Marc Harris

Does that mean they aren't good batteries? :/

http://www.tayna.co.uk/Leisure-Batteries-C45.html I've just bought 3 x 110ah Elecsol batteries from there. Very reasonable price, and arrived in under 18 hours!

It's like moaning about all that horrible wet stuff under your boat! Personally, i love the swans pecking the side hatch to see if we are in and have any scraps for them. I love the coots who like to get up around 4am and go "honk honk" to let everyone know the sun is up. I even love the ducks rampaging up and down the roof of the boat at some ungodly hour, like a bunch of hooligans on crack! It's all part of the charm of living on a boat in the countryside for me, and i wouldn't swap it for the world To the OP : You could always get your boat craned out the water, put on a lorry, and park it in the middle of a traffic island in a council estate if you miss the city life

Didn't want to start a new thread about the same question, so hijacking this one (hope that's okay)..... Friend of mine just popped over to see if i knew of any companies that make boat windows (as i'm in the domestic window trade), so told him i'd ask all you kind knowledgable folks on here.... Can anyone recommend a good, and fairly reasonable boat window company? He's looking for aluminium ones with the rounded bottom corners. Thanks in advance. Marc

Just a very quick point on inverters.... there are 2 types (if you aren't already aware). 1. Quasi-sine wave: Doesn't quite provide a "smooth" ac current like mains, and will make some equipment produce a buzzing sound, or not work properly. 2. Pure-sine wave: Mostly better than mains ac, and will work with anything. These can cost 10x the price of a quasi-sine inverter for the same output. http://www.partsonsale.com/learninverters.htm - provides more info if you need. hth Marc

Thanks for the info Kristian, i'm too looking into solar for our boat when we take the plunge and go continuous cruising, and being based in Leics, was looking for a reputable and knowledgable supplier rather than take the risk of some unknown internet retailer. I'll definately be popping into butts to see what they recommend

Hehehe.... i'm new to this boating malarky (only 3 years afloat), and still mildly on the "young" side at the ripe old age of 36! Don't regret it for a second, and won't live in bricks and mortar again until i can't physically do it anymore

Hi there, One thing i noticed from the spec of the boat was this: HEATING : KABOLA OLD DUTCH OIL FIRED ROOM HEATER WITH HOT WATER COIL FOR CENTRAL HEATING TWO RADS We have a very similar oil/diesel heater with 2 rads on our 60ft boat. Last winter, with diesel @ 76p / litre it cost us almost £30 a week in the coldest times to keep the boat warm (including an eco-fan). Diesel is currently 89p / litre and set to rise much higher. We are now planning on removing our heater and getting a new squirrel with back-boiler because of the cost of diesel. When we 1st bought the boat, diesel was 32p / litre and it was pretty cheap even in the coldest months. Just something to bear in mind when looking at this boat, if you are planning on living-aboard through the winter HTH Marc

Thanks for the swift reply. I was missing the "g4" part of the google search to narrow it down. The only ones around the same price are the Deltech G4's by greenenergycenre.com, which have a dc input voltage rating of +/- 10%, which seems very tight to me for a boat system. I'll keep on searching..... Thanks again for the info Marc. Would a spike go higher than 30v dc on a boat 12v system? Hadn't thought about AC LED's to be honest, as it would involve a bit of a re-wire of the existing sockets and cables? The ones on the american site claim to work with both ac and dc, so that could be an option i suppose. I'll certainly think about just doing a selection of the most commonly used lights though, as getting 4 or 5 to trial will save £'s if they turn out to be duff! Thanks for the info

Hello all.... Just joined the forum today, and i've been soaking up all the great information here like a sponge! I've been looking into LED lighting for our boat to replace the 10w halogens we have at the minute, and this thread was very helpful! Finding led replacements for our little 2 prong sideways mounted lights has been quite hard work, but Bedazzled has them for £13 each. After a bit more searching, www.superbrightleds.com has them for $14.95 (£7.48). Although shipping from the US is £30 (£15), it's still a considerable saving on a purchase of 25 that we'd need to convert all the halogens to leds. From the specs: GZ4 base bulb with 6 High Power Cool White or Warm White LEDs Built-in Buck Driver allows wide operating voltage range of 8~30VDC (8~14VAC) Produces 65 lumens at 7000K, 120 degree beam pattern Produces 55 lumens at 3100K, 120 degree beam pattern 12 Volt AC or DC Operation 0.9 inch diameter So having an 8v-30v range, i'm assuming these will be fine on the 12v system even when charging the batteries? Apart from the obvious caveat of buying from abroad, can anyone else see a problem with these bulbs vs the ones stocked by bedazzled? Thanks in advance for any usful insights Marc.