duztee

My advice would be to contact the pilots at Gloucester direct, they will surely be able to tell you everything which is required, ( a bl***y BIG anchor probably being one ) advice the best time etc, and no doubt can tell you how many nb's they have piloted before. It may be a scary trip, but I am sure the pilot would not undertake it unless he (she) was happy with the risk factor. Duztee.

A point that is probably not obvious to those who are looking at this from a canal perspective, or don't know the area. But if you have been moored in the same place for 4 years, can I assume you must have a car near by, and would this be one of the dozen cars which are permanently parked blocking the lay-by on the A4? If so you are a pain to motorists as well as people who might like to park here for a short time to enjoy a canal walk, perhaps if you and your friends were to move then they could park and enjoy said walk without looking at a continuous line of moored boats. Of course if these cars do not belong to you or your freinds, I apologies, but I think they are definately related to someone living close, and there are no houses! Duztee

Hi, Looking around the system, it appears most marina spaces and a lot of canal sides are now occupied with nice shine new(ish) boats, or at least well cared for boats. And I guess boat builders are still churning out a good few more each year. I would be interested if any one knows how many boats are removed from the system each year, is there a saturation point? or will more marinas appear? Is the present recession having any effect yet on the number of new boats coming on to the system, or taking into account the build time is it still too early to guage? Just as a matter if interest, anybody care to guess how crowded the canals would be in the highly unlikly event of every boat owner decided to go cruising at the same time? Duztee.

Yes Eastern, I visited them today, the quoted 18% loss is for the piston type pump which is the more expensive option over the vane type which has a bigger power loss. The stand which did interest me equally was the Beta Hybrid. They are using a 10kW motor mounted directly behind the engine driving onto the same prop shaft, giving electric propulsion when required, the motor then operates as a 5kW generator when the diesel engine is running, a dog clutch means it is possible to have the genorator running without the prop turning. The big advantage of this system to single handed boaters is that it will be operatable by remote control, so it should be possible to stand on the lock side and command the boat to come hither or go thither. As always with new produces to the market.....time will tell if it is a winner or not! Anyway it was a good festival, enjoyed it totally and came away a little wiser on many subjects Duztee. P.S. Chris is right that this operates at 48 volts.

Sorry Chris, I was only referring to electically powered bow thrusters having a limited amount of time, since i gather the usual set up is to have a couple of batteries at the front to power thruster, which then need time to recharge. As for electric propulsion, I think it would certainly need much more than 12/24 volt, a 240 motor and supply is a possiblity, Toyota use 360 volts for their petrol/electic hybrid cars, a worrying amount of volts! Duztee

Thanks Guys, Yes, I am still at the theory and planning stage, but now is the time to ask for advice, so I don't make a regretable decision (hopefully!) I was aware that I could be looking at loosing as much as 30/40% in power loss. I didn't realise there was a noise factor to consider, and had not as yet priced the various bits required, so perhaps this idea is moving to the back burner for now. Since I will be a single handed boater with no one to swing on a pole for me, I liked the idea fo having a bow thruster, but electric operation seems to be woefully short of usable time before the batteries are exhausted. Thanks again. Duztee.

Hi, I am looking into the possibility of using a hydraulic pump to drive both prop' and bow thruster, and if possible a 240v generator. Any info or recommendations of companies welcome. Thanks Duztee.