OptedOut

I chose the term used to reflect my belief in a general body of people who seem to be very obstructive of any attempt to navigate the Dudley tunnel. The "Trust", along with other bodies may be a factor in this difficulty, as when I request certain survey's of the tunnel from BW there is a problem with who is resonsible for what. Edit: I would further state that with BW there is a problem with resposibility

Lister HA2 with CA45 starter and leads less than 1 metre, 60 sq/mm.

Remove ALL control of the Dudley tunnel from the Black Country Robbers and return it to the boating community.

You could do a quick check for internal fuel leakage by checking the sump level, should rise if you have a leak.

I'd go for the leaf thing this time of year, they build up in a great wad on the leading edge of the prop. When you have the next problem try a quick squirt of reverse.

Last time I was on the Severn there was a bloke whizzing about in a small speedboat, estimate 40+ MPH. Thought at the time he was pushing his luck, they found the remains of his boat and his body at the sand plant downstream of Upton, Darwins Law.

Stir things up a bit. They should pay us for making the system picturesque, pro-rata based on size.

Just a random thought, our 60 footer does about 6 MPH with a Liser HA2 (20 BHP), what sort of speed would a similar boat with something like a Kelvin K4 do. Any figures for over-engined canal boats would be interesting

When my wife fell in a deep bit (conscious and cussing), it was difficult to lift her out with two people with her u/s knees. I have now cut up an old (caving) wire ladder and keep a 5 foot length at each end ready to slip over a bollard, tee stud, cleat etc. She now has two new knees.

I think there is a vast difference between a Marine Surveyor and an Examiner, only thing I can add is the Examiner was a much less detailed inspection. Perhaps the standards have changed (again).

I'm sure on my first survey that the surveyor measured the weed hatch, front doors and sink pipework etc for distance above waterline?

Only thing I can add from my experience of three inspections is that the detail varies considerably. The second surveyor insisted that I stamp the fuel tanks with a test pressure, the next one did not even look at them. None questioned the unventilated engine room, perhaps a different reg for that area? All were very keen on gas safety. Edit: The third "examiner" just took the ventilation details from the document supplied by the previous survey.

Thanks, I'll probably modify bits of the set-up during the winter.

Is there any reason that you cannot just fit a pump under the bath/shower or in a cupboard and just forget about the sump etc? I assume the basin could just be piped outboard.

I DID NOT say there were any pro's in allowing a heavy fault current through the Eberspacher, that was the whole purpose of my enquiry. I implied there were pros & cons for an isolated system that included isolating the Eberspacher from the hull.

Back again. The full story, I was blissfully unaware of any potential problem until my copper engine room towel drying rail came into contact with the alternator positive and engine room floor plate, ZZZAP. Got meter out and eventually found the Eberspacher was the problem, disconnected the socket in the loom to this unit and diagnosis confirmed. Rang Eberspacher who confirmed that the glow pin igniter was grounded to the case, they were looking into this but only from a galvanic point of view. Eberspacher suggested that they could supply a rubber pipe to break the fuel line connection and made some suggestions as to how to isolate the exhaust. The unit is mounted on non-conducting material The high resistance of the plastic pipes and water therein was calculated as a negligable risk. My own view is that I would prefer to keep the DC as it was, no connection to the hull anywhere and put up with the slight complication of charging the engine battery from the single alternator. It would appear both systems have pros/cons regarding safety.

Thank you. To eliminate any further bad feeling I will withdraw to consider ALL the advice given and draw a conclusion, possibly aided by further research.

OK, back to the start, shall I, 1) Ground the battery bank to the hull? 2) Isolate the Eberspacher from the hull?

Nope, can take a million years.

Just struck me that as we are dealing with some 240 volts AC, "Darwins Natural Selection Rule" will probably decide who is correct.

You could get away with a much smaller engine battery, probably about 50 amp/hour or less. May save a lot of space.

Ohh dear, apart from the welding lead on the starter circuit my whole boat is wired in un-tinned copper.

Just had a quick look at the Jabsco site, strikes me that under the right condition it's possible to syphon/leak canal water into the holding tank. I am not familiar with this type of system but I assume it just pumps canal water into the bowl to flush to the tank?

You're right, I was making assumptions on the Blackstone box based on the reduction box set-up. Fortunately my engine had the cast fan shroud.

If I understand correctly you will need to remove the current reduction gearbox and replace it with a gear train cover similar to the one in the pic below (cast iron or steel). I think you will have to get an extension shaft to go with the cover. You then need to find a pump type bell houseing and machine it to take the gearbox register spigot and drill bolt holes to suit, as per pic below. You will also need to make up a spacer of some sort to adapt from the three bolt flywheel extension shaft to a flex drive plate, in my case just a bit of 11 inch cast iron bar machined with alternator belt grooves and a flat face for the drive plate. You can just see the drive plate adaptor in this pic. You may also need a starter ring if one is not fitted. You may be able to make something simpler if you fix a disc to the shaft and drive the alternator off the other end of the engine. This gentleman has a lot of experience with Listers. http://www.marineengine.co.uk/