Blazeaway

Fantastic folks, I see that 'greenies' appear to be awarded for great stuff if I knew what they were and how to award I'd be doing so for all of you, thank you so much. Hopefully I'll be proud owner of a new boat in the next few days........

Hope you folks can help on this one, I am looking for a good reliable surveyor to survey a boat for me near to Napton Junction, got any recommendations for me ? Its a 65 foot Steel Hull Narrow Boat built 2002.

In my case I visited the boat many months ago with my wife, and have also have interest in 2 others. I am now in funds and want to proceed and will buy 1 of these 3 boats. All are in the 50-70k price range. I visited again in mid December as I new funds were due January to be sure I wanted to continue with this one boat. and to see the engine running and others things that were still vague from my June 2014 visit. I have now told them that I will buy one of the 3 boats I'm looking at, and I will. I asked for a meet at the boat with the owners so they can show me all the things in operation to prove they operate, eg Mikuni heater works and heats water. Hot water comes out the shower etc, toilet Flushes, Engines starts and batteries do charge, the electric points work, the lights works and take me on a ten minute cruise to prove it can. I don't think I'm asking much, am I ? If all goes well then I'll make an offer subject to survey. The agent says "you can see it in operation when the owners take it to the yard for the survey" Now I don't even want to book a survey until we've agreed a price and I wont put in an offer until I've seen it cruising and seen the various systems operating" Am I being reasonable or not and are they just being ar$ey ? I don't see how they are acting in the best interests of their client..........I might take my £50,000 elsewhere.........

Thanks folks, I thought much the same as your posts, its not Whilton btw, but one of the respected (I believe ?) brokers.

I am interested in buying a boat that is advertised with one of the main brokers. Ive asked for a "test drive" but they seem reluctant to do this, is this normal ? My view is I want to see every aspect of the boat operating before i make an offer and then move to survey.

On previous thread I looked into putting in 240 v fridge and 240 v freezer, rather than 12v on that thread calcs came down in favour or 240 v versions of both as annual energy consumption worked out less as the new fridges are far more efficient than 12v ones. Plus choice and price is better. Eo 24v may be even better still.

So it seems that a conversion to 24v domestic side would be worth considering when we retire and become liveaboard and cruise for several months. Great replies thank you all.

Interesting, in practical terms does that mean the alternator for engine battery would send out 12v to starter battery and the domestic alternator would send 24v to leisure batteries and they in turn would be wired in series ie 2 x 12 v batteries or stick with 12v alternators some how ? Then what about the inverter is it running with 12 or 24v supply ? Sorry if these are dumb qiestions but i am dumb i guess.

Whats that all about? Just wndering, the majority of appliances fridges etc are 12v so whats the pros, cons and reasons for having 24v ?

We will get there I'm sure. I see you are on river lark. Its on our list of places to cruise to, to visit our daughter who lives near by.

all the replies have been really helpful, 200 litres fridge is small in comparison to current home setup, We are a bit spoilt with a large american style fridge freezer and a standard builtin fridge freezer. got a lot of downsizing still to do.

Reversing the trend in the auction would do it as in "dutch auction" Start the auction high and drop it minute by minute until someone bids and wins.

Appreciate your comments, and others too, thanks everyone. We have been practicing fridge/freezer contents management at home as preps for future living aboard. We think we will need about the capacity in Original Post 200 fridge 90 freezer. Boat is well setup for 12v on almost everything else so may well go with either 240 volt unit or 240v converted to 12v compressor.

Main reason for the size of freezer we need is we have 2 dogs with allergies to proprietory dog foods so we cook them food from frozen fish and vegetables. If any dog owneŕs on the cut are interested we have totally eradicated the allergy problem and they are healthier now than ever, lovely thick coats and silky feeling. Nice idea......I'll follow that up.

What an amazing man he, and his son, were, the H series of clocks in Greenwich are just incredible pieces of engineering and art. Not bad for carpenter !

Thanks Cuthound At 43 its still better than the smaller 12v unit. These results seem to go against the percieved wisdom to use 12v to use less energy, maybe a change is coming.

Thanks Robbo Good point about the quoted performance figures and the power consumption of the inverter too. Cheers

Just been looking at the pro's and con's of replacing our woefully inadequate and small fridge with something a bit more suited to our needs. In an ideal world we'd like something a little closer to what we have at home, ie 200 litre freezer 300 litre fridge. I know its a compromise, we are to become "liveaboards" and will be off-grid cruising during spring to autumn, and on mooring for winter with 240 hookup available. So power consumption whilst cruising is a key factor in the decision making process on what to buy. The newer high efficiency 240v fridge freezers look interesting so I thought I'd compare one of these with a known good 12 volt unit. So, with that in mind, I have found some interesting data on 12v vs 240v units. 12 Volt example http://www.shoreline-marine.co.uk/fridge-freezers/fridge-freezers---medium/fridge-freezer-fd206 Shoreline FD206 Cost £615 Fridge/Freezer 12/24 volt DC 97 litre Fridge 33 litre Freezer This is quoted as 2.1 AHr per hour average So whilst off grid it would consume 24 x 2.1 = 50.4 Amp Hrs per day 240 Volt example http://www.liebherr.co.uk/HG/en-GB/products_uk-hg.wfw/id-1555091-0_36075-1 Leibherr CP3813 Cost £599 Fridge/Freezer 240 volt AC 229 litre fridge 90 litre freezer This is quoted at 153 kwHr/annum So whilst off grid it would consume 38.8 Amp Hrs per day Calculations used to arrive at 38.8 1.) 153000 W / 12 = 12750 amp hrs per annum 2.) 12750/365 = 34.9 amp hrs per day 3.) to allow for 90% inverter efficiency 34.9 / 0.90 = 38.8 amp hrs per day So at first glance it looks like the 240 volt Leibherr is twice the size and will consume less power than the 12 volt Shoreline. Downside is the inverter will run when the engine is not running. Also, fyi we do have the space available to take the 240v Leibherr and it will fit through our side hatch. So my questions are 1. Are my calculations correct ? 2. Are there any flaws in my logic/reasoning ? 3. Are there any other less tangible issues to be aware off ?

I knew it wouldnt be as simple as I thought. Thanks for the reply I'll start reading more indepth and doing some calculations. I feel i am about to enter a whole new world of learning......

I currently have 4 x 110 amp batteries to run the domestic electrics, ie 12v and 240v via inverter. To make the batteries work less hard would it be sensible to just add 2 or even 4 more batteries. Space is available and the alternator is 110 amp. What about changing them all out and sticking 6 x 130's in ?

My mistake, sorry.

I think this might be it .....

Great feedback thank you, we are planning to make this journey next May, I feel well informed now to go forward with the journey. Cheers