Theo

60' Boat. Next time I fill up I will do some timings and get a rough measure of the volume.

I was atsounded, yes atsounded, to note that, when pumping out the water tank which had just been disinfected with a couple of bottles of cheap imitation Milton, to note that wne the water tank finally pumped dry the anodes were clear of the water by about 2". Normally they are submerged by at least that so with a width of about 4" for the anode that looks like an 8" draught change forward, just for the weight of water in the tank. Nick

I have seen that before. Could it have been on Waterworld? Nick

I think that he has a steam engine in which case he merely stops the engine! And changes the setting on the valve linkage to go backwards. Nick.

I would guess that it is not too bad just occasionally to run your engine for an hour or so to charge the batteries so I do this from time to time but with normal cruising in between. Running the engine in gear when moored will waste lots of diesel and do the damage to banks already commented upon. Nick

But you are not charging the batteries and then using the batteries to drive the propulsion (unless you charge when stationary and then stop the enginge while you are moving!). You are running the engine at its most scomonical speed and using any excess electricity to charge the batteries. I would have thought that this is liley to be at least as efficient in total as the straight mechanical gearbox arrnagement. I will confess that my opinion is not based on any measurement, though. Nick

Is the damage to the environment because the arrangement is less efficient than the use of a maechanical gearbox? Nick

A lack of gravity on the canals! Help! I can see problems with working locks aand using the loo.

I cannot for the life of me see why therre should be a rule like this. You are still driving a boat through the water. It's as sensible as banning one sort of gerbox over another. Nick

I do like this idea. You have a big bank of batteries and charge them up with either shore power or a generating set, then you use the electric motor the drive the prop. Advantages: no gear box needed, huge amounts of torque at low revs from the electric motor, only low power diesel needed because you rarely need the full power of the engine and the battery banks will be able to supply the brief periods of full power, the diesel engine can be set to run at its most economical revs and the speed control of the propulsion motor is electronic, you can switch of the diesel altogether for nearly silent, fume free running when you are going through locks, you can slam the propeller into reverse in an instant, you can have the diesel generator exactly where you want it. Is that list long enough for all the advantages? If I had the money I would commission one straight away. Theo

Sorry to be boring but back to the topic... Is the purpose of the inverter generator to keep the frequency constant under different load conditions? Or is it that we want a single phase when then rectified 3phase is more efficient to generate? Nick

As far as I know there are no indicator lights of any sort except the green one on the main switch. I could do with an instuction book and service manual, I think! I will trawl the web and see what I can find. At the moment I don't even know which model I have. Thansk everyone for the useful info. Nick

Theodora is fitted with a Mikuni Diesel boiler and I am not sure what is the matter with it. 1. It did not work at all until we charged the batteries to a reasonable voltage. I did not find that very surprising. 2. It then worked reasonably reliably for a whole two weekends and a Saturday morning. It does not seem to have any sort of thermostatic control on it so the domestic water got very hot. One thing that I noticed is that the spark igniter seems to work continuously as there is a ticking noise from it all the time. 3. Yesterday morning it work fine for a while. I then switched it off for a couple of hours and when I switched it on again there was nothing. Not even the green light on the switch. As we were leaving the boat I switched it again to see if anything would happen. The green light came on but I did not have time to let it go through the start cycle so I switched it off again, turned off the battery master switches and went home. This morning nothing again. Not even the green light. One further thing. It makes a high pitched peeping noise on verious random occasions. At least, I think it is the MIkuni and nothing else! Any ideas anyone? Nick

Hm... Haven't a clue what happened there! :-) Nick

Interesting about the waveform. I can see no reason why every generator should not have a perfect sine wave output. Nick

Will fluorescents work with modified sine wave inverters? Nick

The bulb will not blow if it is in working condition. It should trip the switch so fast that you will not see it light. I would think that it is better to connect it through he earth pin rather than to the boat's hull. This will show that the Earthing wire is properly connected. If the bulb lights and the the RCD does not trip out then you have a faulty RCD. If the bulb does not light and the RCD does not trip out then you have a faulty Earth. Nick

Not quite micro is millionth, milli is thousandth... Nick

Quote: According to the Yuasa book, conventional lead-acid batteries discharge at a rate of 1% per day at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that in a bit more than three months, your battery is dead. Faster if your boat draws some current when not in use, which some boats may do. Endquote I rather think that the 1% is more likely to be 1% of what is remaining rather than 1% of what was originally in the battery. In which case the battery will never finally discharge becuse it is an exponential decrease. Doing the maths says that after 100 days (the three months in question) you will be down ro 37% of the charge rather than zero. Nick

Ditto! N

Many thanks, Alan and Malcolm. Now I know! Nick

I see from the Nicholson guide on page75, that I need a "handcuff key (as used on the Erewash Canal) to operate the water saving gear between Ervin's lock and Aylestone Mill. Is this also the same as the one that I used on the Leads and Liverpool which is a cylinder abut 13mm in diameter with a square hole about 6mm side? If not I am going to have to get one from "boatyards or the Navigation pub and Kilby bridge. Nick

I am deeply unimpressed by the one that is working in the chandlery at Whilton. I rather think that most of the comfort of a soid fuel staove is from the radiant heat. That travels at 186,000 miles per second so does not need any help from an ecofan. Nick