Jen-in-Wellies

Places that had long stretches of embankment would sometimes have swing gates at each end, so if the embankment breached, they could be swung closed quickly, possibly even closing themselves from the flow. Useful on a very long pound, where you can stop even more water enlarging the breach, destroying the embankment and flooding property beyond. Most of these are no longer functional, or so decrepit that they would probably disintegate if an attempt was made to use them for their purpose.

Still a bit parky on the toes though.

Carpet! Not the suggestion you want to hear, but It's the only one I've got personal experience of.

If you are planning to be on your boat in winter, don't underestimate how cold the floor can get. There is no insulation, only steel, concrete and a bit of wood between your feet and the canal that's hovering around 0C. I have a reputation for being cold resistant, wearing sandals on bare feet through much of the winter, but I notice the cold striking up through the non carpeted sections of my boat floor.

She mentioned Driffield, so I'm guessing Driffield Navigation Trust. The photo at the top of their web site looks very weed choked.

So are you a member of this trust, or otherwise asking on their behalf?

Sometimes you'll get away with this, sometimes you won't. All depends how the gadget concerned is designed. You're playing Russian roulette with it. I'd only directly connect to boat 12V if the gadget is marketed for vehicle, or marine use, so it should have been designed to cope with higher than 12V and assorted voltage spikes and noise. Even when dropping from 12V to 5V in home made boat electronics, I'll use a MOV to dump any voltage spikes on the input to the voltage converter.

Nothing about what can be found in a boat's wiring system suprises me. That's fine. Lead Acid batteries are self limiting for charging. As they get closer to fully charged, the charge current from the alternator drops to near zero. Alternators are designed to do this job in vehicles and boats.

None of the 230V items there are huge power consumers. They could easily be run off a smaller inverter than is currently installed. 1000 to 2000W will have plenty of headroom. If this is what's planned to be run, then going over 3kW of the current inverter isn't needed. Why does the person with the boat want to increase the maximum mains power available? A microwave, toaster, mains hoover, automatic washing machine or other heavy power consumer aren't mentioned. Is this because they aren't going to be there, or have they been forgotten?