Alan de Enfield

So it wasn't you that implied I was lying when you said .................. "You do seem to have had some extremely unusual/unlikely boat problems".

Only the posts on this forum from those that have suffered a 'slow sinking' (water ingress) within a few hours of leaving the marina.

France French law requires that as of 1 January 2008 new vessels, whether French or foreign flagged, are fitted with a treatment system or retention tank for black water if they wish to have access to French maritime or river ports, moorings and anchorages. Users of older vessels which are not equipped with treatment systems or holding tanks for black water are, like all other pleasure yacht users, required to comply with the rules which prohibit discharge in ports and designated anchoring spots. They must therefore use shore toilets. How these rules are to be applied or enforced is not very clear but it is anticipated that guidelines or a further law defining the extent and manner of application and any sanctions will be issued in the future. In principle it is forbidden to flush toilets into canals and rivers, but as pump out facilities are few and far between until now discreet overboard discharging has been tolerated, this may of course change.

Indeed. but her /his / its concern is that they are charging an LA starter battery which is then charging the Lithiums. The concern is that the ................

With a Lead Acid battery the 'charge control' is the battery, not the battery charger or alternator. The LA battery will only allow the alternator to provide what it 'needs' and, as it gets to a higher state of charge, will demand less and less until it is taking almost no charge when it is 'full'. Typically a LA battery being charged by a 70 amp alternator may take (say) 50 amps for the first 15-20 minutes, this then drops to (say) 30 amp for 30 minutes, then drops to 20 amps, then 10 amps for another hour or two and then charges at a 'few' amps for another 5 or 6 hours until the battery is fully charged. You can consider a LA battery to be fully charged when the charging voltage is around 14.4 volts and the charging current is 1% to 2% of the battery capacity, so, a 100 Ah battery would be considered fully charged if the battery was only accepting 1 to 2 amps and this had not changed for at least on hour.

My boat has both black and grey water holding tanks. It is mainly the Med coast countries that have, or are looking at, this legislation. eg : Turkey Discharge of any kind may be considered illegal. A black water tank has therefore been a practical necessity in Turkey for many years. New rules have been coming into force in some areas of Turkey (such as the Mugla District) over the last few years which require vessels to carry a Blue Card. If the rules are enforced to the full all black and grey water will need to be collected and pumped out ashore; the Blue Card will be used to monitor the amount of waste water deposited ashore to ensure holding tanks are pumped out rather than emptied into the sea. Spain Spain has holding tank requirements which together with their pollution legislation, essentially mean that vessels cannot discharge untreated sewage within Spanish territorial waters (12 nautical miles). The Spanish legislation is ORDEN FOM/1144/2003, 28 April which for anyone who speaks Spanish can be found at www.fomento.es and an unofficial translation of the legislation is also available. Greece In Greece the regulations relating to discharges and pollution make a holding tank a practical necessity although we are not aware of them being a legal requirement as yet. Caution should also be exerted with grey water in Greece.

I do not understand what you mean ? The batteries should charge from the engine alternator all of the time the engine is running (for just 2 minutes or for 10 hours) What is the piece of equipment you have that switches off after 2 hours ? Do you have a mains (220v AC) charger plugged into an inverter ? If so, this would mean that you are using the power stored in the battery to charge the battery - that is a route to madness !

It has not got very far in the last 5 months (Lincoln to Langrick) A 60ft (18m) drifting barge has been made safe by members of the public after it travelled, without a crew, for more than four miles (7km) down the River Witham in Lincolnshire. Eyewitnesses said the abandoned vessel began its journey at Langrick on Sunday after its mooring ropes became detached from the bank. John Aston, a local boat owner, said stopping the "substantial vessel" was challenging. "It took between eight and 10 people to bring it under control and it was picking up speed near to Boston," he said. Mr Aston said the actions of the group averted "serious damage" to a set of lock gates outside the town. Kat Rushby, a boater on the river, said she had contacted The Canal and River Trust and the fire service to raise her concerns about the potential damage the vessel could do. "If it had been left to reach the lock, many of the boats along there are fibreglass and would have been damaged possibly beyond repair." Stephen Hardy from the Canal and River Trust said they had traced the owner and he was "on his way with some ropes" to secure the vessel properly. "It sounds quite dramatic and thankfully no one was hurt. Thankfully, at this time of year the river is a lot quieter than it would be during the warmer months," he said. Mr Aston said the vessel had been unoccupied at its moorings at Langrick "for some weeks". "I think the real owner is in Australia. There's someone looking after the boat for him," he said. Mr Hardy said he did not know how the vessel became untied, but he understood the owner was going to remove the vessel from the area. "He's going to take it elsewhere, off our network," he said. I wonder if that is pump-out or cassette ?

You just do not seem to understand the written word - do you ! I simply said that I had more 'life experience' and hours boating than you do, so will be more likely to have experienced more problems that you. Talking of "I'm better than you" - how many times do you remind us of the 13 patent certificates you have on your office wall, and that as your job is designing 'electronic things' - means you know more than others do !

It is called boating real life experience - something that you have yet to achieve, something that is only gained over time - not available in a book or a 'certificate' on your office wall- after 45 years boating, 18+ boats and 10s of thousands of miles I have probably experienced most things that could happen. A bit like driving you car 1000 miles a week - you are more likely to have a puncture or an accident than you are if you are driving 100 miles a week.

But if you were moored (say) starboard side to , did you take the mooring lines over the boat and tie off on the port side (meaning the baddies had to get onto and across the boat to untie you ?)

Exactly, as any sensible person would realise.

An example of where a fused starter motor cable may be advantagous. I had a 'boat fire' in that much of the wiring harness melted, black nasty smoke and bare wires shorting out. It turned out that the engine lifting eye had broken off / unscrewed / vibrated off and dropped down the side of the engine until it fell between the starter motor and the engine block causing a short. Fortunately, being twin engined with totally separate systems, allowed me to continue on one engine and get safely back. Would a fuse have reduced the damage ?

The inch ......................

If a narrowboat would fit into a suitcase - whilton would be on Peckham Market alongside Del ! Do your investigations thoroughly - whilton do have some good boats but they have also been known to lie about things - particularly the ownership of the boat. They have sold several (a small number greater than 1 and less than 4) that have sunk on their way to their new moorings. As Jen says - before buying a boat that you intend to rent out, read up on the laws and C&RTs requirements, eg you will need to have a boat safety certificate to a higher standard that a 'private' boat, you will need a commercial licence and commercial insurance. You will be classed as a 'landlord' and will need to have the boat checked and issued with a 'landlords gas and electical' certificate. Then there are conditions about having a permanent mooring, waste disposal facilities (rubbish and toilet emptying) etc etc.