Waterworks

Thats ok , I already live on a totally offgrid boat, I know all the tricks.

To go an alternative route to this question , if you were designing an off grid metal clad sheperds hut for one person for all year round use that will use the minimum of heating fuel how would you insulate it ?

What kind and thickness of insulation have you got ?

There will be no connection to mains electricity. The reason for the wood stove.

OK, passive house is not practical this small , so what would be the level of insulation required for the minimal heating fuel requirement in tne winter in the UK ? Im asking based on the houseboat I currently live on which has 40 mm PIR insulation and is costing a fortune to heat , I want my Shepherds hut to use the minimum fuel possible and my design is built around insulation, however much is required.

Would it be possible to design a Shepards hut on a passive house principle ? This would be a pretty big maybe 3 x 6 metres internally , and clad in galvanised corrugated sheets. The design would take into account up to 300mm of PIR insulation, maybe vacuum panels in the front door and there would certainly a small wood stove. What would the design need to consider ?

What would be the cost estimates for building a 80 ft x 30ft concrete canal dry dock ?

I already do and it's far from the freedom and peace and quiet you would imagine it to be.

I have many years experience in living off grid in different kinds of dwellings , I really enjoy extreme simple life and remote rural places, what i'd like to do is build an iron age roundhouse in a wood and try out living there full time . As far as I can see there is no way to do this legally, which I find strange as I my aim is to be totally off-grid with no effect on anyone else, I can only see that it would be a benefit to any council planner, not a problem. In any case, I feel it's a daft situation that I will have to do this illegally when I'm a responsible law-abiding person that just wants to enjoy a harmless alternative lifestyle.

Would one solution to the lack of affordable housing for first time buyers in the UK be the tiny housing idea ? I've never seen any in the UK except some shipping container apartment blocks used as housing for refugees ( who complained it wasn't good enough ) but I think many people would be interested in these as a first step on the housing ladder if they were sited in a nice environment with gardens and open space and not crammed in together on an estate.

Its far from freedom to do what you want, you have to justify your existence and comply with multiple income, environmental and other issues.

Lets imagine someone wanted to build and live totally off grid a whacky lifestyle in an Iron age thatched hut with ownership of a few acres of land for self sufficiency , this would be one dwelling and not a community , where would they start with getting this project fully above board and legal as regards planning permission, building regulations ect ect, or is it some thing that is so outside the regulations that no council would ever agree to it ? I've looked into contacting local council planning departments for informal advice but not got anywhere, they seem to be uncontactable unless you hire them as consultants ? ( I'm aware of the Welsh experiment with a community of this kind but as far as I know its not going well and is not the answer )

That can't happen on any canal that is still in use.

If they have no vehicle to transport the chemical toilet to the disposal point yes, unless they have accessed a sewer . Or you can set up a composting system. When I travelled the canals on my boat I had man hole keys and a standpipe kit, I rarely used them though as there are taps and sewage points all over the canal system. Dumping sewage into the canal which rarely has any flow it would just stay all around your boat and build up, you'd end up living in a sewer.

You can own the land next to the canal but your boat is moored on the water which you don't own , so its always up to the water owner whether you can moor there or not, you have no right to moor next to land you own, most likely the canal and river trust or environment agency, and both of those entail rent payments, licences, insurance, safety inspections and complying with multiple regulations.