David Schweizer

Three words sum up my two encounters with Roger - Arrogant, Pompous, Chauvinist.

Probably not, my "unfortunate" experiences were with Roger Preen, the founder and original owner, I understand that the Marina is now under the control of his son Matt, who I have never knowingly met.

Have you ever had any dealings with the owner of Calcutt?

If you are actually interested, just Google it. There is plenty of information out there about. or just visit somewhere like Bath .

Or you have no idea what I meant by by my observation.

Clearly not a student of Georgian/Regency Aesthetics😀

I am a traditionalist regarding narrowboat design and decoration, but I do not dislike the look of Wessex. The spacing of the three large portholes at the front, with the side hatch and the single large porthole towards the back, presents a well balanced look. I would not choose it for myself, but do not agree with the negative comments by some earlier posters.

Likewise, I also gauge the amount of slack the rope needs to prevent pulling the boat over. In more than twenty years, I never had a problem

Yes, I agree. The trick is knowing which one to paint first. Ron always painted the petal at the back of the rose which ran from the centre to the bottom, that petal defines the structure for the rest of the rose. Once I ralised that, it became easier to make a reasonably acceptable image.

Despite their appearance of comparative simplicity, Canal Roses and Castles are acually quite difficult to paint unless you have observed how proffessionals paint them. After watching Ron Hough on a number of ocassions, I eventually managed to achieve reasonably good copies of his work, but I have never managed to master traditional Castles. An example of my efforts:-

Loosing the toilet facilities at Whaley Bridge is no loss. The last time we were there, they were so disgusting that no boater would have ever tried to use them.

For anyone who is interested, I was the "Other Boater" pictured here holding the two boats on a centre line whilst Ray was turning the lock. We used to get some interesting comments from other boaters when they saw our boats breasted up. The banters were great fun, and I met quite a few forum members who I did not previously know, including Cheshire Rose,(and Dave), Tree monkey and Blue String Pudding.

There is no way I would have a centre line fairlead on a Narrowboat. Some years ago, whilst waiting for the lock at Marston Doles, I witnessed a fairlead being ripped out of the handrail by a particularly strong surge from the lock, sending it flying though the air and narrowly missing the head of someone standing on the towpath. The experience led me to believe that they are just an accident waiting to happen.