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The whole concept of judging a person by whether or not their boat is newish, well painted and maintained, or not, is ludicrous and just demonstrates prejudice and snobbery (inverted, or not). Our boat is called Telemachus, named after the son of Odysseus in Greek mythology. We came across a moored shiny boat one day, by the name of Odysseus. The chap was standing on the back. As we passed I called out “Hello daddy!”. The chap gave me a horrified look like I was some deviant paedo or something, and scuttled inside without answering. The next day we passed a moored skanky dirty black rat-boat. Up popped the head of a young man whose hair had reached equilibrium having not been washed for many months, is scruff clothes. He gave us a cheery wave and said with a grin “Ah, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus!” which I will admit, slightly surprised me. Moral being you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Oh god no. The ones who call themselves "real boaters" are the worst. Usually Midlanders in their late '60s, called Keith, with a beard. They inevitably have a 1990s NABO sticker saying "CANALS were built for BOATS" in the window and a sarcastic sign about "Which bit of SLOW DOWN don't you understand?". The signwriting used to say "Keith & Mary Pillock", but Mary had the good sense to up sticks as soon as the kids left home and so the "& Mary" bit has been inexpertly painted out. I generally like pretty much everyone I meet on the waterways, from first-time hire-boaters to the Broom-Broom brigade, but there is a particular breed of supercilious, know-it-all old fart that brings me out in hives. (With apologies to any 60-something Brummie Keiths on here.)

Well, mine was kindly repainted by the previous owner when I bought it. Unfortunately in lumpy hammerite which took an entire summer to get off. As I have been on an income of (usually considerably) less than 12 grand all my life, I can't afford to have it professionally painted, so I do the best I can with a couple of cans of Weathershield. The boat's hit a few bridges and been hit by a few boats in its time, so it's a bit dented here and there. I've done my best with what I've got, which is a much loved unshiny old boat that has been either my home or leisure activity for thirty years. I don't polish the brass because life's too short. I do the best I can with what I can afford. I also appreciate that some lucky people can afford professional care for their boats, and as long as they do it for the same reasons as me, and have an inclusive attitude to others pottering about, I'm all in favour. Almost all boats are interesting to look at, though sometimes the slightly more battered ones have more character, rather than looking like something out of Homes &Gardens - but the latter are nice too. Gives you something to aspire to! What matters is the attitude of the person (usually a bloke) at the tiller. There is certainly a higher proportion who refuse to make eye contact, wave or say hello as they go past you than there used to be, and I'm afraid they are, in fact, usually on shiny boats. Still a minority though, and they do make me laugh. What upset the OP wasn't, as far as I can see, the question, which was fair enough, nor the bloke's shiny boat, but the attitude. And also, in my opinion, she can justifiably get snotty about some of the attitudes shown by some in this thread, who, on the evidence of their willingness to go on the attack, would probably have responded to the approach even less charitably, assuming they had the nerve to act in person as they have online.

The problem with this forum, and it is not a very nice trait is that there is always a bunch of posters, and usually the same ones that are quick to jump on people for little or no reason, I once made the mistake of starting a thread about another boaters slightly unreasonable behaviour and got slaughtered, it really was quite shocking. As for Lord Byrons Maggot, you passed my mooring in Barrow last year and she has oodles of character.

Snotty. Judgmental opinion. Shiny boater. Judgmental opinion ”right stink eye”. Judgemental opinion ”Look on his face (etc)”. Judgemental opinion ”I told him I’ll stay as long as I like”. Rude and obnoxious ”hope your area gets invaded (etc etc). Plain nasty.

This is most interesting. I'm hurting inside if I don't bow my head and give way to a blatantly abusive individual who believes his social standing entitles him to treat 'lesser boaters' like something he's scraped off his shoe? What a gaslighting, sociopathic, horrifically narcissistic reply. Honestly, that is staggering. I'm so glad I'm not married to you. Please pass my condolences to your missus if you have one. A lot of utterly putrid personalities have decided to expose themselves in this thread, but your response takes the cake. Snob.

I love it when you pass a boat and the "Mary" has been replaced by "Vacancy" - makes me chuckle. I would love a shiny boat. I'm a shiny boat on the inside and shabby boat on the outside in the same way that I'm a youthful skinny supermodel on the inside and chubby middle-aged woman on the outside. When I repaint next year I hope I will be a bit shinier (and a bit skinnier).

I'd like to know a bit more before conclusion jumping. Where this happened, and why some bloke thought they had the right to ask how long someone was staying somewhere - assuming that person A is on an ordinary mooring and within the usual time limits. If you're on a water point, or a service station, then it's a valid question, though there are ways of asking... same on a short shopping mooring. I've asked a few at full visitor moorings who looked as if they might be moving on, in case it was worth waiting. I've also been asked to move a ring or two to make space, though I usually notice and offer first. I've certainly been sneered at a few times by shiny boats and one or two have refused to share locks (my boats about 60 years old and a bit bruised). Can't say it bothers me, but ivnever been spoken to particularly unpleasantly. The original post looks like someone whose been pissed off by someone's attitude and is venting, and most of us have done that one time or another and a fair few of the comments are imo uncalled for. ETA I also do wonder if some of the responses would have been quite so extreme if the OP had been male....

Izz love,, you have now been molested by the four most antagonistic, argumentative, opinionated, attention seeking members of this forum. If you have survived and are still here, well done. Ignore them for long enough and they will go away, they are like naughty children, want to be heard all the time and hate being pulled up, especially by a woman. They get nasty at a whim, but are only internet tigers, not real bad people. I don't care what your boat , my boat or anyone else's boat looks like or how much Brasso they waste wearing the brass away needlessly.

A snotty shiny boater just gave me and my boat the right stink eye, then came over with a look on his face like someone was holding a turd under his nose and asked if I was staying long. I told him I'll stay as long as I like. If you're one of these types, I hope your area gets invaded by a horde of real hardcore water gyppos from London who are A LOT less polite and quiet than I am! Thanks for reading. Isobel.

It's the trombone practice at 3am that most people object to ...

DON'T JUDGE THE BOATER BY THE BOAT!... Not all shiny boats have snobby,self-important assholes aboard!... Not all tatty boats have alcoholic,druggie,"gippos" aboard... Keyboard warriors on the other hand....all MORONS!!! ?

And to put blacking all over your boat?

I told you last week not to park yer boat in that winding hole Izz ?

I’m with Roland on this one, I suspect we learned from similar sources. Yes, in the 20 years I had Resolute I strove to maintain high standards....paintwork clean, brasses bright and decorative ropework white. While many passed positive comments on the boat, the ones I cherished most came from the few ex working boaters who understood what I was trying to do. I’ll leave it here, Mount my dinosaur and ride off.....

J18 months ago, I spoke with “ Our ‘ Enery “ about repainting his back doors. Covid has had other ideas....here’s what he might expect..

All us single handed boaters are regular. Otherwise it can get really awkward.

Been over to the boat today to wash it, got half done then beaten by the rain so I haven't kept up with this thread, so is my boat 1/2 a shiny boat? But here is a picture of a "real boater,." polishing his brass. Still with us.

I cant be a snob because ive drunk beer with Bob no more ( with a sob) he’s bought a shiny job. ’made in poland’

I think you have made a mistake with the units of time. It should read "Is this the five month argument or the full decade?

In your case, wouldn’t that be cannibalism?......?

DONT mention marmite!..?.Oh no?..I just MENTIONED marmite...?I did it AGAIN!!?

Re #145, it was aready there in Easter 2008, which was the last time we cruised the Southern Oxford. Unfortunately when we passed it I was steering, well wrapped up in warm clothes and thick gloves due to the very cold weather:- we had had several inches of snow fall the first night, more than enough to build a snowman on the gas cylinder cover in the bows as a combined figurehead and beer cooler. My camera was at the front, as were my teacher wife and student children, preparing lessons and studying for exams respectively in the warm, so I was unable to get a photo. Its chimney was smoking, indicating it was occupied.

That's a relief ? This thread, which crops up like a bad penny with monotonous regularity is always the same, it just goes round in circles. I know I could ignore it but I always hope that common sense will have prevailed and Higgs has thrown in the towel. haggis

It's possible that the snob guy was such an arse that he came and said what he did for absolutely no reason at all, but it's not something I've ever experienced. This leads to a sneaking suspicion that something was happening which annoyed him. Possible culprits could be; noise, from a genny, engine or loudspeaker; detritus left around the towpath; black smoke from a chimney; dog roaming off lead. There could surely be other things which I'd think of if I thunk for a bit longer. I'm not saying if any of these are justification for the guy's attitude, but usually there's at least something happening on both sides. The fact that the OP has been pretty sketchy with the details just leaves the rest of us trying to fill in the blanks. The original post does just come over as a rant. Who knows whether it's justified or not? The OP does, and the 'snobby' guy does. The rest of us have no clue. I write this while my genny is busy humming away outside, and I'm aware this can annoy some people....

We've shared locks with a few snobs, a retired army general type, some little property tycoons, a multi-millionaire, ready to sink springers, and a bloke on a plastic cruiser who didn't even have a windlass (one of our best trips ever, we spent several days doing a river together), as long as they are real boaters we will likely find something in common. ................Dave

I'm a lovely, very friendly, very non-judgemental person. The same cannot be said about a lot of the seething snobs who've replied here. If I was new to the cut and I read the replies here, I'd think boaters were a bunch of absolute arse holes.

Your right, it’s not what I really wanted to hear but I am so glad I have. Thanks for the advice, I will give this one a miss and keep looking. It’s me only living on it and I am a maintenance engineer so happy to do whatever is needed including welding but I don’t want to buy a money bucket and end up regretting ever trying canal life.

A milk bottle (wide-necked) retained by the helm is quite useful, (particularly on a Trad stern, you can even wave to folks with impunity 'as you go')

Its official name was Rugby Radio Station. Until 1990, it was operated by British Telecom International (BTI), who I worked for and which was reorganised out of existence. The old BTI sign remained visible from the canal for several years afterwards. To my knowledge it was the last remaining example, presumably because it was forgotten about as it was only visible from the canal. In the late 1980's I designed a new HV power distribution system for it, but it was sold off to a different operator before it could be implemented. During the Falklands war the order to sink the Belgrano was transmitted to the submarine fleet via the very low frequency transmittors located there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_Radio_Station

I know what you mean. The worst is a big bag. I look at it thinking "I've not got to eat all of those have I"? So I buy 6 pack small bags ........... trouble is I eat all 6 in one go sometimes!

But he obviously went to a proper school ...

why is it insulting to women to use bad language (any more than men)... are we still treating women as infants in 2020?

Thanks for all your help guys. Mike.

.......ah but you are forgetting the input from the eco fan (other fans are available).

Yes. I was taught to keep it clean and tidy by the working folk of the waterways. Those with a tradition of having little and hanging on to it , along with the contempt land people used to show , made sure they were tidy. bit like polishing brass on doors of terrace houses and whitening the step.

Who did you think you'd come across well to?

Incralac, bridges the great divide ?

Let me try: "I moored up today, and a chap came over and unpleasantly asked how long I was intending to stay. Does this happen a lot, or is he just a nasty character? I don't know if my unpolished mushrooms made him that cross or if he just has issues." See how the tone changes the presentation of the information? Some of my best friends are "polishers", some of the others wouldn't recognise polish if you gave them a tin of it, and I'm somewhere in between. I think you're getting more stick for your attitude as it comes across in your post than for the facts provided.

I do think it would help if the OP described the situation a bit more.. Why would a boater approach another in the way described without possible provocation.. Getting the impression the post was a bit of a rant.. Maybe to elicit the responses so far.. Now seems that anyone who responds in this thread is being labelled a snob???

I am certainly not judging you by what you boat looks like - partly because I have no idea. I am however judging you by your conduct on here and if I may give you a hint, you ain’t going to get a prize for it.

Ask "Are they biting today?" You don't need to care about the answer, but you're more likely to get a polite response if they think you're showing an interest in their hobby.