I went to the boat today. My intention this weekend is to install a 240 volt system on the boat, which will then enable me to use power tools during the 'other' jobs that i have planned for Bracken. Also of course i will also be able to connect up things like a battery charger, phone charger, vacuum cleaner etc..
There is 240 volt available on the pontoon but so far I've been unable to use it.
Arriving at the boat after a 3 and a half hour drive up from Kent, i unpacked a few things i had brought with me, lit the fire and put the kettle on. As it was by then nearly 4 pm i was losing the daylight so no time to start work. Instead i pottered about checking all was well since my last visit when we brought Bracken up from Mercia marina.
Graham had been over a couple of times and i was very pleased to see nice dry bilges, (area under the rear deck round the engine), obviously Graham's efforts with the grease gun and the mop had done the trick.
(Injecting grease in the stern tube stops water seeping past the propeller shaft and into the bilge area).
Toasty warm inside now i sat planning the following days work. Where to put the incoming socket, where to run the cabling to the consumer unit and then from the consumer unit to the sockets, and where to put the sockets?
I stayed the night at Graham and Jackie s, well after a chicken and chips supper i didn't feel like driving back to the boat, and anyway the fire had probably gone out by now, and it was warm there, and i'd had a couple of scotches. :)
Saturday 7 th December.
After breakfast at the railway cafe G and i made our way to the boat. We decided the best place for the incoming socket was just left of the window on the rear bulkhead, so armed with his cordless drill G drilled through the 6mm steel bulkhead and the pine interior panelling, a hole large enough to take the Arctic cable that was going to bring the power into the boat and down to the consumer unit.
Meanwhile l was fixing the socket mounting boxes in place, one double socket in the saloon, two double sockets in the galley area, and one double socket in the bedroom, ready to receive the cabling.
Having threaded the Arctic (thick walled) cable through the bulkhead, G drilled and tapped the 4 holes to screw the exterior socket in place and l busied myself wiring the consumer unit which we had decided to fit under the 'L' shaped seat.
Having wired the consumer unit l then screwed it to the ply lining of the bulkhead. Its accessible but out of the way under the seat area.
You can see in the above picture, the blue cable on the right is arctic cable bringing power in and the grey cable on the left feeds to the domestic sockets through a 16 amp MCB (miniature circuit breaker)
The white cable at the bottom goes into the engine compartment through a 6 amp MCB to a socket, for things like battery charger etc.
Time for lunch :) Graham in the galley preparing a culinary delight.
Saturday evening, Me, Graham, and Jackie took a chinese takeaway over to Jenny's and had a lovely evening of nosh and chat and generaly caught up on family news.
Sunday 8 th December.
We finished connecting up the sockets, ran a wire through the bulkhead into the engine compartment for a single socket for things like battery charger, lead light etc, connected up the shoreline and tested all sockets worked and the main circuit breaker worked, no problem.
(Sorry i forgot to take pictures of the finished job, i'll try and remember to take some next time i'm up there.)
After all our work we went home to a lurvely Sunday roast and after a short doze i started the 3 and a half hour drive back to Kent as i had work booked for Monday.
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