Plonk

Can't afford right hand batteries, I've just replaced all our left handed mugs and pens. Do you think a box of sky hooks might counteract the weight?😂

Hi folks. I would like to reposition my battery bank. We have 4 110ah leisure on the swim behind the motor on the port side and one starter battery on the other side. The batteries are almost impossible to get in or out. Difficult to reach to fit terminal clamps, also very little clearance so maintenance free batteries are fitted. The wiring layout is less than ideal too. There is easily accessible space for them on the starboard side. I guess this is probably a try it and see, but if I swap sides for ease of wiring and maintenance is it likely to tilt the boat to starboard? We have lots of stuff down the port side including cooker, pumpout tank beds etc I wonder if it would make much difference changing because the pumpout tank doesn't seem to make a deal of difference empty or full and I'm guessing it is fairly heavy when full. The boat sits 2ft6 deep at the back. Please forgive me if this is a daft question but they are real difficult to get out just to see! Kind opinions please?

Our portholes were originally supplied by Cauldwells. when I dropped an opening half glass in the cut, they were very helpful. Here is a link https://caldwellswindows.co.uk/

Update: After consultation with the Marina, they agree that the reading is a bit mad and believe there has been a misreading with the 'before we arrived reading'. They are adjusting our invoice accordingly. We have agreed to checking our consumption live with them next time we stay just to be sure. Seems fair, as last time we used the heaters in 2019 at a different marina our bill was about £45.00 for about 3 months. Apart from this scare we are very pleased with them. They seem very friendly and helpful and would recommend (but I wont name them at the moment)!

Help collective minds... We hooked up our boat at our new marina on February 9th and ran 2 mini oil filled radiators (1200 watt max output together), set to Frost Protect for 26 days. We then had to visit for an essential maintenance visit and decided that it was warm enough to switch off the electric at the isolator inside the boat. According to my calculations, running at full bore (which they weren't) this should have cost around £26.00 and used about 186 units. I was fairly surprised then, to be sent a bill for 2,074 units at a cost of £278.00. Unfortunately I didn't take my own meter reading at the start as the meters are in locked boxes. What do I do now? To say I am a bit concerned is an understatement!

Hi folks. Having woes with our toilet. First flush usually works, but the second woosh sometimes does nothing! Looking at the collective wisdom on this site, I figure a blocked breather on the the pan motor outlet is a likely candidate. Is this a special part, or just a random bit of plastic pipe? If it is just plain pipe what is the approximate bore size? I don't want to get all appart without the new bits to hand! Advice gratefully received. Thanks.

Thanks folks. I will fit them. Happily reassured! I remember now that there is copper tubing in the engine cooling system connected with rubber hose. The head and exhaust water jacket are aluminium and the boat is 21 years old and counting with no problem so far....

I have obtained a 2.5 ltr polished aluminium tank to use as an header/expansion tank near to my back-boiler (at the front of the boat) and another (1 ltr) with a sight window for easy checking and expansion at the other end of the boat (connected to the highest point in the pipework). They will be connected into the system with 2 or 3 ft of PEX tubing. As there are lots of copper pipes throughout, are the alloy tanks (or any other bits) likely to corrode? If I understand correctly they will not be making a circuit and as the voltages would minimal if this is wrong, I am hoping the antifreeze/water mix will not be a good enough electrolyte to pass through the plastic pipework to the copper. Any advice gratefully received please. Plonk

Thanks guys, I will locate a 12v live on, on the back of the ignition switch. I think Ihave a relay kicking around somewhere, bought for a different purpose a while ago. I will also trace the wiring back to check for a fuse. I have no idea what they were thinking wiring it as it is currently.

Hi Folks. Please can I have some advice. The alternator for our leisure batteries is wired independently, with the exciter feed/on/off switch and warning light wired in straight to the batteries, live! I have never had much of a problem with this arrangement so far, but it is easy to knock the switch on, or forget to turn off or on by accident. Could I wire in a warning buzzer in parallel with the bulb? or perhaps replace the bulb with an LED and buzzer in parallel, or would this confuse/damage the alternator. How are second alternators usually wired in please? I guess if there are any spare 12v terminals on the engine on off switch (are there likely to be?) I could use a relay, with switching controlled by the engine side and the feed directed through the relay switch? We inherited this arrangement when we bought the boat. The iengine is an LPWS4 Lister with an oldish control box if that helps! Thanks, Plonk

Thanks all for replies. No, the river was not in flood and yes I did study the nav notes! More a case of not expecting the unexpected I think. I think I should have let the Weir stream wind me and powered away. In reality I do not believe that there was any danger, however panic tends to impede brain function. I thought Reading was interesting but relatively easy when tackled sensibly. Pat

We had an unpleasant experience at this lock last week, although I believe that at no point were we in any danger. The river was fresh but we'll into green. Getting pulled both ways. The navigation notes in the ANT guide to the river advise staying to the right away from the wier as does the illustration in the book. It does warn of high flow towards the hydro power side as well. In reality, the way I see it, they want you to cut left and moor against the Weir barrier at the lock end. Is this correct? The signage needs a bit of punctuation and a double ended arrow below. Maybe another sign and CHANGE the navigation notes please!

Unfortunately the manual online only goes to page 109. Wiring is on page 129. On thinking about it,. I would guess that the wiring might be : 12v feed, buzzer out 12v no pressure, light out 12 v pressure. ? I will hopefully figure it out when the new switch comes.

I will hopefully work out when Alan sends me the wiring diagram.

No guage, just buzzer and light. There is a big white control box in the engine comparment though! The sender looks like a normal small low pressure warning sender I guess just simple contact switch inside.

No guage, just buzzer and light.

Hi folks. My Lister Lpws4 has a leaky low oil pressure sender. I think it must have been weeping for a while but I now think it is getting worse. The audible alarm stops when I start the engine, but I'm not sure if this alarm is also connected to the charge circuit. I don't appear to have a lighting up pressure warning light on the warning light panel. Before I change the sensor, I would like to find out what the 3 terminals are for. I am familiar with the single wire type connected on car's. 3 terminals seems two too many! Are they, + (feed), buzzer and light? As the unit is leaky, I guess it may be the cause of the warning lamp failure. On a car it would be a simple case of touching the sender +feed to earth, I fear if one of these wires is live, touching it to earth might blow something, as might connecting a live feed to one of the other terminals? I have no idea where I could get hold of a wiring diagram. Thanks in anticipation, Patrick.

Thanks all. I will probably switch of the solar whilst cruising! luckily there is a breaker in both sides so easy to do. I thought they might have been duelling using lightning bolts Tree Monkey!

Hi all. I have just installed 2x150w panels solar in parallel with a bn series mppt and mt 50 control panel. So far it has been ok, however, after running engine for a while this morning, in hot sun, the domestic alternator charge warning light came on bright. Thought the belt had broken to start with but it was ok. The light was going off and coming on sporadically. sometimes flashing. batteries were showing full-ish on the mt50. I disconnected the panels and all back to normal! so it appears some type of feed back? could it be a dodgy diode in the alternator? or something else? too much power from battery light feed to alternator because of Solar? Please, ideas anyone? The Alternator is wired in separately with a switch in the exciter/light feed wire. alternator and solar charge cables feed to the same battery terminals. should I change to a different terminal? Help!!!

Thanks for all your comments. The flow was not too strong, but I think being deep drafted and 60ft made things feel worse than they were when I was sideways across the flow. At least we managed to shoot the rapids and bridge at Midgham without incident ! Frouds Bridge to Cropredy next week. I will be treating the rest of the lively river Kennet with much more respect. Hopefully older and wiser! At least on the Thames we are going uphill!

Having been happily (and safely) pottering up and down the K&A for some years including the Avon down to Bath, we ventured on the river Kennet a month or two ago on our way to Aldermaston. The first lock after Newbury towards Reading incorporated a winding hole and lively, as it seemed to me then weir stream, although the weir was not in sight! Foolishly it turns out, I thought I could wait in mid stream for the lock to be ready and the following boat to catch up. I soon found myself caught in the weir flow and pulled sideways across the weir channel. We are 2ft 3" and 60ft long, so the turning effect was quite alarming. Not knowing quite what to do for the best, I panicked and wedged my nose in the lock entrance and scraped my way in when ready. Also scraping off lots of blacking on lock projections in the process! Yikes! Question? how should I have handled it? I suspect that the best course of action would have been to allow rotation into the stream 180 degrees in line with the weir flow and power away, but I was chicken to experiment in case I made things worse and the flow too strong for my engine (36 hp). Would the current have been as strong as it felt (due to my lack of experience on the Kennet and our draught), cos on reflection i doubt a winding hole would have been there if it was? Does anyone have experience of this particular weir? Yours in embarrassment Plonk(er).

Thanks Tony and Chewbaca. I will see how they go on for a while.

Hi All, Please could I have a little advice. My boat is fitted with a lister lpw4 water cooled engine and is now 20 years old. I changed the large hoses to the skin tank about 4-5 years ago, but whilst doing a couple of jobs yesterday realised that there was a small hose, running from the exhaust manifold marked 1999! I guess that the (Bowman?) heat exchanger end caps and water pump hose are the same age, they look OK, - no cracks etc outside, although the small pipe seems quite hard. Would it be recommended to change all the hoses as a matter of course? prevention better than a cure etc. I don't want to waste time and money needlessly! The motor is fitted with an overheat alarm, however, would this be likely to sound sufficiently early in the event of a hose failure to prevent engine damage? The engine is below some substantial boards so I doubt that I would see steam. Thanks in anticipation, Pat.

We wandered along and chucked out money in the dish! Nice engine. We will be now be queing to get on the Cotswolds canal when it fully re-opens (we will of course be getting there via the Wilts and Berks as we are moored on the K & A at the moment). Hope we dont have to wait too long!

Hi All My portholes are currently fixed in place by woodscrews, through the side of the boat and into mdf porthole liners with oak faces. I guess this is not normal practice? The liners are mostly salvagable, if a bit soft now. I am re sealing and re-fitting with fitting 4mm nutserts to screw the portholes too with brass machine screws. They were not very tightly fitted before! Previously, they were (almost) sealed with clear silicone, but I was intending to re seal them with Everflex 145 butyl sealant (from a mastic gun). It is quite soft and gooey, but the data says it never hardens, allows movement (5%) and can be painted over. Is this stuff good enough, allowing for future removal , longevity etc? has anybody else any experience of it? It would have a fairly thin but wide layer in the joint. Abour 1/2 mm I guess. Pat.