David Schweizer
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Posts posted by David Schweizer
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The painting has a similarity to Braunston style, and could be a very early example of Ron Hough's work, or someone attempting to copy his style. Dave Moore or Phil Speight may well be able to identify the painter.
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The show will have finished by now, but not one single report on the event as far as I can see. Does this mark a serious decline in interest regarding historic working boats amongst forum members?
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On 21/06/2026 at 14:27, alan_fincher said:
Yes Calcutt still say they can rebuild a customer's BMC 1500, but only offer an exchange service for the 1800 model.
That said opinions differ wildly about the quality of Calcutt's BMC rebuilds, so you need to do a bit of homework about what you would be getting in to.
Whilst I have owned a boat in the past with an 1800 that was a Calcutt rebuild, that rebuild was far too long ago to give any reasonable idea about what they might b like now.I know at least one forum member had a 1500 rebuilt by Union Canal Carriers at Braunston, and I think they were happy with it.
I believe that I am probably the person to whom Alan is referring. My well worn BMC 1.5 was completely stripped and re-built by Jonathon Hewitt of Union Canal Carriers in Braunston, and he did an excellent job, at what I considered to be a very fair price. I can recommend him most highly.
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9 hours ago, Chris John said:
I came down the locks yesterday and there were people working on the damaged gate. Now without going back up the locks to look I wouldn’t know if it was fixed or not. I would suggest it has at least been progressed and could possibly be fixed.
Thanks for the clarification.
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2 hours ago, Chris John said:
The question was has the damaged been repaired. I’ve replied to that question
The answer was unclear (possibly the word "on" missing in front of the word "it"). Can I assume the answer is yes?
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Has the damage been repaired? There does not seem to be anything posted on the CART site.
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Three words sum up my two encounters with Roger - Arrogant, Pompous, Chauvinist.
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Just now, robtheplod said:
NOW you post this?
am i better not knowing?
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.
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On 04/04/2026 at 09:13, Tonka said:
Do you really want to moor in the middle of a housing estate and pay money to the rudest man that I have ever met? No then it has to be Calcutt. Glad to see I was right about you looking for another mooring again. Look at you Aston Marina thread
Have you ever had any dealings with the owner of Calcutt?
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44 minutes ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
Probably like most that aren’t a student of Georgian/Regency Aesthetics, please educate us if it’s of interest. As it’s always nice to learn something each day👍
If you are actually interested, just Google it. There is plenty of information out there about. or just visit somewhere like Bath .
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2 hours ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
Was that when “NB Wessex” was built?
Maybe I’m just a student is seeing what looks right to the eye 👁️😂
Or you have no idea what I meant by by my observation.
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37 minutes ago, BoatingLifeUpNorth2 said:
Not really negative comments just peoples opinions, people will disagree with your view of it being well balanced, which in my opinion it’s not, maybe a large porthole instead of the small rear, two portholes to front not three with more space inbetween may make it look more balanced, these are opinions not being negative. All boat owners have different opinions, to me the size of the portholes are ok, it just needs one more and one less😂
Clearly not a student of Georgian/Regency Aesthetics😀
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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.
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1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:
Singlehanding, I always tie my boat up in a lock. Otherwise it crashes about like a wild thing and the fridge stops working. And very often the bollards are in such daft places (for my length boat anyway) that tying it to a lock ladder is the only sane solution. I wish it wasn't, but there it is.
All that matters is that you leave a safe length of loose rope.
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
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2 hours ago, BEngo said:
I found that a piece of white plastic faced chipboard was ideal for practicing on.
You can draw on it with a pencil for the initial layout and once you have painted a rag dampened with paint solvent will remove your efforts and leave a surface ready to start again.
The hardest bit of flowers for me was to get well formed single stroke petals.
Castles were just bloody difficult!
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.
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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:-
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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.
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On 29/03/2026 at 17:08, Ray T said:
The most memorable banters I can remember were in 2013 and 2014 when at least 20 boats and their crews met at Long Buckby. To quote a phrase "A fun time was had by all. " The New Inn had its coffers added to in no uncertain terms. Another boater and myself single handed from Calcutt area to Buckby breasting up in the locks.
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.
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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.
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2 hours ago, alan_fincher said:
Is yours also standing on an identical table?
Very Funny, I think you know it isn't Alan. I am not sure how it happened, just a simple double posting of the same image, Double post now corrected.
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On 28/02/2026 at 20:34, Chris M Jones said:
That Ron Hough stool sold at auction on Wednesday is now for sale on E-Bay. The paint scratches and scuffs are the same so it definitely is the same one. Buy it Now for £250 plus postage.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/327022700233?itmmeta=01KJJXXZKQJ1B4N2XY7R86FD7Y&hash=item4c241266c9:g:DlAAAeSwxRhpoyJI&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA4DKQclQvzFwZQpmMrsO4Lup6o4UEGup7iqLvnahhKAGfa4Sjq4qOvdVGEJaQxBbZ/lIEMiayUKqYlHRjEoL3vlIgdLkGXFFqIZfDVbclqzo70zeKmKAWDZWwqNhTM5+ytQ3bqypTQM86iy67kCtHnCa+2yiMOu9oJxiZZW7XOaykmawld2Jl/qvCMj3uCJbSu78SzcMD+ab5oiM9rilVDaUxB+oRDm9orIuK+FriUBp/Tg3ma/jmeqh7tc53Aj5GqJpZ+xSgMkXSbtRE6BOJSUIW1RJMNkNBmyU8J9C1URWU|tkp:Bk9SR_75992UZw
On 28/02/2026 at 21:52, Richard T said:Now sold
Very interesting, I have a very simililar stool which Ron painted for me something like fifteen years ago. Not that I have any plans to sell it in the near future, but maybe one day.
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4 hours ago, Speedwheel said:
The cabin stool looks like early Ron Hough.
Don't know who the can is by though.
Agreed.
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4 hours ago, phantom_iv said:
If he's only banned from posting for four days that means he can read it if people start saying nice things about him 😬 Can we delete this thread before he comes back, and pretend it never happened and noone noticed?
Optimist!
E.A request.
in General Boating
Posted
Your choice Mike. All the self employed people that I know pay into a private Pension Scheme, or put cash away each month into long term savings plan. (often both)