Hartlebury lad

I saw this too. Do you think it would need an additional voltage stabiliser?

Back to the top- sorry! Turns out it was both of the 240v adapter/ chargers that blew whilst on 240 on the inverter (boat stationary canalside) and not the gadgets themselves. An appointment with a boat sparks looms (no pun intended)........

Thank you for all the really useful replies and contributions to this - I will take all the advice "on board"

Despite the wiring worries, that would make sense anyway. Cheap insurance for expensive bits of kit.

Thanks - I may not have worded it well, but I was not connected up to the shoreline. I had the inverter on at the time out on the canal. Good advice nevertheless.

Hi all Last week two of my onboard gadgets - Radio and a Bluetooth speaker - both expired within 24 hrs of each other whilst connected through my 2.5KW Sterling Pro Combi Q Inverter running on 240v canalside.The engine was not running at the time. I am wondering if there is an issue with it, although I have had no problems up to now (2yrs). The RCD hadn't tripped! "Coincidentally" I was putting the tv arial up same day and got a small shock off the base (steel against steel and raining!) The mast/cable is not powered, just a standard co-ax cable. I am understandably a bit worried - never was really happy with the spaghetti like wiring on the boat, although it passed the BSS two years ago after the Inverter was fitted. Can anyone offer some advice here. I think I may need to get a boat sparky to check it out for my peace of mind. I am near Chester.

I am always delighted to see small groups of young people out enjoying the canals - in canoes or otherwise - but one "incident" worried me about canoes on the Llangollen/Monty. This narrow canal is so busy in season - particularly around Trevor and Pontcysyllte, and I once witnessed a group of about 7 youngsters with a keen instructor (highly respected according to one local onlooker) - in serious danger of getting crushed at Trevor as they hugged the side of the canal. Busy junction off the aqueduct, lots of onlookers, and general high season hirer mayhem made a worrying spectacle. My overriding thought was if that was one of my kids or grandchildren in one of those canoes, I would be very worried. I am not a pc health and safety obsessed fella, but a background in Mountain Leadership taught me to always consider the risks and what would be the worst that could happen and could i have a plan of action if the worst happened? Is there a safe allowance that could be allocated to the possibility a careless boater sideswiping a canoe with a 15 tonne boat in a narrow channel. Only one loser there. A great attraction for the canoeists, but how do you balance or justify the risk element?

Thank you all for your input. If you can take the trouble to reply, I can certainly take the trouble to do the same! Kieron- I will talk to my engine man about your interesting suggestion. Bobbybass- comprehensive reply- will look at the pulley assembly and get back to you if untoward! Ditto the mounts. Trackman- the lack of a return system is my chief suspect. Picked up by a couple of engineers. Needs addressing prior to an renewal of mountings? RLWP- i don't recall seeing such a pump. (ta for doing the pic) Will check next week when back to the boat. Henhouse - simple methodical advice will be followed KenK - my engine man is keen on the mount issue. Shimming the mounts, but then fitting blocks underneath? Catweaeal- my neighbour suspects a dodgy pot too. The engine was repaired two years ago after immersion due to a leaking stern gland and faulty bilge pump, but this problem has been with the boat prior to the rebuild Will print all replies and take to my engine man!

Hello all- I have a problem with my recently acquired boat and it's engine vibration. It's a Beta and the whole boat shudders on lower revs ie: tickover or up to 1100 rpm in or out of drive hot or cold.. It is nowhere near so bad when giving more throttle.but it is becoming a major issue. As a result, a fuel pipe sheared off recently, depositing 40 odd litres of fuel into the bilge.. It has done it for ages- even with the previous owner. Apparently, the engine mountings were replaced recently, (although a liberal coating of diesel won't help) An engineer I respect suggested another mounting change to different ones but recent events suggest otherwise. After having some work done on the boat, I took it out and forgot to check the fuel supply was turned on. The boat spluttered to a halt after a couple of hundred metres, The boat would re-start, but conked out. The engineer came out and helped, and and bled a lot of air out of the system to get me going. Bingo- hardly any vibration!. I saw the engineer later and said thanks for tightening the mountings on the original work and he said he hadn't touched them, leading me to believe this could be an air in the system issue. Other engineers had noticed there was no "return"? on the fuel lines and that this needed modifying. This need sorting and I was going to get the mountings replaced, but is this a symptom of not having the "fuel return" in place? Sadly, everything is shuddering again following a grounding and a hefty throttle exercise, so I could do with some informed advice here. Thanks in advance..........

Nick- "The previous boat we used, same builder as Chalice IIRC, was a semi-trad and you got to the weed hatch by lifting the engine boards. Nasty because you have to climb down into the hot engine and grovel in the gap between weed hatch and counter. I much prefer the Hudson way!" Exactly! The access problem is compounded by the hot engine and other ancilliary aspects which may take collateral damage when tempers get frayed and frustration and carelessness from fatigue kicks in! I include stuff like wiring, fuel lines, etc etc. I was down there last weekend trying to clean out the nooks and crannies in the bilge following a serious fuel leak. - the aches and pains are still with me and I was using all manner of things such as a pela pump, a mop,pieces of timber with cloths attached, blah de blah. There was lots of "head below chest" stuff going off there!

Thank you all very much so far. I have taken "on board" what has been said by all- really useful and balanced. And the pics are very helpful as I can explain to my wife and also a potential fabricator/welder what I have in mind. Ray- that is what I have in mind. It may be a bit pricey to do it but I see it as the first major necessity. I think with a careful brief, water ingress could be kept to a minimum and managed. I may try to post a pic next week after my next visit to the boat to show the problem. I think Alan knows what I am on about. Frankly one visit under there to try to wrestle with an obstruction will be one too many! The previous owner had some crap wrapped around the prop and after a couple of hours of painful wrestling in a tiny space and bloodied forearms, he stripped down and got into the canal to remove the entanglement. It's a no from me.....

Hi all - my first post- please treat accordingly! We have just taken ownership of our first boat - a 1996 Evans and sons 55ft trad. It's in great shape and apart from some initial teething issues, we are looking forward to a lot of happy days on the canals. The only compromise/reservation I had on purchase is the engine bay access, particularly to the weed hatch deep in the bowels of the boat. I will have little chance of getting my substantial frame in that deep recess (Snow Whites mates would struggle too) particularly with a hot engine in poor light. I am considering getting an access hatch cut in the floor of the rear deck to get at it from above - sacrilege yes, but I have to be practical. Also, I am thinking of modifying the steelwork in the engine bay to allow easier servicing work (mechanics have grumbled already and having tried to do stuff myself i can see why!) I thought of cutting the angle iron bars that supports all the timber panels and getting holed brackets welded with maybe wing nuts for simler access? Has anyone any advice to offer- what to look out for, etc and also if anyone can recommend a good 'un to do the work? I am on the Llangollen. Cheers folks.