“We just want to thank everyone at John Barnard Ltd involved in the repaint of our boat “Meladine”. From the start of the journey we have always been impressed with the quality and attention to detail shown throughout the process. 

You came up with suggestions along the way and the final result is stunning and far better than we ever imagined.  It has already been much admired on our journey back to our home berth and since arriving home many people have sought us out to admire the boat as word of our repaint has spread across the marina.

We cannot thank you enough for the help and advice with the colour scheme and to Letterknight for his excellent signwriting.”

"I had an early passion for yachts and I’ve often said that the ugliest sailing boat is prettier than the prettiest narrowboat. I’m going to retract that statement, because of the standard of workmanship and artistry of you and your team. The paint job that you did on Castell Dwr is exemplary. In fact, to call it a paint job is not doing it justice. It was a complete transformation; stripped down to bare metal, then layers and layers of the most beautiful finish to the coach work and then finally decorated with Jon Leeson’s stunning artwork. What is the most striking is your attention to detail and the care you invest in the project. Thank you to you and your team for your passion and professionalism"

"We just wanted to write to express our appreciation for the fantastic new paint job you have done on 'Fiddlesticks'. Many people that we have met on our journey have commented that it looks like a new boat. We are really grateful that you have been so welcoming during our visits to see the various stages of very thorough preparation and paint application. The attention to detail and professionality is outstanding and we have no hesitation in recommending you to the many people that we have met along the canal. Also, we are very appreciative of your suggestions with regard to the colour scheme as undoubtedly these have contributed to the overall great result."

"Just a quick note to say how pleased we both are with the result of the repaint and rename of our narrowboat Cut Loose. Nothing seemed to be too much trouble; from organising steelwork, to cratchboard joinery, cratch cover measuring and sign writing - you put us in touch with some superb craftsmen. Wal, who did the joinery, Jon Leeson who did the sign writing and the steel crew at Debdale. And who could forget David, who was our right-hand man yet also found the time to carry out lots of small but essential finishing jobs on Cut Loose. The superb finish on our paintwork is admired by all who see it. We now have one of the smartest boats in the marina - maybe the smartest..... Once again, many thanks for a fantastic job and a very pleasant experience."

"We have been delighted with the work carried out by John Barnard on So Comfeable. In our first consultation with John, he came up with some innovative ideas we hadn’t even thought of. We live some distance away from John’s workshop but he kept us regularly updated on the progress of the project and continued to suggest ideas and improvements for the boat. We always felt the project was in safe hands. When the paintwork was completed and we finally went to see her, we were blown away with the end result. She looks better than she did when we bought her as new and we are delighted."

"We just wanted to say how pleased we are with the total repaint of Dreamcatcher. Nothing was too much trouble and your attention to detail was first class. The finished boat looks amazing and has already been much admired. Indeed whilst waiting at the bottom of Foxton Locks we had several people admiring the boat and commenting on the paintwork. She was also much photographed. A big thankyou to you and your team for such a splendid job"

Dear John,

Repaint of “Straight on till morning”

We are writing to let you know how thrilled we are with the result of our decision to ask you to repaint our boat. The quality of finish you have achieved on our 20 year old boat, which had clearly seen better days, is outstanding.

We originally envisaged a scheme similar to its existing simple design.  However, your suggestions regarding colour combinations led us to rethink the whole project.  When we said that the name of the boat was a quote from Peter Pan and you suggested art work to reflect this, we could not have anticipated the result.

Between your paintwork and Jon Leeson’s artwork you had given us a boat of which we can be truly proud and which will be the talk of the cut for some time to come.

Kind regards,

Mike and Gill Hodder