The build and fit out of Julynian 2004

[Staarek]

There is a DIY solar collector article in the February 2013 issue of Practical Boat Owner which you may find useful.

 

Surecal make triple coil calorifiers to order. www.surecal.co.uk

 

Ken

 

Thanks Ken. Yeah PBO is quite good, in terms of technical advice I rate them much higher then Waterways World or similar. Will look it up.

[Ex- Member]

I believe you can use one of the cal's coiles for 2 applications using Y valves to switch in our case from oil stove heated water to Solar. So basically switching over to solar when not using the stove in the summer. Having said that we have an isolation valve on the calorifier so don't have to use the stove to heat water which we rarely bother as generally through the winter we run the engine for 80 minutes a day for bulk charging, this gives as a tank of hot water.

[Staarek]

I believe you can use one of the cal's coiles for 2 applications using Y valves to switch in our case from oil stove heated water to Solar. So basically switching over to solar when not using the stove in the summer. Having said that we have an isolation valve on the calorifier so don't have to use the stove to heat water which we rarely bother as generally through the winter we run the engine for 80 minutes a day for bulk charging, this gives as a tank of hot water.

 

That would definitely save me removing old calorifier and installing new. The only concern I've got is that solar collector might be still working in the winter if you get enough sun (which I suppose might not be a case in Dec/Jan though) My parents have got one of these collectors in their house, (it's a new installation) and with fairly sunny winter this year there was many days that the water reached 40-50'C.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Staarek

[Ex- Member]

 

That would definitely save me removing old calorifier and installing new. The only concern I've got is that solar collector might be still working in the winter if you get enough sun (which I suppose might not be a case in Dec/Jan though) My parents have got one of these collectors in their house, (it's a new installation) and with fairly sunny winter this year there was many days that the water reached 40-50'C.

 

The solar collector might get hot, but it doesn't mean you have to use it. The whole system relies on a small circulation pump, if the power to that is disconnected it's then inert and you can switch to another system using the valves.

 

There is also a temperature sensor which you can utilise that will switch the pump on only when the temperature of the water in the solar collector is higher than the temp of the water in the calorifier, this ensures hottest water from solar and stops any cooling of the calorifier via constant circulation.

 

Personally I will probably share the Cal coil with the engine heating coil, I already can isolate the oil stove and it's much easier rigging up Y valves on the engine coil. The other reason is you can get nice hot water when cruising, and if cruising on a non sunny day then it's another bonus.

 

I still have to go moor in depth with this, I did look up a lot of info last year then went off the boil. There was a solar company somewhere who sold all the equipment too including the Temp sensor I mentioned.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Julynian

[Staarek]

 

The solar collector might get hot, but it doesn't mean you have to use it. The whole system relies on a small circulation pump, if the power to that is disconnected it's then inert and you can switch to another system using the valves.

 

There is also a temperature sensor which you can utilise that will switch the pump on only when the temperature of the water in the solar collector is higher than the temp of the water in the calorifier, this ensures hottest water from solar and stops any cooling of the calorifier via constant circulation.

 

Personally I will probably share the Cal coil with the engine heating coil, I already can isolate the oil stove and it's much easier rigging up Y valves on the engine coil. The other reason is you can get nice hot water when cruising, and if cruising on a non sunny day then it's another bonus.

 

I still have to go moor in depth with this, I did look up a lot of info last year then went off the boil. There was a solar company somewhere who sold all the equipment too including the Temp sensor I mentioned.

 

Thanks for all the advice. It seems that sharing the coil is the way forward. It would have to think which one (engine or webasto) would be easier to arrange, but as you said the engine might be more beneficial. I only started investigating collectors, but since I still got a little bit of space on the roof I wouldn't mind having free hot water.

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

By the way,

How are you finding your Compositing Toilet, What's the Good & Bad points ( Be honest) & what do you do with the contents when you empty it. I toyed with the idea a few years ago,but cost & uncertainty helped me make my final decision to a pump out using Enzymes.

 

& I have to say that's by far the best designed fridge I've seen,and will definitely be my replacement choice.

[Ex- Member]

Hi Paul

 

We've had the loo now for 9 years, ours is a Sun-Mar though not one of the newer Separate model loos, which are cheaper and better than ours and look more loo like. Having said that ours has worked really well and we've been more than happy with it. We now have to empty every 6 to 8 weeks and generally bury the tray of partially composted poo, nice and easy currently with the soft ground.

 

You do have to get up close and personal with your poo though, and many people just don't like that. Contrary to popular belief compost loo's do not smell, well proper vented ones don't, they have a constant draw of air through the chimney so any smell is removed immediately on use. I fitted a computer fan in the chimney to speed up the drying process, but occasionally all the urine can't be removed by evaporation, so there's an overflow for urine that diverts into a cannister under the floor and if gets filled has to be emptied, this is rarely though, usually happens when we have guests.

 

If Separate loo's were available at the time of our Sun-Mar purchase though, we would have gone for that model, especially being less than half the price as a Sun Mar. The only thing with the Separate loo is the need to empty the separated urine regularly, but urine on it's own is easy handle and to store until you're next at a elsan. The solid waste will also compost much quicker in the loo with less moisture.

[Ex- Member]

Well Feb now over so here's the results from our 740w of solar for Jan & Feb 2014Well Feb now over so here's the results from our 740w of solar for Jan & Feb 2014

 

I've also added Nov & Dec 2013 so the whole four months can be viewed together.

 

 

 

A few points worth mentioning.

 

Due to the storms and general windy weather we've been experiencing, much of the time the panels have had to be secured down, this means the majority of the results for Jan & Feb are from the panels being laid flat whereas Nov & Dec were mostly tilted. Only on few days through Jan & Feb did we get any advantage from tilting, we think around just 5 to ten days in Feb when the sun actually came out and we were on board to tilt appropriately.

 

Although a mild winter might suggest good weather for solar, we in fact believe a colder winter would be better for solar, it seems to be the cold days that the sun shines most and clearest, milder weather as we've experienced entails lots of cloud cover and rain. I would hazard a guess that solar collection nationwide is probably much less than last winter.

 

The past week has been brilliant sunny weather though, we have initiated 2 good equalizations within a week. We ran the engine for 45 minutes this lunch time only to quickly realise the batteries were actually fully charged, surprised as I was watching a film up to 3am this morning as well as fridge & C/H pump running as well, we did run the wee genny for 2 hours last evening too. I'm sure these equalizations have improved the batteries performance as they now seem to be draining much less quickly. Of course the increase in solar input is also a factor but either way there's a definite increase in battery performance.

 

It does look like some engine & generator running might be required over the next couple of weeks, much less that has been required that's for sure. We were hoping that by March we would be back to relying totally on solar, not quite there yet though, the sun higher in the sky though and the longer days it'll be just a couple of weeks more to totally free energy

 

ETA Have posted this here as well for comments/replies

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=64537&hl=

Edited March 2, 2014 by Julynian

[Ex- Member]

We decided to have an engine bay & bilge clean out last week. After 9 months on the water I was surprised just how grimy it all got. We also had something fowling the prop. In reverse you could hear something clattering against the hull, so the weed hatch has also been opened up. There ended up being a big clump of old hemp like rope but nothing that I could detect that would cause such a clanging noise against the hull. It's possible what ever it was came off in the last lock we went through a couple of days ago as the noise suddenly stopped just before we moored up.

I couldn't see the propeller but had a good feel around, the prop blades all seem fine, some dints on the outer edges but I suppose to be expected.

We had an inch of water in the bilge immediately under the stern gland and a load of gunky grease on top, not bad for 9 months in the water I thought. So all has now been cleaned out. It got me thinking though, cleaning & maintenance of this could be made a lot simpler by putting a small bucket directly beneath the stern gland. I just happened to have an empty plastic container that fits perfectly. So now I can just remove the bucket every time it reaches half full, no mess, simples!

Happy it's all clean now. It will have to be an annual job I reckon to keep the engine bay and bilges in decent order.

Was also extremely happy to have no rust in the weed hatch or the lid although all the bitumen on the weed hatch lid had mostly disappeared, fortunately the Red primer continued to protect it. I annoyingly forgot to do the inner lid when we 2 packed the Hull. It's too much hassle to strip it down and 2 pack it now, so I'll coat it with some spray Waxoyl before replacing it as bitumen is clearly useless.

Following on from engine room clean up. We've managed to get a job finished we didn't manage to do before going on the water. It was only a small walkway in the engine room and I never got to put any flooring down on it. Only a minor job, not too important so got neglected.

 

Anyway decided to get it sorted. Managed to do so using left over stuff from the fit out. So some nice thick 6mm rubber treads adhered to the floor.

We also cleaned up the engine room and bilges last week, so carried on in the same vain in the remaining engine room.

 

All the wood panelling was the first bit of fitting out undertaken on the boat, so now 10 years old. We also built the lot from off Oak and Oak ply off cuts from the boat yard we were staying in, so all the wood was free and mostly gleaned from the skip. It hasn't been touched other than cleaning since it was fitted. So we've given it all a really good clean up and applied a coat of satin varnish. Originally it was just treated with burnishing oil which has protected it pretty well over that time.

 

 

The battery bank cabling and connection boxes are set on Oak off cuts from the fit out too. So these also got a good clean up and couple of coats of varnish.

 

 

At the same time we opened up the step riser and cut a decent size hole through it as to create a larger access panel a to the bottom of B/B connection posts. It's now panelled over with some off cut 9mm ply and fitted with S/S Allen bolts, so the new access area is now bigger and much easier to access to make connections.

 

What it did look like before.

 

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,

It's a very satisfying job when done isn't it,

Looks great, ( Don't forget to move the tin of Thinners or whatever it is when you've finished).

So what's next ?.

[Ex- Member]

Hi ya,

It's a very satisfying job when done isn't it,

Looks great, ( Don't forget to move the tin of Thinners or whatever it is when you've finished).

So what's next ?.

 

Not sure what's next. I want to repaint the boats roof, so depending on weather I might make a start on preparing that as there's a few rust marks & scratches caused by the solar panels where the corner protectors came off.

 

 

It's great to have the engine room up together though, it gets mucky so easily and quickly. The decking over the engine now looks scruffy though, So I might repaint that decking as well the same as in front of the B/B

[bargemast]

Well done Julian, it's looking all clean and tidy.

 

You're lucky to have room for a decent size bucket under the propshaft at the sterngland, which makes keeping it dry and clean much easier.

 

I would love to have that amount of space under mine, but as I haven't, I've been doing it with much smaller sized plastic boxes.

 

Right now I'm doing all I can to win the Loto (been trying that for the last 30 years without any luck sofar), as I would like to get the same sort of solar installation as you have.

 

Peter.

[Ex- Member]

Well done Julian, it's looking all clean and tidy.

 

You're lucky to have room for a decent size bucket under the propshaft at the sterngland, which makes keeping it dry and clean much easier.

 

I would love to have that amount of space under mine, but as I haven't, I've been doing it with much smaller sized plastic boxes.

 

Right now I'm doing all I can to win the Loto (been trying that for the last 30 years without any luck sofar), as I would like to get the same sort of solar installation as you have.

 

Peter.

 

Hi Peter

 

Thanks for the comments. The bucket is just perfect, it originally contained toilet blocks for pub loo's LOL so it has a nice smell too

 

Yeah the space in there is a luxury, having peered into many a n/b engine ole It's clear they are difficult to access and keep clean, so keeping our in good nick it quite easy really.

 

Well solar is getting cheaper and cheaper, I'm guessing it's the same there in France. I calculated I could now fit the same 750W of solar fitted and running for £800 doing the work myself. That would be with a standard MPPT controller though and not the Outback.

 

So hopefully solar might be getting within budget for you. Maybe I could have a long weekend in France and give you a hand to fit them when you get some

[bargemast]

 

Hi Peter

 

Yeah the space in there is a luxury, having peered into many a n/b engine ole It's clear they are difficult to access and keep clean, so keeping our in good nick it quite easy really.

 

Well solar is getting cheaper and cheaper, I'm guessing it's the same there in France. I calculated I could now fit the same 750W of solar fitted and running for £800 doing the work myself. That would be with a standard MPPT controller though and not the Outback.

 

So hopefully solar might be getting within budget for you. Maybe I could have a long weekend in France and give you a hand to fit them when you get some

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Julian,

 

I'm hoping to sell a little (9.50m x 3.00m) motortjalk I have since 11 years, that was to accomodate visiting family and friends, so they would have independence, but it's cheaper to pay an hotel for them than the insurance, maintenance plus mooring fees for the little boat that I don't use for the rest.

 

If the boat sells, I will have to funds needed to invest in solar equipment, but although the Outback Mttp is surely among the best Mttp's, I will be happy enough with a bit less, and much cheaper standard Mttp controller.

 

I do appreciate your offer to help me with the fitting of the stuff, but with some effort and studying the subject more seriously, I think (and hope) that I should be able to do it myself.

 

Peter.

[Ex- Member]

 

 

Hi Julian,

 

I'm hoping to sell a little (9.50m x 3.00m) motortjalk I have since 11 years, that was to accomodate visiting family and friends, so they would have independence, but it's cheaper to pay an hotel for them than the insurance, maintenance plus mooring fees for the little boat that I don't use for the rest.

 

If the boat sells, I will have to funds needed to invest in solar equipment, but although the Outback Mttp is surely among the best Mttp's, I will be happy enough with a bit less, and much cheaper standard Mttp controller.

 

I do appreciate your offer to help me with the fitting of the stuff, but with some effort and studying the subject more seriously, I think (and hope) that I should be able to do it myself.

 

Peter.

 

Hi Peter

 

Well it is actually very simple and straight forward although you could be forgiven for thinking it's complicated. It's one of those things that look tricky on paper, but easier in reality. If you're happy with flat panels, the most difficult bit is choosing how and actually fixing them.

 

There's plenty of info on the net. Feel free to pm if you want to know anything.

[bargemast]

 

Hi Peter

 

Well it is actually very simple and straight forward although you could be forgiven for thinking it's complicated. It's one of those things that look tricky on paper, but easier in reality. If you're happy with flat panels, the most difficult bit is choosing how and actually fixing them.

 

There's plenty of info on the net. Feel free to pm if you want to know anything.

 

Hi Julian,

 

thanks for your encouragement, I will surely study the net, and what's written on the forum about the installation before I buy anything, and if I'm stuck or want to know more, I will make use of your kind offer, and pm you.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter.

[Pykebird]

Lovely tidy engine bay, just a bit envious!

[Ex- Member]

Having now been living on the water for 10 months, It becomes clear that lots of things need tweaking or changing. We've spent quite some time fitting and fixing stuff that makes life a wee bit easier. There's a lot of things to do as well, quite a list in fact of little improvements here and there that will reduce storage issues amongst other things.

 

Rigged up a sling to hold hand held Hoover inside a cupboard door.

 

Fitted various hooks & brackets for hanging things up.

 

Fitted security bolts to sliding hatch. Fitted small rubber bumper to stop sliding hatch banging against back plate when fully opening.

 

The main job though has been revamping the Dog box.

 

I had previously done work on this hatch with regard to replacing the steel centre hinge which rusted badly and seized, so we replaced with some heavy stainless steel door hinges which have worked superbly since being fitted, an Oak centre beam section was also fitted to stop the lids sagging in the middle.

 

 

This work was done some years ago though and the hatch area had become rather tatty over that time and was not very secure.

 

 

So the revamp has resulted in a very secure hatch using Brass latches. The hinged centre section has been covered in some Oak and rubber strip to hide the hatch drip well, it also covers the hinges gap which was equal to 2 x mushroom vents worth of ventilation, covering this over will save a lot of heat loss in winter.

 

 

The sides were originally finished in Oak, but we decided to paint the sides the same colour as the lid to make the area brighter and reflect more light into the boat, surprising how well it works. There's just a Black Neoprene rubber strip to be fitted to the lid edges which will finish it off nicely.

[DeanS]

Having now been living on the water for 10 months, It becomes clear that lots of things need tweaking or changing. We've spent quite some time fitting and fixing stuff that makes life a wee bit easier. There's a lot of things to do as well, quite a list in fact of little improvements here and there that will reduce storage issues amongst other things.

 

Rigged up a sling to hold hand held Hoover inside a cupboard door.

 

Fitted various hooks & brackets for hanging things up.

 

Fitted security bolts to sliding hatch. Fitted small rubber bumper to stop sliding hatch banging against back plate when fully opening.

 

The main job though has been revamping the Dog box.

 

I had previously done work on this hatch with regard to replacing the steel centre hinge which rusted badly and seized, so we replaced with some heavy stainless steel door hinges which have worked superbly since being fitted, an Oak centre beam section was also fitted to stop the lids sagging in the middle.

 

 

This work was done some years ago though and the hatch area had become rather tatty over that time and was not very secure.

 

 

So the revamp has resulted in a very secure hatch using Brass latches. The hinged centre section has been covered in some Oak and rubber strip to hide the hatch drip well, it also covers the hinges gap which was equal to 2 x mushroom vents worth of ventilation, covering this over will save a lot of heat loss in winter.

 

 

The sides were originally finished in Oak, but we decided to paint the sides the same colour as the lid to make the area brighter and reflect more light into the boat, surprising how well it works. There's just a Black Neoprene rubber strip to be fitted to the lid edges which will finish it off nicely.

 

beautiful ;-)

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya,

Well as with most of your stuff, I like it, Looks great, isn't it surprising just how much of a difference painting the side wall/upstands make both Astecticly & Practically !.

Well done.

[Ex- Member]

When we first ordered our boat as a shell, we designed the cratch to be another area to utilise, much as the same way as a small patio on a property. However although we of course use it, it's not actually become what we envisaged.

 

We had seat lockers welded in which work well, but you can't do much other than sit out there with a drink. So after some thought we came up with this.

 

 

Basically a folding table set against the gas locker bulkhead. Very simple to make really, and now we can use the cratch to eat meals alfresco and have somewhere stable to put drinks. Given it's design it's also incredibly stable considering the way I decided to support it.

 

 

It's made from Cedar wood which I managed to source locally already planed up. Is simply battens underneath and slats above hinged with 3" S/S hinges to the gas locker bulkhead. We noticed to different colours in the Cedar wood so chore to alternate the creamy wood with the Red.

 

My idea to support the table works well, there's no support legs or poles to the floor to get in the way when seating yourself. The supports are 2 x 10mm S/S rods connected to the underside of the table with split ring and a fixed eye loop so they can swivel easily from their underside to the wood block housing, and a couple of sprung catches to clip the S/S rods to the underside of the table when you fold the table down.

 

 

Cedar wood cost £30 Hinges rods screws & fittings £24.00 Probably took about 3 hours total.

 

Table surface is 3 f/t wide at It's widest and 2 f/t deep.

 

This is also posted here. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60371&page=18

Edited July 6, 2014 by Julynian

[DeanS]

lovely design concept...

I may steal your roof pipes storage idea at some point ))

[bargemast]

When we first ordered our boat as a shell, we designed the cratch to be another area to utilise, much as the same way as a small patio on a property. However although we of course use it, it's not actually become what we envisaged.

 

We had seat lockers welded in which work well, but you can't do much other than sit out there with a drink. So after some thought we came up with this.

 

 

Basically a folding table set against the gas locker bulkhead. Very simple to make really, and now we can use the cratch to eat meals alfresco and have somewhere stable to put drinks. Given it's design it's also incredibly stable considering the way I decided to support it.

 

 

It's made from Cedar wood which I managed to source locally already planed up. Is simply battens underneath and slats above hinged with 3" S/S hinges to the gas locker bulkhead. We noticed to different colours in the Cedar wood so chore to alternate the creamy wood with the Red.

 

My idea to support the table works well, there's no support legs or poles to the floor to get in the way when seating yourself. The supports are 2 x 10mm S/S rods connected to the underside of the table with split ring and a fixed eye loop so they can swivel easily from their underside to the wood block housing, and a couple of sprung catches to clip the S/S rods to the underside of the table when you fold the table down.

 

 

Cedar wood cost £30 Hinges rods screws & fittings £24.00 Probably took about 3 hours total.

 

Table surface is 3 f/t wide at It's widest and 2 f/t deep.

 

This is also posted here. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60371&page=18

 

Time and money well spent, and a nice and useful addition.

 

Peter.

[Ex- Member]

Cheers Peter

 

Being used at this very moment as well. We'll be spending much more time in the cratch for sure, especially the nice cooler evenings. At least my beer won't be sliding off the gas locker lid and ending up in the canal LOL

 

Cheers Dean

 

Pipes work well, we stow a large sun umbrella, telescopic pole, fishing rods, landing net, rotary clothes airer.

Edited July 6, 2014 by Julynian

[Alan65]

Hi, how very inspirational. Next year I will hopefully emulate your experience and I'm sure I will refer to your blog regularly. In the meantime a very straight forward question , how did you make your internal walls and are they solid or with a cavity ?

Thanks so much Alan