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eco-efficient-houseboatchanger this been on before?


rasputin

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9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

This bit impressed me especially:

"The SunFlower needs 5KW a day to run the domestic supply, so just one hour of full sun produces more than the boat’s daily domestic needs."

 

How many Kw of solar panels do you think they have. From that comment because they are flat it must be more than 5 Kw .When I enquired for my bungalow they could only get 4Kw on the roof at the optimum angle

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A widebeam with solar panels on the roof is certainly a unique new idea, in fact I have not seen one of them since I was last on a wide canal.

Does anybody remember Unity on the K&A? a "replica" of an original K&A working boat with solar panels and an electric motor to simulate the silent cruising of a horse drawn boat?. It did just about work for very slow and short cruises in summer but did have a generator discretely hidden in a wooden barrel on the deck. I was once one of many people pulling the rope to get it up through Newbury as it did not have enough power to get up against the (modest) flow.

..............Dave

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On 12/10/2017 at 10:25, dmr said:

A widebeam with solar panels on the roof is certainly a unique new idea, in fact I have not seen one of them since I was last on a wide canal.

Does anybody remember Unity on the K&A? a "replica" of an original K&A working boat with solar panels and an electric motor to simulate the silent cruising of a horse drawn boat?. It did just about work for very slow and short cruises in summer but did have a generator discretely hidden in a wooden barrel on the deck. I was once one of many people pulling the rope to get it up through Newbury as it did not have enough power to get up against the (modest) flow.

..............Dave

 

Ah but was that because to motor was under-sized or because the batteries were flat?

And did the designers make the skoolboy error of expecting 5kW of solar panels to actually deliver 5kW of power? How quaint!

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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

I note they haven't been on the boat through a single winter yet.

The manufacture of batteries, solar panels, steel and concrete is hardly eco-friendly or sustainable in the long term either.

Surprised they didn't use ground source (water source) heating for the boat to supplement the electric under floor heating.

My mate lives on Taggs Island on a houseboat. I'll ask him to see if they are still there next year.

I think my initial post on that subject may have been a little obtuse.

If you set out to build an "eco-efficient" boat and at the first stage end up with a hull design that requires 42 tonnes of steel and 18 tonnes of concrete you should immediately conclude you have failed miserably and start again before even considering the inside of the boat.

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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47 minutes ago, WJM said:

Nothing new...

 

https://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/28/bauhaus-boatbargehouseboat-sale-completely-solar-powered/

 

http://newatlas.com/solar-powered-bauhaus-barge/21674/

 

And the position of that stove chimney is their way of announcing to the world that they know nothing about boating. 

 

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In winter the water is heated by the eco boiler stove, using "100% renewable smokeless logs". Have they got the space to store a winter's supply, either on the bank or what's left of the roof after they've covered most of it in solar panels? They can't rely on being supplied frequently by water on a river which can be closed by flooding, and they'll need to keep those logs dry.

Given the steady advances in the technology of solar panels and batteries that seem to be coming, I'm sure their use will increase, along with other modern improvements like LED lighting and better insulation, and a good thing it is. Good luck to them if they can get it right, but I fear they may not have economised enough on their use of power to cope well with winter, even in the south. They could always compromise their principles a bit and top up with shore power at their mooring, maybe feeding some power back to the grid in summer.

Clearly the boat isn't intended to go very far, what with that chimney and a few other things:

Is there room on the roof in front of the steerer for a decent length pole? And a plank if they're going on the K&A?

The big square windows which open outwards, hinged at one side! Broken glass waiting to happen.

"With a top cruising speed of just three knots, she’s not the fastest on the river". Moving slowly is fine and economic on fuel, but I hope their electric motors are capable of producing enough power when needed to get them out of trouble on the river.

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21 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

I think my initial post on that subject may have been a little obtuse.

If you set out to build an "eco-efficient" boat and at the first stage end up with a hull design that requires 42 tonnes of steel and 18 tonnes of concrete you should immediately conclude you have failed miserably and start again before even considering the inside of the boat.

JP

Yes we are in agreement that the manufacture of the boat isn't eco-friendly.

They should have made it out of clay and straw bales if they wanted it to be well insulated and eco-friendly, preferably on the bank :P.

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23 minutes ago, Peter X said:

In winter the water is heated by the eco boiler stove, using "100% renewable smokeless logs". Have they got the space to store a winter's supply, either on the bank or what's left of the roof after they've covered most of it in solar panels? They can't rely on being supplied frequently by water on a river which can be closed by flooding, and they'll need to keep those logs dry.

Given the steady advances in the technology of solar panels and batteries that seem to be coming, I'm sure their use will increase, along with other modern improvements like LED lighting and better insulation, and a good thing it is. Good luck to them if they can get it right, but I fear they may not have economised enough on their use of power to cope well with winter, even in the south. They could always compromise their principles a bit and top up with shore power at their mooring, maybe feeding some power back to the grid in summer.

Clearly the boat isn't intended to go very far, what with that chimney and a few other things:

Is there room on the roof in front of the steerer for a decent length pole? And a plank if they're going on the K&A?

The big square windows which open outwards, hinged at one side! Broken glass waiting to happen.

"With a top cruising speed of just three knots, she’s not the fastest on the river". Moving slowly is fine and economic on fuel, but I hope their electric motors are capable of producing enough power when needed to get them out of trouble on the river.

And don't forget the requirement for Stopping Quickly?not much chance of that!

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3 minutes ago, cereal tiller said:

And don't forget the requirement for Stopping Quickly?not much chance of that!

Not needed, coz after they have took all the photos for facebook and other publicity, they wont move, they will just in a marina eating lentils and washing the dishes in the dishwasher that consumes more power than actually moving the boat.

 

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It's "currently moored near Hampton Court", so probably no muddy towpath involved. My guess is that they have a long term mooring in a very nice location, handy for London, and little intention of moving very often, and the boat is designed for that.

I sometimes eat lentils, they're nice as part of a balanced diet. Can't be bothered with a dishwasher in my house, I think they're too much trouble unless catering for quite a big household.

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3 minutes ago, Peter X said:

It's "currently moored near Hampton Court", so probably no muddy towpath involved. My guess is that they have a long term mooring in a very nice location, handy for London, and little intention of moving very often, and the boat is designed for that.

I sometimes eat lentils, they're nice as part of a balanced diet. Can't be bothered with a dishwasher in my house, I think they're too much trouble unless catering for quite a big household.

A propos of dishwashers, may I quote you to Mrs Stilllearning? She wants one and I consider them to be the work of the devil and very environmentally unfriendly.

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3 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

A propos of dishwashers, may I quote you to Mrs Stilllearning? She wants one and I consider them to be the work of the devil and very environmentally unfriendly.

IMO the only environmental unfriendly bit is the chemicals they use. If you fill them they use less hot water than you would in a bowl

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3 minutes ago, WJM said:

42 tons being propelled by a food blender on a big powerful river. Madness! In winter the river itself moves at more than 3mph. Even with a calm river, how do you stop the thing?

They'll use reverse like anyone else, but it won't stop quickly. The question is whether their boat has enough oomph to cope with the conditions. If they only go out when the river is calm, and know what they're doing in terms of steering a steady course in the right place, watching the river ahead, keeping clear of the weirs and in some places facing up river to moor, they should be OK. Last week I was steering a loaded pair of coal boats, well over 42 tons, up the Thames and I coped.

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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

IMO the only environmental unfriendly bit is the chemicals they use. If you fill them they use less hot water than you would in a bowl

That is no doubt true, I was thinking more about the amount of resources and energy used to make the thing in the first place, and trying to do a comparison between that and a few years of running a tap and using washing up liquid.

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

But a lot more electricity!

Indeed, that is part of my long running discussion with the management re dishwashers.

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Just noticed a very similar article to the one in the first post of this thread in Canal Boat Magazine. 

They seem to want maximum publicity for their boat.

I do hope they publish a follow up article after their first full year of boating on The Sunflower.

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9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

How many Kw of solar panels do you think they have. From that comment because they are flat it must be more than 5 Kw .When I enquired for my bungalow they could only get 4Kw on the roof at the optimum angle

That is due to government legislation, not the space available. We have 14 full size panels on our roof but it’s still only a shade under 4kW. It’s to do with more than 4kW makes you a business or something like that. 

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1 hour ago, WotEver said:

That is due to government legislation, not the space available. We have 14 full size panels on our roof but it’s still only a shade under 4kW. It’s to do with more than 4kW makes you a business or something like that. 

Correct. We've got 16 panels on our bungalow which gives 4kw. I have room for 2 more but was told that it wasn't worth the hassle due to having to apply for commercial use and possibly planning permission. We are now waiting for our hot water tank to spring a leak so we can replace it with a twin coil unit and 2 water panels in the space on the roof.

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