tosher

I'll drink to that -- bring back chris-w, really miss his informed contributions to the forum. tosher

My boat is 18 months old and has a Sterling "Alternator to Battery" charger, a Sterling "Battery to Battery" charger, a Sterling 3KW Pure sine wave combi unit/Inverter and several remote control stations. All worked faultlessly until recently when the charger section of the combi unit would ocasionally trip spuriously when on shore power.I contacted Sterling who asked me to return it to them which I did and they immediately replaced it with a brand new one under warranty. There kit carries a 2 year warranty and is something well worth concidering when buying expensive new equipment. Hope that helps. tosher

Have a word with Stirling, if it's only just 2 years old it may still be under warranty. They replaced mine recently, which developed a fault after 14 months, with no problems at all.

Filled up this afternoon at Wheaton Aston and sign outside said 70.9p/l but when it comes to paying they are actually charging 77.3p/l. Still cheaper than most other places except Norbury Junction at 76.9p/l.

Just had word from a friend in Middlewich of a spate of thefts from boats in that area. It appears that the latest targets are diesel and brass mushroom vents. Watch out!!

Thanks for that Robbo, I understand what you say. Afraid some of the previous post went way over my head but thanks to them anyway. tosher

I have a PC at home & my ISP is Plus-Net. My e-mail address is a Plus-Net address. I have just bought a laptop to use on the boat and my question is ---If I buy a USB Modem (dongle?) from T-Mobile or Vodaphone etc will I be able to use the same e-mail address for both computers? I'm not sure if this is possible but what I would like to happen is that if someone sends me an e-mail it will be received by which ever computer (home PC or boat laptop) is switched on?? Can anyone out there do that ????

Thanks Chris, will tackle it myself when the time comes. tosher

Hi Chris, do you have some kind of workshop manual for doing this service or is it relatively simple and straight forward enough to tackle without one??? Cheers --- tosher

Thanks for the responses, must admit I have some sympathy with Baldock and WarriorWomen's views. tosher

I've used these on yachts at sea and they would definitely be my first choice if not so expensive. Very light and easy to handle, suberb holding in fact they take so well that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to them out. tosher

Thanks for the replies. Tried Book Marking and it works fine, the thread is even updated in the book mark section when new posts are added in the forum. tosher

I have the same dilema as you Ray in deciding on the design of a cratch and wondered if you have progressed and what the outcome is. If it's not too late, an idea I have is to use an open "A" frame at the front with no central upright and to use a removable canvas front panel with plastic window that could easily be unzipped and rolled up giving free access to the foredeck. Has anyone else experience of this type as I have never seen one in use??? tosher.

When I read a post on the forum which I think may be of use to me in the future I would like to save it. Is there any way to archive individual posts (or even threads) within the forum site for easy recall at a later date without having to resort to the search facility, where I often cant find what I am looking for?? tosher.

Thanks for all your responses, I bought the Universal DC Power Supply from Maplins as suggested and it does the job nicely. Cheers -- tosher.

If it is any help to you I use Elecsol batteries and the SG on these is lower than other types of batteries. From memory the SG when fully charged is about 1.25. tosher

Is there a simple way to power a 6volt appliance from the boats 12volt DC sockets? I have a digital TV aerial which has an internal booster. This booster is supplied with 6volt DC from a power inserter plugged into the aerial coax cable at the back of the freeview box. This power inserter is supplied from a 240volt AC plug with built in transformer/rectifier but unfortunately the nearedt 240 volt socket is some way from the TV which means trailing cables. Right next to the TV is a spare 12 volt DC socket so my question is ---- how can I supply the 6 volt DC power inserter from the adjacent 12 volt DC socket ?? The details on the power inserter say 6 volt DC 100ma but the actual measured voltage when plugged into 240 AC is 8 volt DC.

Just an update, you are quite correct chris, the pulley on the engine is just over 9 inches dia. and the pulley on the alternators is just under 3 inches dia. tosher.

Come on "snibble" keep yourself safe. look at www.diconsafety.co.uk I've had two of these installed for almost a year now without a single false alarm. They were given free of charge by the Cheshire Fire Brigade when they did a free inspection of the boats in our area. The only time it goes off is when swmbo's cooking gets out of control and fills the kitchen with smoke!

Hi "Bob the welder" Shortly after my original post I bought the boat with the punp out roof connections and it has worked fine with no problems for almost a year now. Not yet got round to a self pump out system though. Thanks anyway for your post. tosher.

Had this once on a sea going yacht, Perkins engine/Hurth gearbox. Afraid nothing but a recon gearbox cured the problem. Incidentaly it was caused by who ever fitted the gearbox fitted the linkages the wrong way round, so when the gear lever was pushed forward the boat went backwards. and pulling the lever backwards the boat went forwards. The cleaver dock yard maties overcame this problem by simply changing the pitch of the max prop from right handed to left handed which cured the direction problem but of course meant the gearbox spent most of it's life working in reverse gear. It worked like this for 15 years before the gearbox finally died. The cause was diagnosed by a very knowledgable Perkins engineer who fitted the replacement gearbox and out of interest I asked him what the reverse gear time rating was on a Hurth mechanical gearbox and he replied ---- 30 MINUTES !!!! tosher.