How to prove you have been cruising

The Trust says a boater's own cruising log should be evidenced by photographs with date and location data, and that invoices or receipts that put the boat in a place at a time can help. Boaters' groups such as the National Bargee Travellers Association also suggest keeping a GPS log. Together that describes what a good answer looks like.

What counts

• —A dated log of each mooring, with coordinates or a place name specific enough to locate
• —Photographs of the boat at recognisable places — most phones record the date and location inside the image file
• —Receipts from boatyards, marinas, diesel and pump-outs along the route

Those are what the Trust itself mentions. Some boaters also keep statements from people who saw the boat where they say it was; the Trust does not list these, so treat them as extra support rather than a substitute.

What makes it credible

Three things, in order of importance.

First, that it was contemporaneous. A log written as you went is an account; one written the week a warning letter arrived is a reconstruction. Anyone assessing evidence reads them differently, and a record that is honest about which entries were added later is more credible than one that quietly presents them as equal.

Second, that it is specific. "Moved on" proves nothing. A date, a place and a position can be checked.

Third, that it is complete. Gaps invite the inference that nothing happened in them, which is the same inference the sighting record already makes.

Start before you need it

This is the whole argument. The evidence that helps is the evidence that already exists when you are asked for it. Once a letter has arrived, the best record you can produce is the one you started months earlier.

If enforcement is already under way, get advice as well as evidence. The National Bargee Travellers Association runs volunteer caseworkers for exactly this situation.