kayak

Earlier this year there were two men fishing opposite right near Pillings Lock. The lock that leads to the river was open and these two chaps were fishing right up to it. As we were walking the dog past them one of them reeled in a half decent sized pike. While one of them was pratting about tring to take a picture with his camera the pike thrashed about a bit and the one that was holding the fish droppped it to the floor. I dont know if the fish was dead or just stunned because i was trying to usher the other half over the footbridge before she could give them a mouthfull and get us into a scrap. As we got over the bridge the prat that dropped it was swishing it about in the water to try to revive it. He could see us watching him and he looked very embarrased. They were both from a narrowboat moored right next to the same lock. Kayak.

Nicely put. Your Usage of the Alde sounds very similar to mt intended use. Do you think that the Compact Alde would me any more efficiant than the Upright one? Also, does anyone know what is meant when it says on the Alde website that the Compact "can produce 12 litres of hot water, every 30 mins"? Does this mean the amount of water it can circulate through the central heating system? K

That is interesting Alan. Why would this be, would it be to do with the connection on the calorifier? Would that then mean that i wouldnt be able to pipe up my back boiler to my calorifier because the connections were wrong? K Thanks for that Chris. I do like it when you show your working out, its good to see where these numbers come from. The thing is that i will use gas for cooking and only anticipate very light usage with the boiler. I like the idea of diesel but there seems to be reliabillity issues so i think i will go with gas. If there are any other bronds of gas boilers out there that i havnt heard of please shout them out! K

Morning all. I know there are a few people out there who dont like the idea of gas on a boat but ive made up my mind that as part of my hot water and central heating system im going to use an Alde gas boiler for when i dont want to light the stove. But which one? Im stuck between choosing the old fashion tall skinny one, and the new box type one. Has any of you out there got either of these? I really like an honest appraisal of them. The main drawback i do know of is their high gas usage. The one im really interested in is the new type gas boiler as im finding it hard to locate poeple that have had them fitted in a boat. Thanks guys. Kayak.

Thanks for the replies all. Im only thinking of finrads in the bathroom at the moment.

Hi all. Just a quick question before i attempt to post my proposed plumbing layout for you all to have a look (and possibly laugh!) at. Is there any benefit to plumbing finrads in paralell or is in series ok? Cheers all. Kayak. P.S. I know i cant have my kayak and heat it before you start!

Hi Colin. I dont know if this is helpfull but i think that Caldwells supply liverpool boats. Kayak.

Hi Alan. Thanks for the comments as ever but i dont know what you mean by making a rod for my own back? Im simply exploring differant routes and situations. My example of a kettle was only to give an example of a high power device. I am not insisting i use anything. It would be the same if the other half decided she needed to use the hair dryer or something. My main concern is that i can use devices for short periods when i have the fridge and freezer running while cruising. The mentioning of a 3Kw multiplus seems to cause offence. I take your point about running "heating" devices on things other that electricity though and in the main that is what i intend to do. Cheers. Kayak

Thanks for the info Chris. I dont want to draw 3Kw continuously but it would be nice to have the optin for very short bursts. Take this for example. If i am off at the weekend and the fridge and freezer are running through the inverter if i go for domestic ones. The TV is on and i decide to put the kettle on. Would i be able to do this with the 24V 3Kw multiplus? If the fridge and freezer had been running all night with the kettle boiled a few times and the TV on for a few hours, would the 24v 110 aH alternator recharge my batteries the next day in a reasonable time? Thanks.

Oh, thats interesting. Does that apply to fridges and freezers? And more importantly does it only apply to "domestic 240V" machines? i have looked at some of the 240/24v ones and was going to go for them as we will on shore power in the week but crusing at weekends. If its only domestic ones that you can turn off is it a good idea to run them through the inverter in the day when crusing assuming we could turn them off at night? can you point me to any fridges or freezer on the internet that have this feature? Thanks for your time.

Thanks for your advice Alan. The boat will be used as a livaboard and we are going down the 24 volt route. During the week we will be connected to shore power and this is when we will use things like the washing machine. Even then we will leave this running when we are out so that we dont have to run anything else at the same time. When we are cruising at weekends i can see when we would have a great need for power except maybe the TV at night. The fridge and freezer need to be on all the time though! We have a 24V 110Ah alternator on the engine for charging the domestic bank. K

Thanks for that Gary.

Thanks for the reply. No offence taken! I dont really think i would take more than 3kW to be honest but i just wanted to know how feasible it would be to add another unit if we needed it. The battery bank has been sized at 800Ah. I dont mean that i want to be frivolous with energy, because im not at home/work so i certainly wont be on the boat. To be honest im glad that you asked why i would want to pull more that 3Kw. Why would anyone want to pull more than 3Kw? are there any reasons for needeing this much power?

Im going to be using Victron equiptment on my fit out and will be using one of the 24v 3000w units. If i found that i needed more power than one could deliver at cirtain times for short periods would it be easy to wire another one in parrallel? Assuming of course that my battery bank could deliver that power. Has anyone done this when they needed to upgrade? Thanks. Kayak.

i looked at a charnwood county 8b mk2 stove with back boiler. this is 2.5 kw to the room and 7 kw boiler. The salesman said " it would be perfect for a widebeam". Was he telling the truth or would it be overkill, it is very well insulated? K

ok you win that one! on a serious note though. PLEASE HELP!

Ive looked at a squirel stove with a back boiler and they give out about 8000 btu. This is only about 2.3 Kw. so assuming that a coil takes 2Kw that doesnt leave anything for any radiators! am i looking at this right? If i want to heat a calorifier and run say a towel rail and a rad in the bedroom would i need more than this? an alde boiler gives out 7.5Kw so woulnt i need a back boiler that has a similar output? Cheers Kayak.

How much water does your calorifier hold LesD?

Hi Chris. Thanks for that. Is 2 Kw output for a coil a good figure to work on as i cant find and data for this figure on any websites? K.

Hi all Another question if you dont mind. How long does it take for a calorifier to warm up? I know this is an awkward question because they vary in size so is there a way of working it out based on the size? I can assume that water comming out of boiler is going to be around 85 deg and hotter from an engine? so is there a way of working out how long this will take to heat up a calorifier? Cheers. Kayak.

thanks all. With regards to the comments on price this is in line with what other people have told me, although i dont plan on using it much as i want ot fairly relient on the back boiler. The main time i would use the alde is for the odd cold night in the winter when i want a quick burst of heat through the rads to take the chill off, but to be honest, the boat is that well insulated it will be rare i use it. that is my reason for wanting an instant heater, that way if it's too warm to light the log burner i dont have to run the alde to get a tank of hot water just for a shower. i may even take a pipe and a tee valve to the hot tap in the kitchen and bathroom sinks. but is this excessive? i want to cover all eventuallities but i fear i am starting over complicate things!

Hi all. I wondered if once more i could benefit from your experiance? The hot water system on our boat is going to be a calorifier heated by an alde gas bailer and backboiler with a heat exchanger in the alde system to draw hot water from the engine. the hot water in the calorifier will be used to go direct to all of the taps in the boat including the bath. Now the bit i dont understand is how to get the shower to work. I know that this will have to take hot and cold water and mix the two but what is the best way of doing this. Is this where a thermostatic mixer comes in? And what does that mean anyway. Also, if ive not got any hot water in the calorifier can i put a morco (or similar) instant gas heater in the circuit on some sort of tee with a valve to select between water from the calorifier and water via the morco? Another thing, i know that a few people donot like the gas appliacnes but seeing as i will have a gas cooker and alde boiler i dont see the harm in having a morco for my hot water. But are the room sealed ones on there website legal to put in a new boat. Sorry to waffle! Kayak.

Congratulations. I would like to compliment you on spouting the most narrow minded and ignorant set of comments i have ever had the misfortune of reading! Kayak.

Good bit of info! Where does it prohibit them being used? Surly it can only be on BWB property, ie the canal, but common sence would dictate that! Kayak.

CORRECT! GO TO THE TOP OF THE CLASS. Its funny this should come up. I had an inspection for a shotgun renewal on Friday just gone and asked the inspector if i could keep my guns onboard and he said that provided the security is up to scratch then there is no problem. I also have section 1 firearms and he didnt see a problem with these either but perhaps he is unaware of the the bylaw on "firearms". this is something i will have to check with BWB i see! Kayak.