Surveyor for a canal boat

[DavidT88]

Hello I am just buying a boat and need a surveyor to do a hull and equipment survey, it’s near Daventry 

can anyone recommend a company 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

53 minutes ago, LukasNikolas said:

Here are some boat surveyors you could contact near Daventry for a hull and equipment survey before you buy:

Nearby / local surveyors
• J G Marine Services – Marine surveyor based near Braunston, covers inland boats and narrowboats (also LPG system inspection and certification)
• Northern star marine ltd – Boat surveyor near Northamptonshire, good local option

Welcome to the forum. Have you used either of these, or is it just a Google search? (Other search engines are available). First hand experience is always good. 

[Alan de Enfield]

15 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Welcome to the forum. Have you used either of these, or is it just a Google search? (Other search engines are available). First hand experience is always good. 

 

That is a typical AI tpe of response, giving the question and then the answers.

 

Not necessarily suggesting Lukas is an AI but it certainly looks as if that is his source.

 

Interesting to see if you get a reply.

[MtB]

11 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That is a typical AI tpe of response

 

I agree. Especially the highlighting of important words and the bullet-pointing of the two suggestions. Neither is the sort of thing a new, human, poster tends to do. 

 

 

[alias]

As an aside, I thought AI content was not permitted on the forum, but recently it seems to have been showing up all over the place.  

 

Has the forum rule on this subject changed, I wonder?

[CV32]

I would recommend Michael Clarke - http://northernstarmarine.co.uk/

 

He did the survey for me for my current boat and has recently completed the BSS for us, a good, clear and to the point examiner.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, alias said:

As an aside, I thought AI content was not permitted on the forum, but recently it seems to have been showing up all over the place.  

 

Has the forum rule on this subject changed, I wonder?

Doesn't it depend on whether the AI bot complies with the forum rules?

[Alan de Enfield]

8 hours ago, David Mack said:

Doesn't it depend on whether the AI bot complies with the forum rules?

 

The rules seem pretty clear to me ......................

 

"AI generated content is not permitted on CWDF"

[Tony Brooks]

10 hours ago, alias said:

As an aside, I thought AI content was not permitted on the forum, but recently it seems to have been showing up all over the place.  

 

Has the forum rule on this subject changed, I wonder?

 

No, they have not changed, but as far as I can see the Mods detect it manually and delete it, but some seems to slip through. I am sure the mods would welcome you aboard as an AI/new poster mod if you are so minded.

 

Existing members sometimes quote AI generated output, but as far as I can see only when it confirms what they already think they know. I see nothing wrong with that as long as they state it is AI generated.

 

In this case, we don't really know if @LukasNikolas was simply using AI and trying to be helpful, or if he/it is some form of AI bot. In the first case he has been hopefully educated as to what is acceptable to the forum, in the second one hopes he has been banned, but we don't know either reason for sure.

 

As @David Mack says, the rules need AI bots or posters to abide by them, if they are minded not to, there is not much that can be done apart from manually deleting the posts. 

 

 

[Russ T]

We used JG marine services for a hull survey last year.  I viewed,from a distance, whilst he undertook the survey and was impressed. He was prompt,knowledgeable and happy to answer questions.The report was provided in a timely manner. I would happily recommend Justin Green, though he is not the cheapest around.

 

However, I am not sure I would recommend my services of recommending a surveyor.It's always difficult to determine how good they actually are.

ETA. I am not a bot (but I would say that, wouldn't I)

Edited January 11 by Russ T

[robtheplod]

23 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Welcome to the forum. Have you used either of these, or is it just a Google search? (Other search engines are available). First hand experience is always good. 

I use Michael Clarke (Northern Star) for my BSS and has always been great.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Existing members sometimes quote AI generated output, but as far as I can see only when it confirms what they already think they know. I see nothing wrong with that as long as they state it is AI generated.

 

 

 

I sometimes do it and  its often very obvious where the information comes from . Putting "narrowboat surveyors near daventry uk" into Google and this comes up.

[Russ T]

On 10/01/2026 at 10:06, Alan de Enfield said:

Not necessarily suggesting Lukas is an AI but it certainly looks as if that is his source.

He looks remarkably like a Brazillian footballer too.

[Alan de Enfield]

19 minutes ago, Russ T said:

He looks remarkably like a Brazillian footballer too.

 

 

Indeed - born March 16th 1996 wwith a market value of £680,000

 

[MtB]

4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

No, they have not changed, but as far as I can see the Mods detect it manually and delete it, but some seems to slip through. I am sure the mods would welcome you aboard as an AI/new poster mod if you are so minded.

 

 

I'm pretty sure there are AI services available that detect and flag up AI content, for software apps (e.g. forums) to integrate into their forums. 

 

Yes there are. Top result from google:

 

https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony Brooks]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

I'm pretty sure there are AI services available that detect and flag up AI content, for software apps (e.g. forums) to integrate into their forums. 

 

Yes there are. Top result from google:

 

https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection

 

 

I suspect that it is a constant battle between such software and AI developers, so as a filter service gets ahead AI will very soon find a way to fool it. Also, I doubt such systems come cost free, so it then becomes a question of if AI responses on here are worth the extra costs of doing something to filter them out. To be honest, members here seem very adept at spotting AI bot posts, and as long as the mods are happy to accept reports, and we do our best to not make the poster feel uncomfortable in case they are human, I think that may be the best way of dealing with them.

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

I'm pretty sure there are AI services available that detect and flag up AI content, for software apps (e.g. forums) to integrate into their forums. 

 

Yes there are. Top result from google:

 

https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection

 

 

 

 

 

But is using an AI service to detect AI postings permitted under the forum rules?

[Alan de Enfield]

43 minutes ago, David Mack said:

But is using an AI service to detect AI postings permitted under the forum rules?

 

I'd suggest "yes" as long as the answer is not posted

 

"AI generated content is not permitted on CWDF"

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'd suggest "yes" as long as the answer is not posted

 

"AI generated content is not permitted on CWDF"

 

What if one posted the information in some AI content, re-written using one's own words? 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

11 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

What if one posted the information in some AI content, re-written using one's own words? 

 

 

 

 

Dunno about that - maybe ask someone who makes the decision, or maybe you could apply for the job ?   😈👿

 

 

Edited January 11 by Alan de Enfield

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Dunno about that - maybe ask someone who makes the decision, or maybe you could apply for the job ?   😈👿

 

 

 

 

You must be kidding. Remember what happened last time I applied for a job at CWF Towers? 

 

 

(What job though? Is there a job being advertised then??!!)

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, MtB said:

You must be kidding. Remember what happened last time I applied for a job at CWF Towers? 

 

Hence the 

 

😈

[alias]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

What if one posted the information in some AI content, re-written using one's own words? 

 

 

If one were to do that after checking that the original evidence that the AI tool said it used to reach its conclusions really supported them, and could cite it on request, then how would any reader know?

Edited January 11 by alias

[Peanut]

40 minutes ago, alias said:

 

If one were to do that, and had checked that the original evidence that the AI tool said it used to reach its conclusions really supported them, and could cite it on request, then how would any reader know?

I think that is the whole word of informatics, to organise data from desperate sources, and make sense of it all.