Tony Brooks

OK, seems a good solution to those steps The fuses in the photo of what looks like the inside of the control pedestal. As Alan says, guaranteed 100% to cause problems, usually sooner than later. Much loved by Italian car firms, and I recall Ford. The ends corrode and go resistive or open circuit, and the little phosphor bronze "springs" they clip into are very good at losing their tension, and that makes the above worse. Personally, I would now use automotive 6mm blade type fuses, but someone here criticised them not long ago and had another recommendation. Try to get a holder with a cover and mount them where they will be away from direct water contact, but I doubt you can avoid condensation.

Yes - lock closures and sufficient water on the actual K&A canal willing. I find that the K&A locks heavy, so having someone with him will help, and he will have to face the lock flight into Devises. If he can pair up with another experienced boater for Woolhampton lock it will help because once out it is best to go straight through the bends and swing/lift bridge in one hit, but by then he will be far more experienced. Make sure he knows where the lock landing for County lock in Reading is. It is confusing and far too easy to get pulled across the river towards the weir. I understand the lock landing is back under a bridge out of site of the lock.

If you weld up the hole in the step, a decent storm or prolonged rain is likely to flood the back cabin unless you have a cover over the stern. I would take a sledgehammer to the step and try to dish it so the hole is at the lowest point. Then when you come to deal with the rear door frame, think about some form of dam to keep water away from the back cabin - DAMIK - Colecraft hulls can be just as bad in that respect. Those fuses are in many people's opinions, just abut the most trouble some types that you can get, especially in such an exposed position. If you have not planned to dot, I would suggest that you add that to the rewiring list.

My experience on our day boats says yes. A special design feature to ensure the shaft seal leaks so you have to buy more spares.

Assuming both will be lead acids, although LA & lithium will be similar, but slightly different equipment. If you start off with separate leisure and engine batteries I think it is easier to understand what is going on - once you grasp that all negative have to be linked - that is negatives on both battery banks and then on to a single hull earth point - that often turns out to be two. One on the engine block/starter, leading to the one on the hull - or the other way round. Then you can concentrate on wiring one system at a time. Normally all charging sources will connect to the domestic battery because that is the one that typically needs most charging. (not on a hybrid lithium/LA setup). Then, when you are ready to connect the engine battery charging system you simply connect a voltage sensitive relay between the domestic and engine battery positives, although the VSR will need a small negative connection.

Because your engine is solidly mounted, rather than sitting on rubber cushions, it is going to be difficult for the prop shaft to be forced to dog leg if, say, you backed the prop onto something, and I dare say any shaft thrust is shared between the hooks joints and the plummer block, or even totally taken by the plummer block. With your setup I would want the plumber block to take all the thrust and I can't see it being any more unreliable than any other drive line with a flexible joint in it.

That is to do with arcing on break. Only if the contacts burn and go resistive will they overheat, but long experience suggest that practically this is not a problem - but it could be with heavy, highly inductive loads.

If the shaft uses a pair of Hooks joints (UJs) then I would not be too happy about putting thrust through it - or any other flexible coupling with two points of flexibility, but on a PRM Delta box neither is very likely. That is why the long Centaflex, Aquadrives, and Pythondrives come with a built in thrust block.

I may be wrong, but think the OP started another thread with proposed wiring diagrams and I think those suggested that the boat had, at one time, a 1,2, both, off switch, so I fear thee may still be some misunderstanding. Dual bank system were discussed, but how much he took in, I have no idea. With such a switch, he would have to use either battery to power both starting and domestic use. I stress, I may have the wrong chap

You could put the back wheels of the car in the water at that spot if needs must, or get close enough to tumble the boat out of the boot onto the dry by the water's edge and then assemble and go park the car. This gives you an idea and Google Maps shows a sort of turn the car around facility there. Here is the Streetview link https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ferry+Ln,+Wallingford/@51.5651936,-1.1343066,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDicncUIGXq1PSw4CltCZOg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D0%26panoid%3DDicncUIGXq1PSw4CltCZOg%26yaw%3D180!7i13312!8i6656!4m6!3m5!1s0x48769627290a1779:0x434c4a67e28c92e4!8m2!3d51.5673531!4d-1.1382962!16s%2Fg%2F11h1mcqwg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDcxNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Although farther from where you say, if you fancy the longest Thames reach then I have launched a dingy at Ferry Lane, Cholsey. Islands to explore by Basildon Rail Bridge and the full length from Cleeve lock to Benson lock, including Wallingford. No car park, but I always got parking in the lane. No trailer ark, but I just stood the trailer on its side against the barbed wire fence and chained it on. Itwas free when I used it and probably still is

Just bored cylinders in the raw block, but at this age it is always possible it has been sleeved. I am sure this possibility was raised way back in the topic.

Pleased, you seem to have finally cracked it.

That is fine if the light uses a proper bulb, but if it uses a LED it would be a good idea to tag the positive and negative cables at each end. Hopefully a decent LED will protect against reverse polarity, but who knows what you may be supplied with.

There is no fuse on the vehicle alternators BUT as the current demanded rises the voltage they produce at a given rpm drops. This means, in effect, they are self limiting for current amps. You should not damage the alternator.

An inverter designed for use on a boat will assume a charging system that can raise the battery voltage to 14.6 volts and sometimes in excess of 15V for a shortish period. It will also be designed to cope with the transient voltage spikes caused by turning inductive loads off - think water pump. So no, you will not burn a decent inverter out. The idea of running the engine while doing the test is to raise the voltage and thus minimise potential volt drop problems from undersized cables and a lack f battery capacity. The alternator on the car will go some way to compensating for any inadequacies.

Leigh. Have you posted this in the wrong topic? I think it was meant for the topic entitled Rude. I suspect that you might have posted something similar in the Rude topic, so if you click the three dots at the right top of the post you should get an option to edit it. That means that you can delete it. Then I will delete this one. Be aware that the edit option is time-limited. I will report this to the mods, so they can compare the two topics and act as they think best if you can't sort it out.

It is, presumably, a steel boat so it is relatively trivial to get any form of security anchor welded on, even a much thicker ring, but with the ready availability of battery angle grinders it is probably impossible to make it even 80% thief proof. In my case I had a chain locker, rather than a gas tank, right at the front of the boat, so I drilled two holes in the bulkhead between the side locker and chain locker to pass a loop of a thick security chain through. it then went through the generator handle. That is not acceptable to the BSS etc if it is a gas tank. Could you sacrifice some of the well deck and get lockable steel locker for the generator when not in use installed along with a "gas" drain through the hull?

Quiet, there has to be enough space under the floor for sufficient ballast. Get it wrong, and you might have to buy steel cutoffs to get the weight within the space.

My comments on Lower Heyford and Thrupp. The last time I looked the rail service from Lower Heyford was not exactly frequent - roughly a two hourly service, but buses from the end of the lane at Thrupp, maybe a 5-minute walk or so, seem more frequent - roughly an hourly service and more at peak time. The train from Lower Heyford will also get you to Banbury (as will the bus).

Actually, I doubt the lack of ballast when afloat would be a major safety hazard. it would be very tender and tend to roll badly, but as long as you kept people and weight off the roof it would probably be safe enough for moving on a canal.