Tony Brooks

I gathered that you might well be, seemed the easiest way to describe it.

I think that if the engine mounts are carrying different weights on the diagonal it can make them rock like that, but not 100 sure about this.

Me neither, seems odd.

agreed.

Without seeing the helm and cable, I would expect the helm end of the cable to look like a heavy duty "old car" wiper rack (cable) with the outer clamped in place by the cast back cover on the helm itself. There is another type but usually used on boats closer to 35ft plus. The wheel turns a "pinion", much like in a wiper wheel box, but the tooth part tends to be in a groove around the circumference of the wheel. There is not much to go wrong apart from the Spiral steel wire rack can break up, the wheel spindle seizes, or the backplate becomes loose so it no longer clamps the outer. The symptoms are very much like those of faulty wiper rack systems. If the wheel turns, but the motor does not move much, then the outer clamp on either end may be loose. If the wheel is stiff or refuses to turn, I would take the cable off both ends to ensure both the motor and the wheel turns freely, but I think that some outboards may have a steering damper adjustment, I have no idea about Hondas. If the motor and wheel turn freely without the cable in place, then I agree that the cable is the most likely culprit. If you look at the photo of the video in the link, you can see that the rod on the end of the steering cable seems to be bent. If the bent part has to go into and out of the cable itself, that will also stiffen or jamb the cable.

Because I do not fully understand how your boat is wired there are several things I don't understand here. What was this isolator switch that got replaced with a simple on off switch. All pure isolator switches are simple on off switches. Maybe we have found who got rid of a 1,2,both, off switch, Typically the70 Ah battery in a split system would be the start battery and the 90 Ah one the domestic battery, each with a dedicated simple isolator switch, The start battery would have NO alternator connection, but thick leads between the start battery and main stater terminal and also between the start battery negative and the ground point on the engine. The engine electrics would get their feed from either start battery + or the main starter terminal. All negtaive back to the start battery negative. The domestic battery would have bond between its negative and the start negative. The positive internal would feed the domestic distribution board and all domestic negatives could return to either the engine bond point or the domestic battery negative. The alternator B+ would run to the DOMESTIC battery positive (this is to minimise current through the split charged relay for optimum life) The main terminals of the split charge relay would run to the two battery positives and one of the small terminals to any negative and the other to the D+ terminal on the alternator (this will vary if it is a VSR). So apart from a degree of rewiring I don't see why your system is not suitable for a split bank with relay option, but remember, I have no seen or tested the boat.

Yes You seem to have two batteries and one alternator, and if so it would be normal to designate one the start battery and one the domestic battery, but you seem to have one disconnected from the system for some reason. Some (older?) boats may use two batteries to form one one large bank for both duties, but that risks the domestic and navigation equipment flattening the batteries so you are unable to start it, so what you want to do an how to connect the system means you need to make decisions, but if you want a two bank solution you will probably have to buy more equipment. It is possible that your boat had a bat1, bat2, both, off switch fitted at some point so one of the batteries, at your choice could supply all the loads. This means that if you switched to (say) bat 1 when stopping the engine, bat 2 would not be discharged so it would start the engine when you set the switch to bat 2, then, once the engine is running you switch to both, so both batteries get charged. Again a decision to make and possibly buy such a switch. I do wonder if your boat had this system and for some reason the switch was removed and one battery's positive connection was left to dangle in the bilge. Author Posted 37 minutes ago HI Tony,I'm 24 hours away from having the engine lifted back into the boat so quietly panicking over the complexity of what Im undertaking (more of that later) In preparation for the lift, I was reading back through pretty much every post I have made and the responses to them that others have posted, when I came across this one where you were obviously advising me regarding the electrics and it sparked a thought in my head. I have had an auto electrician go over the wiring onboard in an attempt to sort out the issue of the batteries not charging. He has tested everything, cleaned connections, replaced terminals and generally done everything he knows to sort the issue but still the alternator was not charging. I've had a new ammeter and alternator fitted, the alternator has been back to the suppliers and tested in case it was faulty. Then once the engine had been lifted, I identified this large black cable (picture 1) laying loose in the bilge. Looking at photos I took of the batteries, I can see it is connected to the positive terminal of the leisure battery (picture 2) He explained that this was almost certainly the problem, there is no positive feed direct from the battery to the starter motor, connect both the large black cable and the red feed from the loom (presumably comes from the ignition switch) to the same post and the circuit is complete and it will charge. There has never been a problem with cranking the engine over (he said it had been supplying power through the panel and it was a miracle it had not burnt the wires out) and I can get that as the starter would be drawing power from the panel in the absence of the heavy duty feed direct from the battery that you discuss, Im now hopeful that this will finally solve the charging issues. . SO have I understood things correctly. There should be a feed (about 4 mm red) from the ignition through the loom to the post on the small cylindrical thing on the side of the starter motor. Bolted on to the same post should be a connection directly from the positive side of the starter battery (huge black cable previously laying loose in the bilge) to the same post and a third smaller wire (from the loom also) with a spade connection fitted to the blade adjacent to the post where the two heavier cables are already attached. BUT another friend says "if that cable is connected directly from the positive terminal to the starter, the motor will fire up and run permanently, making me doubt myself. To complicate matters even more, someone from the yard say they recall disconnecting an earth cable that I had missed when the engine was lifted and identified it as the large black cable left laying in the bilge. So I'm thoroughly confused now. Your post seems to confirm that Mark (auto electrician) is correct, in that there needs to be a direct connection from the starter battery positive terminal connected to the same post as the feed from the ignition switch which runs through the loom. Have I got that right? Im certain that the thick black cable was NOT connected to that post when the engine came out but if it was the positive from the battery would it have not caused problems of shorting out in the water and oil slopping about in the bilge No, water is not a very good conductor of electricity, and as yours is a GRP, rather than metal boat, I am not surprised that no damage appears to have been done. Now if this was a steel boat the whole charging problem would have been resolved after the fire. BUT another friend says "if that cable is connected directly from the positive terminal to the starter, the motor will fire up and run permanently, making me doubt myself. Towpath, marina bar, and friends are not the best source of good advice - especially, as in this case they don't seem to understand pre-engage starters. Unless by attaching that black lead to the starter SOLENOID main stud terminal (B+) you accidentally allow it to contact the connection that comes from start/ignition switch, the motor can not run all the time. SO have I understood things correctly. There should be a feed (about 4 mm red) from the ignition through the loom to the post on the small cylindrical thing on the side of the starter motor. Bolted on to the same post should be a connection directly from the positive side of the starter battery (huge black cable previously laying loose in the bilge) to the same post and a third smaller wire (from the loom also) with a spade connection fitted to the blade adjacent to the post where the two heavier cables are already attached. BUT another friend says "if that cable is connected directly from the positive terminal to the starter, the motor will fire up and run permanently, making me doubt myself. To complicate matters even more, someone from the yard say they recall disconnecting an earth cable that I had missed when the engine was lifted and identified it as the large black cable left laying in the bilge. So I'm thoroughly confused now. Your post seems to confirm that Mark (auto electrician) is correct, in that there needs to be a direct connection from the starter battery positive terminal connected to the same post as the feed from the ignition switch which runs through the loom. Have I got that right? NO, there should be a feed from the start position on the ignition switch or start switch to the SINGLE 6mm or SMALL stud connection on the starter solenoid. This tells the solenoid to connect the main battery connection to the actual motor. There should also be a heavy duty cable from battery positive to the larger stud connection on the solenoid. That stud connection on the solenoid is often used as a junction box for a feed to the instrument panel and on a single battery bank boat all the electrics. Following the comment from the yard guy about "the earth" they had disconnected, I did some research and the dreaded Google suggests that both batteries should be earthed, is this necessary or is a single earth sufficient? Until I know how you intend to use the batteries I can not comment. If it is just one bank of two then you will only have a single earth point on the engine, with both battery negatives joined and both positives joined at the batteries. If you have a two bank solution then you keep the negatives joined as I have just described, but the positive wiring is altered. I am far from clear what is going on with the boat, but on the face of it - which may well be wrong - the simplest and easiest way for you to get afloat is to connect that large black cable to the main STUD terminal on the starter solenoid and then join the two batter positives together using a similar cable at the batteries, But be aware that if you flatten them at sea you will not be able to start the engine. As you seem to have had a number of "experts" offering different opinions on what is wrong I can't be responsible for my advice, which is given on the basis of what you have posted and my understanding, from your posts, of the situation. If you want to discuss either a split charging system or using a 1,2,both, off switch please let me know.

Depends on make of gearbox, but it has a screw in filler plug with the dipstick fixed to it, then you have to screw the plug in to get the correct level OR in many cases rest the plug on the top of the case and treat any minimum mark as maximum and the bottom of the dipstick as minimum. This is true of PRMs and probably others. So if you did not screw the plug in then the level may be correct.

That is NOT a mains cable. Mains do not use cigarette lighter plugs. It is a 12V? power supply for the TV that will/should stabilize the supply. You do not have to use the plug fitted, you could fit whatsoever type of plug you wanted to get the 12VDC into the magic box.

Note what you were advised a way back in the topic. The boat electrical system can have voltages present of (say) between 11v and 15V, plus voltage surges. Your 240V to 12V TV plug provides a stabilized 12V supply so using an stabilized 12V (nominal) boat supply MIGHT (not will) eventually damage the TV. You may be better looking at stabilized 12V, car, computer supplies, many of which allows the selection of variable output voltages.

More likely signs of cackhanded terminal tightening, and as long as the post is still attached to the plate group and it is treated properly, unlikely to indicate impending failure. Go a bit gorilla and it could fail instantly.

Any way, how is the OP getting on with his high voltage - if it is now a high voltage. As I said before, some regulator suppliers quote 14V regulator, but then say 16V regulation, and guess what, the last two images he has posted show 16V - assuming I understand what the images are saying.

The radiators and calorifier in parallel with each other using a two pipe system, The calorifier closest to the boiler, although with a two pipe system it should not make much difference.