‘What Do You Mean You Haven't Got Tools?’

Abstract Itinerant boat dwellers (boaters) in London and South East England speak about many internal divisions within the community. ‘Dirty boaters’ are contrasted with ‘shiny boaters’; ‘yuppies’ and ‘hipsters’ are contrasted ‘oldtimers,’ ‘crusties’ or ‘pirates’. For many, be they boaters, outsiders or other writers, these distinctions have something to do with class background. However, my ethnographic research with the boaters shows that, although class background can be thought to be a marker of how hard or easy one may find it to become a boater, the internal divisions that are found on the waterways have more to do with processes of socialisation. What matter (and what divide boaters) are the willingness and ability, or lack therein, to join a community of practice on the waterways and to learn the skills and ethics that are of value to boaters in their community of mutual support.