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This could open a can of worms but NASA BM2 is preferable to the Smartgauge IMHO. If you choose to monitor with only a Smartgauge, make sure you are aware of its shortcomings. (Not that the NASA and any other monitor doesn’t have some shortcomings).

Hurray! Arrived at the lovely Victoria Quays about 3pm. Nearly didn’t set off this morning as it was howling a gale at Eastwood but once we tested the run to Rotherham lock it wasn’t so bad. thanks so much for everyone’s help, and thanks to Dave and Nigel who helped us up Tinsley Locks, what stars!

They are playing nicely, you should be around when they decided to play rough. Phil

Here are a few to be going on with. These were mainly taken around 1981 but the picture of the three louts near the cratch (Nick Hill, Colin Shervington and Mike Black) was some time in the mid seventies. Most of my pictures are on slides that I still need to digitise. I have a newspaper picture from around 1968/69 of his first load at Gopsall Wharf. I have fond memories of scaling knees in the hot summer sun and red oxiding them being told that the music I was listening to wasn't traditional. I'm Trevors' other nephew. I have tried to contact Nick Hill through his sons web address but haven't had a response. If anyone has contact details for Nick or Colin Shervington I would be very grateful. Guy Vincent

Got into trouble today for saying "F off" to her indoors. It was ten minutes before I could get a word in edgeways to explain the F had fallen off the bag that contains the handbell of note F, and fallen on the floor.

I had the original Z1 in 1994 (VGK 749M or something like that). Bronze with orange band on tank. Was a Dutch import no 39 and I bought it from HGB's in Harrow for £1000!

I saw what you did there

My experience of opening an issue with PayPal is that they’re extremely quick to side with the customer (me) and the onus is put onto the seller to justify why the payment shouldn’t be refunded. He has 14 days to sort it. As a separate issue, opening an issue with Ebay on the grounds of “Not as ordered” results in an instant refund in my experience.

Yes I will provide an update. The prop arrives on Tuesday so hope to get some time off work later next week to move home. The boatyard are quiet due to a stoppage to the east and so are flexible. Still waiting for the boat to dry to black it's so damp at the moment. I'll report back on propeller performance. Spoke to several propeller suppliers today including fal everyone very helpful. The existing propeller pitch has confused matters. I also called Paul barber but he didn't recall ever installing a jp3 with a Borg warner gear box. So it may have been retrofitted at a later date. The prop though was ordered by paul according to crowthers job card so maybe originally it was 1:1 as suggested I have missed Capella's hydraulic drive today

The lock above sileby marina. Just because an ‘old friend’ is camped in it every time it drizzles doesn’t make it a bad place

This is what this topic, and CWDF in general needs. Properly documented scientific experiments with graphs. I'm not sure what someone's going to use the data for, or whether Dr Bob has any idea, but he's put it out there in the community like a 1980s mental hospital patient so let's see how it gets on. One day someone will use it as part of some big breakthrough, standing on the shoulders of giants as it were. Meanwhile, all you eco fan owners, please devise an experiment you can perform with yours. Doesn't matter too much what that is, but the more novel the better, so long as you can provide us with a nice graph of the results. It all adds to the body of research performed so far.

That's a conditional yes - depending upon the relative voltage of both banks be it rested or charging voltage at the time. Most VSRs will also do it the other way round. Once the voltage is above 13.3/13.6/13.8 depending upon the VSR the batteries will be paralled anyway whichever battery you feed.

Yes.

This Data is only Useful if 'Borrox's Law is applied (Ancient Chinese Fizzics)

Are you sure the strobe application isn't counting each passing blade as a revolution?

No - its nothing to do with thermal shock unless you restart a badly overheated engine without allowing it to cool properly. I will explain again (as per the other thread and what others said there). Once the water temperature gets much above about 60C and solids dissolved in the water start to come out as per the scaling in a kettle. That is fact. The hotter the water the more scaling. A heat exchanger boat keeps the same coolant in the engine system for some years unless work is being done on it. This means the water in the coolant losses the dissolved solids just once and can then deposit no more. This means you can almost forget about internal scaling. A direct raw water cooled engine keeps passing new water with dissolved solids in it through the engine so the scale keeps building up until is is so thick it restricts the cooling water flow or insulates the metal so heat can not escape. That is when the head cracks or distorts. This is why its best to use a low temperature thermostat. 72 is better than 82, but 62 is even better. The heat passing through the metal into the cooling system is not evenly distributed throughout the system. Some parts like exhaust valve seats and injector bosses have to get rid of far more heat than other parts so tend to run hotter than what the temperature gauge suggests. When the engine is delivering sufficient power the coolant at these points can boil and scale even more. This is known a localised boiling on the engine hot spots. A direct raw water cooled boat can not pressurise the cooling system and even if it could you do not need much pressure to push the Jabso impeller wings away from the pump wall and stop/reduce water flow. This means that direct raw water cooled boats have to operate at with the coolant bat atmospheric pressure so the boiling point will be about 100C. Heat exchanger boats can pressurise the engine part of the cooling system so the boiling point is well above 100C. It is even higher because antifreeze has an influence as well. Thus the running temperature of the engine can be higher than on a direct raw water cooled one without suffering localised boiling. This helps engine efficiency but I doubt an owner would notice. Back to Furness's boat. In canal use the engine only produces a few HP so that means less heat to dump into the coolant. You may never get localised boiling with no pressurisation but on a river when you play chicken with the big boys you may well. If the cylinder head around the heater plug and injector bosses starts to discolour its a sign of localised overheating and it may be too late. We had such problems with the direct cooled 1.5s on the hire fleet in this respect we did run without a thermostat and changed them to keel cooling with an 82C stat as soon as was practical. That solved the overheating and allowed us to use calorifiers effectively.

It could be the winter temperatures. Try running a fan heater from the inverter to heat the batteries up.

Raise the battery charger higher above the batteries. The extra umph of the electrons running downhill to the batteries should get them charging properly.

and ships in tons, volume that is, register ton, netto, brutto ... that is 100 cubic foot, 2.83 m^2 and feet fot and inch, lb's pint gallon ... as long as it stated what unit the numbers is in, I don't care. but you are right metric system is coming to the imperial countrys also, inch by inch.

I got fed up with getting splinters in 'me bum' from sitting on the fence so went : Fridge with ice box 12v Waeco at under 30Ah per day Freezer (Argos Cheapy) 220v at around 34Ah/day + Inverter usage / losses. Inverter would be on most of the time anyway so the 'losses' can be amortised across all the appliances*. Battery bank 6x 230Ah FLA batteries. * I would make mention of the fact that running the battery charger via the inverter does not seem to result in gaining any charge in the batteries, and the longer you run the charger, the lower the batteries get.

Check out the other fridge thread currently running. Two camps, one pro 240V, one pro 12V. You need a decent inverter anyway so a 240V fridge is no more power than a 12V one.

Dishwasher uses lots of lecce but thats on a hot fill, washer hardly heats at all and only once so its not an issue really. Solar panels do their stuff so I can do weeks without running engine if I want but you are right horses for courses

I think there are three, O2, EE & Vodafone in size order Cellnet became BT Cellnet, then became O2 (which is owned by Telefonica) EE was the merger of Orange & T-Mobile and is now owned by BT (who trade as BT, EE & PlusNet) Vodafone is just as awful as they've always been (my first mobile provider who screwed me with so-called "insurance")

Unless you use all the 3.5kva for a long period of time then you don't really need a large alternator as the battery will power the times when the alternator can't do the full load. Washing machines and the like only really need the full power for short periods of time when heating the water.

You actualy spelt it correctly!! Its not the spelling of it its actualy the Polishing!!

Noting Dr Bob loves his a shiny black fridge prompted me to ask if black is a suitable colour for a fridge. Phil

But if you have a decent size alternator or two and Inverter you basically have a TP. If I was building a new system without a built in genny then this is the way I would go.

No reason not to run washers from an Inverter, its where the inverter gets the power from that's an issue. With a TP you have to run the engine even if you have enough solar n sun to do a wash or two.

1. If the cap is higher than the waterline, especially with modern plastic strainers, there is a very good chance that it will allow the raw water pump to suck air rather than prime. With the most common types of strainer it is also a recipe for getting crud that ha dropped out of the strainer basket trapped in the heat exchanger. I have dealt with both these faults many times. The sea inlet should have a cock on it that good practice dictates is turned off when the boat is left unattended so a leak on the strainer should either be seen when it is cleaned each morning or, with the cock turned off, can not sink the boat. The best way is arguable but all I know is that we had more air leak and blocked heat exchanger problems on the fleet than we did leaks from the strainer cap and no strainer cap leak came anywhere near to sinking the boat. 2. I do not THINK the system is complicated, its a straight forward heat exchanger system put together by an idiot and obviously modified over the years. The fabricated parts plus a lack of information/relevant images given to the forum just makes it seem complicated. 3. As others have said direct raw water cooling is far from an ideal cooling solution for marinised industrial or automotive engines although back in the day that was the only option available. Proper marine engines are different and designed to run at far (sub 60C ) temperatures. Quite apart from the corrosion issues other have mentioned unless a low temperature thermostat is fitted the inside of the head will fur up leading to head and combustion chamber insert cracking. We found the BMC 1.5 particularly bad for this. Another problem for this particular boat is the fabricated mild steel water cooled exhaust manifold. (I bet yours is cast iron but we had one of those corrode through on a BMC 2.2). Raw water without inhibitor will in time corrode through the mild steel. That will be fine as long as its the case that fails. If its an actual exhaust tube then it could easily wreck the engine. I have experienced this on Ex Broads marinisations. As long as your engine is working well and is a decent marinisation there is no need to worry about it and it will be fine for years. However the OP's system is a very different matter so I agree that once the overheating is solved and he gets it home there is work that would best be done but definitely not change it to direct raw water cooling. I'd love to see a "dab hand" do the one(s) behind the engine backplate without major work!

Naw Tim I have a dishwasher auto washer etc etc but realise that all that relies on an inverter!! and they catch fire or break, worse if its a combi you really are up shit creek without a paddle if it breaks! So the fridge freezer are 12 volts makes sense TV can be same now days as the choice is their with the tinternet. If you are on a hookup then does it matter you can have one battery and everything else on 240 volts, but these are boats and as soon as you use it as a boat it all goes wrong you are chasing power all the time. I bought my fridgefreezer at a show it was well priced and works well I can have a cheaper inverter cos it dont matter and I have no losses turning 240 volts to 12 volts then back again, all big power losses for nowt.

Well old sport as a liveaboard of more years than most on here I always go mains. The equipment choice and cost alone are a good enough reason in itself. My combi when nowts running sits at 1 amp draw which is nowt in reality and less than nowt all summer when a bit of solar is going in. My recent mains fridge bought last year is so much better than anything available in 12 volt and a much better size option. Do you still drive a morris series E to go shopping in? they were ideal for cavedweller living

With the best will in the world, I don't think any of the canal hotel boat businesses can really be called "profitable" can they? If run by owner operators who don't expect much more ot of the business than to break even, (perhaps being supported by seasonal crew being actually paid very little), then maybe they just about survive. If it were actually profitable, then there would still be a number of pairs making a success of it, but the reality is that nearly all such businesses have now ceased trading.

I did as you suggested and got this (and loads of other similar ones)

Same here Phil its amazing but my inverter can be off most of the day and all night therefore saving a whole lot of AHs and all the bother and expense of having to replace them. And of course well charged batteries last longer than discharged ones but what do we Know Phil? we clearly aint "experts" are we? All that time spent in the Army doing battery charging, learning about battery management, generators and field power dont count do they? And you how long have you lived onboard and how many boats have you had to be told that you are doing it wrong, couldnt boil them as soft could you?

Some hydraulic gearboxes are arranged so that forward gear is normally engaged, and the hydraulics are used to put it in neutral or reverse. That way a boat at sea can still get home if the hydraulics fail. Does the velvet drive need hydraulic pressure to engage gear? There may be a mechanical override to put it in permanent forward gear. PRM hydraulic boxes have this.

Manchester - all the outdated tales of woe around such as the Ashton flight and the Rochdale; admittedly not the most salubrious area on the system but undeserving of the " no-go" tag put on by some.

This sort of sums up my philosophy....... I've never seen the point of taking perfectly good 12v electricity and passing it through an inverter àt a loss to make 230v electricity. Phil

I have a victron 3000 combi which uses 2 amps with no load, but mains radios and phone chargers make no difference to that 2A, I have tries power save mode, not much use, as either it stayed asleep when you put a load on it or it never went to sleep when you turned everything off. I have a 240 volt fridge freezer with a 4 star rated freezer, not common (available) on 12 volt units I have a 240 volt telly and charge a laptop every day (total 130-150 Ah per day). With 600 watts of solar from April to September, unless it is very dull (pouring down), I do not need any extra charging in a day get to 100% by lunch - tea time, from March to November about 1 hour engine required, but by then the heating is increasing the daily total Ah. When using large power devices Washing Machine etc. run the engine at the same time so the batteries only supply 100A the alternator the other 100A simple. November to March I usually am plugged in, I went out for Christmas this year and needed 3 hours or so daily engine running, usually when moving, but sat put on Christmas day. To me having 240V 24/7 is a big plus, and the money ( about £300) you save on the fridge and telly can be better spent on more Solar which will run that inverter and more for most of the year.

The Sub Aqua Club - some folk say it's a right dive.

Don’t forget with all this talk of large inverters that whatever you take out of the Batteries has to be put back in. You have a theoretical maximum charge with the two alternators paralleled of 1700W so, allowing for inefficiencies, any 230V load exceeding say 1500A will be depleting the batteries even with the engine running above tickover. As well as thinking about inverters you need to also consider what form of battery monitoring you’re going to have.

Coventry basin.

Armitage Tunnel it was, Armitage Tunnel it will always be, The Plum Pudding is a pub.

Don’t forget central locking - you can reach all four doors from the drivers seat.

Hi Ladygardener Several things spring to mind the main one is do you REALY want to live on a boat? if you do then worry not. There will be many who read this and draw a sharp intake of breath through their teeth but they are the kind who worry about all such matters. I have no house and do I regret selling it? not on your nellie there is more than one way to live and a house with all its drawbacks and benefits is only one way. If you become too ill to live on a boat then you would be too ill to live in a house. You are already showing promise as a boater as you are right in assuming its not cheaper as it isnt. The cat will bloomin love it as did ours and all our dogs. It is quite feasable to move out the flat with your stuff in storage ( bin most of it ) and buy and move onto a boat within the next week. I moved from my last boat on a monday and into this one after having bought it and moving fully on on the friday three days after first seeing it. You will now get plenty of worriers giving you advice but you will have to sift through it yourself. We moved onto our first boat in 89 and its been a ball.

Or a duff multimeter fuse. Test it with a meter.