ChrisPZ

As Malanka alluded to were stopped on an early trip out this season, by a Ranger who maintained that he could not see any numbers on the front of our boat. Here is a picture of the front of our boat showing the registration mark (excuse the black mark, we had been hit by just about the only other boat on the river in early April). When I pointed the numbers out to the Ranger I was told it was very unusual for them to be amidships, and they would not think to look for them there, and we could expect trouble this year. I was somewhat surprised by this as they were fitted here in 1965 - we have seen a lot of BA rangers in the 16 years we’ve owned the boat and, whilst they may have said a lot of things, they have not apparently had trouble identifying the boat. Here she is a few years back I think this is exactly the issue – there are a lot of (I assume) registered boats which do not display registration marks at all, and I do have some sympathy with the BA trying to check that such boats are currently tolled, although the BA's guidance does allow small boats a different set of rules to follow. From the Nav Com meeting 17th Jan 2019 https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1541740/NC-Minutes-nc170119-confirmed.pdf Extracts from item 5/13 “Members were consulted on the Broads Authority’s current policy of the display of registration marks. The Head of Ranger Services explained that since the removal of paper toll plaques it was critical that vessels could be identified from the registration number displayed on the stern of the boat. She said that the Broads Authority had asked Rangers to enforce the requirement and that this had been published in the Broadsheet newsletter. 2018 was the first year that notices were being issued for non compliance of visible registration marks. The Head of Ranger Services said that Officers had had several meetings with the NSBA regarding issues raised over the guidance.” “One member stressed the importance of face to face engagement with stakeholders to alleviate any concerns over the matter. She offered to accompany the Head of Ranger Services with these discussions. In general members were in support of Officers providing more time for compliance and recognised that the law was enforceable. Several members emphasised the Authority’s duty to enforce the byelaws and the boater’s responsibility to adhere to these regardless of personal preference. The Head of Ranger Services explained that if members agreed to the proposal, the process of checking for compliance would be started again from 1 April 2019 for those who had already received enforcement notices." This seems to have opened the door to a campaign issuing notices to a larger number of craft, who might have always displayed marks, but not to the letter of BA’s prescribed guidelines – we have certainly not had a notice of non-compliance previously. When I sought to clarify what might be acceptable with Ranger Services, considering the issue of maintaining the appearance of a traditional boat, and common sense, I was informed that if we would like to preserve the original location of our screw-on numbers, the BA would like us to hang duplicate numbers from the pulpit rail whenever the boat is on the water (they could supply paper numbers to us for this end). They were concerned that the original numbers were 800-900mm to far from the stem to be acceptable to them, but they were happy to arrange a visit from a Ranger with a tape measure to confirm this. The problem now is to decide whether to let it play out to court – and what effect that will have in disturbances to our enjoyment of the river this year/changes to the byelaws in future years. Or whether to just comply and hang some numbers on the front, which will look lovely. I’m currently resisting the urge to stick a 6ft arrow on each bow pointing to the number. It’s a little thing and not what I expected to high up on the massive list of wooden boat ownership worries this year, and I’m sure to most it seems hugely petty, but…

The reason for the including contactors to control the non-inverter circuits is that they can be controlled after the RCD, meaning we only need one RCD main switch. The mix of 12v and 240v lighting we have is a throwback to the generator originally fitted, but it is quite useful when doing work on one system or the other.

A lot of good points above - especially bonding. I refitted the AC control panel in Princess Zena a couple of years ago and wanted to add a couple of things for you may want to consider for your design (whether competent DIYer or giving a spec to a professional) - or not. We have have separate socket and lighting circuits for fore and aft, as it made running radial circuits easier (they could be protected with a relatively small cb, didn't need to be run in large cable and could be isolated separately) - although this was mainly due to layout and the original 60s 240v generator installation which was still partly in use. The charger and immersion heater are on their own individual circuits - these are behind an interlock so that they are only energised when the shorepower is connected - meaning there is no chance of the inverter mistakenly running the charger/immersion. Perhaps most important - Vaughan's post about using Peachments to build a panel: After pricing up a diy solution using a mixture of domestic consumer unit parts and manual changeover switches, I went to Brian Ward with a spec and panel design of what I would really like - they made an engraved panel to spec. with auto changeover, all the contactors for the interlocked circuits, wired to a short loom and termination panel, for around £60 more than my DIY solution. The end result is far better.