Bacchus

Presumably the negative terminal on the starter is grounded to chassis/earth anyway? So attaching your leisure battery to this would have the same net effect as grouning to chassis, or am I missing something?

Good job I didn't buy one then (c:

Much better partial charge and cycling characteristics too. The bigger battery would provide 13hp for an hour as well, giving you at 2-3 hours cruising on a canal. A couple of those and a little heavily silenced diesel genset running at optimum efficiency 24 hours a day (I did say heavily silenced...) would give you propulsion and domestics. I think it's a great step forward, funnily enough I had considered buying a crash damaged g-wiz for this very reason.

Probably should'a bought that then 'This time next year Del boy, we'll be millyonaires...'

This ^ I used to work with a tree surgeon and we used it for pulling trees down! Bloomin' cumbersome way to moor a boat though... and if that is becoming necessary the OP's dad might just have to start facing the realities of time

A quick google tells me exactly where that is (c: I have a friend who has lived on that mooring for twenty five years and isn't going anywhere soon There can be a bit of train noise, but I think you get used to that, and I know that, especially for the location, the fees my friend pays are quite reasonable, not sure whether a "newbie" would get the same rate of course...

My hatch has brass bolts fitted, but the hatch itself is made of wood. As the wood changes size and shape with moisture content, the bolts go out of aligment which is why I had to fit the cabin hooks. If the hatch is steel on steel the bolts may work better but still have to be aligned to within about +-0.5mm, whereas the hook arrangement, which is equally secure, would work to within about +-5mm, and as the OP 'fesses up that this is the first attempt at DIY...

My boat has a similar arrangement but with a folding hatch, I just fitted an internal cabin hook to hold the hatch down.

I used a luggage strap for mine for the last BSS cert. Three or four squid from halfords if you don't have any lying around, and a couple of self-tappers with washers. Would look a bit less Heath-Robinson and give you the flexibility to secure extra batteries in the future

That might be something; the male/boatside connector is "scheduled for replacement", although this wouldn't fully explain why it never happened pre-galvanic isolator (actually, technically, it did trip once when some builders left the loose end dangling in the river...)

Hi Nicknorman Boat is a Dutch Steel Cruiser, not a narrow boat. I am at a bit of a loss with this; the boat is on a home mooring so I have used the same domestic supply (and the same shore-power lead which is a "pukka" metred one) since I bought the boat two years ago, and this has never happened; the only change is the introduction of the GI (which is mounted on a wooden bulkhead behind the saloon seating) - actually not strictly true, I have "scarfed" in an extra metre of cable to run the supply to a convenient point on the bulkhead, but that is connected via normal terminal connectors in insulated junction boxes and also screwed onto wood. It's very bizarre. Also doesn't happen immediately. I did notice it trip yesterday when a large barge went past, which may or may not have been a coincidence. On the first day I fitted it, it happened during the night so at least eight hours after connecting. I can only think that it's the battery charger (which is proper "Sterling" jobbie, not a Christmas cracker one from the market), but I can't think why... [edit]but, yeah, I guess the next step would be to bypass the GI to make absolutely sure that something else hasn't been introduced[/edit]

I think that's correct, yes. As long as you moor under a bridge. That's right isn't it? I'm sure that's what I remember from the Billy Goats Gruff...

Hi There is a wealth of information on this site regarding Galvanic Isolation including this (http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6101&page=1) legendary thread from a few years ago for which I am waiting to come out in Kindle format! I have trawled around tyring to find a solution to an issue that I have, but so far to no avail. The issue is this; I fitted a Galvanic Isolator to my boat last weekend, putting it inline in the earth wire of the incoming shore power lead. I tested it with my good old avo-meter, and it seems to be up and running, BUT when the boat is plugged into a normal domestic RCD, the supply switch trips periodically - maybe after an hour, maybe after several hours. The shore power on my boat is fairly basic, an incoming lead goes to a fused junction box from which leads are run to two plug sockets, a lamp, and a battery charger, the only thing connected is the battery charger. I have read about Switched Mode and understand that it is possible for some equipment to "dump" current to Earth to suppress RFI, and I think the domestic RCD trips if it detects current on the Earth side (I used to live in a damp old house where this happened quite regularly) so this MAY be a problem, but it never happened before the GI was fitted, and I fail to understand how the GI could cause this?? I was wondering whether any of the forum Physicists or social sparkies are able to explain this? Have I done something wrong? More importantly can I resolve it?

I never get board of Bizzard's wheezes, he always presses home a good point which has me creased up. (I think this one could be adapted with some brown paper to do the ironing whilst at the helm, although "kirby" may have a patent on that)

300Kw is quite a large amount of current to draw from a battery bank, approximately 2500A That would flatten a 110 amp hour battery in about fifteen seconds if it didn't melt first... 3KW might be achievable with the right kit, still 250 amps which is quite a draw from 12v batteries I think I would be heading down the dedicated gennie route if I needed that kind of supply, but try speaking to some of the off-grid housing people, it can be done.

Buy cheap, buy twice I have had a honda eu2.0i for five or six years, and it is one of my favourite bits of kit ever. Never run out of electricity (which is important on a boat as they are very difficult to bump start), and you might not be doing any welding but you can use most power tools wherever you are, and, possibly more importantly, the mem-sahib can always dry her hair... My little honda also survived being almost totally submersed in last winter's floods! Poured the water out of the exhaust and dried it in front of a radiator for a week or so and it started second or third pull !!

Hi Kelly_87 Apologies if I am stating the obvious, but do you have a manual greaser on the stern-gland? I know you say that you checked it, but if the packing is worn you only have to run the boat a small distance for the thing to start weeping again, and a small weep can add up to a lot of water over a couple of days

Just a thought OP, if you are planning on cruising the K and A, isn't it a "wide" canal? A smaller wide beam would give you the space you want, draw less, and, I would think, be much easier to handle; especially with a thruster. Whatever the nay-sayers on here say, they do make life very easy. I would never have had one fitted (and am still a confirmed laugher at their over-use) but current vessel had one anyway and I am converted.

a sense of perspective a sense of adventure a sense of humour ...and this. Very definitely this.