magnetman

A dumper who leaves the boat for 14 days then moves it isn't a squatter because they are behaving in a legal way as long as the boat is licensed. Squatting is when you occupy a location without consent and / or without a licence and cause trouble when asked to move. Maybe the CRT gave Mr Ward reasonable adjustments and that was his mooring but I think possibly this is not the case. It -appears- to all intents and purposes that he was just pushing and pushing and eventually lost out. Predictable outcome. Google picks this case out going back many yars. CRT have been trying to deal with the problem for a long time. https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/10625333.trust-attempts-to-recover-76k-from-man/ S8 August 2013. Presumably this was resolved by the boats being licensed. If not then questions need to be asked about why it took so long to sort it out.

The boat geyser gave the game away quite a while ago when he used the words 'adverse possession' to describe the CRT taking the boat. This is a term used by squatters who 'know their rights'. I think he is a squatter. I would put money on him having been involved in squatting houses before it was made a criminal offence in 2012 after which he found his way to the canals, as did all the other entitled squatters. I hope they don't screw the place too badly. It is quite nice living on boats.

Google are not all that PC about these things

Some yars ago I had a letter from an estate agent to my Limehouse address. It was addressed to Mr Nigg Nogg. My name is Mr Crosby. I don't know if someone was having a laugh but I found it quite funny because it isn't a black african area at all. Brixton and other parts of London might be but Limehouse is more of a white middle class and bangali area. Was it bad to find this funny? My theory is that if such terms are buried under the label of 'too offensive' things go sour and I think it happens quite quickly.

I thought wog was 'westernised oriental gentleman' indicating someone who had adapted to life on these shores despite having completely different cultural norms in their background. A respectable furriner, if they exist. So to speak. My girls go to inner east London schools where they are part of the 1 percent (not an exaggeration) of kids who are white. Yes the bangalis do have racist terms for indigenous people as well but who cares? As humans we are all constantly trying to solve the same basic problem which is that of being a skeleton covered with flesh and muscles with an oversized brain at the top end and poorly adapted feet. It makes little difference where you came from you still have to eat and shit relatively often and hope not to get run over by something.

Indeed. They are for not touching things with.

It is similar but not specifically boat related. Actually quite a bit longer than a boatman's shaft. These are generally of thin wall aluminium with plugged ends.

I would be a little surprised if NABO wanted to support Mr Ward. It looks like even the NBTA won't touch him with a largepole.

I am offended on behalf of punks and goths. How dare you compare them to pikeys! I know a goth who is a surfacing man.

It wasn't about labeling an individual. I think it is incorrect to suggest that the boat geyser was solely responsible for the mess. I believe there is a group who think it is okay to do this, and the CRT are partly to blame as well. There should really be a zero tolerance policy on this. Anything left on towpath not in use should be removed. It is quite an interesting topic because this is obviously basic human behaviour around territory but at the same time it is fly tipping. Actually rather a tricky thing to manage when you think it through. The only feasible way would be to take action using laws against fly tipping. Maybe the CRT can't do this. Surely they must have some control over their land as well as their waterways. Getting people moving around more would help.

So who is it that I was offending by describing Was it 1. You. 2. The boat geyser. 3. The people labelled 'pikeys'. Is it all 3 of these? Other than No.1 how do you know that any of them would be remotely bothered or offended by my description of the mess beside the boat and across the towpath as "basically like a pikey camp". It seems to me that you are defending people who leave piles of random shite and rubbish on public areas. I personally think this is indefensible.

OK. Fair enough. Are you offended on behalf of somebody else?

If you were referring to my post you will notice that I did not label anyone. Read it again.

Yes.

I'm pretty sure an awful lot of squatters got boats when squatting residential property was banned in 2012. Some squatters were fine and a generally good news story but they were joined by large numbers of people with basic attitude problems and entitlement issues. Then a ban comes along. How surprising. I think this is what has happened with the cut to an extent. That video about the area around Bradford on Avon with the irritating woman was eye opening. She seemed to genuinely believe that they should be allowed to live on the towpath, use the land as if it were their own property and not get any problems. Someone even talked about how the CRT should be giving them sustainable woodlands. I think people like Mr Ward may actually be quite naive in this respect and possibly not fully grasp that if you live on a boat you will be constrained by laws as to what you can do. It is a remarkably free lifestyle which can still be enjoyed but bit by bit no doubt freedoms will be gradually taken away. I wonder how many other people are going to get away with this for ten yars. In some ways it is appropriate for the CRT to be heavy handed because it can have the effect of discouraging others. If everyone just decided to not license their boats it could get tricky.

It sounds a bit like something which someone misheard and ended up getting written down wrong.

Swan line did all steel boats. The boat in the pictures above comes up as built by "unknown" in the canalplan boat list. The Swan line boats were very distinctive. This one does have certain features which could identify it but nothing like as unusual as a swanline boat.

There are significant problems in this country but I still don't think it is the job of the navigation authority to be dealing with people's housing issues. The CRT should definitely make more residential moorings available and yes you can get mooring fees paid for if you have recourse to public funds. This is a fact not just an assumption. People living on towpaths and basically making the place into a pikey camp is not acceptable. Nobody wants to see this happen. I bet if this geyser had been tidy and moved his boat occasionally this outcome would not have occurred. There is a point where you will get looked at. You can get away with quite a bit but moving onto the towpath and dumping endless shit is really not going to help your cause. It's obvious. The very fact he was outside with an open fire, on a public footpath, in the morning indicates that there is a basic attitude problem. The boat looks pretty good in the photos. Not a luxury yacht but a seriously nice floating shed. Why move onto the path ? Twattitude. Keep yourself to yourself, move the boat occasionally and nothing bad will happen.

Someone ought to give him a ferry ticket and a dinghy to come back on. Is CRT nicking your boat a bit like persecution ? Perhaps he can claim asylum.

Out of water. It is nackered yes but possibly useable. I expect it will probably get scrapped. I wonder if wrought iron might be worth more than normal steel. Intriguing that the stern swim on this boat is rivetted rather than the more predictable welded steel job. It might be a very early motor conversion. I wonder what engine it has - could be something special in there. Rivets everywhere. Was this by any chance an early conversion from a horse boat (Bantock) into a short working canal tug? As it is riveted this seems to put it right back to the early days of motorised narrow boats.

Yes I noticed in a picture you put up that your front end is a Bantock. I used to own a full length one which still had the original back end and had been motorised. Lovely boat but too much for me as it had a wooden cabin. The Bradford on Avon boat has the 3 inch wide strakes which is a Bantock feature although some Yarwood boats had them too. Could be a Yarwood station boat. Probably. Greenwalls Farm, Dodleston. Gmaps says 3.5h from BoA so probably a bit more for a truck. Looks like an early Bantock to me. I wonder if it will survive or be left to rot at Greenwalls.

All rather predictable really. I think getting the boat going and moving would have been wise but if its been there ten yars maybe the engine is in a parlous state. Looks like an old Bantock for end. Would make a nice bow section for a new boat. Very pretty those old Bantocks.

spontex stainless steel kitchen scourers are good. Test on a non important part first. They do scratch a bit but nothing like the wire wool things. Good for getting proper tarnish off. Just use water and wood ash as a lubricant. Might not be suitable for people wanting a high polish.

Buying a sailaway and fitting it out is a hell of a project to take on. Jumping in the deep end of a very deep pool. Add children to the equation and this could be serious for the family. Might be fine but worth firing a warning shot across the bows. i haven't done it or anything but I do know it is an awful lot of work. I hope this is not being considered because of a perceived financial advantage to living on boats. Yes they arrr cheaper than land IF you can get away without paying for moorings but it is always worth being aware that however well presented a boat will -never- be a house or an apartment. It won't happen. For a start the lavatory waste generally has to go upwards rather than downwards. Having said that the Nene seems to allow overboard discharge so this could be okay. It still isn't a house though. You really do need to want to live on a boat or it can turn into a terrible night mare. It will probably all go swimmingly.

If it was a private land owner then yes but if it is council they do actually need a legal framework which specifically forbids certain activities otherwise these things are unenforceable. I haven't checked but suspect that none of the th ings on the sign are in fact enforceable under any byelaws or PSPO. They do quote the 2014 act but I'm pretty sure they need to apply for and get a PSPO in order to use this Act as they want to. The powers which councils do or do not have with regard to controlling moorings is a very interesting and complicated topic. @nigelmoore (RIP) knew a lot about this topic.