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A few questions to help me


cdnp

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Hi everyone,

I have only joined in the last day or so and was hoping someone may be able to help me with a few questions i have.

 

I know the following questions may have different answers from different people / usage but obviously a rough guide is better than nothing.

 

1. On a average per month, how many bottles of Gas would you say i would need and how much does a bottle normaly cost. If i were to use it for cooking.

 

2. How much coal would i need a month and again how much would it be. Would be using coal in fire. I know that i could collect twigs and wood elsewhere but as a rough estimate the coal is obviously going to last longer buring i suppose than twigs etc.

 

3. Does anyone use Wireless Internet on their boat(s). I would want to use Wireless Internet and wondered if the signal is okay and the boat does not stop the signal.

 

4. Can you get Sky TV on a boat or again does the signal not work well ?

 

5. Does anyone know of any moorings available in Birmingham / outskirts which have nice amenities such a pub on site / locally. Toilets. Shop. etc. And if so how much the mooring costs / electricty is.

 

Sorry for the volume of questions, just want answers from fellow boaters who have gone through or are going through the same as myself.

 

Kind Regards

Neil

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As no-one else has responded yet and just to be jolly, the anwers to 3 and 4 are a difinite yes. There's whole threads devoted to the joys of internet connections on boats and the various methods employed. There's also loads on satellite dishes etc for TV reception, or you can just have a standard aerial on a stick/scaffolding pole which seems a popular solution from what I've seen. Mobiles etc get their signals fine inside the steel shell. My MW radio used to be a bit crap, but then MW usually is, and I use DAB now.

 

Contact the BW Office at Cambrian Wharf for a list of local moorings in Brum. They'll give you a list of all BW and private too. Happy hunting, the waiting lists were yards long when I started 2 years ago, even at the private ones.

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1. On a average per month, how many bottles of Gas would you say i would need and how much does a bottle normaly cost. If i were to use it for cooking.

 

Depends on how much cooking, really. Mine last me six months ...

 

2. How much coal would i need a month and again how much would it be. Would be using coal in fire. I know that i could collect twigs and wood elsewhere but as a rough estimate the coal is obviously going to last longer buring i suppose than twigs etc.

 

For me; 25kg bag a week unless it's REALLY cold, then possibly up to 1.5 bags

 

3. Does anyone use Wireless Internet on their boat(s). I would want to use Wireless Internet and wondered if the signal is okay and the boat does not stop the signal.

 

Many, many, folk here use 3G (including myself) - do a forum search, there's loads of very useful threads and heads-up on good deals.

 

4. Can you get Sky TV on a boat or again does the signal not work well ?

 

Yes. Again, do a forum search and you'll find plenty of threads. Look for Freeview and FreeSat, too.

 

And, Welcome to the Forum!

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Neil

 

Welcome.

 

All of your questions have been asked before, so have a search (top right) or for a better search engine try http://www.ledgardbridge-boatcompany.com/C...arch/index.html.

 

I am sure many will answer on this thread but in the mean time have a look around.

 

Edit: no answers then three all at once :lol:

Edited by bottle
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Hi everyone,

I have only joined in the last day or so and was hoping someone may be able to help me with a few questions i have.

 

I know the following questions may have different answers from different people / usage but obviously a rough guide is better than nothing.

 

1. On a average per month, how many bottles of Gas would you say i would need and how much does a bottle normaly cost. If i were to use it for cooking.

 

2. How much coal would i need a month and again how much would it be. Would be using coal in fire. I know that i could collect twigs and wood elsewhere but as a rough estimate the coal is obviously going to last longer buring i suppose than twigs etc.

 

3. Does anyone use Wireless Internet on their boat(s). I would want to use Wireless Internet and wondered if the signal is okay and the boat does not stop the signal.

 

4. Can you get Sky TV on a boat or again does the signal not work well ?

 

5. Does anyone know of any moorings available in Birmingham / outskirts which have nice amenities such a pub on site / locally. Toilets. Shop. etc. And if so how much the mooring costs / electricty is.

 

Sorry for the volume of questions, just want answers from fellow boaters who have gone through or are going through the same as myself.

 

Kind Regards

Neil

Re. the first two questions-Without knowing your exact requirements, I'd say it was an impossible task to answer these with any accuracy. All I would say is, don't think that it's going to be either particularly cheap or easy! A 25Kg bag of fuel is going to be anywhere between £8 and £10, maybe more, and a 6kg Calor propane cylinder around £18-£20. In addition, invariably you're going to have to hump all this to and fro, and dispose of the fire's waste. If you sit down and reckon it all up, you'll probably find it's cheaper, and a damn sight easier, in a house!

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Oh come on - my fuel and electricity bills are much cheaper than they ever were in a house. Especially with the monstrous price hikes that landlubbers are paying out for. I'd have given my right arm for a £60 a year gas bill. Or my £4 a week winter or £1 a week summer electricity bill (I cheat, I have solar). But I didn't have to pay for a mooring when I lived in a house. :lol:

 

Re. the other questions - I use about 3 bottles a year costing £20 each (ish). Last winter we got through about 25 bags of taybrite (I pay £9 a bag for these now), but I also burn palletts that are conveniently fly-tipped near our marina. Bear in mind that I'm usually on the boat all day and often keep the stove in all night too.

 

You don't need wireless, get a 3g dongle, there are loads to choose from, go to a phone shop and get some brochures, or search on here.

 

You can have Sky if you want it, but we bought a £30 Freeview USB TV stick (you can get them online or from PC World) and ran the wire through the roof vent/put the indoor ariel on the roof. We watch it on a laptop.

Edited by Lady Muck
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Just a note on the dongle option, which I've taken, is to make sure when you buy, you have coverage. We shopped around (as one does) and then discovered there was no signal in the marina. Thankfully, we went to Carphone Warehouse which is independent, rather than Vodaphone, which isn't, before we bought :lol: .

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Mobiles etc get their signals fine inside the steel shell. My MW radio used to be a bit crap, but then MW usually is, and I use DAB now.

 

The ability to get a signal inside a boat on an INTERNAL aerial (be it MW, mobile DAB etc) is dependent on the window size. If the narrowest dimension of the window is greater than half the wavelength of the frequency requird, then the frequency will pass through the window.

 

So let's say you want to receive Medium Wave (say 600KHz). The wavelength is simply the speed of light (3x108 ms-1) divided by the frequency.

 

So, in this example, the wavelength = 500 metres, thus the half wavelength is 250 metres and this clearly (!) will not fit through the window so reception will be impossible unless an external aerial is fitted.

 

For FM (VHF) say at 100MHz, the half wavelength is 1.5 metres so depending on window size you may receive it or not with an internal aerial.

 

For DAB at approx 250MHz, the half wavelength is 0.6 metres only. So DAB and FM offer much more chance. However, life is never fair because once you get up to FM and DAB frequencies they are received via line of sight and low down in a boat is not the ideal height to receive them unless you are close to the transmitter.

 

Since with mobile you are not going to be more than about 1km from a base station (given there IS a base station around), you can receive strong signals even low down on a boat and at 900MHz the half wavelength is only 16cm so passes through windows easily. That's why you can get such strong mobile signals even inside a boat.

 

Chris

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The ability to get a signal inside a boat on an INTERNAL aerial (be it MW, mobile DAB etc) is dependent on the window size. If the narrowest dimension of the window is greater than half the wavelength of the frequency requird, then the frequency will pass through the window.

 

So let's say you want to receive Medium Wave (say 600KHz). The wavelength is simply the speed of light (3x108 ms-1) divided by the frequency.

 

So, in this example, the wavelength = 500 metres, thus the half wavelength is 250 metres and this clearly (!) will not fit through the window so reception will be impossible unless an external aerial is fitted.

 

For FM (VHF) say at 100MHz, the half wavelength is 1.5 metres so depending on window size you may receive it or not with an internal aerial.

 

For DAB at approx 250MHz, the half wavelength is 0.6 metres only. So DAB and FM offer much more chance. However, life is never fair because once you get up to FM and DAB frequencies they are received via line of sight and low down in a boat is not the ideal height to receive them unless you are close to the transmitter.

 

Since with mobile you are not going to be more than about 1km from a base station (given there IS a base station around), you can receive strong signals even low down on a boat and at 900MHz the half wavelength is only 16cm so passes through windows easily. That's why you can get such strong mobile signals even inside a boat.

 

Chris

 

Maybe simple and clear for you :lol::lol:

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