nb Innisfree

Been there done it and know the frustration, have you tried low sulphur fuel yet? The old high sulphur red stuff has been phased out so all red is now ULSD. They are temperamental because they don't like high sulphur diesel, they are very reluctant to ignite it, sometimes higher voltage will make glow plug get a bit hotter and might just ignite it or equally it might not but will smoke anyway. ULSD will ignite on lower voltage and run clean after initial few seconds of smoke.

When we dry docked 2 or 3 years ago we found a few pits at the half way point between anodes, no pitting whatsoever elsewhere, blacking had blistered around the anodes as it always has but no pitting or rust. My take on it is the pitting was outside the anodes effective range (60' NB) Last year I finally got around to fixing anodes at the midway point (we have over an inch of bottom plate edge jutting out so little danger of anodes getting knocked off) Will have to wait and see result.

Only sure way to find out is to actually measure alternator voltage when batts are fully charged. Either run engine for several hours or better still fully charge from shore power battery charger then disconnect and carry on with engine for a short while before taking a reading. We have AGMs and charge at 28.8v - or 14.4v in your case. Sometimes it does go as high as 29.6ish (14.8)

My guess is poor fuel quality. We had endless probs with our Eber, literally tried everything untill ULSD appeared at the pumps, since then it starts and runs perfectly in fact there seems to be nowhere near the amount of probs boaters used to experience. You could try running it on a gallon or so of low sulphur diesel and see if things improve

That's what I thought once as I gaily flicked the valve from hot to cold, Gordon Bennett, I thought I was a gonner for a few long seconds as I fumbled to shut it off. Won't be trying that again.

No idea which is best but our cheap Aldi job works great. As for boat rocking, once dish is aligned centrally to signal then it will stay locked on even if boat rocks.

FWIW our 24v large frame Leece Neville is a manual excite one, just requires a live feed to the excite terminal, I use a switched feed so I can start the engine with the alt off load then switch it in when I want - when first started leisure batts put alt into full output and can make slow speed manoeuvring at tickover a bit tricky + it takes some load off starter batt. To remind me to turn off live feed when engine is shut down I also fitted a buzzer from excite switch to D+ otherwise alt will be permanently excited (oh happy memories from when I used to be like that!) Maybe a bit involved but it does give a bit of handy flexibility.

Yes the thicker the better under gunwales, not to prevent rust but to prevent condensation forming on the underside of the foam For rust to form oxygen has to be present, spray foam excludes oxygen so even a thin coat that has adhered correctly to the metal will prevent rust. So either your foam didn't adhere correctly in the first place and allowed air to come into contact with the steel and resulted in rust forming or rust had already formed beforehand. Before any foam is applied any loose rust or paint should be removed, ideally a coat of good quality metal primer should be applied to improve foam adherance.

A well placed solid fuel stove will sort out any heating issues, in fact you will be opening side doors to cool off if you let the stove get a bit too hot, even in very cold weather, no prob once you have mastered the art of stove adjustment. More than once I have gone out into the snow and ice in shirtsleeves for a bit of relief!

To finish off paint the groove with blacking using a small brush.

After we had our shell spray foamed by an established firm I carefully inspected and found quite a few hard to reach places where the foam hadn't quite penetrated fully, unavoidable really as the spray is directional. I finished the job by injecting aerosol foam into tiny cavities, took nearly a fortnight of re-inspecting to finish but even then a year or so later I found one tiny spot behind the bathroom lining that dripped slightly in very cold weather, A quick squirt with the aerosol sorted it. I suspect some minor drips are very common on boats, usually concealed behind lining. ETA: You can get condensation on foam, in very cold weather we had it forming on 1.5" of foam on the underside of the front deck, caused by cold air trapped in the well deck maybe? Fitting a cratch cover cured it (by reducing the temperature differential I guess)