pelicanafloat

We recommend craftinsure because they are reliable and professional. We claimed for a new prop , no hassle, helpful advice, and you can talk to them .....Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else

Shoosh! We on a roll at the moment. It becomes BTL once we get the correct filling ;-)

This is exciting.... In answer to your question of redundancy, only you can plan according to what you want, so it is a good idea to try to plan what is in effect the likely finished article and go from there. I contacted my local BSS officer (in my case, the excellent Rupert Smedley), and together a worked out a writing loom for low and extra low voltages. Everything done to promote efficiency and be in accordance with current regulations (I am a fully competent electrician on domestic and commercial installations, but 12 volt is more fun!) Depending on your anticipated means of access, wiring looms are either in the ceiling, with cross ceiling access, or at floor skirting level if you provide across floor conduits. We worked out that the most efficient circuit was one that split into two, one for the front, and one for the back. This involved simply running a pair of, I think, memory fails me, 10mm red and blacks, from the fused live and negative via a connection box round the exterior of the boat in our case at high level. We provided a fuse box at the back and middle of the boat - kept the wiring loop smaller. From the fuse boxes I sent separate fused switched lives to each light/pump/relay/toy name it, anything that might need exciting, and the negatives also came back to the fuseboards I might add that in 5 years not a single fuse has blown. Every circuit is simple. Every circuit is included in a diagram, and I took pictures of everything so I can recall what went where.... As for 240 volt, I bought a decent two way garage RCD 30mA consumer unit and wired a proper flexible Mains loop at gunnels level with sufficient slack in the wiring loom to allow for future alterations. As long as your wiring is properly assured and runs in conduit adjacent to pipe runs you can within reason run the cables where needed (but beware there are some basic zones of 'no go', sort of obvious really, but worth noting). The best advice I can offer is to contact your local BSS person and ask for their involvement, and take on board useful suggestions. Apart from that, having done exactly what you are doing, if I can be if any help, you can always get in touch by pm me..... You can always ignore Excuse typos .... Am writing on phone and fingers not very accurate. Also, my description of work undertaken not necessarily very clear so please feel free to ask for more detail.

I find it amazing that anyone can show any appreciation of these fanatics that call themselves 'responsible' ..... Forgive the cynicism, these so called pinions of monetary lenders are stifled by their own stupid rules, and you cannot change my mind :-) We in process of buying a property. First off, we cannot let santanduh! know we thinking of further financial affairs because they feel the need to question what we are doing ... And if you tick the wrong box, they can request their money back .... It is a minefield! With the people who are providing our new BLT mortgage, they sent our offer to the wrong solicitors, completely irrational action on their part, and then insisted that we had to phone then to confirm our offer is sent to our solicitors before they can proceed! Us being afloat and 'cruising'didnt exactly speed things up..... Sorry..... Santander just like the rest ..... You cannot rely on them any more than you can avoid the pointy finger of a judgemental biggot upon noticing your licence is out of date ♥ blessings and peace to you all ♥ xxx

We moved to Stoke on Trent, bought a house, and bought our boat at Lymm - basic sail away - engine + plywood floor in place. The boat had been ballasted, sort of, with 4" concrete blocks rear third of the boat. We had a makeshift dustsheet hung up round a Thetford cassette toilet. Platic bowl for bathroom/kitchen. (Couldn't afford a double bed ) Border Collie had nice bed though....... Oh, and we also bought something like 30-40 sheets of oak lined plywood which were all leaning on one side! Our early days afloat were a bit of a giggle! We weren't living aboard, full time, so life was fun. Am not sure I could have lived full time + wife + dog + work .... If I was minus 'wife', then maybe, I'm just saying, 'maybe' First thing I did was to put in place a Victron 2Kw inverter and a small builders supply - worked a treat! All my tools are sourced to be either battery powered (all Makita) or low wattage. I soon realised that moving ballast about would be an essential requirement at some later stage, so in preparation I cut a central two foot wide access along the whole length of the boat to allow the centre floor to be taken up - even with kitchen fitted etc, we were able to have everything in place and yet move the ballast about..... At the start I was still working, so we had the boat on an end of farm mooring and worked on her when time permitted. Never really got all the work done till eventually we decided to rent out the house and live onboard. This year, for the first time in ages, I have been applying more finishing touches to all those areas not quite finished off ..... lots to do, lots to redo, and lots of relaxed fun. One thing I did do was to get in touch with a local Boat Safety Officer, bought/downloaded relevant paperwork, but best of all I discussed my plans and made sure that what I was doing would pass! Regarding working on the boat, it can be done. The width is such that you can, with care, do all the cutting of the sheets of ply etc inside, it just a case of making sure you plan out in advance and make sure you can get to the hidden bits if you need to make a change. I reckon the project has been really fun with the added advantage I know where everything is (I took photos), and the pleasure of knowing I did it all, and it all seems to work ok ... even the wife's happy

That sounds like a nice thought. When is the event?

Hmmm, you have a point, a very upstanding point I think it only fair to say that we all sometimes say or do things that are perhaps lacking in something. Guilty as charged and all that. Then, it would be nice to give the offending person a break, I mean to say, some people will not under any circumstances ever apologise even if they are blindingly obviously at fault ... I'm NOT suggesting by the way that this is evident in this thread.... Nope, I just think that we all need to show a little more maturity, that's all (I am now looking for the 'I am putting on helmet' smiley

To be fair, I was having a rant! (And I did mention something about rotten apples) ......I've also gone and edited the opening post because I felt a sense of even keel was needed. The boat that came at me was one of them mighty big bow ancient types. Also, it actually came as a bit of a surprise because it was following along quite close to the one in front and now that I think about it, it was using the front boat as a shield because it hardly had any light up front! I wasn't going fast, I always slow right down when a boat is passing, and I'd just been pulled towards the centre to be confronted by this black hulk bearing down ..... so, in some respects, the person in charge was an unfeeling smug person who couldn't even utter any apology. But returning to the point... It seems to me that a lot of people with lots of experience seem to be clear on how one should approach others in a unnel, and how fast the boat in front should proceed, and yet, I'd wager that most of the people I meet up with are inexperienced hirers, or other people who like me, prefer to show their ignorance by slowing down. So, it seems that in two way tunnels whatever happens is our fault

Priceless! So give the guy a break. He may well be a devious type who deserves a degree of contempt, but, and nothing anyone says will deter the attack, he comes across as someone innocently finding a pleasure in something he has compiled - now pray tell, are you lot so innocent you can all cast stones with such impunity?

Ah but that really isn't the point lol .... well not on this forum.....GL in your search for enlightenment

What the others said .... or even better get someone else to do it ..... or ...... There are one or two persons in this forum who lack humour and a sense of, well, any sense. Why not use them, their tongues are so abrasive, it would be over before you could say, "wet and dry!" I'll apologise now .... the above is incredibly tongue in check ..... so no horrible cutting remarks! I know, instead of digging a hole I'm just grinding away getting in deeper Sigh! Finally! The paint has dried ..... on with the next coat

Well now, I think a label such as 'much loved', 'much admired', is quite possibly correct in your case Paul ... but calling you a moron is only acceptable behaviour if the person calling you names is a mate. Either that or it is something Carl desires to achieve .....

We like it too Lots of people have commented, and most are agreed it is impossible to live up to, so I don't!

The incident happened because we did an about turn shortly after going through the tunnel (a medical problem, wife had a cancer scare but very happily nothing wrong, but this a digression though it does explain the about turn..). We knew that big boats were coming along at random times, returning from the weekend at Foxton, but we needed to return to base. We used to hit the tunnel walls ourselves, when we were learning oh so many years back, but since then I can record is the very first time we have been knocked into the side. So, size does matter! (and so does the cost - I'm in the process of repainting the boat (more on that later), and I really do not want to develop 'tunnel tick' Actually, you make a goodish point .... mind you, I don't even know if my descriptions are correct or whether I've gone off the rails, but ..... I have realised that the back taff/sitting/hand/stern rail on the cruiser stern is inherently wrong! I am aware of this, and see it on lots of boats. We have booked to have the stern rail removed and a new one put in place within a distance set back from the perimeter. So, yes, an expensive business but not one that protects the top bit! I might add, he pushed me so hard, he tilted the boat right over and not only ground the rail into the wall, it also knocked our digital aerial off the top as well! As a digression, we only noticed the aerial was missing when we found the tv reception not particularly good. Upon going outside I found the aerial stuck magnetically limpet like to the side of the boat under water ..... and we still got some level of reception :)

Yes, our boat did get seriously whopped by some particular idiot on one of them there 'istoric' craft - we had just passed a couple of boats and then we met in the middle of the Crick tunnel a boat obviously captained by a person lacking the ability to slow down, let alone consider stopping! Maybe the scraping of the top rail along the stony wall was music to the his ears, and maybe the inviting crunch of taff rail on side of cruiser stern biting into the crumbly brought such a sweet smile ...... if I meet the person I would most assuredly like to ask payment for the cost of repairs. And if he wants a receipt, I'm sure I could oblige.... Now then, I have a solution. We all realise that the poor sap in charge of that working/historic boat has little chance of avoiding contact, and I do realise that some of you actually care, but as usual the minority of bad apples ruin it for everyone. SO, could I suggest - why not make passage of working boats along two way tunnels (obviously) be confined to set times of day? Is it too much to consider something that simple?? I am about to repaint the damaged bits to boat. As a precaution, I'm fitting a reverse firing harpoon with heat seeking tip ..... patient applied for Now that I've regained my 'Unruffled' stance I've edited out the more immature bits to make ready for lots of effortsto try and make me ruffled again

Welcome to the forum :-) Nothing quite like lack of proper prep ...... Years ago, we got the contract to clean/wash off the original wall paint in the entrance halls of a block of flats. It just so happened that the day after we applied a new spray coat of multiflek paint, the sun rays came through the window parallel to the wall and highlighted 'f*ck off you w*nkers!' most clearly!Upon inspection it became apparent that these words had been polished in the original plastering and though invisible to touch and invisible to electric lighting, it was just the rarest of rare sun hitting the wall at the right place and time that produced the effect. The management committee were furious when explained that to eradicate the writing would take a great deal of expense. We suggested that they place a blind on the window, or maybe a false 'pipe casing'to act as a barrier ..... our suggestions were ignored, and we never got anymore work from their direction - shame really as we were innocent of all their finger pointing.....

For what it is worth, I too am quite anal about my batteries. I sort of have them wired up as per suggestion by John above. I threw out a 240v amp eating fridge freezer and purchased a 12v model. I replaced the knackered 110ah standard batteries with 450ah of 6v traction batteries connected up to give 12v supply. I have 350watts of solar panel charging via a soon to be updated controller. The batteries are three years old. They have twice been allowed to go completely dead - once when I went off, and the marina electrical supply went off, and a week later I returned and got energized. And again, similar circumstances when the painter promised to connect up the boat to shore supply for four weeks but didn't - not reliable source.... So, you will appreciate, not a great way to treat the batteries but somehow they have survived. I do a thorough maintenance every three months checking their specific gravity readings after topping up with water and charging to 100% - I use same generator/run engine via Victron and battery monitor to arrive at full charge, and I reset the monitor at these times. We leave our winter mooring around about now. Our batteries get a little bit excited for the first day or two and all readings are ignored until they have calmed down and got used to not being spoon fed amps from the marina. I aim to arrive at the position that charging the batteries at the end of each day, the charging current gets down to 15-20amps which corresponds to about 90% or so. The % reading becomes more innacurate as the week goes on. The voltage tends not to go below 12.15v. No doubt some will say I am not charging my batteries enough, but I have found that they maintain their supply sufficient for our needs. Every weekend I connect up the Honda generator and charge the batteries to maximum. This I feel is important to keep them in optimum condition for the weekly output. We are either staying around on a quiet mooring for a few days, or cruising. If the sun is shining it is nice if we can get the solar panels positioned to grab some more current but it all depends ... at moment they form lids to two top boxes so not always in best position... I've no idea how long the batteries will last. A typical 3 hour cruise gets them up to about 95% from about overnight setting of about 80%. If we staying fixed, and no sun, we start the engine up for half an hour in the morning, for hot water and charge, and in the evening we run the engine for about an hour. They seem to be holding their charge ok, and only time will tell how the earlier unfortunate treatment will effect them, but certainly I will replace them like for like when the time comes.

Thanks for all the replies, especially Pretty Funked Up's not quite pointless yet very erudite reply :-) I understand the idea of putting in this particular item in the circuit was because the fitter was concerned by the inadequate size of the supply cable. Ah well......

It is with great sadness that I will have to leave this thread while I make a visit to Narrowboat World ........ ..... nothing but delusions of expectation were harmed in the making of this thread ...... was it something I said?

I'm envious .... always wanted to be described as a meticulous perfectionist' but unfortunately I only got as far as "that'll do!" We have grown lots of green and smelly things.... not always as expected but always fun :-)

Hmmm, this is either something very complicated or it is so simple I'm missing the point. What, if we assume this product is current limiting, how does it function?

I thought the cable a bit small for a 60' run .... comparing to the size of the standard battery cables, I would have expected a much larger cable to limit the voltage drop. I can't get into look or inspect the unit. It is very conveniently screwed to the wall with a girder supporting the battery cut-off switch running about 2" in front thereby limiting access to the working bits. I am told it is a current limiting device as well. I assumed the current limiting aspect was one of a dead short occuring somewhere, or a basic high current failure in the battery bank ... The fuses are intact, and it maybe that the unit is working ... but I rather suspect that the blowing of the fuse infers a melting of the relay ..perhaps?? The boat has 2 alternators, a travel pack, and 'maybe' an adverc though it is only a maybe I wasn't intending to be too precise because I really wanted to know what a current limiting device does in this situation. I must be bored lol

This is the product: http://www.shop.sterling-power.com/acatalog/VSR_CVSR.pdf I stress, I don't have this fine beast. A friend has one fitted on his boat ... typically as shown on page 2 in basic 90% application drawing ... The fuse between the device and the bow thruster battery bank blew. It was replaced. Now it appears that the led's on the unit don't light up. The unit is supposed to reset and reboot automatically upon be powered up again ..... I can't tell you why, it doesn't appear to work, its not mine, I haven't tested anything ... What I would like to know is just what does this device actually do or protect. Does it prevent the positive feed going right to the other end of the boat overloading? I notice that the size of the cable going off to the battery bank seems no bigger than about 6-8mm in diameter (bare). I wondered if the device limited the amount of load current going through the device, and hence cable, but it just seems a wierd way to go about it. What I can't get my head around is that the total possible alternator output could be as high as 175amps yet the fuses each side of the device are 80amp? ...and it been ok for last 3 years from new?? Anyway, I'm not involved, so my asking is sheer curiosity (and as friend asked if I could help, it would be nice to be able to explain what is actually happening). I like things to be KISS.. ty for reading Stewart

Moregan three man?

We use EE ... just upgraded to 20Gb a month ..... woof!