stegra

So. I've got my boat ordered and now need to decide where to do the fit-out, ideally somewhere along the K&A or Avon with the facility to lift in when complete, or anywhere in the south from where a 12' widebeam can cruise to K&A (not really down the Severn though). I intend to spend three months solid on it this summer, living in a campervan on site or nearby. I have the option of doing it for free in the yard of an urban industrial unit but that doesn't really fit with my idyllic fantasy of how this was going to pan out. I realise it may cost more to rent the space than to arrange transportation but that's ok within reason. Grateful for any suggestions.

I think it should do as the high temp stuff is high modulus acetoxy cure so should be self-priming (etching) to the steel. Might be best to check a data sheet. If the temperature isn't so high, PU might be better.

If you're going to use gun foam, get a proper gun and gun-grade foam. You have far better control, the foam goes much further and you can use as little as you wish then just close off the gun and use it again months later. No problem at all foaming to walls and even ceilings with a little practice. Don't remove the gun from the can or use gun cleaner, just immediately replace a used can with a full one. On a boat it would be prudent to use fire-rated foam. The regular stuff burns fiercely and give off noxious black smoke. I regularly foam Celotex sheets to house walls and foam plasterboard to the sheets. Never had any problems. Used the same method to do a van several years ago too without any issues. Not sure I'd do a full boat that way though.

Ah. No, it's the same map that they used in the article a few days ago: http://www.daventryexpress.co.uk/news/plans-for-daventry-canal-arm-recommended-for-approval-1-7758211 I was looking for the boat lift but could only see locks. I googled after I'd posted to find out more and found the article stating that the boat lift was not included. Edit: That doesn't make sense. Obviously I must have googled first. But it was the later article that raised my curiosity!

Seems the boat lift has been dropped for now. http://www.daventryexpress.co.uk/news/three-week-consultation-kicks-off-for-revised-daventry-canal-arm-plans-1-7591773 And the marina, apparently. So just an arm up to a roundabout on the edge of town. (edit to add this line)

The map on that latest newspaper article seems to show four locks where the proposed lift was going to be... I think.

Aye. I've just been reading about this on another forum. Apparently a lot of people are doing it anyway. Some have a vehicle fitted with a remote set-up so the bottle is inside but the inlet on the outside. A lot are using an adapter and filling regular Calor bottles, which is dangerous because of the risk of overfilling- LPG bottles should only be 80% full to allow the liquid to expand on warming and the bottles designed to be refilled have a safety mechanism to prevent overfilling.. Seems the rural filling stations are less likely to stop you refilling. Some of them will do it for you if the accounts I've just been reading are to be believed.

Are refillable gas cylinders used on boats very often? The initial outlay is a bit pricey but at the volumes folk seem to be getting through, they'd soon pay off. A quick check is showing LPG on the forecourt at 55p/litre just now. There are approx 2 litres to a kg so that makes 13kg around £14. Here's a company I've bought an under-slung vehicle tank from in the past. They are very knowledgeable and helpful. Link.

It you're looking to fit recessed G4 fittings and put LED lights in place of the halogens, these might be suitable. Then use these, I recommend warm white. The cool white is harsh. I fitted them in my motorhome about six years ago and they've been fine. However, the type I linked to at the start of this thread seem to have taken over, and having tried them recently, I think they're better, if a little too bright in 6W. One point of note on the flat LEDs is that they can be a bit tight in the fittings. They come in different diameters so might be best to check the fitting before ordering the LEDs.

Perhaps you could fix them with high temperature silicone and then grout as normal.

That's a fair comment but still well within my planned capacity. I think it would be fun to rig up a bike on a TurboTrainer with an e-bike rear wheel and use it to help charge the batteries. It occurred to me soon into the new year when I realised my resolution to get into better shape would be more achievable if there were some incentive. It seems a shame to exert oneself just to waste all that energy. Not sure it would work on a 48v system as they tend to be rated at 48v input. Probably work on a 12v or 24v system though with a suitable controller.

My figures were: Batteries. £1800 Solar £1500 Cables etc. £300 40A controller is ample at 48v but even allowing £600 that only totals £4200 so plenty left for the drive based on the Thunderstuck package. I might even be tempted to try a cheaper controller. Not sure why you would opt for polycrystaylline panels. Most folk manage with a couple of 110Ah LBs for general use. I'm not planning to do the ironing and run a tumble dryer. Any heavier usage would be avoided if cruising.

Admittedly, using those figures is looks unlikely. When I spoke to Lynch who have installed working systems about their 16kW system, I was assured the battery capacity was more than ample. I didn't really do the calculations; the boat is primarily a live-aboard. I would have to assume that the motor runs at less than its constant power rating. Watching YouTube clips of working examples, mostly in America, there's generally several hours cruise time with smaller battery capacity. Obviously, speed is important because of the cubed rule. I don't know how much hp a diesel engine would provide at the prop to keep to a steady 3-4mph. Perhaps that would give an indication. There are electric narrowboats that are intended to cruise long hours and be grid-charged overnight. Does anyone know the battery capacity of these? I'm not averse to increasing the battery and solar.

Only just noticed this thread. I've been taking an interest in electric propulsion lately. I'm only just in the process of ordering the shell so can't speak from experience but I have been in touch with some suppliers. When I spoke to Lynch I was recommended this set-up. The 16 V Twin was £7500 inc VAT for the kit which rather stopped me in my tracks. It seems the Americans are well ahead in electric drive and there's a lot more choice over there. I've been looking at Thunderstruck kits which are more in my comfort zone. It's true that the controller is the greater part of the cost. The motor itself is relatively cheap, which made me wonder if a single controller and two motors might be the way to go. I need to look into that further. Not sure about the legal requirements but it would seem pretty obvious that if there's gas on board the motors should be brushless. Personally, I'm planning to have sixteen 110Ah AGM batteries (48v) and probably start with a 1200w solar array and up it to 1600w if needed. The guy from Lynch seemed to think this was an absurdly high amount but it's principally for off-grid living. Winter cruising will be limited so I don't anticipate charging problems and there will be a back up generator anyway. I think there should be enough excess in the lighter months to feed a dump load immersion heater in the calorifier and save on gas. My hope is to do the full system (solar / batteries / motors / controllers / cables / fuses / monitors etc.) for around £8000 which I think would be good. Considering the amount of space freed up in the living area through lack of engine room, I'm surprised it's not a more popular option with those less inclined towards the traditional aspects of boating.

Not really relevant to the OP but this might be if interest to others. I bought some of these for a recent job and they're a lot better than I expected. I got the round 6w warm white (3000K) ones. They seem very bright. Delivery within a few days. The driver is separate so could be connected directly to 12v DC.

Insulated floors have been part building regs for houses for many years so clearly they are effective. Personally I'd go for PUR boards. (Celotex/Kingspan/Quintherm etc.) These are fireproof, easy to handle and have very good insulating properties compared to polystyrene or fibreglass. They can be fixed in place below the floor with expanding foam, preferably fireproof. If you can spare the headroom, you can float a floor over the existing.

Well the actual article you've linked to explains that there can be problems. The point of that article is to indicate that Morningstar have overcome those problems as long as the correct installation procedures are followed. The paragraph; Key Factors of Parallel Set-up explains what conditions need to exist for the system to function. To quote: Since Morningstar uses voltage based State of Charge (SOC) for voltage regulation, no direct communication between the controllers is necessary to ensure they charge correctly in tandem. The controllers will transition to and from the different charging states at approximately the same time if all of the following conditions exist: All of the controllers are set with the same charging profileUse the same DIP Switch settings for matching the charging control. If creating a custom setup in MSView, save the custom setup configuration by using “Write to File” in the Setup Wizard to program all of the controllers with the same settings. There is a connection from the battery bank to each controller’s Voltage Sense Terminal pair. This ensures each controller is measuring the same battery bank voltage. Note: paralleling between controllers’ Voltage Sense terminals, in order to share a single connection to the battery bank is an acceptable practice. A battery Remote Temperature Sensor (RTS) is used with every controller. This ensures all controllers will be measuring the same temperature for regulation charging, voltage temperature compensation. If the batteries are located indoors in a climate controlled area it may be acceptable to omit an RTS. Note: An RTS is included in the TriStar MPPT box, but not with the TriStar. If using TriStar controllers, RTS’s must be purchased separately for each controller. A single RTS CANNOT be paralleled or shared between multiple controllers. That's a lot more complex than simply connecting them in parallel at the battery.

I had to look into this a bit because I was pretty sure it wasn't as simple as 'urban myth'. Connecting more than one MPPT controller is where problems can arise. Some manufacturers make sync leads to overcome this and some units can be configured in master/slave modes. Admittedly, it's likely that where panels have built-in controllers they will be PWM which are little more than a voltage controlled switch so no processor to get confused. Going back to the original post. You can buy a 40A MPPT controller for under £50. The difference between MPPT and PWM is very significant, especially in low light conditions and lower temperatures. (MPPTs tend to lose much of their advantage higher temperatures.) Unless there is an urgent need to double your solar capacity, it might be worth upgrading first to an MPPT controller large enough to handle a second panel and see how it works. An increase of 30% would not be surprising. Also, the panel you linked to is polycrystalline which is less efficient than monocrystalline. Not sure how well a combination of poly and mono works into one controller or whether 12v parallel would work better than 24v or 48v series configuration which would normally be considered preferable; stepped down to 12v by the controller of course.

Yes. I was responding to the previous post. I should have included the quote: "It's no different to having the solar connected while the engine is running and charging the batteries with the alternator." The concern with having two solar controllers is that one will sense the power of the other one and cut out its own panel; in the same way that solar controller senses the alternator. I'm not sure about all this but I do recall it coming up on a self-build motorhome forum several years ago.

The solar charger on my motorhome cuts out when the split charge is running from the alternator.

Hi. A little late with this but; I'm not sure that the controllers will get on alright. It's possible that each one will sense the voltage from the other one and they'll just switch between themselves meaning you're only ever getting the power from one of the panels. If you can bypass the controllers, it may be preferable to connect them in parallel into a separate controller. Controllers are cheap nowadays and an MPPT will be more efficient.

I'm planning a large solar array and battery bank; probably sixteen 110Ah batteries. I have a little experience with solar and I'm confident there should be enough power. It's principally to be a live-aboard so the batteries are for off-grid living and occasional cruising. A full day's cruising would probably leave the batteries low but a generator could be used to charge them if necessary. Solar panels still work in the winter, in fact they work better when cold. There are fewer daylight hours and less intense light but correctly sized solar set-up with a decent MPPT controller should bring the batteries to float when there's no load. I anticipate there being a significant surplus when moored so I'm looking to integrate a dump load immersion heater in the calorifier. I suspected that my electric propulsion idea might have been a bit nuts at first but having researched a bit, I've found it's well established.

Hi Everyone I intend to order a new shell as soon as possible. I've read through this and other threads and compiled a list of potential builders, also eliminated a few. Some of my requirements are a little unusual, hence my hope for some advice on finding a suitable builder. I'm aware that some of my plans might be a bit contentious. I currently live in Bristol and intend the boat to be a live-aboard on K&A / River Avon, most likely a marina. It's clear that i need to consider builders in the north and that's not an issue. I hope to be starting the fit out by the end of summer 2017 at the latest so lead time is a factor. I'll list what I'm hoping to achieve and hopefully you can help me with some advice: Shell to be 45' to 50' long, 12' max wide (10' min). It will be electric drive so no need for engine room, mountings, diesel tank, cooling tanks etc. but might need battery compartment fabricating. The shape is still debatable. A 'wide' narrowboat is acceptable to me but I'm happy to pay extra for something more pleasing to the eye although I would not like a wheelhouse. I'd quite like to raise the gunwales a few inches above the norm and have near-vertical cabin sides, but that's just a preference. So the builder ideally will: be able and willing to build up to 12' wide be able to do the build reasonably soon be willing to deviate from their standard designs be willing to create something that might not be to their personal taste have a near risk-free payment plan possibly have on-site space to rent for the fit-out. This depends on where might be available in the south, but that's for another thread. I appreciate any advice you can offer including any pitfalls to avoid. Thank you

Hi folks I'm Stephen and I intend to fit out a new shell from scratch this year as a live-aboard for myself. It's been a dream since my first canal experience over 30 years ago on a family holiday. I guess this is the first occasion that I've had the time, the funds and the passion to actually take the plunge. I realize it's an enormous undertaking and my intention to be quite unconventional in some respects can only complicate this. Hopefully I'm not over-estimating my abilities; I have fitted kitchens and bathrooms for 25 years so have a broad range of skills. Around six years ago I fitted out a van from scratch and that's why I'm under no delusions regarding this project's difficulty. Anyway, I'm still at the stage of deciding on a shell so need to get into gear pretty sharpish. The original plan was 6'10"x57" narrowboat but my first visit to a boatbuilder made me realize that a 12" boat around 45-50" in length was incomparable as a live-aboard and being based in the south west was suitable for the local waterways. I've got lots to ask and hopefully I can contribute plenty as well. I'll save the questions for the relevant sections of the forum. Thanks for having me and best regards Stephen