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Tank Capacities - Water, Waste and Fuel - what capacity recommended


DuncanB

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We are new to canal life, and are potentially about to make an offer on a Collingwood 60ft wide-beam for a permanent home, ideally outside of marina life. There will be two of us aboard. What is the prevailing wisdom on tank capacities? I am worried that a smaller water tank (800L) may require very regular visits to top up/discharge water and waste.

 

The fuel tank has a capacity of 2000 litres.

 

Shower only, no bath, and compact dishwasher and standard washing machine.

 

Thoughts/advice from the Jedi Council?

 

 

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1 hour ago, DuncanB said:

The fuel tank has a capacity of 2000 litres.

 

Not saying you are wrong - but a 2000 litre fuel tank on a canal boat would be highly unusual.

 

I'd guess that 500 litres would be nearer the norm.

 

My offshore cruiser has 2800 litre fuel tankage and thats enough to take me from the UK , right around Portugal and Spain and into the Meditteranean, and I have Two x 6 litre 'straight 6' engines, not a paltry 65 HP 

 

Edit to add - according to the Colecraft collingwood website their widebeams have a 400 litre fuel tank and a 350 litre water tank. Was this a special build ?

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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If one is worried about having to visit water points too often then it is possible that the option of living on a boat which does not have a mooring with a water supply is not a wise choice. 

 

It may seem like a good idea from a financial point of view at the time but that can be a trap. 

 

Be careful about traps and try not to fall into them.  

 

It was Collingwood not Colecraft. 

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Thanks Alan. At this stage I do not know if it was a special build, but the fuel tank capacity seems excessive compared to water tank. I really don't want to be visiting the lock every 3 days to top-up water and pump out waste water. Maybe they got the description wrong!

 

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51 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It was Collingwood not Colecraft. 

 

Thanks, the figures are from a Collingwood boat - my fingers decided to type something other than my brain cell was telling them.

(I washed my hands tonight and now I cannot do anything with them !)

45 minutes ago, DuncanB said:

Thanks Alan. At this stage I do not know if it was a special build, but the fuel tank capacity seems excessive compared to water tank. I really don't want to be visiting the lock every 3 days to top-up water and pump out waste water. Maybe they got the description wrong!

 

 

Are you looking to be a CCer (ie move every few days) or a CMer and move when the enforcement officers move you on ?

 

Surely you will be moving every few days, no need to keep going back 'to the lock' to fill up. 

We would normally pass at least one waterpoint and elsan station every day.

 

(If you are in London then all rules go by the board).

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On my widebeam my fuel tank is about 300 litres and my integral water tank is 1,275 litres. I live alone and can go for a month without refilling the water tank if I'm careful, so with two of you 800 litres should last 10 days or so. As long as you fill up once a week you should be fine.

Edited by blackrose
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We have a 500 litre water tank on our narrowboat which lasts two of us about 5 days, less if we use the washing machine.

A 2000 litre diesel tank sounds large. Ours is about 200 and lasts about 4 weeks.

The wee tank on our separating toilet is 20 litres and lasts about 3 days. There is a 25 litre solids bucket that lasts about 3 weeks before it gets put on the roof to "cook".

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800L water tank sounds reasonable. My nb. had a 600 litre water tank which would last me about a week as a solo liveaboard. I was not exactly frugal with my water usage either with a 10-15 minute long shower every morning!

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2000 litres of diesel weighs 1720 kilos, near to 2 metric tonnes. I would be amazed if an inland boat carried so much fuel.

 

I would want far more than 800 litres of fresh water on a liveaboard wide beam with laundry  and dishwasher machines.

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1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

2000 litres of diesel weighs 1720 kilos, near to 2 metric tonnes. I would be amazed if an inland boat carried so much fuel.

 

I would want far more than 800 litres of fresh water on a liveaboard wide beam with laundry  and dishwasher machines.

 

An integrated washer/drier typically uses about 60l of water and 2.7kWh of energy for a wash/dry cycle, which shouldn't pose any problem with an 800l water tank unless you do a *lot* of washing -- two washes a week means 120l of water per week (and 5.4kWh of energy).

 

A typical dishwasher uses about 10l of water and 1.1kWh of energy, but is run a lot more often than a washing machine -- if run daily this would be 70l per week (and 7.7kWh).

 

So even both together would use less than 200l of water per week, which is a lot less than other things like showers and toilets and sinks -- 2kWh of energy per day might be a bigger problem for many boats... 😉

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If you intend to cruise about CRT water points are typically about 4 hours cruising time apart and rarely further than 8 hours.

 

A 2000 litre fuel tank will prove to be a liability. Modern ULS diesel is prone to diesel bug and has a life of 6-12 months, so too large a tank is likely to result in insufficient fuel turnover  leading to diesel bug blocking filters and possibly having to have the contaminated fuel disposed of and the fuel system polished or steam cleaned.

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On Innisfree the 2 of us used approx 630lts of water per 7 days, full time ccers, generous use, 2 showers per day, flush toilet & auto w/m on once in that time. We had 1200+ lts total water capacity.

 

Extra diesel capacity, total approx 200lts proved to be excessive, 150 would've been ok, we used approx 100lts per month

Edited by nb Innisfree
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My Dutch Barge which is 55ft long and 12 ft wide has two fuel tanks both of which hold 1500 litres, a total of 3000 litres and the water tank holds 3400 litres. So it is possible to have large fuel and water tanks in a 60 ft widebeam.

 

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2 minutes ago, KenK said:

My Dutch Barge which is 55ft long and 12 ft wide has two fuel tanks both of which hold 1500 litres, a total of 3000 litres and the water tank holds 3400 litres. So it is possible to have large fuel and water tanks in a 60 ft widebeam.

 

 

As I said I have 2800lt tanks, but, there is a big difference between a "fattynarrowboat" built for the GB canals, and 'proper boats' such as a Dutch Barge built for long distance work on proper waterways.

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The boat was built in the UK, hull by Pickwell and Arnold and fitted out by Mitchell Narrowboats to a specification required by the original owners. They used it in the UK for a couple of years before it was taken to Europe.

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9 hours ago, IanD said:

 

A typical dishwasher uses about 10l of water and 1.1kWh of energy, but is run a lot more often than a washing machine -- if run daily this would be 70l per week (and 7.7kWh). 

 

As I understand it, a dishwasher generally uses less water than manual washing up in a sink. Especially if you wash up several times a day, as opposed to dishwasher on once a day. So the water consumption isn’t increased, if anything it is reduced. 

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2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

 

As I understand it, a dishwasher generally uses less water than manual washing up in a sink. Especially if you wash up several times a day, as opposed to dishwasher on once a day. So the water consumption isn’t increased, if anything it is reduced. 

 

They do. And also because during the cycles they reuse and recycle a lot of water during the washing and rinsing process rather than re fill with fresh.

 

If you use good quality dish washer tablets that can deal with heavily soiled stuff you can dial down the temp. and thus the energy consumption too.

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3 hours ago, nicknorman said:

 

As I understand it, a dishwasher generally uses less water than manual washing up in a sink. Especially if you wash up several times a day, as opposed to dishwasher on once a day. So the water consumption isn’t increased, if anything it is reduced. 

I recently read one of those intergenerational discussions where the 20-something offspring still living at home said the dishwasher should be run every day, whether full or not, on grounds of hygiene, whereas the mother said it should only be run when full, on grounds of cost and water use.

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11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I recently read one of those intergenerational discussions where the 20-something offspring still living at home said the dishwasher should be run every day, whether full or not, on grounds of hygiene, whereas the mother said it should only be run when full, on grounds of cost and water use.

It is funny how the generations cycle. When I were a yoof we used to enjoy being dirty just to alarm and disgust one’s mother. Now the kids are afraid of everything, especially the possibility of ingesting a tiny harmless bacterium. Which of course is why the mostly suffer from asthma and have food allergies to almost anything not delivered by Deliveroo.

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I've never really seen the point of dish washers, especially on a boat. I'm not sure how much power they draw but by the time you've loaded and unloaded the machine I've found I'd rather just do the washing up. I guess they're more worthwhile if there are a few people onboard.

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22 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

2000 litres of diesel weighs 1720 kilos, near to 2 metric tonnes. I would be amazed if an inland boat carried so much fuel.

 

I would want far more than 800 litres of fresh water on a liveaboard wide beam with laundry  and dishwasher machines.

He's got what he's got, so economies like use of washing machine at waterpoint and a few spare containers will help.

It might be a good idea to use a water filter type jug in the galley for drinking and brushing teeth, running water is good for hand washing,  and showering for hygeine, other than that treat it as a precious resource, which it is.

When I was icebound I had to carry  5 l of water per day from the pub. This is really too little, obviously, but a far cry from the standard 100l per person per day which I reckon is more normal usage in a house, and

100l per day per boat

I don't do extensive cruising, and since diesel doubled in price I've cut back on the use of Webasto. So I probably only use 325-425l p.a.,  

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

I've never really seen the point of dish washers, especially on a boat. I'm not sure how much power they draw but by the time you've loaded and unloaded the machine I've found I'd rather just do the washing up. I guess they're more worthwhile if there are a few people onboard.

Dishwashers are best for keeping the kitchen tidy, a quick rinse of plates under the tap, then stick them in the dishwasher, yes, it all depends on your attitude to dishwashing, but on a boat my sink always seem to be cluttered.

Edited by LadyG
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3 hours ago, blackrose said:

I've never really seen the point of dish washers,

About 20 years ago my wife threatened to pack up work unless I got  a dishwasher (at home , not on the boat).

The dishwater was ordered immediately. 🙂

 

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5 hours ago, blackrose said:

I've never really seen the point of dish washers, especially on a boat. I'm not sure how much power they draw but by the time you've loaded and unloaded the machine I've found I'd rather just do the washing up. I guess they're more worthwhile if there are a few people onboard.

Our dishwasher on the boat is a cupboard for dirty dishes, mugs etc that fills up slowly over the course of the day. So filling it is easy. The emptying it after it has been run is a bit of a pain but no more so than putting away clean dishes off a draining board..

In our house we used to have two dishwashers, one was slowly being filled over the course of the day while the other one slowly emptied. If you needed a clean mug it came out of the clean dishwasher then when you had finished with it it went in the dirty dishwasher. When the dirty dishwasher was full the clean one would have become empty, the dirty machine was turned on and their roles reversed.  That was in the days when I worked and had money!

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