Purchased a canal boat with incorrect history - help!

[magnetman]

If they are not required it seems odd that they go to the expense of making them and forwarding them to customers. It would be cheaper just to send self adhesive numbers. 

Why would boat material make any difference to what the index number plate should be made of ? 

[IanD]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

If they are not required it seems odd that they go to the expense of making them and forwarding them to customers. It would be cheaper just to send self adhesive numbers. 

Why would boat material make any difference to what the index number plate should be made of ? 

Given that they're sequential, I suspect that CART have a cupboard somewhere with thousands of unallocated plates in, they'd have got a job lot made (maybe years ago) because it's much cheaper...

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

If they are not required it seems odd that they go to the expense of making them and forwarding them to customers. It would be cheaper just to send self adhesive numbers. 

Why would boat material make any difference to what the index number plate should be made of ? 

 

 

I've always assumed because you dont want to be drilling holes / Pop-riveting into GRP and allowing moisture to get into the laminate.

[magnetman]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I've always assumed because you dont want to be drilling holes / Pop-riveting into GRP and allowing moisture to get into the laminate.

You don't want to do that on steel either which is why mine are inside the windows not fixed externally. 

 

The Thames is even more odd. Every boat has an individual reg. number but you are not supposed to display it. You have to use the name and a number after it if someone else already has the same name. 

[BilgePump]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I've always assumed because you dont want to be drilling holes / Pop-riveting into GRP and allowing moisture to get into the laminate.

But that's not even necessarily true. On the narrowboats we had the numbers hung inside opposing windows. That could be done just the same in a GRP without any drilling / rivets.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

But that's not even necessarily true. On the narrowboats we had the numbers hung inside opposing windows. That could be done just the same in a GRP without any drilling / rivets.

 

It could, but just having the 'plates' propped up in the windows just looks a bit 'naff' and amateurish, and, would rattle and bang about.

[Tonka]

5 minutes ago, magnetman said:

You don't want to do that on steel either which is why mine are inside the windows not fixed externally. 

 

The Thames is even more odd. Every boat has an individual reg. number but you are not supposed to display it. You have to use the name and a number after it if someone else already has the same name. 

This is incorrect. If a boat is named "Jack" and then you try to register a boat called "Jac" you get told that you will have to be called "Jac 2"

You are also wrong about older GRP boats not being issued stickers as reg plates. I remember boats in the 1980's getting Vinyl stickers. I think it was because a GRP cabin would be more curved then a narrowboat cabin so stickers would be better

[matty40s]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It could, but just having the 'plates' propped up in the windows just looks a bit 'naff' and amateurish, and, would rattle and bang about.

....as you are descending the Hillmorton Rapids...

[BilgePump]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

It could, but just having the 'plates' propped up in the windows just looks a bit 'naff' and amateurish, and, would rattle and bang about.

But not as naff as a couple of bits of laminated paper stuck in the window? They hung off thin picture chain on the narrowboat, the rattles from everything else were certainly louder. If the GRP boat was better and wasn't planning to change then would pay to get pressed plates to make it look a bit smarter but didn't intend to keep this one for as long as have.

[magnetman]

6 minutes ago, Tonka said:

This is incorrect. If a boat is named "Jack" and then you try to register a boat called "Jac" you get told that you will have to be called "Jac 2"

You are also wrong about older GRP boats not being issued stickers as reg plates. I remember boats in the 1980's getting Vinyl stickers. I think it was because a GRP cabin would be more curved then a narrowboat cabin so stickers would be better

What I wrote was correct. Look on the registration plate. There is a number on there. This is the boat's registration number. If you name a boat where someone else has the same name you can agree to add a number after the name OR use a different name. 

 

Its all on the application form and is not "incorrect". Please don't try to correct me when what I write is accurate. 

 

Older GRP boats -do- have aluminium index number plates on canals. I have seen them. Maybe pre 1990s. 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by magnetman

[Tony Brooks]

33 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Yes there are gaps and inconsistencies but if your boat registration number appears on this list it gives you a rough idea of its age (unless it spent its early years somewhere else and only got its reg-number when it came onto BW / C&RT waters)

 

Boat Registration Number By Date

 

Reg number: Date first registered with B.W:
60011 to 70561 1980/1*
77500 to 77599 1980/1*
77700 to 79999 1980/1*
76000 to 77499 1982
77600 to 77699 1982
73000 to 73099 1983
75000 to 75399 1983
70562 to 71580 1984
71581 to 72567 1985
72568 to 72599 1986
73100 to 73800 1986
72600 to 72999 1987
73801 to 74856 1987
45501 to 45505 1988
74857 to 74999 1988
75400 to 75999 1988
45506 to 47299 1989
47300 to 49586 1990
49587 to 51320 1991
51321 to 52606 1992
52607 to 53554 1993
53555 to 54394 1994
54395 to 55000 1995
500010 to 500398 1995
500399 to 501364 1996
501365 to 502357 1997
502358 to 503369 1998
503370 to 504424 1999
504425 to 2000
* = System first launched for 1980/1 so boats listed as this will include craft built before this date

 

I wonder if hire boats had a separate list. Our 1991 ex hire was 72685.

[magnetman]

One of my narrow boats was 72977. pleasure boat built in 1986. 

[BilgePump]

11 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I wonder if hire boats had a separate list. Our 1991 ex hire was 72685.

We had a NB built/reg in 1991 with number 497xx

[Alan de Enfield]

26 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

But not as naff as a couple of bits of laminated paper stuck in the window? They hung off thin picture chain on the narrowboat, the rattles from everything else were certainly louder. If the GRP boat was better and wasn't planning to change then would pay to get pressed plates to make it look a bit smarter but didn't intend to keep this one for as long as have.

 

For comparison (yes we did have the metal reg plate screwed onto our NB)

 

 

[magnetman]

One of my narrow boats had the number screwed on exactly like that. When I took it off a number of yars later there was rust around the screw holes and it had crept under the paint where it had been drilled resulting in pitting and bubbling. 

Put me off doing it like that. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by magnetman
typo

[Dav and Pen]

When these plates were first issued we said to Tony Grantham we don’t want to fix them to the cabin sides could we have the logo and numbers painted on. The answer was no only the plates could show the new numbers as distinct from the old registration number of the NB which in GU boats case was usually a Brentford one. We fixed them to the base of the cratch which was wood so no problem with drilling cabin sides. 

[koukouvagia]

 

[BilgePump]

11 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

 

That canal bed is pretty silted up. Vision of 'Better by water' 2033?

[magnetman]

Always good to see a nice shed. 

 

One for the ideal homes exhibition. 

 

[matty40s]

29 minutes ago, koukouvagia said:

 

Doesnt look as good as it did when you had it paired with Hampton

[ditchcrawler]

19 hours ago, ionayes said:

 

 

If anyone has any information on how to find out more about the boat without paying for a full survey I would hugely appreciate it as I'm suddenly quite poor, haha!

 

Thank you so much.

 

Iona

I take it from this comment YOU didn't have a survey done prior to buying the boat?

[LadyG]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I take it from this comment YOU didn't have a survey done prior to buying the boat?

Stating the bl**dy obvious?

[magnetman]

Someone asked earlier if the boat has a GRP top or if it is all steel. 

 

This is a relevant question and an easy one to answer. Maybe it was answered and I missed it. 

 

I don"t know exactly when fabricators stopped making narrow boats without steel cabins but it must have been a long time ago. This feature will help give an approximate age. 

 

Allens of Oldbury made some of the Teddesley hire boats as well. 

[MtB]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Stating the bl**dy obvious?

 

It was a question, not a statement....

 

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Stating the bl**dy obvious?

Changed my mind and deleted it