Who runs this, and how.

I'm Craig Fearn. I run Narrowboat Gifts, and the guides and short answers on this site are mine. This page covers how they are written, how each name print is set and checked, and what we won't make.

How the guides are written

Canal costs change every year, and plenty of the figures repeated online carry no date and no source. The rule here: a figure carries the body that published it and the date it was checked, or it comes out. That is why the licence pages link to the Canal & River Trust so often. They set the prices; we quote them and say when we looked. Where something is not settled, the page says so.

If a price has moved and a page still shows the old one, please tell me. A correction from a reader is the most useful email I get.

How each name print is set and checked

You type the boat's name, the canal or route, the year and the home mooring. The preview on the product page is drawn from the same template and the same typefaces as the print file, so the layout you see is the layout that prints: the name in a shaded signwriting-style face in bottle green, the canal and year in spaced capitals, the mooring in oxblood.

Your words are never retyped at our end. The file is set from exactly what you entered, so the spelling check is yours to make: read the preview letter by letter before you order. If you spot a mistake afterwards, email straight away and we will correct it if production has not started.

Photo orders get a different check. Every upload is measured against every print size before you can buy, and a size that would print soft is not offered. For a portrait of the boat in a painted style, you see a free preview first, and nothing prints until you choose the one you want.

What we won't make

We print boat names, boat photographs and portraits of boats. Other things belong to the people who do them properly:

• Boat kit. Windlasses, mooring pins and galley gear come from a chandlery.
• Painted ware. Buckby cans and painted plaques come from canal painters, who take commissions.
• Anything that looks official. No Canal & River Trust logo, and nothing made to pass for a licence plate.
• Clothing and phone cases. Not on this shop.
• Cartoon barges. The canals have a real lettering tradition, and it deserves better.

Made to order

Nothing sits in a warehouse. Each piece is made after you order and delivered free to a UK address in 4 to 9 working days. A piece that arrives damaged or with a print fault is reprinted or refunded at our cost. If you came to read, start at the first lock.