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Testinomy of Mr PAtrick who has found the boats of his dreams....
At the age of 60 I decided to turn a childhood dream into reality: to live in a boat. The romantic side of this decision also backed by more practical considerations: runaway land taxes, maintenance of garden areas, mobility,... The start of a quest which might turn out to be discouraging. Finding and buying the boat, finding a mooring point. At the start I gravitated naturally towards a houseboat, due to the fact that they are habitable and also the layouts they offer. However, with a length of 40 metres, your budget is very tight if the houseboat is in good condition and inhabitable, and it is very frustrating to buy a boat with work to be done. Quite a few people have embarked on this adventure and thrown in the towel. In addition, with a boat of this size there are difficulties in finding a mooring place. This is coupled with the chaos caused by the towpaths, the secrets of which are only known to the French authorities.
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I live my life on my boat in the city in the countryside....
Space is very rare in the Strasbourg region, and the situation between the different partners who manage the moorings, the waterways of France (VNF), the municipalities, and independent ports is highly complex. Waiting lists are often for three years or more, with no guaranteed result. What is more, in order to get onto the waiting list you have to own a boat (and where should I put my 40-metre houseboat on the waiting list) After seeing that I was on the point of becoming totally disenhearted, a VNF inspector advised me to contact a private harbour in Strasbourg. I turned to the leisure port, which was formerly called Kojeac, and everything started to speed up: A perfect mooring in the city, along the “parc de la citadelle”, a secure site, car parking, water and electricity. |
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The perfect boat, found by Guy Jacob, used boat broker...
Guy Jacob, the harbour captain, found the boat of my dreams, a beautiful Dutch boat of 15m, which we brought back from Holland on an unforgettable journey along the romantic Rhine river. And now, for the past two years, I have been living on my boat - be it in the city, in the countryside, and on the water surrounded by swans and ducks. My boat is very comfortable and has a perfect size (in our part of the world you should get older with a well-functioning heating system if you plan to live there all year round). My neighbours have become my friends and the harbour captain loves to organise social evenings in the yard where the harbour occupants can get to know each other. Be it as a break, or to discover Strasbourg during a stopover, Europe Boat Trading’s leisure harbour is a perfect mooring point.
M. Patrick Testimony |
