Where theres a will...

A visit to Foxs on the way to the boat this morning, resulted in me being delighted that they indeed, as suggested by various knowledgeable folk, stock all the neccessary elctrical bits for me to undertake my days task of fitting the shorepower unit..... Foxs considerately relieved me of another £100..... So it was nearly 11h00 by the time I reached the boat... and bugger... i've forgotten the keys to the lock on the companion way cover........ bugger bugger bugger... its a 3 hour round trip back, so forget that.... I know... its a crap lock anyway, so i'll cut it off as it needs replacing.... great idea..... damn shame that my hacksaw is inside the boat though...... eventually I manage to get in via another route (details witheld for the sake of security!... and besides I've fixed that route now!)... so back out with the hacksaw, and 1 min later I'm in...... I proceed to start fitting the shore power kit..... one question.... just what sort of contortionist do you need to be to work on boats?... its very difficult drilling holes upside down, in the dark, with your whole body up to the waist inside a locker...... After 5 hours I've fitted the new boat power socket, run cable through various lockers and hidey holes to a Galvanic Isolator, and beyond to the intended new home for the shore power unit in a locker in the main area of the boat (which is immediately above the batteries), run cable to the batteries themselves, earthed it all, and neatly and tidily fixed everything down to keep it safe and secure.....For those interested I bought a cheapo crimp tool... hard work on the big terminals, but did them a treat in the end... Just need to connect up and i'm away... so i wander up to the marina office as instructed on the phone mid week to ask them to identify which power outlet to use, and to get the meter read....... "don't think there's any spare power there mate... think theyre all being used......"........ arghhhhhhhh Eventually, after getting the marina staff to wander down, a spare outlet is found.... he wanders off, and I plug in, full of anticipation..... naff all happens..... oh no..... So I start looking for voltage... none anywhere..... eventually, out of desperation, I swap the connector on the pontoon for another outlet.... and ping, everything springs to life..... It appears after investigation that the fella in the office didn't actually turn the power on properly after reading the meter..... in the end we get it sorted, and all the correct lights are on the device as per the instructions..... YES! So now, the batteries are charging from the shore, and I can use whatever electrical kit I like while plugged in......... result! I didn't have time to plumb in the 240V mains socket... that'll have to wait.... the cable is run, but the box and face plate needs mounting and wiring in.... that'll have to wait until next friday..... With the batteries charging I stuck the meter across the terminals.... still only reading 12.8V.... I'm becoming more convinced that the meter is underreading.... perhaps a new battery is in order in the meter...... Also noted that the pump was running permanently despite being on a float switch...... lifted the sole boards, and the sump hole had a little water in it, but not much... it just wasn't going down..... ho hum..... after much head scratching, and thinking that the pump had failed (a little rule one), realised that I had closed the bloody seacock..... opened it, and voila... empty sump and stopped pump in 5 seconds..... lucky I didn't destroy the pump! Last task before leaving was to get C's sleeping bag out, and retrieve the teddy bear from the bottom of it (we had to tell her that he was looking after the boat for us!)