What are your 240V must haves?

[Francis Herne]

I've lived on my boat for a couple of years without any routine use of 240V, so I suppose 'none of the above'. Most of my energy consumption is fridge + laptop, and immersion heater when there's an excess from solar.

 

Whenever I get around to fitting a proper inverter and mains wiring, an electric kettle and microwave are top of the list.

 

I do have an ancient and questionable inverter in the bottom of a cupboard; it gets wired in temporarily a few times per year to run power tools off.

[blackrose]

3 hours ago, Francis Herne said:

I've lived on my boat for a couple of years without any routine use of 240V, so I suppose 'none of the above'. Most of my energy consumption is fridge + laptop, and immersion heater when there's an excess from solar.

 

 

You have a 12v immersion? I assume connected to a dump load from your  MPPT? I think I asked you or maybe it was someone else about your system recently but lost track of the thread so never saw the answer.

[Tony Brooks]

When we spent weeks on board in the spring, summer, autumn, and weekends in the winter, I found Mike's solution perfectly adequate - a cheap Maplin inverter for charging battery power tools and hand held vacuum cleaner, although I found a stiff brush better. We charged the phons and computer from "car" chargers.

 

Nowadays I am less sure about 12V fridges because of the apparent lack of insulation, but I am not sure a mains fridge plus QUALITY inverter would work out much cheaper than a 12V fridge.

[cheesegas]

7 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Nowadays I am less sure about 12V fridges because of the apparent lack of insulation, but I am not sure a mains fridge plus QUALITY inverter would work out much cheaper than a 12V fridge.

A lot of small 240v fridges are used as a base by a couple of companies to convert to 12v. However, there's a trend currently to hide the evaporator in the side panels, which means you need to leave a pretty significant gap for air to circulate. In boats there's often not much space and you can't remodel the kitchen just for a new fridge, so it ends up being stuffed into a hole that's too small where it can't breathe, and then the power consumption goes wayyy up since the compressor is running so much.

[peterboat]

13 hours ago, Quattrodave said:

• microwave - never seen a 12v one but something tells me they exist...
• washing machine - never seen 12v one
• vacuum cleaner - cordless one with a 12v charger.
• kitchen gadgets - have seen 12v coffee machine others probably exist
• TV - definatly 12v
• phone - definatly 12v
• laptop - definatly 12v
• mifi - definatly 12v but get a propper router with ext antenna
• lights - definatly 12v
• pumps - definatly 12v
• fridge - definatly 12v
• charger for power tools - definatly 12v car chargers available.
• Camera battery chargers - 12v car chargers available.

 

I had a 12 volt microwave worked ok

[dogless]

Part of our enjoyment of our time afloat (which is upto nine months a year) is the contrast in lifestyle to that of home ... not really "living as a caveman"  but certainly a simpler , less cluttered life more akin to comfortably camping, enjoying a greater connection with the outside world.

 

It really is just a personal choice.

 

Rog

[hider]

10 minutes ago, dogless said:

Part of our enjoyment of our time afloat (which is upto nine months a year) is the contrast in lifestyle to that of home ... not really "living as a caveman"  but certainly a simpler , less cluttered life more akin to comfortably camping, enjoying a greater connection with the outside world.

 

It really is just a personal choice.

 

Rog

How do you get house insurance if you are away for 9 months please?  Or is it in short periods away and back home?

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, hider said:

How do you get house insurance if you are away for 9 months please?  Or is it in short periods away and back home?

 

I simply phoned them and asked them to increase the limit from 30 days to 90 days knowing that sometime we would be home for a quickie.

This year has been a short Summer being away from mid June to end of September.

SWMBO is nipping home for a few days next week to attend a Horse show' so thats the conditions (an overnight stay) covered.

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

We charged the phons and computer from "car" chargers.

 

Happy Days...   

 

 

[dogless]

You can arrange longer absences from home with your insurance provider as has been said above.

 

We pop the boat into a marina and train or car hire home for family events to manage the permitted absence.

 

It's not really a problem 👍🏻

 

We used to just leave the boat on the towpath until we suffered a burglary whilst away  from it.

 

Its cheaper to pay at a marina (and have peace of mind) than pay the insurance excess on the two policies (boat insurance and then home contents).

 

Rog

[cheesegas]

6 hours ago, dogless said:

Part of our enjoyment of our time afloat (which is upto nine months a year) is the contrast in lifestyle to that of home ... not really "living as a caveman"  but certainly a simpler , less cluttered life more akin to comfortably camping, enjoying a greater connection with the outside world.

Boats are used in many different ways though, and people find different ways to enjoy boats too. I live on mine year round by comparison, so I have no desire to have a simpler life for contrast because there is nothing to contrast it to. Wifi is needed for working and earning money, 240v is needed to run the electric kettle/toaster/air fryer in summer to save on gas usage and increase convenience. 

 

I find enjoyment in being able to move around and see a new bit of the country every so often.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

49 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

I find enjoyment in being able to move around and see a new bit of the country every so often.

yes best reason for having a boat,

that and the search for new pubs,

 for me it’s worth any compromise I need to make on electricity,

interior space and wot not. 
 

 

Edited August 26 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer
Knock the S of compromise

[dogless]

6 hours ago, cheesegas said:

Boats are used in many different ways though, and people find different ways to enjoy boats too. I live on mine year round by comparison, so I have no desire to have a simpler life for contrast because there is nothing to contrast it to. Wifi is needed for working and earning money, 240v is needed to run the electric kettle/toaster/air fryer in summer to save on gas usage and increase convenience. 

 

I find enjoyment in being able to move around and see a new bit of the country every so often.

Absolutely.

 

I've always thought that the idea that 'as boaters' we share something in common is actually a nonsense.

 

We all have very different ideas of what 'boating' means from permanent moorer liveaboards, to continuous cruiser liveaboards, to shufflers, to leisure cruisers etc. etc.

 

All love boating for very different reasons, and have very different ideas of what boating is.

 

So it should be  👍🏻

 

Rog

[ditchcrawler]

The electric blanket in the winter

[dogless]

I have my love to keep me warm  😊

 

She chases me around with a rolling pin 

 

Rog

 

 

[NB Alnwick]

A toaster and a pot of Marmite - definitely essential!

[Puffling]

57 minutes ago, NB Alnwick said:

A toaster and a pot of Marmite - definitely essential!

Nah, stick your bread in a Toasterbag and it will toast on top of the multi fuel stove. Also good for filled toasties - something a regular toaster is usually too thin to accept.

[Yellowback]

3 minutes ago, Puffling said:

Nah, stick your bread in a Toasterbag and it will toast on top of the multi fuel stove. Also good for filled toasties - something a regular toaster is usually too thin to accept.

 

Now there's an idea, thank you.

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, Puffling said:

Nah, stick your bread in a Toasterbag and it will toast on top of the multi fuel stove. Also good for filled toasties - something a regular toaster is usually too thin to accept.

 

Do you mean those the things that used to be called "Pop Tarts" back in the 70s? (Two bits of machine bread welded together with jam in the centre, for heating in your toaster.)

 

Before that term was deemed overly risqué?

 

 

[hairywill]

13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

The electric blanket in the winter

Thank you. This is what I was after, something I had not thought about. Maybe a couple of hot water bottles or something heated on the stove. I have seen small 12v electric blankets but I imagine they are fairly pathetic or they would need massive cables for the current required at 12v.

[Puffling]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Do you mean those the things that used to be called "Pop Tarts" back in the 70s? (Two bits of machine bread welded together with jam in the centre, for heating in your toaster.)

 

Before that term was deemed overly risqué?

 

 

Veteran reporter Simon Dring (RIP) took Pop Tarts, Birds Custard and various other 'treats from home' foods with him on his On The Road Again epic drive overland from the UK to India. He found the Pop Tarts were the only items the Wadi Rum Arabs actually liked.

 

Concerning filled toasties, I meant two slices of ordinary bread filled with vegetables and grated cheese. A total mess doing that unsupported in a regular toaster, it's why Toasterbags came on the scene. BTW, a pack of ten off Amazon is cheaper than buying the overpriced double packs. That said, you can clean them out after use and they seem pretty long lasting.  

Edited August 27 by Puffling

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Puffling said:

Veteran reporter Simon Dring (RIP) took Pop Tarts, Birds Custard and various other 'treats from home' foods with him on his On The Road Again epic drive overland from the UK to India. He found the Pop Tarts were the only items the Wadi Rum Arabs actually liked.

 

Concerning filled toasties, I meant two slices of or bread filled with vegetables and grated cheese. A total mess doing that unsupported in a regular toaster, it's why Toasterbags came on the scene. BTW, a pack of ten off Amazon is cheaper than buying the overpriced double packs. That said, you can clean them out after use and they seem pretty long lasting.  

 

Fascinating. I've never heard of toaster bags until now. 

 

But then it never occured to me to try to toast a load of carrots, spuds, caulifower, beans etc between two pieces of bread!! 😃

 

 

 

Mind you and getting back on topic, surely one can do this on a boat under the grill, without needing a 240Vac electric toaster...?

 

 

[Mike Hurley]

Get a ridge monkey for toasties on the stove top/gas hob.

[Puffling]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

[...] Mind you and getting back on topic, surely one can do this on a boat under the grill, without needing a 240Vac electric toaster...?
 

Saves gas doing them on an already hot surface.

46 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

Get a ridge monkey for toasties on the stove top/gas hob.

I'd buy one of these just for the name. Ridge Monkey sounds like either an all-terrain bicycle or a tickler condom

Edited August 27 by Puffling

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

Get a ridge monkey for toasties on the stove top/gas hob.

That would probably be OK on an Induction Hob