Eeyore

I belong to various informal groupings that can talk complete bol**ks for hours on end. I’ll see if I can steer one in the direction of lithium 😎

Not entirely sure that what you choose to do with your “bits” is in any way comparable to my chosen interest group. 😇

The type of "rubber" can also be an issue.

Probably worth checking with Beta for the correct dimensions of the o rings. Wouldn't be uncommon for the o ring to have the wrong (undersize) cross sectional diameter if sourced from a general purpose kit of o rings. The symptoms seem to fit.

School day.

The brassy coloured lump to the right appears to be the freewheel for the hand start chain? The bit in the middle of the picture is new to me. Any plumber block (shaft bearing) is out of shot to the left.

Under normal conditions the (spill) fuel used to cool and lubricate the moving parts of the injection system returns to the tank (or recirculates) under very little pressure. However a blockage in the spill system can result in very high pressure build up, and all manner of strange behaviour. Fit a new the new spill rail first and see how it goes. The carbon build up on mine almost filled the exhaust ports on the head (extending into the manifold) leaving only a very small hole for the exhaust gases. I decided that having the head off was the easiest course of action, hopefully it won't come to that for you.

You might want to drop the exhaust manifold off, easy enough; you could just about fit a pencil through the carbon on mine!

The closest RN vessel to a narrowboat would be an aircraft carrier...........if you turned the aircraft carrier upside down. And yes, I've worked on both 😇

You could try holding the key in the heat position for 30 seconds or so after the engine has started. This is of course a fully automatic feature on most modern diesel engines. It reduced the initial smoking and settled the idle to something approaching smooth at lot quicker. The fault on mine (long gone) was a restriction in the spill line, causing overfueling and carbon blockage of the exhaust ports. But curiously similar symptoms (including the black smoke).

Your principle problem appears to be in the first two sentences. There is a significant lead time for new boat builds. You could well find yourself looking for accommodation whilst the boat purchase process completes. The power issue requires you to undertake a power audit to determine actual requirements. There are online resources to help with this, others will advise.

So what size/capacity is the shore side socket? A photo might be useful.

Agree, but a lack of serviceable copper drove the decision 😎

OK, you might not be confused about the units, but you're certainly confusing me at least. Should your last paragraph read Ah and Kwh?

I have encountered a melted loom on a very early Beta where the heater plugs were fed from the motor side of the starter solenoid. (similar to Barrus Shire engines using that terminal to pull the run solenoid in). Disconnect the battery and cut back one end of the damaged section, making sure that all the individual wires are different (ie staggered) lengths. Determine the length of the damaged section and prepare the required number of identical length repair sections. One at a time trim and prepare the other end of the damaged section. Join everything back together using inline crimps, the staggered cuts and equal length repair pieces prevent the crimps from lying over each other, making the job easier and tidy.

The timing and fuel pump belt pulleys are presumably held in place by the same fastening? Hell of an expensive way to find out.

The fuse rating hasn’t been mentioned, or did I miss that? Usually a 40amp blade in the feed to the panel. 40 amp fuses can be difficult to source, so you often find lower rated ones in use; which are often fine… for a time.

The stop button appears to have a permanent live feed (white) from the incoming live terminal on the switch, but need a clearer photo to verify.

Don't think Tony mentioned "top nuts". You would normally check that the lower nut is tightened up against the engine leg.

You may need to consider who reconditioned them. There are Lister experts, and then there are ........

It’s a school day, so which model is it?

Curious, I thought it would be the other way around?

Might be useful https://eicac.co.uk/bolt-grades-and-markings/

Depends on your luck. It may be immediately obvious if there is a gap above one of the lower nuts when you release all the upper ones just by rocking the engine. Other wise just try winding up one of the lower nuts to feel if it has weight on it, reset to bottom position and try the other one on the same side of the engine. There should be a significant difference in the initial effort required to move the two nuts. The easy one is the one to adjust, as follows: Its all a bit approximate, and I'll refer to "hard" and "easy" as found above. Measure the rotation of the nut against a mark or piece of tape on top of the mount. Wind the "easy" nut up until the effort to move the "hard" nut is the same as found on the "easy" nut. Wind the "easy" nut back down to its mid point ie if you raised it 1.5 turns you would lower it by 0.75 turns. Refit top nuts, job done. Check the one lower nut is tightened up onto the mounting bracket during routine maintenance.

A warning lamp, of sorts, can be created by using a phase tap to drive the coil of a relay with normally closed contacts; that break the feed to the lamp when the coil is energised. More of a “comfort” lamp as it has limited diagnostic value.