Tony Brooks

I was going to post a Michael Caneesq quote about moving the doormat, but thought better of it in case it upset anyone.

My only comment is that with open cells you can use a hydrometer to check the state of charge of each cell, so in a day or two, once the acid and topping up water have mixed, if the cell readings differ by more than 0.030 across the cells then you have a faulty cell (Lucas said 0.025). If you get sealed cells then you can't use a hydrometer and boater testing involves fully charging, letting it sit overnight, then noting voltage, disconnecting, letting stand for a day or so and then comparing the voltages. Both should be almost the same. Some here have been bitten by an earlier vendor of lead carbon batteries, so are likely to be somewhat biased. Carbon can't alter the chemical processes in lead acid batteries like sulphation, but it may well mask it. especially with sub optimum charging.

Right, what you did should have allowed it to self prime and when you take the faceplate off the pump me guess is that all the vanes will be correctly orientated with no significant damage BUT: This is a very old engine and the way the pump works puts side thrust on the shaft. I am all but certain that your pump has the shaft running in the metal pump body, hence the greaser. It probably has an oil/water seal under the wear plate in the back of the pumping chamber. It will have another seal at the backend of the pump body. If the body is worn, and there is a very good chance that is the case, and the seal is fitted backwards or is also worn then it won't prime because it can suck air down the shaft. Try filling the greaser and screwing it down as tight as you can. That just might seal the shaft enough for it to prime with a bit of a rev. With the impeller out, try moving the shaft from side to side, that may give you some idea about wear in the body.

If @uncle nick posts some photos of the boat, there are members who might be able to give an informed guess at its age and possibly builder.

And its series pair - the OP says it is a 6V battery (3 cells).

I agree, and individual cells dryer than the others tend to indicate internal short circuits, and it seems to me it is the shorting cells that produce Hydrogen sulphide. Probably time for renewal.

https://www.burtonpower.com/adjustable-alternator-tensioner-110-140mm-mp1295.html

I don't think so, just stick with 1.5D stuff and avoid 1800CC info because although a lot is the same the injector pump drive and timing gear is very different. Manual - just ignore the 2.5 stuff http://www.boatservicehaarlem.nl/bmc_tempest.pdf

If you are stripping it then there are free to download manuals online. At the back of the port side of the engine, below the exhaust manifold, you will see a large and smaller hexagon heads. The large one has the hexagon horizontal and a bit below that and a bit further back is the smaller one that is set onto a bulge in the casting, the face is vertical. The horizontal one has the strainer under it and the vertical one the oil jet, make sure they are clean and intact. This is a service item. If you are unlucky enough to find them clogged, then the camshaft and/or the injector pump drive gears many be badly worn. The CaRT number is not a very reliable proof of age, only the time the boat was registered with BW/CaRT. It might have come from a non-CaRT waterway at some time.

A good bodge, except many 1.5 starters use a copper strip, not a disk and the plastic cover moulding would prevent a disc being fitted. I used to turn the strip over to get another good pair of faces and file the fixed contacts points.

If that injector pump is original than that is a very old engine, early/mid 60s I would think. You do know about the injector pump drive oil jet and strainer, I assume.

Plenty of this sort of thing on Google And some turnbuckle ones as well.

As 18GG seems to refer to a 1800cc petrol engine, I don't understand why you are using it to understand a 1500cc diesel engine. If your engine were a 1.8 diesel then there might be a point. I would suggest that as the timing notch was altered so considerably, then there must be two different versions of the pulley. This is why I am uneasy when people talk about buying critical parts from MG sources. I remind you that you can stick a degree plate to the front pulley to set up the timing marks.

Many thanks. That looks like a nine diode alternator, so uses the warning lamp to elite it. But as the warning light is working as it should, coming on with the ignition and going out as the alternator energises, the fact that you have no rise in voltage or revcounter is a bit of a mystery. Definitely have a look at the multi-way plug in the main harness and then do a Blackrose suggests and check the connections on the control panel. The alternator looks like a Lucas A127 clone to me, which is very common. Test results for testing the alternator connections.: B+ to B-, thick brown to thick black cables, should read battery voltage and charging voltage once the engine is started and revved. Note: The engine battery master switch needs to be turned on. D+ or warning lamp wire. The thin cable that looks like brown and white running to the blue bullet connector. Disconnect (in your case, the blue connector is probably easier than the stud on the alternator) with voltmeter between the cable (not the alternator) and any negative. The meter should read zero with the ignition off and battery voltage, with no warning lamp when the ignition is on. W or rev counter wire that I think is the thin black one. This passes pulses, so you need the meter set to Hz if you can, or possibly AC volts. I can't give a definitive figure, but the meter should rise as you rev the engine. A further thought - if the warning lamp is an LED or uses a grain of wheat dolls house bulb, then it needs a parallel resistor to help energise the alternator so if that has failed or become detached the alternator will not energise. I don't know what type of warning lamp you have, but if it is one of these, the bulb should just stay on with a faulty parallel resistor.

There is a big difference between looking and feeling connections that are normally in view, be it somewhat restricted, and those that may need pulling cables out of the boat.

I would suggest that asking a poster that we have no idea of their practical abilities or the design of their boat to look behind a control panel would not be the first thing to do, because in many cases that involves taking the panel out of the boat and that can, all too easily, lead to connections being pulled off. If it is easy to get at then fine, but if not, let's get the results of what I said before going any further.

As far as I am concerned, it was well up to Chanel 5 standards in that for the majority it was watchable, somewhat entertaining, but very shallow and obviously made down to a budget. Just a typical Chanel 5 offering.

What does the charge/ignition warning lamp do please? In many/most cases the current through the warning lamp "wakes the alternator up", so no current = no charge, and no charge = no signal to the tacho so the tacho stays as it was, but I would have expected it to drop to zero when the ignition was turned on. Also, what do the other instruments and warning lamp do when you switch the ignition on. First physical checks - check all connections on the alternator are tight and clean. Check the large multi-way connector(s) in the main engine wiring harness are clean, tight and secure. As very preliminary guess, I would say the symptoms suggest possibly worn brushes in the alternator or a loose connection. Edited to add: a photo of the back of the alternator would help so we can see if it is a six or nine diode machine, because they are "woken up" in different ways.

Thank you for reporting back from me as well. It helps everyone learn.

To absolutely clarify. Have you plugged a mains item into the boat's 240V socket, started and revved the engine, turned the multiway switch to Travelpower and turned the Travelpower on. Don't do this with the inverter turned on or a shore line attached. The three-way switch is almost certainly used to connect one of the three "mains type" power sources to your boat's 240V sockets. Your boat should have a domestic mains circuit breaker/fuse and RCD box, so make sure the RCD or a circuit breaker has not tripped

Actually, I suspect it is 2 hours a night, so 20 hours in total. That is about the same as mine, which were about 14 hours over two days. Many years ago I ran a similar course at a school near Aldermaston, I am sure there are others around the country, unless the RYA has outcompeted them. The problem I felt was that the equipment for hands on was very severely limited.

For under £10 a plastic degree plate stuck to the pulley would probably be easier and more accurate than using flywheel teeth.

That makes much more sense - 10 days, not 10 weeks. The only thing I would be a bit wary of the amount of hands on in a small group.

That is exactly what I said in response to a post about the mods asking people not to go suggest spamming or bots. I note that you still have not told us why you think the tank can not be full, no water coming from the taps does not necessarily mean that the tank is empty, although that is the usual reason. I also don't recall you telling us what type of tank it is. If it is an integral tank (uses the hull and bulkhead as sides) then after the winter it might be full - full of river water via a perforation in the hull or even rain water via a bad seal on the usual inspection plate in the well deck. But in that case of a hull perforation, the water in the filler would gradually drop until the river level and filler level were equal. I am in no way trying to suggest that this is the case, but use it as an illustration as to why answering questions that you may think are pointless is vital if you want the help you asked for.