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Having recently gone through a bit of a nightmare with a British Marine Federation Member Marina in Cheshire, where my boat was allowed to sink after they relaunched it holed after grit blasting and epoxy blacking, and having unsuccessfully explored all avenues to claim compensation for uninsured losses due to cost, I turned to the BMF for possible assistance, if only to make others aware of what happened here. Leaving aside the financial loss above, when my insurer, Craftinsure, (although it was their underwriters N&G who were dealing with me), had settled my claim, and had reclaimed their own costs of that claim from the marina's insurer who had eventually accepted full liability for what their insured had done, and the legal process funded by legal expenses insurance had concluded without a result, due to the marina's insurer deciding they would deal independently with my own, leaving the law company out of the equation, the marina decided they would like to go one step further. Before they would release my boat so I could sell it off to the trade, they insisted they would charge me storage charges for the time the boat lay on hard standing as a result of their actions while we sorted out the consequences of sinking - over £500, as well as insisting on full payment for their "job", for which I now held a surveyor's report stating it was sub-standard and poor. The total I had to pay, after all this damage during routine work, was around £2,500! Or I couldn't regain possession of my boat. Remember - their insurer had already accepted full liability. The BMF operates both a mediation service for such disputes between customers and member companies. In my case that consisted of contacting the marina for their side of the story, which was they had "complied" with all the BMF codes of practice - which I had evidence to show they certainly hadn't. Initially the BMF accepted that and told me there was nothing more they could do. A two step mediation process! I objected, thanked them, and said I would make their decision known to the boating community. They then immediately requested my survey report, the offending invoices for storage charges, and the original written quote from the marina, at which they re-contacted the marina, and asked me to refrain from writing here until they had further investigated. After a few more days the BMF then replied to me that the marina had consented to "improve their practices for the future", and that was the end of that. No further mediation, no BMF committee decision on the actions of the marina, who are still free to operate behind the BMF logo, and certainly no recompense for us, who have probably lost in the region of £20,000 as a result of what went wrong here. The BMF concluded that was a "positive result". The BMF Codes of Practice for member companies can be found here for reference: http://britishmarine.co.uk/Our-Members/Why-Choose-a-BMF-Member My own thoughts are that if a case such as mine cannot stir the BMF into action - I hold all documentary evidence and believe I have been wronged, although legal action can't be considered due to extreme cost, then there surely could be no circumstances where they might be useful to consumers such as me. They stated in their final email to me that they had no regulatory powers and were simply a trade association, which of course they are, funded and supported by trade member companies. What then is the point of their codes of practice? In that case what use would they ever be to a consumer, and could they ever provide "protection" to a consumer if things go wrong when using a member company?

Hi there, Des anybody know of a good and reliable engineer who could look at our engine and thermostat? We are currently unable to heat up our water using our Perkins engine, when moored. We are based on The Regents Canal near to Kensal Green on The Paddington Branch. Thanks, Sam