We bought a mouldy narrowboat on Facebook Marketplace — it saves us £10,000 a year in London rent

Having purchased a ‘mouldy’ narrowboat online and renovated it into their dream home, one London-based couple have saved themselves £10,000 a year in rent.

Nancy Kerina and Dale Rankmore, 26 and 32, first met during a ski season in Andorra – but when it was cut short as the pandemic hit, they decided to look at moving in together.

Since they didn’t want to be ‘tied down’ with a mortgage, they started to consider the possibility of renovating a narrowboat – and quickly found one originally built in the 1970s on Facebook Marketplace for £22,000.

They’ve since invested £10,000 in renovations and love the ‘freedom’ that their tiny boat gives them to explore London’s waterways – so much so that they now ‘can’t imagine’ buying a house.

‘We’re so used to the freedom of being able to move if we don’t like somewhere,’ Nancy, who works as a crew member at the Royal Albert Hall, says. ‘It’s benefitted our relationship massively.’

When they first returned to the UK together as the pandemic hit, they moved into Nancy’s family home in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, while they figured out what to do next.

‘We both had a similar mindset. We wanted to live in an abnormal way,’ Nancy reflects, adding that they knew they ‘didn’t want to live with mortgages.’

As they started to research tiny homes, Nancy’s stepdad told them about the narrowboat community – and they were instantly ‘obsessed.’

‘On the financial side of things – we couldn’t afford to get a house. It was a cheaper way of doing things,’ Dale, who works in stage management and is originally from Cardiff, adds.

They finalised buying their chosen boat in September 2020 – which was stationed in Bath at the time – and began renovating it while moving to London.

But it didn’t come in great condition, as it was both damp and mouldy.

‘We took it apart to the steel…we were living on the boat with nothing but an airbed,’ Dale says.

Over the last three years, the pair have scraped together as much cash as possible for the renovations, completing as much as possible themselves.

‘It wasn’t all perfect, [but] we appreciate it so much now,’ Nancy reflects.

Their savings are notable, spending £100 per month for a cruiser license – which means they need to move from their spot along the canal every two weeks, and have to travel at least 20 miles out before they return to the same spot.

And though it was a little cold when they first started renovating it, now they’ve got a log burner on board, it’s nice and cosy. Between November and March, they spend £150 on this cost, and have also invested £1,000 in solar panels to save on electricity.

Meanwhile, many of their friends who live in London pay £1,000 in rent for a house share – something they label the ‘bane of their life.’

By comparison, Nancy and Dale’s total bills and licence costs come to £1,950 per year, saving them £10,050 on London rent.

‘We have stayed in some really nice high-end places [like Kensington] for £100 a month. It’s totally different seeing it from the canal,’ Nancy says.

The boat isn’t the only investment they’ve made: they also bought a van – which had already been renovated by the previous owners – from Facebook Marketplace in June 2023 for £4,500.

They took it on their first trip to a festival in Croatia this summer, stopping off in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Slovenia on the way there – and when they arrived, Dale proposed.

‘Little did I know his friends were bringing the ring with them,’ Nancy recalls.

In the future, they’d like to build a tiny home and upgrade their van, so they have more space to start a family.

‘Sharing that with our future children will be the best thing,’ Nancy concludes.

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