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Hi, wasn’t sure where to post this, I’m planning on having some sign writing on my boat. I want the name which is fine. However, I notice some boats have places written underneath them and a “registered in .....” then the id number. 

 

Are the places where the boat was launched and registered (assuming the registered in.... is where it was first registered of course) or where the boat is moored. 

 

As in a boat registered and launched in Watford but moored in say Birmingham, would have registered in watford (then the number) and then it’s name with Watford below or name with Birmingham below? 

 

Obviously you can have whatever you want painted on your boat but what is the traditional custom? 

 

Hope that makes sense?

 

Thanks! ?

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Registered at is bullshine, a leftover from the days working boats had to be registered with a  local authority so they could carry out health inspections.

 

Unless its a truly historic boat I would not bother.

 

The Watford refers to the time when the BW licensing department was in Watford, perhaps it should say Leeds now, but still an affectation on a modern boat.

 

 No reason not to put your home town or mooring on the boat but what happens when you move location.

 

Personally I would avoid sign writing and use vinyl lettering. My sign writing shed pigment from day one, very quickly polished through to give a patchy look, and for some reason rust developed just under the sign writing on one side. Vinyl may not be traditional but its easier to remove for a repaint or to alter/renew.

 

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5 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Registered at is bullshine, a leftover from the days working boats had to be registered with a  local authority so they could carry out health inspections.

 

Unless its a truly historic boat I would not bother.

 

 

Originally introduced by the efforts of a George Smith back in Queen Victoria's reign. He was horrified by the squalor in which a lot of canal people lived and set about improving their lot in high Victorian manner, whether the people at the receiving end liked it or not. The Act required boats to be inspected and registered with a local authority and certified to be suitable for a certain number of adults/children. The local authorities name and number had to be painted on the cabin side. Nowadays it is just a kid on thing, unless you have an actual historic boat. We still live in squalor.

 

Jen

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Many thanks for all of your replies. My boat is not a historic boat so I guess I’ll leave off where it was registered, though I’d still like the reg no painted on in that location, as then I’ll be able to or remove the awful BW number plates I have displayed in the windows currently. 

 

I see your point about moving location though I think it adds a nice something to the boats history. I always find it interesting seeing boats with far away places (by canal anyway!) on them. Guess that’s personal preference. 

 

Interesting point about the vinyl, something to consider for sure. Although, I quite like the idea of a traditional painted sign written on the side. Personal preference in the end again I guess! Thanks. 

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11 hours ago, Southeast Boater said:

Many thanks for all of your replies. My boat is not a historic boat so I guess I’ll leave off where it was registered, though I’d still like the reg no painted on in that location, as then I’ll be able to or remove the awful BW number plates I have displayed in the windows currently. 

 

I see your point about moving location though I think it adds a nice something to the boats history. I always find it interesting seeing boats with far away places (by canal anyway!) on them. Guess that’s personal preference. 

 

Interesting point about the vinyl, something to consider for sure. Although, I quite like the idea of a traditional painted sign written on the side. Personal preference in the end again I guess! Thanks. 

Going on from what Tony said. My bro in laws boat was sign written and looks fab at a cost of nearly a grand. I had vinyl last year that took about two hours to put on and cost just over 200 squids. It is true to say that his sign writing does look better than my vinyl but it depends where you want to spend your money. As others have said the where registered on the side is all cows droppings and as for putting families names on the side :o

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5 minutes ago, dave moore said:

Must have been a hell of a lot of work to warrant a grand, nearly.....?

Thats what I thought. It was in effect 850 quids and there is plenty of cows droppings painted on, he has a boat with a mud weight for an engine and all that goes with it bless him. As I said though it does look fab and has been on about seven years  now. Doubt my vinyl  will last that long.

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55 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

You are clearly not charging enough, Dave!

I keep trying to tell Dave that......  ;)

 

As boat name and index number is signwritten I stuck the bw plates in the box.

 

image.png.690bcf9aa348fc10e04b8a1875124b2d.png

Edited by mark99
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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Going on from what Tony said. My bro in laws boat was sign written and looks fab at a cost of nearly a grand. I had vinyl last year that took about two hours to put on and cost just over 200 squids. It is true to say that his sign writing does look better than my vinyl but it depends where you want to spend your money. As others have said the where registered on the side is all cows droppings and as for putting families names on the side :o

 

it was about six years ago, but Dave Moore didn't charge much more to signwrite our boat properly,  and we got some nice scrolls as well.

 

                 011.jpg.36c7017e8d991fb6a84f2c0614666e8c.jpg

 

 

                242884786_MerryHill01a.jpg.1e000a18f6b00801628b15f29ea9fbf1.jpg

Edited by David Schweizer
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6 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

 

it was about six years ago, but Dave Moore didn't charge much more to signwrite our boat properly,  and we got some nice scrolls as well.

 

                 011.jpg.36c7017e8d991fb6a84f2c0614666e8c.jpg

 

 

                242884786_MerryHill01a.jpg.1e000a18f6b00801628b15f29ea9fbf1.jpg

Yes paint looks better every time. I think most people use vinyl for speed rather than effect. For instance no dock needed or if it is to be done outdoors no worry about booking signwriter only for it to rain for a fortnight. The day we applied my vinyl outside it had been raining and we just dried it quickly off and applied lettering. It rained later the same day but had no effect or detriment to the letters. I had a boat that was sign written at Tamworth and when I bought the boat at four years old most of the red had already turned nearly yellow but I think red is known for that? One other thing I liked about doing vinyl is you do it on line on the providers web site and can change colours, fonts, size, curves etc instantly to see your preference before commiting.

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Traditional sign writing adds a bit of class. Our old friend Spike know affectionately as Rembrandt did good work but it was a mistake to have him work near a pub as he rather liked Barley wine and we often had half painted names and sometimes different writing each side but we got there in the end. He did the pub sign for the pub at Newbold for Davenports (remember them) and the boat looked like it was about to be fired into space!

CB1507CB-6563-484F-A51F-51B5B859D40D.jpeg

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2 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Thats what I thought. It was in effect 850 quids and there is plenty of cows droppings painted on, he has a boat with a mud weight for an engine and all that goes with it bless him. As I said though it does look fab and has been on about seven years  now. Doubt my vinyl  will last that long.

The sign writing on mine is getting very thin now but it was done in 2009

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As a compromise between signwriting and vinyl, you can have vinyl stencils cut, then paint through them and remove the stencils. This gives the look of paint, without the skill required to signwrite properly. Stencils here used for the name and the index number. I realised as I did it why most boat names are curved when placed in what would have been the back cabin area on a working boat. The curve of the steel on most narrowboats at the rear makes a straight name look very weird. Live and learn.

 

Jen

 

norwood.JPG

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21 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As a compromise between signwriting and vinyl, you can have vinyl stencils cut, then paint through them and remove the stencils. This gives the look of paint, without the skill required to signwrite properly. Stencils here used for the name and the index number. I realised as I did it why most boat names are curved when placed in what would have been the back cabin area on a working boat. The curve of the steel on most narrowboats at the rear makes a straight name look very weird. Live and learn.

 

Jen

 

norwood.JPG

This is an incredibly cheap option if you find someone using Vinyl lettering and they give you the waste bits.

It also helps if your boat is called the same as theirs.:D

 

I've given Ron your details

Edited by matty40s
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We had Kelpies sign writing done "properly"   but we had the kelpie head done in vinyl from one of iain s photos as we didn't think a painter down here would do it justice. It looks good. 

We had all the sign writing on Gamebird done in vinyl in 2002 and it still looks OK.. No boat painters in Scotland so we had to use vinyl 

Haggis 

Edited by haggis
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1 minute ago, Ray T said:

Try doing a Great Crested Grebe in vinyl. Can't post a piccy at the moment as I am away from my computer.

 

On Gamebird we have the Famous Grouse as seen on bottles and adverts. GROUSE WHISKY sent us a CD of all their graphics and they had no objection to us using them. The grouse is multi coloured and the Company who did the vinyl for us have large copies of the grouse on the wall of their workshop 

Haggis 

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