killarney

I asked about that as I saw them in the brochure too. They had a fire a couple of years ago and lost all the machinery, and when they moved units they had to drop some products, and that was one. I asked why it was still in the brochure and they were apologetic and said that they were in the process of having new ones made up. Having said that, I have had double glazed before (not from them but I don't know where from as they were on the boat before) and they were a pain. While I did think about it this time I decided against it in the end and am happy with my single glazed ones.

Obviously in practise it would be a bit pointless but I liked the thought process...

There is no relationship between panels / batteries / engine. There is a relationship between the size of the panels and how quickly they can charge the batteries, given the size of the batteries. And of course, the speed at which the batteries are charged is based not only on the size of the panel, but the time of year (worse in winter than summer), and the angle from the sun of the panels. Large installations will rotate the panels to track the sun, and this will improve efficiency by 20 to 25%, however this is not practical on a boat and therefore there is an assumption that this efficiency is lost. The best you can hope for in a moored NB is to have the panels pointed directly at the sun at noon (which is also unlikely on a NB). And finally, the amount of power produced will be significantly affected by the amount of sun (so recently, not very much). Rain does have a much bigger impact than clouds, but modern high efficiency panels will still produce power when it is raining (maybe only 10 to 20% though).

Someone suggested using the generator to charge batteries to run an electric engine. Just as a concept, could it work to avoid the new tax increases as you're not directly running the engine?!?! K

I have to say that I've never had a problem with an Isuzu. That would be my preference, for what it's worth!

Grin - great visual there!!! No, I had them made with large fixed pieces at the bottom and a smaller sliding piece at the top - about the size of a hopper window opener. They were about 1/2 the price, I would say, of the "boat" window companies that I looked at. I'm not sure why but I have only been able to finally come to the conclusion that it's just "the market" - there's more horseboxes and catering vans than boats and so perhaps there's so economies of scale? They're certainly good quality so I'm happy.

So glad I noticed this! I was just about to order mine when I spotted it and stopped me from making the same mistake. I got mine from another Yorkshire company local to me, who did them with radiused corners at the top corners and square corners on the bottom. They were very quick - about a week. http://www.vehiclewindows.co.uk Not sure how to upload pics but I will try to do so when they are fitted.