Detling

I hope people do read the terms and conditions and don't just tick the box as usual.

Slighly off topic but related . Anodes are there to protect against electrolytic action between dissimilar metals. They do not prevent rust, but do prevent the propeller eroding by glavanic action, they erode first and they also protect things like bearings which also are not steel and being more noble would corrode first. Iy you want to see what corrosion can occur wrap a bit of copper wire around a shackle and hang it over the side for three months, then see whats left of the copper wire if any. That is why you use steel/galvanised wire to secure a shackle pin.

done

The heater will take more current when cold and drop to 2000 watts when the resistor wire has heated up (1/2 a second perhaps) the inrush current, as it is known, for a heater is typically 2-3 times the running current (for comparison an incandescent light bulb is 7-10 times the running current). Thus for a fraction of a second your washing machine will overload your inverter, and I suspect the management system is picking up this surge. You say the washing machine carries on OK so the fuse etc. are coping with the load,but whether repetitive use will do long term damage I don't know.

Thanks for the help I now have my diagram so have no excuse when I mix the wires up

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has wiring diagram for an Isuzu control panel(big version ) with Tachometer, Temperature, Oil pressure and Voltage gauges, It has a loom coming down the control pillar to a big plug in to the loom for the engine.

There is a little lever tap/valve on the bottom of my brass oil pump, maybe you have one on yours and it's nearly shut. I normally take 5-6 minutes to empty all 5.5 liters (old milk bottles fit nicely under the spout). I warm the engine but not to full running temperature as then the oil is to b****y hot and the pump being brass conducts that heat to your delicate fingers.

"Does anyone know the extent of the BSS scheme? Do sea-going pleasure boats have to be inspected for example? If so, I can see the point., but as you say, once a boat has capsized the batteries falling out of position is pretty small beer." post 54 No sea going yachts don't have to pass any test for safety and most would not pass the BSS. Only if they dare to venture onto the fresh water of rivers etc. do they need a BSS. Most yachts do get a survey every few years in order to get insurance though. This cost's a lot more than 130 quid as it is a full survey hull, rigging, engine, spars and sails, out of the water. so you are looking at several hundred including the lift out.

I have been looking into having 2 seperate panels and have decided to drop the idea of solar water, the main reason being when you are not aboard, having your shower in summer, the heat in the water plate can easily reach or exceed 100 deg C causing boiling/steam in the header tank. Also the solar water panel responds to infra red and not light/UV as does the electric PV cell, on a cloudy day there is a huge reduction in infra red and a smaller one in light. Thus an electric panel will still produce approximately 50% of its potential but the water heater will be nearer 10% of maximum. Also unless you have a tiny electrical use or massive solar panels (at least 400 watts) you will still need to run the engine almost daily for 30 minutes or so, this will provide your hot water for free whilst topping up the batteries. My 200 watts of solar gives me 100+ Amp hours in summer and over 50-60 for 7 months of the year (panels are flat on the roof) angled-rotating panels would increase this but it is a fag to adjust them every hour. The Electric fridge will use most of this, so except for a few weeks in June/July you will need to top up.

Wow so many choices I thought it would be difficult, just got to find them now. Thanks

I want to have a relay that switches on when the engine is running and off when the engine is stopped, a bit like the ignition on wiring in a car. This is so that items that should be off, when the engine is off, automatically stop and I can't leave them on and flatten the battery. It is an Isuzu diesel engine with a 4 position start switch but I cannot get at the rear of the switch. is there anywhere on the engine I can connect to ?

Been with Talk talk for last 4 years no trouble at all, very good value for money, so I'm happy. But, I have never had a problem so never needed to contact customer service. I hope I have not released the gremlins in saying that.

If you are on shore power do you have your batteries on a charger?, if so this could be keeping the voltage at about 13 volts, A 'cheap' 12 volt bulb (i.e. not a car bulb but a domestic bulb) would be designed for 12 volts and the 13 volts could seriously shorten it's life. This still doesn't explain the navigation lights though just bulb failure, so you still need a sparks to advise.

I've had no trouble this year at 6'10", so maybe your 6'10" inch is like my friends 55' foot boat which measures 58' now.

Looks like a welded hull, is that old enough for horse drawn, unlikely to be pre 2nd world war.

I also think it is very slow having passed through it 4 times this year. If it lifted at 2-3 times the current speed I cannot see any problem. I think even a snail could crawl across between you pushing the button and the end of the bridge being a foot above the bottom. You do get people, namely cyclists going round the barrier and across as you are pressing the button, then you get abuse from the motorists for "taking your time luv".

This year I have used 3 Pay as you go cards in my MIFI router on board the boat. These have cost 12-15 pounds for 3 Gigs over 3 months, or just over 15 pence per day. I looked to buy some for use next year and they are now 20.50 - 20.99 for the same deal, this is a 50% increase, it seems all the mobile phone companies have had the same increase. What happen to competition, or is this just a pre Christmas price hike. Has anyone any idea of when this huge price hike occurred, the last cards I bought were in July. What is the best deal now, I don't want a contract as we are only on the boat for about 6 months a year. Tethering the phone is no good, as it not allowed on our contract, and also the phone has no external aerial socket. We have 2 laptops and a tablet so a reasonably high data usage (1.2 gigabytes per month).

My boat came with halogens everywhere, we changed the lot to warm white LED from bedazzled. The only problem was the cost but at £1 an hour to charge your batteries from diesel it soon pays for itself. The whole lot (24 lights) consume less than two of the old lights did.

Yes I have read the other thread. The bulkhead in question is into the cockpit which is also drained overboard, so the rain doesn't fill the boat and is not the interior of the vessel. Also this question of a bolt filled hole needs resolving as I believe there are many boats with items bolted on which have been there for years.

I would like to mount brackets to retain my anchor on the cockpit side of the bulkhead between the gas locker and the well deck/cockpit. (these are for storage and not for anchoring so no real heavy load) How can these brackets be mounted? I would like to bolt them through the bulkhead, but is this allowed? reading the BSS this requires the bulkhead to be gas tight up to the level of the top of the gas bottles and these bolts would be lower. If you cannot use through bolts how does the panel that holds the regulator and valves pass the BSS as this has bolts from outside in to the locker, I suppose it could be coated with some sealant before being bolted down tight and the holes are well away from the edge.

Been pleased with my Tracer so far (6 months) good value for money

C&RT have planned to shut the Hatton flight on the GU from November 4th till December 21st and at the same time to close Atherstone flight on the Coventry. This cuts all canals north of Coventry off from all canals south of Warwick unless one is willing to go via the rivers Trent and Soar in November / December. Does any one know what the currents will be like at that time of year? last year they were shut to narrowboats.

When on the Llangollen last week we enquired at the Ellesmere C&RT offices about using the C&RT pump out at Grindle Brook, they did not sell the required card there and a helpful man gave us a list of places that sold the cards. What he gave us was a list of places that did sell the cards as none now do so. It is not possible on the Llangollen canal to purchase a card to use the pump out. When at Grindle brook we found out why, BW used to give the cards to shops etc who paid BW the money when they sold them. in practice this meant at the end of the season for shops only open in the season or when they had sold the last one and wanted more for everyone else. Now C&RT want the shop to buy a pack of tickets for £400 , these tickets according to the shop sell slowly maybe just one pack per year. The shop keeper does not want to tie up £400 on a slow moving item with a small profit margin, particularly late in the season. The lock keeper has had to overide the payment system on several occasions this year since the boats had a need which couldn't wait till a marina. This will only encourage the use of self pump out kits, and we know they are not always used responsibly, Is it the intention of C&RT to get out of providing pump out facilities at all, if so what will marina's charge then and can we afford it.

Of greater importance is the drain hole from the gas locker. If this is at the bow the drain is probably very close to the waterline, if the drain goes under the water then any leaking gas will not be able to drain overboard. The gas will fill the locker from the bottom until it finds a way of 'draining' downwards, as LPG gas is heavier than air, This may well be through a fitting hole onto the well deck and then down into the bilge, creating a potential floating bomb.

The ventilation required is to allow any hydrogen released when charging to escape. Hydrogen is much lighter than air and so rises upwards requiring ventilation above or a through draft above the batteries. Unfortunately water is a lot heavier than air and likes going down upward pointing ventilation holes, so the cross through draft method is probably better. My batteries have a ply cover as well with holes in to allow gases out into the 'engine room' which has vents high up on the sides to allow air to circulate / cross from one side to the other, so far no explosions but maybe I've been lucky.