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Guys advice please if you can spare a minute - Thinking of moving onto a boat.


Matt&Jo

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5 hours ago, Matt&Jo said:

Thank you all again for your thoughts. Chubby i would also like to apologise to you for getting a little hot under the collar. I would also like to thank a wonderfull person on this forum who has very generously offered me a short time aboard her narrow boat to experience life afloat. Blown away by this offer...

We spent the day yesterday calling lots of marinas to be told no no no no time and time again with regards to widebeams and even told some lists are a decade long to get a space.... we have had to open our eyes somewhat to a narrow boat and we are going to whilton marina today to look at a 65 ft lady up their built in 2015. I am going eyes wide open and a little concerned that their is no other heating source other than the stove and the fridge is 240v it does have however 5 leisure batterys and inverter plus engine or immersion heating for hot water.

I know the cost of solar will be around £1200 for a 475w system but a retro fitted eberspacher im not so sure on.....

The boat is considerably less than we were going to spend at around £50,000 but it just seems like what we were after from a boat. They also have a wide beam we like so will visit both.

Wish us luck and feel free to give any big watch out for this and check that advice.

 

A few points for you to consider. We have cced much of our liveaboard life over the last 28 years. You can have a car but actualy we used to have 2 so we could move the boat and hop the cars so we always had car at boat, its  a pain and life without a car is far superior but its easily doable. Liveing oop norff is VASTLY cheaper for moorings, my widebeam until 2 years ago was 3k a year living aboard. A narrowbeam boat makes much of living aboard and choices easier but comfort is down the pan. Have a choice of heating to cover every eventuality. Solar is great and always worth fitting. NEVER buy a gas free boat.

 

cheers

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Okay so the boats today,

We looked at 3,

All 60-65ft

Our prefered boat was nice but had some annoying things, the throttle controls were very very low (cruiser stern) their was also no sliding hatch to make it easier for my 6ft height.

Internaly was okay but id change a few things including stud walls. Nice modern ikea kitchen and very light and airy.

Bad bits......

The fridge is 240v

Heating for water is either emersion or engine so may need a gas fired instant hot water boiler,

Boat heating is only multi fuel stove (brand is crossley?) No back boiler so a concern if that will be enough.

Seems its been fitted out mainly for 240v but does have 5 leisure batterys and a 1500w inverter.......

Any suggestion for remedies of the above please let me know your thoughts.

12v fridge is a must even at £600 as with i beleive most boats we could do without a freezer. 

Toilet is a cassette that just sits anywhere u wanna put it as they have a second bedroom we dont need so the toilet has suffered.

Alot of work needed to get to how we want it but it gave me a good feeling unlike the others....

 

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No one has mentioned arachnids!* They land on your face in the middle of the night. Spin webs at eye height to walk into. As they also spin webs by windows, the window sills get covered in spider poo.

* arach|nid

  1. [əˈraknɪd]
    NOUN
arachnids (plural noun)
  1. an arthropod of the class Arachnida, such as a spiders.
Edited by Ray T
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1 hour ago, Matt&Jo said:

Okay so the boats today,

We looked at 3,

All 60-65ft

Our prefered boat was nice but had some annoying things, the throttle controls were very very low (cruiser stern) their was also no sliding hatch to make it easier for my 6ft height.

Internaly was okay but id change a few things including stud walls. Nice modern ikea kitchen and very light and airy.

Bad bits......

The fridge is 240v

Heating for water is either emersion or engine so may need a gas fired instant hot water boiler,

Boat heating is only multi fuel stove (brand is crossley?) No back boiler so a concern if that will be enough.

Seems its been fitted out mainly for 240v but does have 5 leisure batterys and a 1500w inverter.......

Any suggestion for remedies of the above please let me know your thoughts.

12v fridge is a must even at £600 as with i beleive most boats we could do without a freezer. 

Toilet is a cassette that just sits anywhere u wanna put it as they have a second bedroom we dont need so the toilet has suffered.

Alot of work needed to get to how we want it but it gave me a good feeling unlike the others....

 

Why MUST it be a 12 volt fridge. Of my eight liveaboard boats I have always prefered mains fridges. They are VASTLY cheaper and easily obtained and use a fraction more leccy if they are stand alone and not using inverter for anything else which is doubtful. I agree about freezer absolutely not needed, mine is never plugged in.

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5 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Why MUST it be a 12 volt fridge. Of my eight liveaboard boats I have always prefered mains fridges. They are VASTLY cheaper and easily obtained and use a fraction more leccy if they are stand alone and not using inverter for anything else which is doubtful. I agree about freezer absolutely not needed, mine is never plugged in.

 

Clearly not a CCer then!

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1 hour ago, Matt&Jo said:

 

The fridge is 240v

Heating for water is either emersion or engine so may need a gas fired instant hot water boiler,

Boat heating is only multi fuel stove (brand is crossley?) No back boiler so a concern if that will be enough.

Seems its been fitted out mainly for 240v but does have 5 leisure batterys and a 1500w inverter.......

Any suggestion for remedies of the above please let me know your thoughts.

12v fridge is a must even at £600 as with i beleive most boats we could do without a freezer. 

Toilet is a cassette that just sits anywhere u wanna put it as they have a second bedroom we dont need so the toilet has suffered.

Alot of work needed to get to how we want it but it gave me a good feeling unlike the others....

 

Fridge being 240v doesn't matter

If the boat is below budget and you really like it, get an eberspacher and a few rads fitted.  This will provide a backup form of heating and hot water.

Cassette toilets are better. Do you really want a big tank of poo under your bed with a chance of it leaking/smelling?

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1 minute ago, lulu fish said:

Cassette toilets are better. Do you really want a big tank of poo under your bed with a chance of it leaking/smelling?

When you can look forward to schlepping a suitcase full of poo down a bumpy towpath to a filthy elsan station!  You could have both, of course, and use whichever gave you the most happiness.

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5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Clearly not a CCer then!

Of my 28 years living aboard I have probably cced over half of it, in fact definately have and would always prefer a mains fridge especialy as ccing means batteries topped up due to moving virtualy daily.

6 minutes ago, lulu fish said:

Fridge being 240v doesn't matter

If the boat is below budget and you really like it, get an eberspacher and a few rads fitted.  This will provide a backup form of heating and hot water.

Cassette toilets are better. Do you really want a big tank of poo under your bed with a chance of it leaking/smelling?

All vaild points.

1 minute ago, lulu fish said:

If a CCer needs to worry about the small difference between a 12v and a 240v fridge, then they must have an insufficient battery/charging setup.

Again correct.

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2 minutes ago, mross said:

When you can look forward to schlepping a suitcase full of poo down a bumpy towpath to a filthy elsan station!  You could have both, of course, and use whichever gave you the most happiness.

This one always makes me laugh :lol: ...... why would you have to hump the poo down a bumpy towpath? do you drag the boat down the bumpy towpath or simply pull up at a pumpout point the same as you can pull up at an elsan point for cassette emptying?

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Just now, lulu fish said:

If a CCer needs to worry about the small difference between a 12v and a 240v fridge, then they must have an insufficient battery/charging setup.

 

Running the inverter 24/7 is not that small a 'small difference'. 

Every little counts in the thee dark winter months. 

Unless you like to turn the fridge off in winter and keep your food in a box outside in the dark and wet. I don't. As Phil Amrose says, "we live on a boat but we ain't camping". 

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Perhaps there is something wrong with my digestive system? When I poo the results are heavy. When the little tank is full, it is quite an effort to lift. Would changing my diet make it lighter so that I can join the ranks of the happy bog emptiers? In the meantime I will put up with having a pumpout about once every 3 months. 

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2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Running the inverter 24/7 is not that small a 'small difference'. 

Every little counts in the thee dark winter months. 

 

 

I found the difference between my 12v fridge and my new 240v one to be not noticeable, I don't monitor these things in minute detail though.  What do you think the difference in power usage would be?

If you are pushing your setup to the limit so that a small difference matters, you are probably also killing you batteries.

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Will the inverter not smash the back doors out of the 4 leisure batterys if not recieving solar top up? If i stop off for a week i dont want to be runni g the engine for 2/3 hours a day.....silent genny is an option i guess

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Just now, lulu fish said:

 

I found the difference between my 12v fridge and my new 240v one to be not noticeable, I don't monitor these things in minute detail though.  What do you think the difference in power usage would be?

If you are pushing your setup to the limit so that a small difference matters, you are probably also killing you batteries.

 

Absolutely I'm pushing my setup to the limit. You've obviously missed all my threads on the subject of my dying batteries. This is why I'm part way through installing a Whispergen.

 I find it impossible to generate enough power during the small number of hours I'm not out at work between 8am and 8pm in the winter. A problem I'm surprised more CCers don't run into. 

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3 minutes ago, Matt&Jo said:

Will the inverter not smash the back doors out of the 4 leisure batterys if not recieving solar top up? 

Yes, but not much more than a 12v fridge on it's own.   How do you plan to power a 12v fridge for a week without charging?

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1 minute ago, Matt&Jo said:

Will the inverter not smash the back doors out of the 4 leisure batterys if not recieving solar top up? If i stop off for a week i dont want to be runni g the engine for 2/3 hours a day.....silent genny is an option i guess

As lulufish says the difference is marginal. It may be up to as much as 25 percent more but rarely is that bad. I have found that living aboard and cruising I have usualy needed to run engine to charge batteries daily anyway unless caveman living appeals. My 12 volt fridge at present is fine but will be replaced with mains when it goes wrong. I am only speaking re my first hand boating experience so could not comment on any guesswork.

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4 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Perhaps there is something wrong with my digestive system? When I poo the results are heavy. When the little tank is full, it is quite an effort to lift. Would changing my diet make it lighter so that I can join the ranks of the happy bog emptiers? In the meantime I will put up with having a pumpout about once every 3 months. 

Thats some heavy s**t

Have you tried philadelphia lite, for a lighter bog emptying experience? 

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4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

I find it impossible to generate enough power during the small number of hours I'm not out at work

Thats cos you've been waiting til your batteries get to 50% before recharging and relying on a dodgy smartgauge:)

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I was hoping a decent solar set up would provide a reasonable top up for the 12v systems during the summer months and spring and autumn at a push. Im not very knowledgeable about this stuff despite sitting up until 3am this morning with wifey trying to square this electricity draw and heating and hot water options. Im glad i have u all for advice!!!

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2 minutes ago, Matt&Jo said:

I was hoping a decent solar set up would provide a reasonable top up for the 12v systems during the summer months and spring and autumn at a push. Im not very knowledgeable about this stuff despite sitting up until 3am this morning with wifey trying to square this electricity draw and heating and hot water options. Im glad i have u all for advice!!!

Spring, summer, autumn, solar is great. (ok, its not brilliant early spring and late autumn) 

Winter solar is rubbish and will require an alternative. 

Edited by rusty69
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9 minutes ago, Matt&Jo said:

Will the inverter not smash the back doors out of the 4 leisure batterys if not recieving solar top up? If i stop off for a week i dont want to be runni g the engine for 2/3 hours a day.....silent genny is an option i guess

 

Where are you getting "if" from? In Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb your solar will give no discernible output worth measuring, so plan for that now. 

An hour or two battery charging a day seems to be essential in order to avoid battery death in three months. I charged my massive bank only weekly over the winter and this has killed the batteries despite them never falling below 50%.

  • Greenie 1
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1 minute ago, Matt&Jo said:

I was hoping a decent solar set up would provide a reasonable top up for the 12v systems during the summer months and spring and autumn at a push. Im not very knowledgeable about this stuff despite sitting up until 3am this morning with wifey trying to square this electricity draw and heating and hot water options. Im glad i have u all for advice!!!

Solar make s a hell of a difference between about march and november but very little use in the winter months proper.

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