We bought a mouldy narrowboat on Facebook Marketplace to live in – we slept on an airbed but save £10.5k on London rent
A COUPLE who bought a “mouldy” narrowboat on Facebook Marketplace and renovated it into their dream tiny home say it saves them £10k-a-year on rent in London.
Nancy Kerina, 26, and her partner, Dale Rankmore, 32, met during a ski season in Andorra and started looking to live together when the trip got cut short due to the pandemic.
The outdoor-loving couple didn’t want to be “tied down” paying a mortgage and decided to instead invest in a narrowboat.
They managed to find a 1970s narrowboat on Facebook Marketplace for £22k and have spent around £10k renovating it themselves.
Now the pair save £10k-a-year travelling around London’s waterways on their boat and love the “freedom”.
Nancy, a crew member at the Royal Albert Hall, originally from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, said: “We have loved it.
“I don’t think I could imagine just buying a house.
“We’re so used to the freedom of being able to move if we don’t like somewhere.
“It’s benefited our relationship massively.”
The couple met in 2020 while on a ski season but were forced to head back to the UK when the pandemic hit.
They lived in Nancy’s family home in Essex while they figured out what to do.
Nancy said: “We both had a similar mindset. We wanted to live in an abnormal way.
“We didn’t want to live with mortgages and get tied down.”
The couple started researching tiny homes and Nancy’s step dad told them about the narrowboat community.
Nancy said: “I got obsessed with it straight away. It seemed perfect.”
Dale, who works in stage management, originally from Cardiff, Wales, added: “It was such a good option.
“On the financial side of things – we couldn’t afford to get a house.
“It was a cheaper way of doing things.”
Nancy and Dale bought their boat in September 2020 in Bath, Somerset, and moved in.
The pair ripped it out and started renovating it while moving it to London.
Dale said: “When we moved on it, it wasn’t in great condition.
“There was mould and a bit of damp.
“We took it apart to the steel.
“We were living on the boat with nothing but an airbed.”
The couple spent the last three years working and scraping together cash to renovate the boat – doing as much as they can themselves.
They estimate they have spent £10k renovating it.
Nancy said: “It’s all been worth it.
“It wasn’t all perfect. We appreciate it so much now.”
Nancy and Dale pay just £100 per month for a cruiser license – meaning they have to move from their spot along the canal every two weeks.
They spend just £150-a-month from November to March keeping their log burner going and spent £1k on solar panels to now get free electricity.
They say their friends living in London pay £1k in rent a month for a house share and say it is the “bane of their life”.
“I don’t think I could imagine just buying a house.
Nancy
Their total bills and licence cost just £1,950-a-year – saving them £10,050 on London rent.
Nancy said: “London is an amazing place to be.
“We have stayed in some really nice high end places for £100-a-month.
“It’s totally different seeing it from the canal.
“The canals are really populated.
“It does feel safe.
“The bills are really low, it’s really handy.
“We don’t have massive bills to pay.”
The couple also bought a van from Facebook Marketplace in June 2023 for £4,500.
The previous owner had already renovated it but the couple fitted it with a fan, solar panels and decorated it.
They’ve just driven it on their first trip to a festival in Croatia – hitting Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Slovenia on the way there.
Dale proposed when the couple arrived at the festival surrounded by their friends.
Nancy said: “It looks like a Ghostbusters van.
“We were in these amazing secluded places. I was like ‘you really should have proposed’.
“Little did I know the friends were bringing the ring with them.”
The couple would like to build a tiny home one day and upgrade their van so they have more space for any future children.
Nancy said: “Sharing that with our future children will be the best thing.”
Follow the couple on Tiktok @nancyanddale and on Instagram @__thebeanmachine and @thepigboat.