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eco-efficient-houseboatchanger this been on before?


rasputin

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I too disagree. Still needs water for drinking & cooking. Not sure if I even want to do my laundry or washing in dirty canal water (on going cost of filters?).

No elsan point needed, now although I've never had a composting toilet, I'm pretty sure the contents don't magically disappear, so need a land based point to be able to dump the contents on to a compost heap.

Grumpy old boaters snipping about solar panels? More like what they've chosen isn't going to work, especially with everything being electric. Add to that on their own website they don't seem to even have a proper grasp as to how it all works, can't even specify things correctly e.g. Produces 6KW of electric, surely they would produce 6kVh (or whatever the number) of electric. Reckons 1 hour of sun (6KW to cover the 5kW daily usage) is all that is needed to charge the batteries (assuming summer no clouds no shade) but we all know it takes longer than that to charge lead acid batteries, if it didn't we could all charge our batteries to full from our alternators because the amps & volts don't drop as they become more charged right?

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If that figure of 1.1m is for anywhere near Hampton Court, 2016 was a wet year. I checked on the Met Office site's map, and it seems the annual average along that part of the Thames is around 600mm. In England, only the northwest, Cornwall, Devon and a few sundry hilly areas average over a metre.

So if their roof area is about 20m by 4m, they can expect about 48 cubic metres of rainwater per year if they collect it all. In practice they probably can't due to tank size and seasonal variation, but I think they'll be OK for most of the year. In summer they'll have to go easy with that bath, or visit a water point sometimes.

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Sunflower? I think it should be called Swan.

Not because it's elegant and graceful 'cos it looks like a bluddy match box.

A boat needs to look like a boat in order to have a soul, if it costs a fiver then it's a £5 boat. If it looks like a breeze block and costs a quarter of a million then it's a £125,000 breeze block.

How much anti greenness is caused by the manufacturing process of those panels and batteries? Or if being green isn't their motivation and they're really passionate about free energy then it's a good job all those batteries etc. are free eh?

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1 hour ago, Peter X said:

If that figure of 1.1m is for anywhere near Hampton Court, 2016 was a wet year. I checked on the Met Office site's map, and it seems the annual average along that part of the Thames is around 600mm. In England, only the northwest, Cornwall, Devon and a few sundry hilly areas average over a metre.

So if their roof area is about 20m by 4m, they can expect about 48 cubic metres of rainwater per year if they collect it all. In practice they probably can't due to tank size and seasonal variation, but I think they'll be OK for most of the year. In summer they'll have to go easy with that bath, or visit a water point sometimes.

Just had my water bill today, this half was 19 m3  and last was 28 m3 so that is 47 m3 in the year just about the same as they would collect. I flush a toilet several times a day and they don't

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7 hours ago, Dave_P said:

I'm gonna be controversial now.

Although I agree that the article is pants, looking at the spec of the boat, I'm fairly impressed and can see this arrangement working well for certain users (but maybe not the owners).  The rainwater harvesting, compost toilet etc would all work fine as far as I can see.

Picture this user:  November - end of Feb in a marina on shoreline.  Then continuously cruising for the rest of the year, mainly on canals.  Moving a few miles every week or two.  Silent cruising, no bothering with diesel supplies, rarely needing to top up water, no emptying of cassettes, or pumping out.  The boat is very self-sufficient.  I like to moor for extended periods "out in the wilds", however I have to factor in stopping at services on a regular basis, this boat would free me up a lot.

Of course there would be down-sides - I'd have a nightmare singlehanding through locks with those panels covering the roof.

It's boats like this which attempt to push things forwards a bit which open the door for the rest of us to benefit.  Lots (most?) of us have solar now, but I'll bet when the first few boats appeared with a panel or two, all the grumpy old boaters came along sniping at them. 

 

Yes, there's a lot wrong with the boat, yes it's ugly, yes the stove is wrong, yes the owners seem a bit naive, yes the article sensationalises this boat to the point of ridiculousness, but if you try to see past that...

 

I think it's very healthy that someone plays the devil's advocate but sorry Dave it's a mess, there's almost nothing to redeem this miserable project.

It reminds me of some of those dreadful creations you see on Grand Designs, they should rename that programme Grotesque Debacles.  These people with their heads in the clouds, with huge wads of cash to spend on a vanity project, especially those who claim to be eco friendly or "sustainable", it's just so depressing.    

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