Murflynn

I suggest you visit all the outboard manufacturers' websites, and the Yachting forums (just google 'outboard alternator' and you'll come up with loads of links.. There are some motors with higher rated alternators, and much discussion among yachties. i would also suggest you talk to an inland Honda dealer - they are the commonest motor used in these applications.

wot he said, and keep 240 and 12V separated by a reasonable distance.

It really isn't rocket science, just a few simple DIY tasks that can be handled progressively. If you read the recommendations and follow them you will probably be more compliant than many boat builders would.

if you are suggesting that the anchor should always be fixed to the sharp end to allow the boat to be motored up to retrieve the anchor, even if it is fixed at the stern, the fixing can be transferred to the bow by the judicial use of additional ropes.

Following the links I ended up with this website, which appears to be Intosofa under a new name. Same products as the old Intosafa website. http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/?gclid=CLSBnOnY4sACFaYIwwodhTYARA

The Narrowboat Builder's Book published by Waterways World - a bit dated but a very useful starter guide.

The normally held view is that the anchor is there largely to secure the end of the chain, the chain should have sufficient weight to create a significant drag to hold the boat and to form a spring (the effect of trying to lift the heavy chain off the bottom will hold the boat in a tide or current). In that case the chain appears too light w.r.t. the size of the anchor. Forces generated when the boat is static are quite low, in a river related to the drag in the current, in a seaway you must add the bucking of the boat in waves. You can probably get away with an anchor, a short length of chain to hold the stock of the anchor on the river bed, and plenty of rope, in a river; chain comes into its own in a seaway. If you ever wish to use the anchor to serve as an emergency brake you will need really substantial fixings and much thicker rope. The snatch force, if the anchor bites on anything solid, slowing the boat from maybe 3 knots in a strong current will be related to the weight of the boat (obviously) and to the elasticity of the rope. If the rope has zero elasticity the snatch force is, in theory, infinite. If the boat is decelerated over a reasonable distance the snatch force is WxD/g where W is the mass (weight) of the boat, D is the deceleration and g is the gravity constant (in the same units). For example if the boat is slowed at a deceleration of 32ft/sec/sec then D/g is 1 and the snatch force is perhaps 18tonnes. In the case of stopping the boat dead from 3 knots in 2 seconds the average snatch force will be about 1tonne, (actually increasing from zero to about 3 tonnes as the rope stretches and takes up the strain) and the distance travelled (stretch in the rope) will be about 4metres. So if you have 20metres of rope it needs to be able to stretch by 4 metres. This is 20%, about the limit for nylon or polyethylene rope. The rope thickness needs to be at least 14mm to withstand this breaking strain.

its so good it is described by VWP as 'no longer available'

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm links to full details of every waterway and its locks and bridges.

reminds me of Hydrogenesis, the all aluminium Bristol 'hydrogen powered' water taxi that apparently cost the taxpayer (council tax) about £250K which I believe was spent largely with a local entrepreneur, and has not carried a passenger since it was launched in 2012. It was lauded as ground-breaking technology - can't see why, it's only using hydrogen cells in a boat. Today the local news seems to put it in the scandalous waste category. It produces 'zero emissions', but uses hydrogen supplied in cylinders by Air Products. I hate to think of the carbon footprint for the fuel manufactured remotely and then delivered by truck. A bit like saying an electric car using throwaway Duracells has zero emissions. The only effective use of hydrogen is if the fuel station has solar power and generates its own hydrogen from water, which apparently works in Arizona but not in Bristol. In the case of the turbine barge, why is it located below a weir? Is it because it looks more dramatic, or maybe the oxygenated water is more charged with kinetic energy? Why not harness much of the potential energy represented by the weir itself by replacing one or more sluice gates with prefabricated modules containing water wheels, as suggested by MtB? No wonder the Scots who rely on hydro power want to be disassociated with us....................

or arfur craan.