Jackofalltrades

Yes I agree about the likelihood of we've-always-done-it-that-way syndrome. If they wanted paying more they should have said so. I can't say I'm not concerned about not being able to visit. It seems they are now, as of today's date, taking extra Covid measures. Or it could just be an excuse so we can't visit and possibly see other boats being built as ours is now a month overdue for completion 'due to Covid', apparently... That thought has crossed my mind. We paid approximately a third deposit with the remainder due on completion - no interim stage payments. The builder is a fairly well known and well-established builder. Not that that necessarily means anything, I know. The balance will not be paid until we physically see the boat and confirm all is OK (as best as we can).

Thanks. Is that the standard way of doing it in the narrowboat world then?

Our narrowboat shell is progressing well. It's only a month late due to 'Covid' apparently [cough]... Today we received more photos of build progress (they won't let us visit due to Lockdown restrictions). The cabin sides & roof are now on. The front & rear bulkheads are tack welded in place. Maybe (yet) another week to go... But the builder wants to make and fit a bowthruster locker lid that stands proud of the welldeck floor by about 3/4". This will obviously be a trip hazard and will make use of the welldeck floor space at times awkward. I requested that the bowthruster compartment opening and lid are made the same way as the cruiser stern engine compartment - i.e. with a U-shaped channel around the perimeter with drains in the port & stbd hull sides + a locker lid that is level with the surrounding floor. His first response/excuse was "I'll never get in there to weld the channel" (this was before the welldeck floor had even been put in place). As if he didn't know he could weld the channel on from underneath with the floor plate upside down on the workshop floor before it is fitted into the welldeck. The next conversation we had about this he rolled out an excuse about RCD and having to talk to his surveyor. I mentioned my RCD cat A lumpy water boat with a large deck hatch forward of the mast that is flush with the surrounding deck. Again he said he'd have to talk to his surveyor. Is it me being an arse or is there something peculiar about narrowboats that makes it necessary to have a sticky-up bowthruster compartment locker lid?

But the CMers are The Visitors. They just stay too long. A bit like relatives at Christmas.

I call my floor cleaner Doreen.

Another thought (this gets dangerous)... how long is Lynna (the boat, not the forum member)? And what speed would she have to be doing through the water for the stern to squat in the bow wave trough? See, I told you this would get dangerous.

The 1.93m = 6.33ft calculation is in decimal, not feet and inches. 1.93m = a gnat's gonad less than 6'4". Or to be precise (if you don't do gnat's gonads) it's 6'3 31/32"

A Labrador puppy only operates under gravity after the apex of the lunge for the toilet roll. It requires energy to reach the toilet roll in the first place. You clearly haven't thought this through.

A lone woman confronted by a male flasher might feel threatened or frightened, whereas a man being confronted by a female flasher might feel like it's his lucky day. That's why if I ever witnessed a man flashing I'd report it to the police but if I saw woman flashing (chance would be a fine thing) I'd smile and say hello ?

If charged and found guilty then it will be interesting to find out what the motive was.

More great suggestions. Thanks all. We will be painting outside in a boatyard. When applying the undercoat if it looks like dust and insects are going to be a problem then we'll consider moving to a covered wet dock for the final top coat(s). Or maybe the yard have a special dust free and insect free corner of the yard for gullible newbie narrowboaters that they charge a premium for ?

What fantastic replies. Much food for thought. Thank you. The Boss is aware of your comments. I am told I should await the decision and instructions to be passed down to me but if it all goes wrong I should accept full responsibility and of course the blame. No change there then ? ?

Hello all Above the rubbing strake the shell of our narrowboat will be coated with two coats of oxide by the builder - the first coat will be grey and the second red. I'm assuming we'll still need to apply more coats of primer(?) before undercoat and top coat (multiple coats of each as required). Our preference is for single-pack paint and we'll be using rollers and brushes to apply it. So far 'er indoors is leaning towards Craftmaster Coach Enamel but having no knowledge of this company I'm wondering what people here think of this paint? If you've painted your own boat which paint did you use, and why? Any pointers and tips much appreciated. Also, we really like the look of Magpie, below, and would like to pretty-much replicate it. The trouble is we can't remember where we found the picture on the internet and have so far only been able to get RAL colour codes from on-screen comparisons - obviously this might lead to disaster! Does anyone know who the owners of Magpie are so we can contact them?

Thanks for that. Now I know. And thanks for the reply @buccaneer66 Is it just me or is it frustrating to not be able to 'like' a post by a moderator?

I'm new here and don't know who the mods or admin(s) are apart from a couple whose posts I happen to have noticed. What I do know from previously being an admin on a different forum a few years ago is that most people have little idea how much work is sometimes required to keep things running smoothly. But they are quick to complain when there's a problem. Which let's face it is little more than a first world minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things. It's a thankless task being a mod or admin. I wouldn't do it again. So from a newbie I raise my glass to you. Cheers guys.

Waiting seven years for the right moment to make a complaint must take some stamina ? Hello Zathras, if you're reading. Say hello ?

That is true. It's very easy to spoof an IP address. However I don't think most spammers bother. Or at least that used to be the case. Not guilty M'lord (before that nasty Alan bloke grasses me up).

I've not heard of Cleantalk, but I'm going back a few years when I was an admin. My experience was that no single line of defence against spammers will work because they'll find and use whatever way in they can. Multiple lines of defence work best.

I'm not familiar with the forum software used here. On vBulletin there are various logs. I'd be surprised if there aren't on this software.

Sometimes the spammers are human, sometimes they are automated bots. These operate on a massive scale. I assume there will be a log of registration attempts and sign in attempts? That's the first sign you'll have of being targeted. Talking of which, there will be some logic to who was targeted. it just may not be immediately apparent. Oh, and picking up on an earlier comment, beware of new accounts that never post comments. Some will be genuine but as you now know some of them will be sleeper accounts used by spammers - whether human or bots. I used to run a query on these accounts and send them an email inviting them to make a post or two otherwise their account would be deleted. Not saying that was the right thing to do but once you've been overrun by the swines you'll do what it takes to keep them out.

As a former admin on a discussion forum I can say from experience that when spammers have targeted you once, they'll keep coming back. In the end my forum was being completely overwhelmed with spam and something drastic had to be done. I ended up installing an anti-spam addon to the forum software (whose name completely escapes me, sorry. Ah, it might have been Stop Forum Spam, or something like that). This automatically blocked known spammer email addresses by querying an external spam report database. This helped enormously but the thing that stopped it completely was blocking IP address ranges for whole countries - China, Russia, Africa where the main culprits. Good luck, but whoever runs/owns the forum, doing nothing is now almost certainly not an option.

It could be that the CRT have signed up to the WEF's Great Reset plan and the 'stoppages' are part & parcel of the plan to reduce travel & carbon emissions. I'll get my coat (and tin hat).

I have one of these on the lumpy water boat: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracker-Vehicle-Theft-Protection-System-Model-TK103A/dp/B003XDN58K/ It is hard wired to the 12v system. It requires a sim card - I use a giffgaff sim. Instructions translated into English from gobbledegook but it's not too hard to figure out. I can text a code to the tracker and it will text me back with battery voltage and a google maps link to the location. Can also be set up to send a text if the boat moves outside a pre-defined radius. For the price it's a good bit of kit.

Me too. I reported it too.