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We moved our boat back from Stone to the K&A at Newbury over the last two weeks, couldn't have asked for better weather, shorts and tee shirt coming down the Thames. Alas the weather may have been perfect but not far from Benson lock on the Thames large quantities of smoke appeared out of the engine hole and the domestic alternator warning light came on accompanied by the alarm. Managed to pull over to the side and turn off, lifted the hatch and stepped back quickly to avoid the fumes, nasty burnt plastic smell. It was fairly obvious that the domestic alternator had suffered a catastrophic failure. I managed, without burning myself, to remove the drive belt and set off to the lock, where we could tie up and investigate further. Quick word with the lady lockie and she was quite happy to let us overnight on the lock landing, fortunately it has landings on both side so we were not in anyone's way. After everything had cooled down and a small quantity of alcohol had been consumed, scary when that happens on a river, I checked the alternator. It turned over by hand but bits of burnt plastic emerged from the rear, clearly goosed, this is a technical electrical term and has nothing to do with our feathered friends. Fortunately I posses a Smartgauge and Smartbank system, slightly less fortunately I have never actually connected up the Smartbank, where is that Roundtoit when you need it. Thankfully I do posses a good set of Jump leads so was able to connect the Starter and Domestic batteries together, although I wasn't sure how well the relatively small 40 Amp starter alternator would cope with six 110 Amp/ Hr batteries in addition to the 90 Amp/Hr starter battery. I am pleased to say the little alternator performed very well indeed especially on the Thames where we were able to run for a good distance, between Benson and Sonning it charged all the batteries to 100% according to the Smartgauge. The next two days on the K&A, even with all the stopping for the locks it still managed to maintain the charge. We reached our mooring without any problems and I removed the alternator to investigate back at base. The Stator was completely burnt out, the source of the bits of burnt plastic. Checking around the ISKRA alternator isn't something most local auto factors carry parts for so I figured a new one made more sense, the dead one is ten years old. Google in this case was my friend especially as Onion Bargee's (of this forum) blog popped up with the information as to type and a link to a cheap supplier, "Thank you, I lot of time saved". Quick phone call, new one on the way. So what have I learnt. You really do not need very large alternators. Alcohol is a good antidote for fear. A set of jump leads is worth having on a boat. If you purchase a Smartbank it is a good idea to fit it even if you have two alternators. It is worth sourcing a small drive belt in case the Starter alternator fails in a similar fashion. Disconnecting the domestic belt is easy it only drives the alternator, but the starter belt also drives the water pump. Fitting might be an issue but I seem to remember emergency belts used to be available which could be adjusted to fit. Thanks again to the Lock keeper at Benson and to Onion Bargee. Ken Oh and if you are heading up the K&A both Fobney lock and Woolhampton are running very fast and need care.