Boaty McBoaty

Are there any marina owners/fuel suppliers/delivery company folk on here who can confirm whether they look for separate tanks when delivering red diesel to a recreational boater? Last time I topped up was 2019 whilst passing a marina and it all went in a common tank with a 60/40 declaration. I'm off grid on a canal with without any access to any marinas etc. So I am considering a bulk order from a truck so I can fill up alongside a wharf somewhere nearby rather than keep carting jerry cans along the tow path. Q1. So is the separate tanks rule enforced or do marinas still just top up peoples fuel tanks and everyone relies on the declaration to by pass the online guidance? Q2. Does anyone know of a delivery company that will deliver red diesel to narrowboats on the Basingstoke canal in the Farnborough area? Most are saying their insurance prevents them delivering to recreational boats and/or boats on the water. BR Boaty

Great help everyone, many thanks indeed.

Rads are dated and the chap who fitted out Boaty did it in back in 1990 so likely to be rads from back then. Probably regular B&Q household types but I will try and measure the pitch at least and compare to some new rads. Tempted to bite the bullet and plan to install new brackets and rads but current ones work fine but just look a bit dated thats all. Plus the job is to upgrade the carpets which for me is a big enough project right now so might plan to make it easy and reinstall existing for now and update them in a year or two!

Many thanks indeed both. Very useful. Tony, mine are on a normal system with in/out valves at the bottom I think and plumbed in with speedfit fittings and pipes. And yes the expansion tank is about A4 size with a loose lid on. Like the idea of just being able to keep system flooded although with the narrow corridor not sure how easy it will be to work around them when 'detached' so to speak. BEngo. Not sure I know enough yet to understand the calorifier loop system yet but will take a look tonight as on board. I know the rads are plumbed in using speedfit pipes throughout the cabin so presumably I should just be looking for a part of the speedfit loop that connects in/out of the calorifier and if need be crack open these fittings to let air in when refilling you mean? Out of interest do you know if all wall rads have the same pitch when it comes to hanging brackets? Just wondering if I take them off a) it will be easier to do the carpet work but b) there is an opportunity to install sparkly new rads maybe if the wall brackets are a standard pitch/type?

Do I refill an empty CH system through the CH expansion tank?? I have a Webasto heating the radiators on Boaty. I think the CH circuit also runs through the calorifier somehow to give me hot water. Have decided I want to re-carpet the side walls which means draining down system and removing the radiators but before I do that I want to be sure I know how to top the system back up . I assume I can just fill it up through the expansion tank? Thanks 🙂

Thanks everyone. Lots of good info there. Not sure what vertical drop I have from my rear fuel tank to stove hearth and my water tank is at the front. So will need to look at that on my next visit. Like the idea of a day tank in the well deck and might be the easiest install as saloon is at the front of boaty and would mitigate any issues with empty water tanks etc. So thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated and as always very helpful 🙂 Going back to the webasto metering pump noise can this be mounted on something rubber e.g. rubber bushes to stop noise transmitting? Are there any issues with covering over it in rubber insulation of some sort e.g. overheating etc? Boaty

Hello everyone. Does anyone know the difference between the diesel pump supplying my webasto and the pump used to supply a Bubble diesel stove? Are they fundamentally different specifically with regard to noise? We have a webasto in our engine room for our CH sytem with the diesel pump on the bulkhead with our back cabin which ticks loudly as everyone knows so acts as our daily alarm clock when the timer is on. I am considering changing the multifuel stove in the fwd saloon to a diesel Bubble and assume that it will need it's own pump installed in the engine room to supply the stove up front? Does anyone know if that 'Bubble' pump will be noisy like the webasto pump?? i.e. I don't want to install a new system that will end up being a 24/7 alarm clock if you follow my drift? Thanks in advance Boaty

So think this is the sort of set up I am looking for and if not on Boaty I need to think about getting it installed at some point..........seems Sterling have several VSR type units as well so could be a little cube like relay or a nice boxed design!

brilliant tips everyone, thanks.......... I am now quite excited to visit Boaty and have a looksee what I do and don't have 🙂 Suspect the poor persecuted battery will be 11.5V by the time I get there.............

So that's what the 'Strombegrenzendes Spannungsempfindliche Relay' is on my schematic 😉 need to find an english booklet lol

I think you might be on to something there........... mine suggests an additional loop is required to include the starter battery in the charging loop if I understand the diagram correctly............ so I need t follow the cables and see what Ido and don't have and like you said before I will experiment with a meter to see what is and isn't receiving any charge. So if I have inadvertently neglected to charge the starter then will have to get a new one but should be a bit better informed thanks on how to look after that one.........

Mine is a Sterling 2.5kw Pro Combi ......... a PRO COMBI S PURE SINE WAVE INVERTER

OK, so seems the general consensus is 'likely/probably' ................. next time on board I will look and see if I can see where the wires go etc and also put a volt meter on to experiment with isolators on/off etc. Thanks everyone, much appreciated. Boaty

Hi there. Am I right to assume that when on shore supply an inverter/charger will charge the batteries even when the batteries are isolated? Our canal has been bone dry for months so Boaty is sitting on the bottom and engine skin tanks are out of the water so I haven't been running engine. When on board I have only turned on the leisure batteries and been using generator via my shore supply to charge batteries. I am assuming that even though I have kept the starter battery isolated it should still be charged from the inverter/charger? Thanks.

Ok will do 😀 i don’t have a shore supply but presumably that is what the inverter charger would be doing if I had a shore supply connected?? final question, do folk have the prop turning when doing this charging or depends on location etc?? Have heard about glazing of cylinders but confess 9/10 times I don’t……