Phoebeg543
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Posts posted by Phoebeg543
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23 hours ago, nicknorman said:
Always difficult to work out how someone else has wired a boat.
There is a placard next to the switch which says "emergency battery switch under". So perhaps the switch you are looking at is not the battery isolator, that might be elsewhere "under" the placard area. The switch you are looking at might be a charge selector - connecting the alternator to the starter battery, the leisure battery, both, or neither. In which case be careful not to select it to "off" when the engine is running. And do not leave it on "both" when the engine is not running as it will possibly flatten the starter battery.
The easiest way to tell the level of charge - in terms of installation - is probably a Smartgauge. These are pretty good for state of charge during discharge, not so good during charge but probably OK for your purposes. There are just 2 wires to be connected directly to the leisure battery terminals (via a fuse).
As to inverters and solar, this is a complex subject and I would say that if there is only one leisure battery, that is probably not enough for anything but the smallest inverter. And with an inverter comes dangerous mains voltages, the need for a consumer unit with RCD protection etc etc. Not a trivial thing to do properly. And a solar installation needs a controller between the panels and the batteries, again I suggest that with your current level of electrical expertise perhaps not a DIY job.
Ahhh okay, that's good to know, thanks! I'll have a rummage about and see if I can find the battery isolator. Would you recommend getting a smartguage and then assessing my battery usage/figure out what I approximate it to be in the future and then get another battery or two and scale up the invertor requirement accordingly?
23 hours ago, robtheplod said:Where are you? maybe a member can spare an hour to have a look??
Near Glascote currently, slowly moving towards Macclesfield
22 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:It's a fairly normal arrangement. One battery, probably the small black one, is just for the engine. The other battery, probably the big grey one, is for domestic use. When starting the engine, you connect just the engine battery (selecting 1, or 2, depending on how it is wired). When the engine is running, you select 1&2, so the now hopefully working alternator is charging both up. After stopping the engine, you connect only the domestic battery (2, or 1, depending), so the domestic battery is being discharged for your lights, pumps etc, but the engine battery is isolated, so it is always fully charged and able to start your engine. Turn to off to disable (almost) everything. It is important not to let the switch turn to off, or pass through off with the engine running, as the alternator may be damaged.
As @Skeg says, the switches of this type are of dubious reliability, though there are notoriously less reliable ones commonly out there that have red plastic handles. Are the crates fixed down? They are there I suspect as a way of passing various boat safety scheme requirements for the batteries to not move, even in the event of the boat seriously tilting. Does it have a recent BSS pass? Certain circuits are allowed to bypass the isolation switch, and connect direct to the domestic battery, via suitably rated fuses. This is often done with bilge pumps, solar controllers, but not normally with lights. It really needs all the wires followed and mapped out.
If you want to learn more about narrowboat electrics, look at @Tony Brooks www.TB-Training.co.uk site. A good self learning set of training notes.
Jen
Yeah fairly recent BSS (September 2022). I'll try and track the wires and see where they go and do some reading up
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Hi all,
I think this has probably been covered before but I've had a good scroll and gotten into a muddle.
I've currently got these batteries that came with the boat
which should be isolated by this . With someone telling me to turn it to 1 to start the boat and then onto both when things are running and down to off at the bottom for turning them off. But when I put it on off the lights and stuff (e.g. bilge/water pumps) can still be used, which seems incorrect? Also are these compatible if I got something to tell me the level of charge I have, as well as an invertor (currently only got 12v) and maybe a solar panel? Currently I'm just taking that red wire off the light grey terminal when I leave which doesn't feel entirely safe (not sure if it's even necessary but I don't want to come back to a flat battery).
There's also two random plugs that I don't know what they're for, one for I think a water heater I don't understand and some switches that don't seem to do anything. Am I best trying to trace the wiring to figure it all out or do I rip it all out/get some new batteries and just start again, and how easy is that all to do?
Thanks so much!
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Do you know how to ensure that the seller is the owner, and is entitled to sell the boat ?
Is there anything other than receipt of the previous sale I should ask to see?
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21 minutes ago, MtB said:
Assuming you've done your checking and are satisfied the seller genuinely owns the boat and is entitled to sell it, then I'd suggest insuring it first, then paying for it and taking possession, then licencing it. In act of licencing it, CRT will I think, assume the boat is yours but the seller ought to tell them too.
There is a form CRT send out to owners to complete and return when they sell, or they can do it on the CRT website.
Ahhh this is super thank you!
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Hi, can I just check how to buy a boat which sounds silly but I've realised I don't know the running order. Do I buy the boat (private sale so just bank transfer and get them to sign a bill of sale type document?) then get insurance then get the crt licence and then the sellers contact crt and tell them the boat is mine?
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18 minutes ago, cuthound said:
When my boat was in dock for blacking about 3 years ago, it had to be urgently removed from the dry dock.
The reason was someone had bought an old Springer without a survey and decided to spend £5k on a repaint. Whilst in the paint dock it began to sink, so my boat was removed from the dry dock to allow them to put the Springer there.
After inspection the Springer needed extensive replating, which cost another £15k.
So the buyers unsurveyed bargain ended up having far more money spent on it than the boat was ultimately worth.
Yeah that's the type of thing that concerns me. I was thinking if I got it and ended up having to get it overplated/it's a bit of a write off sinker how much do you reckon it could sell for?
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1 hour ago, MtB said:
I think this is the nub of it. It's all about the owner and their approach to risk, not the boat.
Owning it would worry you so you would be unsuitable as an owner. I'm different, it would not bother me one jot. I would happily buy it and use it for as long as it floats (probably a decade or two still), then throw it away.
Or give it away more accurately. There are plenty of people about who would love a free narrowboat, even a sinker.
this might be dumb but how quick would i find out if it's sinking?
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2 hours ago, Tony1 said:
I can totally understand the excitement and impulse to buy a boat, that might be pushing you mentally towards pulling the trigger on this boat, but I would strongly urge you not to rush in, unless you can afford to lose most of the money, and/or you have another 15k in reserve to fix any major issues, as people have explained above. Its a huge risk.
The problem is that a full survey might cost almost 10% of the price of the boat, so it looks like a really bad deal, but the truth is that the boat could very easily be a disaster waiting for you to step into it. Even worse, you can't sue a surveyor if they miss things, so even a survey is no guarantee.
This is a bit of a left-field suggestion, but worth putting out there in case you havent thought about it yet: If you're ok with a 30ft boat, why not look for a GRP (glass fibre) boat of say 27- 32ft? You'll get just as much living space as on a 30ft steel narrowboat, but at least with a GRP boat, rust damage or pitting wont be an issue (although the hull could still be damaged and will still need surveying).
This example is only 26ft, so probably not enough space to live on comfortably, but it'll give you an idea of the sort of thing I'm suggesting:
https://www.apolloduck.com/boat/viking-cruisers-26-for-sale/711168
Ahh thanks for the grp suggestion, I did consider them but I think the dream has always been a narrowboat
1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:Unless you're living on it, and it's your only home, I can't see the point of comp insurance. Mine's leisure, 3rd party since insurance was compulsory and none at all before that. Insurance is just licenced theft. RCR coverage does me, and stump up for anything else.
When I got mine, I had a friend who is not only an excellent engineer but was refurbishing an old working boat. I got him to come along and hit the hull with a hammer a few times. The boat cost me seven grand, has cost me another fifteen, probably, over the thirty years I've had it. Bargain, I reckon.
If you're going to keep it a while, it will cost you the same again sooner or later. That's what you have to remember.
I think I probably would be a full time liveaboard so would comprehensive be required? I guess it'd be all my worldly goods that could go down.
Cost the same again as in another 12 somewhere down the line it just depends when it hits me?
48 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:There's no getting around the fact that if the OP spends £12k on a boat, he will get a boat worth little more than £12k, if he is lucky.
If he wants a £30k boat, he'll have to spend about £30k.
On the other hand, he may not be lucky. That's really what it comes down to.
So no, he is not an idiot. The question should be, is he a gambler?
Hmmm she's debating that, which is the crux of the issue
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Hi all. I'm just looking for a sense check really, I have a feeling you'll just say that it's up to me and you don't know the condition of a boat without a survey so you can't advise but basically I'm mulling over buying a 30ft 1971 (definitely 70s but it might be later) NB. The seller is willing to go to 12k for a quicker sale at my suggestion (it was 14k and the quicker sale is a logistics thing with various holidays between us) but that would be buying without a survey. I almost bought a boat last year but the survey came back poor and I dipped out but that one was £30,000. If say the hull was bust and I discovered that when I went to black it in a few months time (it hasn't been done in 4 years) how much might I be looking at for re/overplating? Does it seem like a good shout at this price with potential work or do you think it'll be more headache/wallet ache than it's worth? Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter!
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7 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:
We had and paid good money on a full singing and dancing survey when we bought Nightwatch. What a complete waste of money that was. Nearly everything inside needed, seals, maintenance, the electrics were shot and needed urgent attention etc. Etc. Etc. There were so many escape routes for the surveyor I had no way to pull him over the coals.
Since, I have promised myself that a hull survey is sufficient to satisfy my buying needs. Having said that we have owned Nightwatch nearly sixteen years.
We are on our way presently for an age related hull survey as I type this. Will know by Tuesday week if wehave a home or a money pit. Fingers crossed.
Oh good luck!!
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22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
It is not unknown for corrosion to take a plate from 6mm to less than 1mm in a year.
It happened to a member on this forum.
Whilst the 3 year old survey gives a positive view of what it was like at the time, depending on where it has been moored for the last 3 years can have serious effect on what it is like now.
If it has been in a marina with other boats connected up to the mains, it could be badly pitted now, (lots of metal eating electrical worms floating about in marinas), if it has been moored on the canal on its own, miles from anywhere then it may be as good as it was 3 years ago, or somewhere between the two extremes.
This is why you need your own survey.
Oh I think I'd cry if that happened
Yep I'll deffo get my own survey done, I just haven't got tons of spare cash so i wanted to be ready if there were things that anyone with boating experience instantly picked up on
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Ahh okay cool thanks. Are the rubbing strakes not generally looked at during surveys? The boat is 28 and the survey was done in 2018
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Hi, I'm looking at buying my first boat and this is some of the survey I was sent from the owner. I'm going to get my own done but I just wondered if anyone sees any immediate red flags? I'm kind of confused about the best hull thicknesses
which should be isolated by this 
. With someone telling me to turn it to 1 to start the boat and then onto both when things are running and down to off at the bottom for turning them off. But when I put it on off the lights and stuff (e.g. bilge/water pumps) can still be used, which seems incorrect? Also are these compatible if I got something to tell me the level of charge I have, as well as an invertor (currently only got 12v) and maybe a solar panel? Currently I'm just taking that red wire off the light grey terminal when I leave which doesn't feel entirely safe (not sure if it's even necessary but I don't want to come back to a flat battery).
Another beginner battery question
in New to Boating?
Posted
Ohh yes this seems much easier! I'll be livingaboard but laptop/phone charging/lights are the main power requirements so I'll stop over complicating things and save the money for a solar panel