Tasemu

What you said above makes sense to me, thanks for the advice. When i run the alternator the batteries are definitely at 12.3 - 12.4 resting voltage. Sometimes the voltage jumps healthily immediately, and sometimes it barely jumps at all. But it always climbs up to 13.9-14 volts fairly quickly, within a minute or two. Perhaps the belt is slipping when i start the engine sometimes. The slow initial charging voltage i see only happens sometimes, other times there's no issue at all. Sorry if my information is a bit light, i'm just working on what I see from the battery monitor.

Hiya, sometimes when i run my alternator the voltage jumps to 13.x immediately and continues rising shortly after. Other times, the voltage barely jumps to 12.6 before it very slowly rises to expected charging voltage. I put the alternator on at around 12.4 resting battery voltage. Could someone explain to me why this happens? Thanks in advance!

Fair play, alright i'll leave it be.

Also its very rattly, so was a bit worried about it rattling coolant everywhere. Right i'll run it again now with the cap on and check back in 30 minutes to see if its still draining out the hose.

I've talked to him and he is going to have it looked at late june, but told me to fill it up and try to get it working. I kinda need to have some ability to charge my batteries. Not ideal I know. Yup i ran with the top off for a while, didn't notice any boiling, but will do it again now for longer, i probably ran it not long enough before i put the cap on. also i filled it up to almost the top.

I've topped up the coolant tank and it seems to run ok, one thing I have noticed is that after 10 minutes of running, the pipe coming off the filler cap starts draining water into the bilge. Is this perhaps where all my coolant has gone? And why would it be draining out of there?

Here is my oil level, again, no markings... All the gauges seem to do nothing

No instructions, no operation nor maintenance other than to check the oil occasionally. all followed. I dont think the owner does much with this boat. He hasn't come to see it once since I moved on. He didn't seem to care much when I told him it overheated, but we do have a contract if the engine did indeed break down and I was unable to fix it, he would be obligated to get it running again. Legals aside though, if I can get it running again and work out where its leaking, i can take the advice here to him and hopefully he can get it fixed. I need the engine to charge my batteries for work, that's my main issue here. Thanks for the heads up. I see the former with the filler cap and will be topping it up today. However I'm not sure what the plastic bottle is, i do not see anything like that on the engine. Also thanks everyone for all the help. The feedback has been seriously helpful.

I contacted him right away but he didn't know what or why it was happening, he said put more oil in, which i've done but i suspected that wouldn't be enough. I'd also like to learn more myself too.

I did immediately, he said to try and put more oil in it. But that felt a little off to me so I came here.

Cheers mate, will definitely do.

Oh right, i'll have to pull out the old bilge pump after this and have a proper look, and get some containers for the water.

Thanks, i will do this today! Sorry for some potentially stupid questions: * When i first bleed the skin tank, i should have the engine off right? * When i start with the filler cap off, i should put it on shortly after right? before it heats up? or is it ok to leave off as it comes up to temp.

It is yeah, i'll inspect the hose today. I'm not sure, its been there since i started renting it. I'll take a picture of the dipstick and the level on it today, i try to keep it where i think it makes sense haha, but god knows. There's no drip tray unfortunately, i've never been able to pump it out enough to put in a tray that doesn't float away. Can't install a proper one as i'm only renting it.

Just stopped as i would have if i pulled the stopper plunger. Hey guys, so many replies! sorry i fell asleep! I've checked the pulleys and pump and it looks ok. I've checked the coolant tank.. looks dry as a bone in there. I'm going back to re-read all the comments now and reply to as many as i can.

Yeah I have started the engine once since, and it started without complaint. Nope neutral

Only one alternator, i'll have a look for the pulley now. Engine does start (using the electric start), The pipes look ok visually. I'll check the alternator belt tensions shortly. By the way, why would the engine overheat and stop running due to an alternator belt?

Skin tank feels pretty stone cold at the top, can't reach down into the bottom unfortunately. Drive belt on the alternator looks fine, can't see a water pump pulley but its likely my lack of knowledge showing here.

Also I just ran the engine again super quick to see, it starts fine, but i've turned it right back off again.

I've give it another hour then, good point.

I've had a look at the dipstick, it appears to have oil on it, though there's no bloody markings on the dipstick so i can't know if its enough or not.

Bilge oil/water has been there for as long as I remember, i pump it out whenever I can but it slowly fills up again, specially when it rains. I've never been able to get it all out unfortunatly. I feel like yeah, rubber/oil but not super intense. Only when it was smokey though.

Alternator belt looks in-tact. smoke has cleared. Still a bit too hot to touch, but i'm going to check the coolant level in a minute after it cools a bit more. Should the coolant header tank on the engine have a decent amount of water in it? Say, half full?

You're right, up till now I thought i had been maintaining the engine fine, same as my last boat with no issue. guess i've missed something because this happened out of nowhere as far as I could tell at the time. ?

Dark grey i thought