Tracy D'arth

Where is Liquid Molly of lifeboat fame when you need him? He would love this thread.

I wonder too why the oil specs are so difficult for Joe public to understand. Having been tied to several oil companies products in our different garages I could never see the difference between them all. The possible exception was Duckhams, their 20w50 was green again all the others brown! From experience I have found that the average mass produced engines will run fine on any oil for a long time, the vehicle usually dies of other than engine failure. Being lazy now I never change oil, in fact I rarely open the bonnet unless it is to top up the washer bottle. My engines still run for 40,000 to 70,000 miles before the tin worm causes a test fail and recycling. Inland boat engines are hugely under stressed but are expected to last for many more years than the average car so I suppose more attention should be shown to oil specs but I have never bothered and have never had an engine failure in 50 years. In the early boating years we ran everything on recycled oil from Ironsides in Stockport, no trouble.

Looks to be right but the price is crazy, I buy the cheapest 15w40 off ebay in 20 litre drums. At this level. oil is oil despite the fancy specs and they are unnecessary for what is after all only a basic plant engine. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272047822428?

I would not used a part or whole synthetic oil as it is not on spec and too expensive. There are loads of plain 15w40 oils available from car spares shops, farm suppliers and on line. You may not find CC or CD grades now but no harm in using higher grades, CE, CF,or CG even. Recycled oils are also suitable and may be better as they will contain a small amount of ash which will aid bore cleaning.

No, only I fix my boats, but Tooleys are an old established firm and well trusted locally.

Tooleys in Banbury?

Yes.

A good coat of varnish on both sides is all you need.

A noticeable absence of anyone working.

Scrap battery prices are on the web. I get £13 for a 110ah battery at present. Top them up before you weigh them in!

It may be a bad idea to fit a stop tap on the boat end of a water hose, they are not intended to withstand high mains pressure which can be up to 10 bar in places.

For peace of mind, get it welded. Or even a small patch welded all round.

Turn the boat over before you take the photos? Its probably your camera orientation. Looking better, especially as you show that Celotex will bend happily without cracking. Have you found any of that square tube bracing rusted through? We used to have trouble with it rusting from the inside due to condensation.

I did not assume the batteries were sealed, I gave both voltages for correct charging. H2S will smell of bad eggs but it is an insidious gas as exposure to very low levels will cause the sense of smell over time to lessen so that eventually you cannot smell it. Worry not, its the last time I will respond to any post of yours if you want to get so snotty when I give you the benefit of my experience and advice for free.

Its lovely and needs visitors. See if you can get to the end!

As the batteries produced H2S which is not normal, the charging regime is obviously wrong, end of.

Yippee! A happy boater! Better than all the moaning ones! Thank you for coming back on.

Please don't get annoyed, wind your neck in a bit, folk are only trying to be helpful. You are having difficulties understanding why your tank will not take water and you are there. We are on the end of the internet. cannot see your tank, don't know what it is, where it is, how big it is, or how you know you have a problem. Being unpleasant is not going to help, its more frustrating for us than it is for you.

The inverter I referred to is the Travelpower box, it is an inverter inside, not your inverter which uses your cabin battery as a power source.

But sealed lead acid batteries should be charged at 14.4 volts, open cells at 14.8 volts Maximum! Charging at 15 volts will boil the cells, create hydrogen sulphide and result in water loss and destroyed batteries.

As many will already know, I do have a sick mind as you put it, brain tumors actually. I find your comment offensive and will report you.

See my edited post.

The belt is on the alternator? Are all the wires connected and the connector is not burnt out? Where is the green light? Beta Marine installed lots of these, is it on a Beta engine? They may be able to help.Try them first. If the alternator is faulty then Lancashire Rotating Electrics can fix it. If the Electronics in the inverter box is faulty then Selweb may be able to help.

LRE will repair that starter.

Jekyll.