PeterF

i had those metal trims on my last boat, ss they touch the frame they do get cold and form condensation. I have wood trims on the current boat and I do not get condensation forming on the wooden trims. However I still get condensation on the metal frames which then runs down the trims and needs mopping up every now and again but less than with metal trims, wood does not completely eliminate the issue.

Been to many listed in the previous post. In addition National Waterways Museum - Ellesmere Port Little Moreton Hall, Congleton, Royal Armouries, Leeds Cheddleton Flint Mill Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton Saddleworth Museum, Uppermill Hollinsworth Lake, Littleborough Secret Nuclear Bunker, Hack Green

Some inverters like the larger Victron Multiplus or Quattro have a second AC outlet that is only activated when the shoreline is connected and it turns on after 2 minutes. This is sometimes wired to the immersion heater so that it can not run off the battery, only off the shoreline. Therefore, with the time delay it may be a faulty immersion heater element if wired as above.

Hope so because the one marina that I purchased HVO from in the past sold white HVO.

Silica aerogel possibly, but then it is a manual cut and fit to the complex boat shape with issues of sealing edges / joins etc.

The usual route for the other water is rain water which runs off the deck boards into the gutters the deck boards sit on. These gutters often have small drain piped 20mm or so diameter that block with dead leaves, mud, grit etc so you need to keep these drains clear. Also, there may be some leaks in the gutters. You also get water running along the bottom of the deck board which gets through the gaps between the deck boards and the gutters even if there are no leaks in the gutters and the drains work. I have put strips of seld adhesive foam rubber under the edhe of my deck boards that seals against the gutters, it works well but is still not 100% infallible.

In terms of taking the boat owner to court, have a look at this cautionary tale of someone taking a boat builder to court over a very very poor paint job and the court siding with the builder. I know that the tale is told from one side, but it shows that it is hard to get any redress in this sort of case. https://noproblem.org.uk/blog/my-day-in-court-with-collingwood-boat-builders/

Definitely something not right. My Beta 43 with 175A alternator is getting towards 14.5V when the amps around 20. I agree it is likely to be an alternator issue but to make sure it is not voltage drop in the cables. Next time you are running measure the voltage at the battery and at the alternator, between the main positive cable terminal and the case. If the two voltages are similar your alternator is not generating enough voltage and needs looking at. If the alternator voltage is 14.5V or thereabouts try and find where the voltage drop is occurring by measuring the voltage at each connection between the battery and alternator.

I have just had a look on the map at the Shropshire Union just south of Chester and notice that you only have one icon for Golden Nook moorings, you need another 20 markers evenly spaced over about ½mile each side of the one you have.🤣😂🤣😂 ps do not take me too seriously on this one.

The info needed here is the voltage measured at the battery bank when you get the 90A, 50A and 10-20A points listed above.

The first boat we bought second hand and had for about 15 years was from bow to stern, larger than average well deck without a cover, saloon, Pullman dinette, galley, bathroom with corridor, bedroom with 2 lengthwise singles with middle flap to form a double, cruiser stern. We liked it as it was, we liked the larger well deck but did not like the smaller saloon that was created, we liked the corridor passed the bathroom, we did not like the cramped bathroom, we liked the saloon at the front with the windows and glazed doors, we did not like the living area separated from the stern if one of us was inside. These are all mutually exclusive points requiring compromise with no clear right answer. Our current boat, custom built a few years back is from the bow to stern, smaller well deck with cratch cover, bedroom with king size cross double, walk through bathroom, saloon, L shape dinette, galley, semi-cruiser stern with large seating/lockers. This is radically different to the first boat and looses some of the things we liked on that one but remedies some things we were not keen on. Such a change should not be seen as saying that we did not like our first boat or that it was a mistake to but it, because we enjoyed our time on it.

The video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IlcZyW1IM

I have a different version of the Refleks and the burner pot in that has a lot of small holes that bleed air into the flame, if these are blocked it does not burn well. Some of them are hard to see and need an angled inspection mirror. Too much soot can occur if there is too much fuel or too little air or if the air is not mixing well. Do you have a " catalyser" coil or mesh, these help stabilise the flame by glowing red in the combustion area. Not sure if your model should have one or not. As noted above, join the Refleks facebook group and ask there. https://m.facebook.com/groups/334808647035734/

Added an overview of last nights webinar hosted by Haven Know-Johnston at https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/120120-lithium-battery-webinar-by-insurance-company/&do=findComment&comment=3004957

The webinar was not the insurance industry view on the insurability of boats with lithium batteries but a presentation on the general subject of lithium batteries, it just happened to be hosted by an insurance broker (not an underwriter). The subject matter was presented by 3 technical people, a fire investigator, a marine surveyor and the owner of a marine equipment company selling and installing amongst other things lithium battery systems. The fire inspector and the marine surveyor had some experience with inland waterways and canal boats. The marine equipment man was solely offshore and large systems based and had no understanding of inland boats / canal boats. He worked with lithium battery systems that make Victron equipment look cheap! and he was one step away from detailed systems engineering so he made a number of technical errors during the presentation. Battery Chemistry The overall view provided was, as we know that LFP are very safe compared to all the other main stream chemistries such as LCO, NMC etc. although LTO was not really mentioned much. It was accepted that these were very hard to damage and generally if damaged did not overheat and combust and thermal runaway was very unlikely. The fire investigator confirmed that nearly all battery fires were chemistries other than LFP and ones where LFP were involved may well have been due to other issues such as poor installation / failed shorting equipment but you could not always determine the root cause. The marine equipment man only works with LFP. This of course was all said with the insurance broker present so hopefully the message will diffuse throughout the industry. Toys Both the surveyor (who also does loss adjustor work for insurers) and the fire investigator said that mostly battery related fires on boats were not from the boat batteries but the "toys", e-scooters, e-bikes, e-surf boards, diving power pods (not sure this applies to canals though). Some of these and their charging units are not designed as a full system and some of the 12V adapters can get very hot. With these, the view was that if you are charging something like this, do not do it in your escape route, there was a recent case with a flat where the bike / scooter was charged in the hall and the occupants could not escape. There was another on a narrow boat with the charging happening in the engine room at one end of the boat but luckily the occupants could escape from the other end of the boat. People mentioned that e-scooters especially were prone as the battery pack is low down below the board and easily damaged if not in a rugged case. Charging bags were mentioned, a flame roof fibre glass bag which could contain to some extent a lithium battery burning. However, encasing a battery in an insulating bag during charging will mean the battery warms up more. Hybrid (mixed) LA and LFP banks At a high level the marine equipment man was quite comfortable with mixed banks and he believes that the idea is sound. He called them Lithium Extension batteries and mentioned a German company, I believe this is Bos AG who sell a very expensive lithium battery system to add to your lead acid bank. These are designed for the top daily consumption going into your lead acid for deeper discharges. This is similar to the hybrid method advocated within the canal boating world. However, when questioned about "hybrid" systems he had trouble probably because we were talking about different things. It was interesting that it was not discounted out of hand. System installation Fusing was discussed where it was noted that LFP can have a very high short circuit discharge current, especially in large offshore or propulsion systems, much higher than LA. They suggested Class T fuses capable of 20,000A @ 12V fault current (expensive) on large battery towers and ANL fuses capable of 6,000A @ 12V fault current for battery strings. They did not mention MRBF fuses which can be mounted on battery terminals with a 10,000 @ 12V fault current. This is probably one area where canal boats probably fall short by using mega fuses or strip fuses, most likely by retaining these from the lead acid install. If you can not fit fuses very close to batteries mention was made of short proof insulation sleeves for the cables. Other aspects were system communication systems (CAN), emergency shutdown buttons, fire protection plus isolation on both positive and negative leads. A lot was made of professional vs self install with some discussion of the generally poor wiring in canal boats. The surveyor said most electrically based fire claims he made were due to poor installation with issues such as loose wiring where positive and negative high current cables chafed against each other causing shorts (and by inference inadequate fusing) causing something nearby to catch fire. The same was true for not having properly covered terminals on batteries and equipment. This situation with LFP batteries would be worse than with lead acid due to the higher fault currents. Other bits The issue of low temperatures on LFP was discussed and acknowledged, as well as high temp for people travelling to sunnier climes. They agreed that now LFP was cheaper over the battery lifetime than AGM. They suggested that DC-DC or alternator to battery chargers were one way of overcoming installs with legacy alternators to avoid expensive alternator modifications. Conclusion This was very positive, it showed that lithium batteries are viewed as being very safe and entirely practical for boat domestic systems and low power propulsion systems and was not a witch hunt. It was fairly relaxed about some of the more novel ways of adding lithium to your system as long as they were properly managed and had safety systems. The biggest area of concern was around DIY installs which have the risk of being less safe. The video of the webinar will be uploaded to Youtbe at some point at https://www.youtube.com/@HavenKJ/videos

No expense spared except for spending on rhe actual boat itself from Collingwood. Lots of expensive extra stuff inside on a cheap basic boat.

The other key failure of lead acid, leaving something turned on and completely discharging them is also gone, the BMS stops the discharge short of that point, although self discharge of the BMS can still be an issue over very long term.

Our boat manual tells you to disconnect the shore lead. What is slightly odd is I specified an isolation transformer for the build and the reverse polarity light has still been fitted to the boat side of the IT, reverse polarity can not occur from shore lead reversal. When I queried the builder, the manual warning was for galvanic isolator fitted boats and he missed revising my manual and they fit the reverse polarity lights regardless to avoid arguments with BSS inspectors who would not accept an IT based system did not need one.

I am sure my boat is an Evo version (2020 build) and works from a Heatmiser Neo so the boat fitter obviously knew how to fit it.

Just don't do this on your white boat when moored near Harecastle or Worsley.

If you have an inkjet printer buy some A4 inkjet vinyl self adhesive. Print your labels and then cut them out from the sheet.

I agree on the P type is probably better if a field wire short occurs but I spotted this after I had purchased the N type Harness and understand that I could do the alternator whatever flavour I wanted. I have double insulated the field wires and should bring them out of the back through the plastic cover rather than metal case. Wakespeed programming has improved a lot with the Android app but you still need a USB cable connection so no I-Phone app as they do not have that facility. This was always the bug bear with them. The Zeus may give them the impetus to sort out their Bluetooth. I think that the market is going to increase with lithium uptake increasing.