Sea Dog

Exactly where my figures come from, E. The SOC measurements are considered unreliable though, not least because you have to manually input your current battery capacity in Amp Hours and we don't really know what it is. This is why tail current is important in assessing when your batteries are fully recharged, hence this bit of the discussion. Now, what the MPPT input does to your BMV's readings and calculations is another interesting point!

Interestingly, one of the users in your photograph of that particularly inelegant-looking solution has used an Abus Marine Combination padlock. If the miserable bu@@er had shared the combination with his mates, they wouldn't have has to fork out for all those other ones!

The monitor doesn't decide Mike, I do that! I ignore the SOC figure, but I do take notice of the Ah counter cos that's probably not far off. But I decide when the batteries are topped up after watching the voltage rise and the current drop from 100a or whatever (depending how much I've used) through 40, 30 20, over 2 or 3 hours, then tens and single figures for maybe 2 or 3 more hours before it ends up sub 2 amps for however long until I moor up. It's hovering about 14.6 volts by then. Thanks Nick, that's nice to know. I had taken my figures as being normal enough, so it's good to know that you see more or less the same from your similar engine and alternator configuration. My original query was really wondering whether that final current figure when continuing to run beyond full batteries, whatever it was, told us anything about our present battery capacity or whatever?

I hope I didn't come across as implying that Mike, I didn't think for a minute that you were. Actually, it's quite an interesting spin on the usual "I fell in..."!

Quite an interesting thread, and some good info coming out of it. My 440Ah bank of sealed leisure batteries is getting on a bit at 7 years old, but when charged to full by my engine alternator and I'm still cruising they are typically accepting a little over 1 Amp according to my Victron monitor. 2% would be about 8-9 amps, so what conclusion should be drawn from the low figure charging current gets down to?

Pride comes before a fall people! I could have joined this exclusive club til this February. I was also Navy trained so I always follow the "one hand for the ship and one hand for me" rule, and have 30-odd years of inland waterways exposure and even more in the salty domain. Fortunately, panicking has been largely trained out of me and sea survival courses and helicopter dunker training meant that I was quite objective when I found myself in the ice-cold basin, even given the surprise of finding myself looking up at the baseplate without ever touching bottom. Who'd have thought that down by the Delph? However, even with quite a thorough investigation by a suitably qualified and experienced person (me - I had no difficulty getting the victim to come clean!) I still have absolutely no idea why I ended up in the drink. By all means pride yourselves on your dry socks and cat-like agility, but don't kid yourselves that it can't happen to you (although I hope it doesn't).

Me too as it happens, andi I'm pleased that my boat's previous owner chose to spec the bigger 43 in mine. I was just raising a cautionary note about 1500cc so that you were not going to dismiss many a good boat perhaps unnecessarily. My point is that it would be prudent to check, because I can see that 1500cc looks puny against Nick's Shire which is 2200cc to produce 38hp, but clearly not all 1500s are created equal as the Beta is also 38hp at 1500cc.

They'll never find him from that picture: those glasses might be a disguise or he could even be riding someone else's bike. He might even deny it, then where would we be? Crikey, if they take as long again as they have so far, he might have forgotten doing it!

I believe the Beta 38 is 1500cc, and I'm pretty sure there's many satisfied users in 50' plus Narrowboats. One may be along shortly to add a view? I have a Beta 43 in my 57' and I'm very happy with it, but the builder (Simon Piper) often fits the 38 in the same hull.

Even if it doesn't, because the group is not disorganised, and everyone forks out the full cost of a padlock each to make up an unwieldy chain, that chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. When it gets broken by 'Mr Finch', the padlock willy waving will commence. As with anything, the more people involved, the more a simple solution with as few moving parts as possible comes into its own. Anyway, the shed will end up like that bridge in Paris once the starry-eyed towpath-strolling lovers see the mass of padlocks and start adding to it!

The Abus marine, as some others, has a reset key which means only one person can execute combination changes. Chose your 'responsible adult's wisely!

+1 also received today.

Some might find that worrying.

Nice to see it all coming together! Too far from home for me atm, but it looks lovely and I hope to cruise that area before too long. Good luck with your venture.

Edited to add that the only person able to change the combination is the person who holds the settings key, and it's really easy to change when you need to. ETA OK, so I quoted instead of editing! Oops!

You need an Abus 180IB50 marine combination padlock. Highly resistant to corrosion, maintenance free, set by a little key and about 20 quid inc postage. We've had one on a communal gate for years.

Well, I've got that too - but it's rather nice, in the depths of winter, to press a button without even getting out of bed and have a little lie in whilst the boat gets toasty and the hot water gets hot before you get up and stoke the stove back into life. Anyway, that's exactly what the OP was asking about - he doesn't want to disturb his neighbours. Which is nice.

Never a truer word spoken!

Funnily enough, we were in the Hanbury Flight the other day when a local dog walker stopped to chat. He was enthusing about the adjacent Droitwich Spa Marina and saying what new life it had breathed into the town. Unsolicited praise from the non-boating public in one place, nimbyism in another, but you can't please everyone eh?

As long as it is undamaged and properly sealed, I can't see why flue wall thickness would make a difference. It's also probably proprietary equipment so there's likely to be many installations like yours. The best way to be sure about your installation would be to have a suitably qualified professional take a look at it. You may have to pay a little, but you'll sleep better for it.

Really helpful, thanks guys. That's an excellent source of info. Reading in a bit reveals that The B4WSC has an external dosing pump whilst the D4WSC has it mounted internally.

Neither of us has asthma, but we certainly notice the difference between types of coal. We really can't do Taybrite for example without coughing and getting 'chesty', simply through normal fuelling and emptying the huge quantities of ash it generates. Don't know whether that helps?

Naughty, naughty!

Oh dear, that's a bummer, PH!

Thanks Alan, that's an interesting addition. My Eberspacher is in the engine space just a bit lower than my steerers step - which is also the level of the top of the fuel tank. If this has been compiled with in the original (Simon Piper) fit, then the pump would need to be above the unit itself, so would have to be separate to the main Eberspacher D4WSC.