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Concerning the Luck of a Gravy Boater


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11 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

I'm surprised that everyone so far is sympathetic to my situation, I guess however remarkable the times are you can all relate to the issues.  Given all the recent threads I was waiting for someone to say that I shouldn't be doing this at this time because it's moving home 'unnecessarily'.  Seems like the debate has moved on. ...

A few weeks ago, comments might have been different.  But the government is now wanting the housing market to start up again, so moving is allowed - and even encouraged - provided the social distancing rules are respected.

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2 minutes ago, Cheese said:

A few weeks ago, comments might have been different.  But the government is now wanting the housing market to start up again, so moving is allowed - and even encouraged - provided the social distancing rules are respected.

Moving house was always allowed

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4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

I think Alistair's first sentence has it in a nutshell. providing enough battery capacity for any given use is the easy part providing you have the money and space. Its the recharging that is the problem and with electric cooking that I suspect would be impossible with solar on a narrow boat. At best it is unlikely to provide much more than half the panel's rated output in the UK in high summer and not much more to diddley squat in mid winter. That leaves you with just a generator or engine charging. As said a proper inbuilt marine generator is arguably the way to go for electric cooking plus all the other live-a-board electrical loads - even with lithium batteries.

I've done a lot of research about what I need which is one of the reasons why I'm not going to attempt to do any of it myself.  I will probably have more power than most as I'm going large on the solar and my job is such that I can cruise for a few hours daily if I so wish.  It isn't my intention to run a gas free boat but if I can use less gas in summer due to an excess of amp hours, why not.  A marine generator would be amazing but the excessive cost of buying, running and repairing one when it inevitibly breaks is a non-starter.  A second hand LPG generator as a backup seems the most sensible option.  Not sure exactly what I'm going to do about batteries at the moment... probably kill the old LA ones I've got in short order, for a start ;)

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

Why not fit a second alternator and use your boats engine.

Am I being a bit simplistic?

It will have a second alternator of a type suitable for the lithiums, but ideally you don't want to be putting hours on your diesel engine when you are not cruising simply to generate power.  It will still happen, of course.  I'm afraid there wont be a perfect solution to power generation until my cold fusion experiments bear fruit. ;)

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4 minutes ago, The Gravy Boater said:

It will have a second alternator of a type suitable for the lithiums, but ideally you don't want to be putting hours on your diesel engine when you are not cruising simply to generate power.  It will still happen, of course.  I'm afraid there wont be a perfect solution to power generation until my cold fusion experiments bear fruit. ;)

Diesel engines do many thousands of hours and last many years. If you put a complete covering of solar on your entire roof in january you will get enough power to cook one egg.

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10 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Diesel engines do many thousands of hours and last many years. If you put a complete covering of solar on your entire roof in january you will get enough power to cook one egg.

Fortunately I have a fancy multifuel stove hotplate for the purposes of egg cooking in January.  I anticipate that the solar will not be much use in winter, even with the fully 80 degree tilting mounts I'll be using, but I'll be cruising several hours a day whenever possible.  Got to get that silver propeller, right?

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10 hours ago, Alastair said:

Generating enough lecky to power a cooker is no small aim (if not running off shorepower).

 

You are planning on continuously cruising; have you put clothes washing and refrigeration into your calculations?

 

If you are at a static mooring, it is entirely practical to use a laundrette (or marina washing machine). Not so easy if you are cruising. 

 

Powering a washing machine is most likely going to require a genny of decent size. Other people can advise.

Having a fridge makes a massive difference to living aboard. Add the power requirements into your calculations.

The boat has a 12v fridge with a freezer compartment adequate for about two dozen Tesco chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut cornettos.

 

It has a regular cold feed washing machine.  I plan on trying to get into a marina on hookup once a month to do a massive washday (fortunately I have a lot of clothes).  As I've discussed in another thread I've also considered buying a British made Ebac hot and cold feed washing machine, which would use water heated by the engine while cruising to drastically reduce the required amp hours.  They also have the highest rating for water and energy efficiency.  May or may not happen depending on my experience.

Edited by The Gravy Boater
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22 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

 

I do not want to be gas free... I do a lot of cooking and want the option of a gas hob, but with my planned electrical setup I should be able to use an electric hob to use up excess amp hours and save gas in the summer.

 

I really can't see the point of that setup. If you've got gas why would you need an electric hob? I'm not the most electrically knowledgeable but I've never heard of the concept of "excess amp hours" on boats before. Anyway I live aboard, cook everyday and use a 13kg gas bottle about every six months. I really don't think it's worth trying to save gas.

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4 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

As I've discussed in another thread I've also considered buying a British made Ebac hot and cold feed washing machine, which would use water heated by the engine while cruising to drastically reduce the required amp hours.

 

You do know that if you feed hot water into a cold fill only machine they don't need to heat the water right?  Feed 30 degree water into a cold wash only programme and you get a 30 degree wash ...

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38 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

I really can't see the point of that setup. If you've got gas why would you need an electric hob? I'm not the most electrically knowledgeable but I've never heard of the concept of "excess amp hours" on boats before. Anyway I live aboard, cook everyday and use a 13kg gas bottle about every six months. I really don't think it's worth trying to save gas.

These days lots of boaters seem to have fully charged batteries by 10 or 11 in the morning thanks to their solar panels so they sit there for the rest of the day doing nothing, so they may as well use that extra free power 

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10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

These days lots of boaters seem to have fully charged batteries by 10 or 11 in the morning thanks to their solar panels so they sit there for the rest of the day doing nothing, so they may as well use that extra free power 

But after an hour of high output electric cooking + all the other DC and inverter demands, even a big battery bank might be down to about 60% SoC and a couple of solar panels aren't going to recharge them in a day. Better to conserve the batteries and cook with gas if it's there. The basic rule of thumb is that you don't convert your stored chemical energy into heat output if you can help it. Running a toaster for a few minutes is fine, but you wouldn't run your immersion heater from your batteries, so why would you want to run an electric hob or oven for extended periods if gas is available?

Edited by blackrose
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As a grumpy old boater who is deeply suspicious of things with wires, digital anything and 'systems' I would always keep things simple. Gas is simple and relatively cheap. Its not hard to keep a couple of lead acid batts charged with solar and engine (usually!) and there's enough important things to fix on a boat without adding a whole world of grief trying to prove its possible to make toast with a toaster. (Anyway toasters are rubbish, straw coloured toast after 10 minutes toasting - proper toast is black with a soft middle)  Sorry, will be more positive after I've walked the dog.

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11 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

You do know that if you feed hot water into a cold fill only machine they don't need to heat the water right?  Feed 30 degree water into a cold wash only programme and you get a 30 degree wash ...

A thermostatic blending valve on the washer supply enables you to set it to around 45 degrees and get a 40 degree wash without the heater coming on providing you have hot water off the engine.

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5 minutes ago, Bee said:

As a grumpy old boater who is deeply suspicious of things with wires, digital anything and 'systems' I would always keep things simple. Gas is simple and relatively cheap. Its not hard to keep a couple of lead acid batts charged with solar and engine (usually!) and there's enough important things to fix on a boat without adding a whole world of grief trying to prove its possible to make toast with a toaster. (Anyway toasters are rubbish, straw coloured toast after 10 minutes toasting - proper toast is black with a soft middle)  Sorry, will be more positive after I've walked the dog.

You are grumpy ? but you are correct. Gas is by a country mile the best cooking form on a boat. Very safe and very quick. Gas free boats with a mass of electric everything tend to be expensive at build and worth about fifty quid as a used buy.

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1 hour ago, Bee said:

As a grumpy old boater who is deeply suspicious of things with wires, digital anything and 'systems' I would always keep things simple. Gas is simple and relatively cheap. Its not hard to keep a couple of lead acid batts charged with solar and engine (usually!) and there's enough important things to fix on a boat without adding a whole world of grief trying to prove its possible to make toast with a toaster. (Anyway toasters are rubbish, straw coloured toast after 10 minutes toasting - proper toast is black with a soft middle)  Sorry, will be more positive after I've walked the dog.

I agree fully about the toast. Here at home my eye level double oven with grill (gas) is rubbish at making toast and grilling. I really miss welsh rarebit a sandwich maker just doesn't cut it. 

Should add that I'm also grumpy, old and boat (when I can). No longer have a dog.  

Edited by Slim
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2 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Rarebit.
 

Assuming you’re referring to the thick cheese & beer sauce spread thickly on your toast. 

Do you know I wasn't happy about the way I spelt it but couldn't think why, I will now attempt to edit it. 

On the point of spelling, does this forum have a spell checker or whatever. It will identify IF I've spelt a word incorrectly by underlining. I get a little message to one side of the incorrectly spelt word saying to press control and right click but nothing happens. (Dell Inspiron 15 laptop)

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31 minutes ago, Slim said:

I agree fully about the toast. Here at home my eye level double oven with grill (gas) is rubbish at making toast and grilling. I really miss welsh rarebit a sandwich maker just doesn't cut it. 

Should add that I'm also grumpy, old and boat (when I can). No longer have a dog.  

OK, but are you still slim?

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8 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

The forum doesn't, you're browser might (it's a plug in for both Firefox and Chrome).

However, bear in mind that it will only pick up incorrectly spelt words, so in this case, as rabbit was correctly spelt it wouldn't have picked up on it.  Likewise 'their' instead or 'they're' or 'to' instead of 'too' etc etc.  Microsoft Word has a grammar checker which is better, although not always correct.

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18 minutes ago, WotEver said:

However, bear in mind that it will only pick up incorrectly spelt words, so in this case, as rabbit was correctly spelt it wouldn't have picked up on it.  Likewise 'their' instead or 'they're' or 'to' instead of 'too' etc etc.  Microsoft Word has a grammar checker which is better, although not always correct.

Correct

 

My mother used to have a little ditty propped over the monitor which ran: -

 

Eye halve a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marks for my revue
Miss Steaks I kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word,
And weight four it two say,
Weather aye am wrong oar write,
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid,
It nose bee for two long,
And I can put the error rite.
Its rarely ever wrong.

Aye have run this poem threw it
Iamb shore yore pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in it's weigh.
My chequer tolled me sew.

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13 hours ago, Bee said:

As a grumpy old boater who is deeply suspicious of things with wires, digital anything and 'systems' I would always keep things simple. Gas is simple and relatively cheap. Its not hard to keep a couple of lead acid batts charged with solar and engine (usually!) and there's enough important things to fix on a boat without adding a whole world of grief trying to prove its possible to make toast with a toaster. (Anyway toasters are rubbish, straw coloured toast after 10 minutes toasting - proper toast is black with a soft middle)  Sorry, will be more positive after I've walked the dog.

I find my best toast is made on the top of sf stove ,  black is burnt ,  no other word to describe it   

Edited by LadyG
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9 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I find my best toast is made on the top of sf stove ,  black is burnt ,  no other word to describe it   

Rayburn toast is good but my electric toaster works ok in the summer along with electric kettles, washing machines and dishwashers,  life is as comfy as you want to make it

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