Bill2

Is feasable to set up the battery charging on a boat to start a diesel generator automatically when the battery charge fell beloow 50%%? This, with a huge battery bank and an electric motor. would allow the boat to be treated as a mobile electric powered house. Bill2

If the "smartgauge" works as well as their web site you're going to have flat, sulphated batteries. Bill Adam

plumbing for hot water is to 3 taps My post reads "No plumbing or boiler for central heating" Cost of boiler? > £1,000 Cost of radiator? Cost of pipework? In a narrow boat the recomended ventilation far outweighs any other heat loss so 10x less ventilation is about 10x less heat loss. As a share holder in a narrow boat I spent years trying to convince my fellow owners that the demanded BSS ventilation was excessive, to no avail. Now the authorities have changed it from compulsory to recomended that's as near as one can expect to an admission that they were wrong. The cabin space is around 9 foot long but is triple functional. QThat makes it equivalent to 35+18=53 foot. The major attraction of hybrid drive is a (literal) ton of batteries and a big generator. A major snag in boats is flat leisure batteries. You have a nominal 100Ah but ifyou go below half full they get sulphated so 100Ah is only 50Ah, but it's hard to know their charge state so allow a big margin for error and you daren't use more than half that, leaving only 25Ah.

A standing charge is a cost entailed whether a facility is made use of or not. If your engine is run without going anywhere you incur the cost of fuel to run pumps, charge full starter battery, turn camshaft etc. What about he "fact" that pumps, ...etc. reference required. It is self evident that the anciliaries place a much smaller load on the engine than does the primary load ( driving the boat, charging the ton of batteries or whatever). Sudden removal of which (eg broken propshaft) has a dramatic affect on the engine. Whereas removal the water pump (broken fanbelt) has a neglidgeable effect until overheating occurs. Bill Adam P.S. The stresses in reciprocating parts (eg. pistons) do increase with the cube of rotating parts.

"Not far off, sounds near enough to me. Just 2 horse power propels a narrowboat at about 3mph http://solarboat.co.uk/faq.shtml the lower bhp figure I refer to makes the "standing charge" even bigger. Hard sum, Total power (7.5 bhp) minus power used to drive the boat ( 4bhp) equals power used to run ancilliaries (3.5 bhp). That this "standing charge" is small compared to the working load is shown by the effect of sudden removal of the working load. Your turn. Reference please. Normal practice has been to refer to motor power out put in bhp and electric powe available in kW. Bill Adam

I've given this some thought:- The 30 bhp engine will give 30bhp at ca. 4,000 rpm. the bhp is proportional to rpm, so at 1,000 rpm it will be giving 7.5 bhp. About 4 bhp will move the boat at 4 mph the extra 3.5 bhp is used to drive fuep, oil and cooling water pumps; these are overheads and fairly constant.AT 1,000 RPM 4/7.*100=53% of your fuel is beingused for producing power. At 4,000 rpm the engine will produce 30 bhp, 3.5 bhp will still cover overheads and 26.5/30 * 100 = 88.3% of your fuel is being used for producing power. your motor is producing 20kw of storable electricity, is that a shed load? Bill Adam

This is the address for lashed up website with captioned diagrams http://comfybutshort.weebly.com

I think that the hybrid drive in a boat works in a completely different way to that in a car. The company recommend up to 800Ah @ 48v. That's 3,200 Ah @12v. The batteries must weigh around one and a half tons. This would present a problem in a car weighing < one ton. Not so in a narrow boat weighing around ten tons. The space taken up is more of a problem but managable. I think they would fill a space about 6ft. * 2ft. * 18in.(18 cubic feet). The engine is run for an hour, using < a gallon of fuel and going ca. 4 miles. The XS power puts enough electricity into the batteries to go for 2 hours (8 miles), giving > 12mpg. I was thinking of having ca. 10 sq.metres of photovoltaic panels on the roof giving up to 2kw on a sunny sumers day (when you don't need it).

I am well aware of one drawback. The initial cost is high, if all the aspects of the boat perform as hoped it's worth every penny but if they don't, how much can you loose?

I fear it's all in the mind, I suspect it would cost around £50,000. I could afford only a fraction of that. The hybrid motor co. would build it around a Beta 20 and I'm told a double chine hull woud reduce drag and cost no more than the single.

Very impressive! Can you post a layout so I can pick your brains? The boss will need a bath but that shouldn't need 5 feet more.

The diesel motor, electric motor, inverter and 800Ah (@48v) battery pack costs<£20,000 . Don't know what te batteries cost but the diesel motor's over £6,000.

If you look at www.hybridmarine.co.uk you will see that their "enhanced" power unit comes with 800Ah of batteries at 48v (same as 3200 Ah at 12v) and a huge inverter. The 48v wiring links motor,inverter and batteries; it does not go all round the boat. No problem, the hybrid system comes with an 800Ah (@48v), and depreciation only applies if you sell it. We have a 2sq.m solar panel on the roof and, as back-up, a 1kw imersion heater in the hot water tank. The water tank can be kept full from the canal througha reverse osmosis filter! fficuCan ask what aspect of going to the loo at 03:00 is causing you dificulty?

Most new boats have 230v & 12v wiring, this one looses 12v wiring. This boat has no plumbing to radiators or boiler. Normal house's ventilation changes air in ca one hour, the safety advice for a "normal boat vhanges the air every five minutes. The cooling effeect of this swamps any other heat-loss mechanisms, hence the dearth of double glazed boats. The accomodation on this boat relys on a 10 foot triple purpose lounge/ dining room/ bedroom which can be converted in ca. 2 minutes. Thus saving 20 foot of a 57 footer.

OK Composting toilet (it makes earth though)