About Watt & Water
Living on a Narrowboat in the UK – Our Story
Our Mission
To make narrowboat living more comfortable, efficient and sustainable by sharing practical, data-driven advice on solar power, energy systems and real life afloat in the UK.
Our Values
Honesty – We share what works and what doesn’t.
Practicality – Real-world solutions over theory.
Simplicity – Systems should reduce stress, not add to it.
Independence – Off-grid living with modern capability.
Continuous Improvement – We’re always learning and refining.
Hi, we’re Josh and Tish.
We’re a couple who chose to swap conventional life for narrowboat living, trading radiators for solar panels, driveways for towpaths, and predictable utility bills for battery state-of-charge graphs.
We live full-time on a narrowboat in the UK, learning every day how to balance comfort, technology, and energy efficiency on the water.
Watt & Water began because when we started researching life on a narrowboat, especially the technical side, solar power, batteries, inverters, WiFi. We found plenty of opinions… but not many clear, data-backed answers.
So we decided to document our journey.
Not the Instagram version.
The real one.
Why We Chose Narrowboat Life
For us, narrowboat living wasn’t about escaping society or chasing a romantic ideal.
It was about:
- Simpler living
- Lower overheads
- More flexibility
- Being closer to nature
- And building a lifestyle intentionally
But we also wanted to keep modern comforts:
- Reliable internet
- Remote working capability
- Streaming, gaming, laptops
- Warm winters
- Efficient systems
That combination, off-grid boat living with modern technology is where things get interesting.
And complicated.
The “Watt” Side – Narrowboat Solar & Power Systems
Living on a narrowboat full-time means your power system matters. A lot.
Our current setup includes:
- 3 × LDC12-220 lead carbon batteries
- 4 × ~400W solar panels
- Victron SmartSolar MPPT charge controller
- Victron SmartShunt battery monitoring
- Inverter for 230V appliances
We monitor everything.
Amp hours.
Voltage curves.
Charging behaviour.
Winter vs summer performance.
We test:
- USB-C Power Delivery charging
- Energy-efficient laptops and devices
- Low-draw appliances
- Inverter usage patterns
- Solar performance in UK winters
If something improves efficiency, reliability, or battery lifespan then we’re interested.
And if it doesn’t work, we’ll say so.
The “Water” Side – Real Narrowboat Living
But life on the water isn’t just spreadsheets and solar panels.
It’s:
- Filling water tanks
- Planning cruising routes
- Winter condensation battles
- Learning the rhythm of canal life
- Discovering how much you actually need (and how much you don’t)
We’ve made mistakes.
We’ve overcomplicated things.
We’ve simplified them again.
And that’s part of the journey.
Why This Website Exists
I’m a web developer by trade, which means I naturally build tools, track data, and optimise systems.
My wife brings the balance, reminding me that life isn’t just about efficiency curves and inverter loads.
Watt & Water sits at the intersection of:
- Practical narrowboat life
- Energy efficiency
- Data-driven decision making
- Honest product testing
- Real-world lessons from living aboard
This isn’t theory.
It’s what works for us, in real UK weather, real winters, and real cruising conditions.
Who Watt & Water Is For
This site is for you if you:
- Are considering living on a narrowboat in the UK
- Already live aboard and want to optimise your setup
- Want better solar performance
- Struggle with battery capacity or winter charging
- Need reliable WiFi on a narrowboat
- Love systems, tech and improving how things work
If you’ve ever checked your battery monitor more than once an hour…
You’re in the right place.
Still Learning. Still Optimising.
We don’t claim to be marine engineers.
We’re full-time liveaboards who measure, test, tweak and improve sharing everything we learn along the way.
If it saves you money, stress, or amp-hours… it’s worth writing about.
Welcome aboard.
Josh & Tish