NoFixedAbode

OK, I am one of the silent majority who is being spoken for by everybody, so against my own better judgement I have decided to speak for myself. I have been a member of this CWDF for approximately ten years (not exactly sure, but around that) in that time it would be an exageration to say that I have read it every day but nearly every day is fair. In general I would agree that it is Daniels forum and he can implement any rules he likes but (in my opinion) if he wishes it to survive and prosper he needs to listen to what is being said. He has a rule that says people cannot come on his forum and use derogetary terms about others (ok paraphrased but thats what it means), but it is now apparently ok for him, his mods and one or two of the forums untouchable members to get together on facebook to slag of anybody one of the new mods dislikes. this would be bad form in a pub, but to do it online where there is a record of what has been said is not only disrespectfull to the forum membership as a whole it is monumentally stupid. and for the people concerned to now try to claim that it didn't happen or they had no part in it is in my opinion 'cowardice in the face of the enemy' at least two of the attendees showed some integrity and quit the site crew as a result of this meeting and they have my admiration, in my opinion this is the sort of person we want running this site. As I have spent a lot of time reading this forum I decided it was only right that I should contribute towards its upkeep (only a small but regular amount) as a direct result of the revelations in this thread this has now been cancelled, I will watch with interest if this forum improves towards its former self I shall reinstate this donation. Finally as one of the silent majority I object to the likes of Arthur marshall and Graham Davies claiming my support. I find myself in complete agreement with matty 40's the originator of this thread. Cheers, Mark.

I'm a bit late reading this but I will also stand for £100. If you are serious Nigel P.M. me the information where to send it. Cheers, Mark.

I just openned this thread because I thought it was about 3D printing. am I the only one so daft ?

Try Alpha Batteries in rochdale, they supplied mine. As you seem to have figured out, they are eyewateringly expensive, my set cost me £240 for all the fittings pipe and pump to suit eight six volt batteries. if this helps me to keep on top of, and extend the life of £2000 worth of batteries it has probably paid for itself.

Seconded ! The law is whatever the policeman says it is, they are all better than most criminals at bending the law to suit themselves. Every school bully goes on to become a police officer, the job attracts exactly the type of person who gets a kick out of bullying and intimidating people.

My boat has been broken into three times when left on the tow path, each time by breaking a window ( last time two weeks ago). If I was to spec out another new boat it would have all 15" portholes and roof prisms.

sounds like a nursing manager of the stafford health service!

I'd like to contribute too if someone tells me who or where to send it. ETA Sorry, I should have read the rest of the thread before posting.

I may be out of line here ( I usually am!) but I see the hand of the two big organisations behind this, Cotswoldman and Jenlyn have achieved more in the last few months than the IWA and NABO together have done in the last decade. I think both organisations have been overshadowed and are just begining to realise that most boaters consider them irrelavent and so have complained about CaRT meeting boaters not repressented by recognised organisations. E.T.A. a missing word

So it Seems! You might!

Hi, Obviously we dissagree but what you have just said is that it is ok to have multiple random earth points all over the hull, my suggestion means that if your wiring is carefull the hull is protected whilst there is no illegal device between dodgy (live to earth short) appliance and the the N/E bond at the substation. Whilst I am not an electrician and make no claims for electrical expertise this seems much safer than deliberately interupting the earth integrity of the supply. I notice from your signature that you do claim electrical expetise so I have made my point and shall back out of this debate before sombody accuses me of endangering peoples lives.

Hi, sorry for sticking my nose in where it is probably not wanted but I believe this position is incorrect for the GI, try this:- Shoreline Socket - RCD/MCB - Sockets | GI | Hull earth bond Hope this helps,

Is there anywhere yet that I can view one of these maps ?

I have been back and read the technical page again, there is a lot of bullshit in there, "This battery bank will enable you to cruise between 5 to 10 hours at 4-5km/h giving you a cruising range of up to 40km. The 50% discharged batteries, can be fully charged within 4 hours." There is no obvious mention of the actual battery capacity but in order to get that range it must be absolutely enormous! and still rechargeable from 50% in four hours....I don't think so. He also claims that the solar panels are charging the battery whilst cruising, this is impossible unless the panels are producing more current than the motor requires, this would make the range infinite. The idea of putting the solar panels on the cabin side to take advantage of light reflected from the water seems very clever, but can it really have been thought up by the same man who says "Equally a removable reflective solar sail made of aluminium chequered plate, or sections of acrylic mirror can be mounted on the roof increasing the efficiency of you roof panels tremendously." does the guy actually have any idea what a solar sail is?

Feel free, lean pickings

sorry richard I was expecting some digs. Firstly let me say I am no expert at any of this, I am simply a sad engineer/ geek who likes to do things differently, when I first started this project several people told me it would never work, this was a red rag to a bull. some of these people have since been taken for a short silent cruise just to prove the point. My boat was and still is a big experiment that I live on. I have just visited the link you refer to, I think the whole site is an advertisment for a company hoping to make a lot of money out of other peoples boats (or mistakes). Like all adverts I think the reality is stretched somewhat. Firstly I think it is too big for regular cruising. Secondly I have always had doubts about underfloor heating on a boat, in order to work efficiently this form of heating needs a large thermal mass to store and release the heat, I have never understood how it is possible to produce this mass suitably insulated from the canal and still have sufficient headroom within the profile of a standard boat. This boat seems to confirm my previous comment about requiring half an acre of solar panels. I was particularly intrigued by this bit "we measured just over 5km/h at 30% engine power", 5km/h is approximately 3mph, 30% engine power ? These lynch motors are usually stated as 10Hp so 30% of this would be 3.3Hp or 2500 watts. At the same 3mph my boat uses 60Amps at a nominal 48V this is 2900 watts yet my boat (57ft X 6ft 10 Inches) has only half the underwater profile. I think I may have to spend some more time experimenting with prop and reduction ratios.I find it hard to believe that I am using more power to move less weight against half the resistance. I repeat I am no expert at any of this stuff. For what its worth these are my opinions after a very quick scan of the afforementioned site. I hope this helps in some way.

Hi Richard, I dont know if this is some subtle joke I dont understand but the answer to your question is nothing whatsoever.

Laurie, You can see from the above why I am a little reluctant to post on here. I have lived on board an all electric narrowboat (including propulsion) for the last six years. My boat is not self sufficient on solar, and is indeed a series hybrid. A home-brewed diesel generator producing 100amps at 48v and 50amps at 12 volts drives the usual 10HP Lynch motor, with charge stored and released as required by a 48v pack consisting of eight trojan L16E batteries. This battery pack is also charged by five 68W amorphous solar panels through an MPPT controller. I am a continous Cruiser, and like most I only move very slowly (rarely more than 10 miles a week, often less than five (I now await a slagging off from all and sundry). Moving at a normal speed (2.5 - 3 MPH) requires approx 60A. so batteries can be charged whilst cruising, Cruising can be accomplished in silence on batteries, this is great early in the morning or late at night, this is also great in lock flights, I rarely do this for more than two hours just out of respect for my batteries. I also have a 12v battery pack consisting of four cheap chinese 90Ah starter batteries, these are used for lights,pumps and a small inverter for my telly and laptop, this pack is also connected to solar in the form of two 80w monochrystalines and a tracer MPPT. If I was starting again I would Install gas for cooking and instant water heating. The forum is largely correct about this, running my genny every time i use my hob is a pain in the proverbial, although I will probably cause a further ruckuss by admitting that I usually run my microwave, my electric kettle and my toaster from my 48v inverter without problems. One more thing I would do differently is to purchase a decent generator, I believe Fischer-Panda produce a 48V 100A generator for about £8000 this may be expensive but would I am sure be more reliable than mine. I realise that you are looking for self sufficiency from solar, but whilst I wouldn't say this is impossible, I wouldn't be suprised if you needed half an acre of solar panels. Hope this gives you a little more hope.

I still read the posts here regularly, but rarely have anything to say these days.

You need shrodinger's (sp?) dog !

A Yorkshireman is just a scotsman with all the generousity kicked out of him.