Robot Vacuum on a narrowboat?

[Tasemu]

Title says it all, I'm wondering how well a robot vacuum would work on a narrowboat. They seem to charge themselves and are pretty sophisticated nowadays. I'm tempted to drop some cash on one to see if it can add some more laziness to my life. Does anyone have one of these and could give some thoughts?

 

Cheers!

[Hudds Lad]

We had one years ago in the house, it was the bane of the dogs existence, always seemed to make a beeline for her  

It wasn't very good at changes in floor type, eg: from carpet to laminate/vinyl and would often get stuck on the threshold between rooms for no reason.

Also sometimes got wedged trying to get back in it's charging dock so would just sit there half in until the battery ran out.

Very small dust collection area in it, and in a house of three long-haired folk and a spaniel its brushes were clogged quite often.

Forget the make now, was some sort of Roomba knockoff from Amazon, gave it to one of the sister-in-laws before it gave the dog a nervous breakdown.

[Tracy D'arth]

If they charge themselves buy 10 and have a self charging boat.

Seriously, you would not keep up with charging the batteries.  If you are on a shore line then OK but overkill.

[rusty69]

Yep, I have one. A bit temperamental sometimes, occasionally asks me to lift my legs and generally does a good job with not too much moaning. The only downside is she is a bit noisy, but I only have myself to blame. I didn't have to marry her.

[Tasemu]

I'm aware of the downfalls of earlier models but i feel they've come a very long way since then. I dont feel like power would be too much of an issue as the space to vacuum isn't exactly huge. My power setup is fairly overkill already so i'm not convinced this unit would significantly effect it. Maybe i should give it a shot with one of these new models and see... 🤷‍♂️

[jonathanA]

15 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Yep, I have one. A bit temperamental sometimes, occasionally asks me to lift my legs and generally does a good job with not too much moaning. The only downside is she is a bit noisy, but I only have myself to blame. I didn't have to marry her.

I have one of those, I threatened to trade her in for a newer model, but she said at my age that would be very dangerous as I definitely wouldn't have enough charge for a newer model... 

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, Tasemu said:

I'm aware of the downfalls of earlier models but i feel they've come a very long way since then. I dont feel like power would be too much of an issue as the space to vacuum isn't exactly huge. My power setup is fairly overkill already so i'm not convinced this unit would significantly effect it. Maybe i should give it a shot with one of these new models and see... 🤷‍♂️

 

I might be interested in one of those on my widebeam as I have a serious aversion to hoovering. I don't see why power would be such an issue if you just let it loose for a few hours once a week? I wouldn't keep it on permanent charge, I'd just make sure it's fully charged before switching it off and putting it away. 

 

What are the models to go for?

[Tigerr]

We have one at home. It is a bit temperamental, gets stuck on the table legs. On a narrowboat I dont think there's enough floor to warrant it. 

[LadyG]

I think the problem on a boat, or even in a house is that you are not going to get in to the corners and on to ledges, cornices, steps etc. The acessible floor is only about 20sq m, i think it would take me about five minutes to go round it with a handheld vacuum. There is about 5sq m not on the same level and this takes another five minutes.

I  have a dustbuster handheld and it's great, removes dust and grit from under the s f  stove, the skirting board, the electric cabinets, spring clean wardrobes and remove dust from my log cabinets., I might get something a bit bigger, something with a longer handle and a few interchangeable heads. But I'm starting to run out of space for "stuff".

[blackrose]

On a widebeam they might make sense but I just had a look at the prices 😱 so I'll just stick to not hoovering very often. 

 

12 hours ago, LadyG said:

I think the problem on a boat, or even in a house is that you are not going to get in to the corners and on to ledges, cornices, steps etc. 

 

You might be surprised at how many people and even professional cleaners don't take the vacuum head off to get into the corners. People have different standards of cleanliness, but if you're doing it you've got to do it properly in my opinion.

 

Edited February 4 by blackrose

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

You might be surprised at how many people and even professional cleaners don't take the vacuum head off to get into the corners. People have different standards of cleanliness, but if you're doing it you've got to do it properly in my opinion.

 

And different priorities in life and on a boat. The OP started another thread about an engine stop solenoid not working and his girlfriend getting injured stopping the engine by hand, yet he never responded with answers to try and fix the issue, obviously too fixated looking at Robot Vacuum’s. Obviously Newbie boaters who work in IT(😂) only want to bash the keys of a computer and don’t want to do any form of manual work like hovering or get hands on fixing their boats. Getting a Robot Vacuum to clean a couple of meters of centre aisle on a Narrowboat, seams to sum up the new generation of floaters living on boats.

Edited February 4 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Jerra]

19 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If they charge themselves buy 10 and have a self charging boat.

Seriously, you would not keep up with charging the batteries.  If you are on a shore line then OK but overkill.

This made me wonder as I have no experience of these things.  So I googled and found:

 

A traditional, standard vacuum uses around 1.4kWh of power per hour; the humble robot charges on about 60-90 watts (over three hours), with one charge fuelling roughly an hour of cleaning. 

[Tracy D'arth]

29 minutes ago, Jerra said:

This made me wonder as I have no experience of these things.  So I googled and found:

 

A traditional, standard vacuum uses around 1.4kWh of power per hour; the humble robot charges on about 60-90 watts (over three hours), with one charge fuelling roughly an hour of cleaning. 

Maybe a bit optimistic there I think. Bet it doesnt clean as well as a woman with a Hoover.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Maybe a bit optimistic there I think. Bet it doesnt clean as well as a woman with a Hoover.

Just hoover, maybe his woman can’t hoover now since she got her hand caught in the fan belt using the manual engine stop, that hasn’t worked since he bought the boat and obviously couldn’t be bothered to fix, just like it seams he can’t be bothered to use a hoover hence his thread or maybe his girlfriend did it all but has decided life’s a bit too dangerous living on a boat? 👍

Edited February 4 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Jerra]

5 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Maybe a bit optimistic there I think. Bet it doesnt clean as well as a woman with a Hoover.

That has nothing to do with keeping up with charging the batteries.  In fact, it also seems a little sexist I and many men I know do the vacuuming.  I do it as I do a better job than Mrs J.

[rusty69]

Having just read back my previous comment on this thread,I feel I owe the assembled members of the forum an almost sincere apology. I can see how my words may have been misinterpreted by some of the more liberal minded. I'm only glad I didn't mention sucking.

[tree monkey]

One of these?

 

[rusty69]

Better than a Dyson V6. A Kryten 2000.

 

Looks like Smeg make cookers, ovens and dishwashers but not vacuum cleaners. Smeeeeeg heads. 

Edited February 4 by rusty69

[Guest]

2 hours ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

Just hoover, maybe his woman can’t hoover now since she got her hand caught in the fan belt using the manual engine stop, that hasn’t worked since he bought the boat and obviously couldn’t be bothered to fix, just like it seams he can’t be bothered to use a hoover hence his thread or maybe his girlfriend did it all but has decided life’s a bit too dangerous living on a boat? 👍

 

You really are quite obnoxious aren't you PD1964.

 

You know precisely zilch about the OP's circumstances and once again you come on to snipe at somebody who you perceive to be a new boater.

 

And you still cannot spell 'seam' correctly.

 

The correct spelling in the context of 'they seem not to understand' is 'seem' not 'seam'. A seam is a term used in sewing or coal/iron ore mining. For some reason it's a mistake you repeat every time you snipe at another member. If you are going to be rude at least try and spell correctly.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 minute ago, MJG said:

 

You really are quite obnoxious aren't you PD1964.

 

You know precisely zilch about the OP's circumstances and once again you come on to snipe at somebody who you perceive to be a new boater.

 

And you still cannot spell 'seam' correctly.

 

The correct spelling in the context of 'they seem not to understand' is 'seem' not 'seam'. A seam is a term used in sewing or coal/iron ore mining. For some reason it's a mistake you repeat every time you snipe at another member. If you are going to be rude at least try and spell correctly.

Once again you come on for an argument, who’s that bothered with seam or seem? Obviously you.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

Once again you come on for an argument, who’s that bothered with seam or seem? Obviously you.

 

No, I came on to call out your pointless unhelpful contribution to the thread. Particularly when you perceive somebody is new or not very experienced. 

 

You do it all the time. I don't know if you think it makes you look big or clever, but actually it does neither.

 

Edited February 4 by MJG

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

And all you do on this forum and what you did on Th@nder Bo@t is reply to threads to cause arguments and generally just spoil the thread, why don’t you go and do it on the Caravan Forums? 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

And all you do on this forum and what you did on Th@nder Bo@t is reply to threads to cause arguments and generally just spoil the thread, why don’t you go and do it on the Caravan Forums? 

 

The whole of Thunderboat was one long argument, that's all it consisted of, that and repeated abuse.

 

You spoilt this thread with your unhelpful contribution.

 

I'm sure you think it makes you look like some sort of boating 'expert' when you mock newbies whether it be on here or in response to you tube videos posted on here but trust me, it doesn't.

 

 

 

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

52 minutes ago, MJG said:

 

The whole of Thunderboat was one long argument, that's all it consisted of, that and repeated abuse.

 

You spoilt this thread with your unhelpful contribution.

 

I'm sure you think it makes you look like some sort of boating 'expert' when you mock newbies whether it be on here or in response to you tube videos posted on here but trust me, it doesn't.

 

 

 

 

I don’t mock I just say what I see, shame other people like yourself say nothing and most seem to sit on the fence, you only contribute to winding people up. Whats your opinion in a robot vacuum on a boat?

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

I don’t mock I just say what I see,

 

And often there is just no need for it.  And yes you do mock newbies. 

 

eg 

 

Obviously Newbie boaters who work in IT(😂) only want to bash the keys of a computer and don’t want to do any form of manual work like hovering or get hands on fixing their boats. Getting a Robot Vacuum to clean a couple of meters of centre aisle on a Narrowboat, seams to sum up the new generation of floaters living on boats.

 

That is the very definition of mocking someone. A tone and form of words you repeatedly adopt. Oh and by the way it's 'hoovering' not 'hovering', hovering is what drones or hovercraft do.

 

I can pull up other examples if you wish?

 

As for a robot vacuums, well as you ask I wouldn't bother with one. A rechargeable handheld would be a better option as that gives scope for vacuuming higher up parts of the boat such as top cabin corners and the edge between the sides and roof. That is what we used and it was fine. We could recharge it using the inverter whilst the boat was moving.