Johny London

I think I've been past that one myself some time ago - I think they made a good job of it but I wonder how you actually get into the boat!

Just a thought - will the fan run well from a non sine wave inverter? I heard motors can run hotter or fail to start?

Except boat ovens are tiny and rubbish. I wonder if it would be possible to change the fan for a 12v one and indeed the bulb? Annoyingly they don't seem to do an led oven bulb at all - I guess because of the temperature.

Well done to the o/p for being able to think clearly and not getting carried away, it can be difficult once the mind gets set.

Would love to hear more details from the o/p before putting my size eights in but on the face of it, I'd steer well clear. As everyone has said, it'll end up costing, so you might just as well save/borrow and get a ready to go boat that is mostly a known quantity, and then just maintain and enjoy it. That first flourish of enthusiasm as you start ripping off all the old carp will soon fade... depths of winter, pouring with rain, cold, damp, trying to fit kitchen cabinets, run pipes, wiring etc etc etc. If you get something that is up and together, you could look forward to arriving at the boat, lighting the stove and getting the kettle on - rather than donning your overalls, lugging a bunch of materials down a muddy towpath (in the rain) and breaking out the tools (if someone hasn't already broken them out for you that is!). Use the poor survey result as an excuse to try and get your deposit back - if not just cut your losses and walk away.

I've just realised the op was referring to the engine - and not the heating system, (talk of the header tank confused me) which I hope explains my somewhat strange thoughts on the matter!

Obviously not - if it has a header tank. And the problem I am trying to solve is this: The op wondered whether he had failed to put his header tank high up enough, with a pressurised system he wont have a header tank to worry about.

Convert it to a sealed, pressurised system, it's not hard.

Yeh, we didn't have a fridge when I was a kid. I think your bottomless box makes good sense - I did wonder about making a "larder" in a similar way (is it how some do a wine cellar?) by having a hatch in the galley and storing stuff on the cold steel base plate. Thus not having to go outside every five minutes.

I've tried a box outside - it seems like a good idea when there is a cold snap, but actually it's a real pita - if you leave the boat and the sun comes out unexpectedly, you worry about stuff spoiling. Also just having to keep opening the boat doors to go and get stuff every five minutes and loosing all your heat Definitely solve the problem by adding more power in some way and keeping the fridge on - it is a bastion of civilisation.

Now that is a good idea - so I guess you set it to something like normal evening hours (8/9pm-12/1am?) to look like you are in if anyone passes by. I'm still not quite sure what the point is of my external solar lights - but the insects sure seem to like them

My thought too - Surely "a box" that produces 240v at 4kva off an alternator is an inverter? I think most of the Shoreline fridges are quite small - certainly the fridge freezer I have here is only 500mm wide. Infact it is 48mm w x 130mm tall. An interesting thing about this too - someone once told me that it was mains fridges that kill the batteries - I'm not just talking about power consumption here - what the person said was that they have a very high surge every time they cycle on - and it is true that if I was cruising I could tell when the fridge came on as there was a blip in the rpm. The 12v one I have, I'm not saying it somehow cools as much for magically less power, but you cannot detect when it kicks in. I thought the guy was talking nonsense at the time but maybe there is something to it? So I would say get a shoreline (should that be [loseyour]shirtline on account of the cost!!!?)

The third of three boats in close succession haring past (all from the same hire company), I think this is the best way...

plus inverter losses in this case!

Mine came with an element already fitted. The boat fitter said it was £100 extra as an option so I said I didn't want it, but it was there anyway cos I guess they all just come like that. No one has mentioned yet - you'll need an element spanner if you have to fit it (Wickes sell them) and be really careful - copper cylinders are strong only up to a point. Don't over tighten.

I think the heater boss Tony refers to would be the element (or where an element can go) in the tank. If there is already an element all you need to do is see how/if it is wired - but be carefull not to let it get switched on unless you are confident you have enough power (which would be shoreline, basically). It also sounds like you can turn your rads off. If you do so, the Ebersplutter will heat the water quickly but may start to "cycle" ie go into a low power burn - potentially causing its burner to soot up over time, and fail. There seems to be divided opinion on here about it actually, so you will have to pay your money and take your chances. (Or the other way round in this case!). I have been using a Webasto successfully for a couple of winters now for heating and hot water, just recently I turned off most of the rads - the idea is to leave one on so as to help dissipate heat - the pump is small in these type of heaters and they cannot transfer all heat output to the calorifier effectively enough to avoid going into low burn mode. Now, with two rads still on, my Webasto starts to cycle before the water is hot - so we will see.

Yes and I suppose by the time one has wired an auto switching system and the dump battery as you suggest, it just isn't simple anymore

If the Victron system is plug n play - how come Jono spent ages designing the mega elaborate system he has? That is entirely Victron equipment but I don't think it is their off the peg standard schematic/set up (if indeed they have one) and it's prolly a lot more complicated than any home brew solution. Here's a thought - if charging off the alternator is such a difficult proposition, would it be worth running an inverter/charger off of it, then using that to charge the lithiums (with its nice three or 4 stage charging cycle and any protections offered by the charger) then just switching the lithiums back in to run everything once charging has finished? ***I thought I'd posted the above a day or so ago - the forum seems to be working oddly for me?***

Dont forget the first man to bend a spoon in space...... Yuri Gegeller!

Just get two centre lines, one each side - that mitigates getting caught up.

I spoke to someone who had had a boat wrapped. They told me that when they came to remove it (after a few years) it proved very difficult. Not heat nor chemicals worked. Can't remember for sure but I think they got it off by painstaking mechanical removal of some sort - maybe there are different types of vinyl in use, but something to consider. I have often thought about starting a "Narrow Escape" lookout thread.