they travelled around the country, stopping in any one place for only a limited time and thus not wanting a permanent mooring. Such boaters rightly so resented having to declare a home mooring, because they had to then pay a marina owner for services they had no intention of ever using, and therefore felt they were subsidising boaters who actually moored there. British Waterways management recognised this argument and in 1995 they first allowed genuine "continuous cruisers" to apply for a licence without declaring a home mooring.

British Waterways have tried various methods of controlling continuous cruisers and many other people living on their boats moving regularly and claiming that they are on an 'extended cruise'. British Waterways at one time introduced a 'Trial Moorings Code' which was intended to rule out repetitive 'toing' and 'froing' within the same geographical area. They have retained some of the 'rules' that do not create problems for those genuinely cruising the full canal system but by stipulating allowable temporary mooring durations, minimum distance to the next temporary moorings and restrictions on returning to a particular temporary mooring. The new rules have certainly made life a little difficult for liveaboard boaters who wish to or have by necessity to stay in a particular geographical area. Although BW have expressed 'sympathy' for those who cannot find full residential moorings in the area in which they work, or wish to live, they state 'Our duties do not include those of a housing authority' and don't want the canal system to get a bad name for having people living in bad conditions outside the normal housing rules and conditions that Local Authority housing departments would apply.

British Waterways will tell you that continuous cruising agreement is intended for those who are moving continuously, and they want to restrict liveaboard boaters from remaining more than 14 days in one place or moving to within a few miles of that mooring. If you are intent on living on your boat then British Waterways want you to have an official residential mooring, which is by their reckoning is expected to be 5 in every 100 (20%) eventually. They don't want you living on your boat in one place or 'toing' and 'froing' within the same geographical area in an attempt to beat the system.

Environmental agencies, local councils as well as BW don’t want boats in various states of disrepair moored along scenic stretches, conservation areas, urban or suburban canal areas, mainly because being part of UK plc, BW are promoting canals as a leisure facility and tourist attraction as well as the fact they are duty bound to generate the maximum income from canals for the exchequer.

BW Notification for Continuous Cruisers

Narrowboat Living