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Active boaters are far more likely to be members of IWA than any other organisation. IWA cant command its members to do anything - either to stand for elections or not to. Do you believe individuals should be banned from putting their names forward if they happen to belong to particular associations?

Is your post a result of your strongly held beliefs or is there an element of Christmas "spirit" in it?

We had or 52ft traditional stern boat repainted by John Sanderson in 2012 and it cost £5200 including signwriting. For that price all the cabin fittings were removed and all the paint removed back to bare steel primed and numerous coats of paint applied.Two years on it still looks very good, and we get a lot of complimentary observations about how good the paintwork looks. John Sanderson is based at Dadford's Wharf having taken over the paint dock from Phil Speight having worked for him, for 15 years before Phil retired. He has a web site here:- http://www.narrowboatpainting.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx

Micha, this is one of those threads that can end up going off the rails. Let me offer a bit of an explanation... To the regulars here, yours is not a new story. We have, I'm afraid, seen similar stories many times before (and let me be brutally honest, with my first boat, I made all the mistakes that people are warning you not to make. That didn't end well for me, because I bought a boat that had a knackered hull, and spent a fair bit on it. It then sank) You have arrived at this point, you think you have identified the boat, and you have a plan. you think you have just a few minor issues to iron out, and when you ask about them, the rug is pulled from under all the things that you thought were sorted. That can be a lot to take in, and most people when faced with it (to a greater or lesser extent) go into a kind of denial. Their focus is on "the plan", and how to tick off the problems to get the plan back on track. The idea that the plan may well need to be thrown aside and a new start made simply isn't considered. Now, I say "to a greater or lesser extent", because in some cases the problems are simply dismissed. Happily you aren't in that category. You have taken on board that there are things that you need to address. You have, however, adopted a stance that addressing those things cannot stand in the way of the plan, which involves starting to move the boat in a week from now. As I said, I've been there and have the T-Shirt and burned fingers! You have arranged a survey, which is good, but you give the impression that you are hanging everything on the survey being OK. You haven't actually accepted that later today, the survey may well be poor, and I say "poor" because boats don't pass or fail a survey. So, if you are still looking at your plan around dates, I would present you with a bullet pointed list of just what needs to be sorted before that date, and ask you whether you GENUINELY feel you can do it... Is the surveyor genuinely working for you, or is he a surveyor recommended by the seller?A survey report takes the known facts and presents them to you. Clearly it can present the facts favourably or unfavourably. If he is working for you, he will make sure that you know about any issues. If you are paying somebody that the seller recommends, can you be certain of the same frankness. Is a guy who gets lots of business from the seller going to be brutally honest, if that reduces the amount of work the seller puts his way? How are you going to decide whether the survey tells you to walk away or not?"The plan" says when you are moving the boat, and the boat has already cost you money for a survey. By the time you get the survey report, you are invested in the boat financially, and you want the report to be OK. That can lead people to gloss over adverse parts of the report as "well that isn't a huge problem", when it actually is. Remember the survey report isn't going to say "buy" or "walk away", it will present you with information to make that decision, and you need to be ready to take the hard decision to walk away if need be. How are you going to get the boat back?You plan to move the boat isn't realistic. Even without winter closures and the possibility of the canal being iced up it couldn't be done. You need to use the CRT stoppages page and canalplan to work out where you can get, and even then ice could scupper you. If you buy the boat, is there a better plan which involves moving it closer to home, and taking a mooring until March? If the engine isn't a certainty, is now a good time of year to be setting off anywhere. What are you going to do when you get to London?There are LOTS of people buying boats and moving them to London as a cheap accomodation option. The number of boats in London is increasing, and there is less and less space available. As space becomes tighter, so enforcement of the rules is becoming stricter. Are you geared up to move the boat at least every 14 days (and by move, I don't mean a couple of hundred yards. The extent of movement that is required is a hotly disputed subject, but can you, for example, handle moving a couple of miles every other week and spend a few hours trying to find somewhere to moor) Are you aware of what is involved in getting a residential mooring in London.Residential moorings in London are in short supply and very expensive. If you haven't decided where to moor, have you actually worked out what this will cost you? The other stuff (bill of sale, licence, insurance) is actually the easier bit. Unfortunately, you are at grave risk of letting your heart rule your head, buying a lemon, cruising to London, then finding that you can't actually afford to moor in London, and ending up shuffling up and down the towpath, trying to keep off the radar of the enforcement officers who will be after you if you don't move enough, in a boat with a knackered engine, and a hull that is thin and in danger of perforating. Take care, the advice may be harsh, but better some slightly harsh advice that ending up as just another knaqckered boat sunk in London. Oh, and to end on a positive note, I hope that the survey comes back OK, that you work out a way of moving the boat, and that you find a mooring that you can afford.

Just blow the bl---y door off, simple.

...and who on here thinks they have the right to give orders to another boater? I'm for the unequivocal 'I intend to do this' gesture. Quite often, though, there is no need for any signal at all as your boat positioning makes it obvious.