So No Regrets and only egrets

[alan_fincher]

l......what do you hate about what you have now or wish you didn't put onboard?

 

A fairly expensive TV.

 

We no longer bother to have it on the boat.

[Albion]

I guess the thread ran out, so Im fitting a new spool......what do you hate about what you have now or wish you didn't put onboard?

 

There was nothing that I hated about Albion at all, but you have to bear in mind that she was the culmination of many years of hiring, borrowing, looking and the second of two boats built from scratch so we should have got it about right by then.

To be honest the only thing that I think was a waste of time having on board was a pair of PMR446 walkie talkie radios. The idea of them is great and, as long as you have direct line of sight they are quite good. In real life situations where your crew member is out of sight up a long flight of locks they never seem to work properly. You get false signals as if some one is trying to call you when they're not etc. Excellent in principle, pretty useless when the chips are down and you really need them.

Roger

[ditchcrawler]

To be honest the only thing that I think was a waste of time having on board was a pair of PMR446 walkie talkie radios. The idea of them is great and, as long as you have direct line of sight they are quite good. In real life situations where your crew member is out of sight up a long flight of locks they never seem to work properly. You get false signals as if some one is trying to call you when they're not etc. Excellent in principle, pretty useless when the chips are down and you really need them.

Roger

Funny you should say that, mine have never been out of their charger in all the years I've had them.

[Tom6]

Mobile phones are quite handy. Especially because you can see who the call is from and then go find them without bothering to actually answer the phone (which would cost them money and feel dumb)

[alan_fincher]

Funny you should say that, mine have never been out of their charger in all the years I've had them.

I suspect this is very much down to the quality of the sets.

 

I do believe the people who say they have managed to source ones that work fairly reliably even if the next lock or two are several hundred yards away.

 

Unfortunately ours don't really, which is why they don't get used that often.

 

I think we were lured by a pretty, slim design - a bad choice, I think now.

 

A chunkier set, with a higher output might, I believe, work better.

 

Now amateur radio licences don't have to be renewed annually, I could persuade OH to reapply for her old call sign, (still have mine), and we could use amateur 2 metre VHF, I guess - that would get through OK, for certain !

[Lady Muck]

I suspect this is very much down to the quality of the sets.

 

I do believe the people who say they have managed to source ones that work fairly reliably even if the next lock or two are several hundred yards away.

 

Unfortunately ours don't really, which is why they don't get used that often.

 

I think we were lured by a pretty, slim design - a bad choice, I think now.

 

A chunkier set, with a higher output might, I believe, work better.

 

Now amateur radio licences don't have to be renewed annually, I could persuade OH to reapply for her old call sign, (still have mine), and we could use amateur 2 metre VHF, I guess - that would get through OK, for certain !

 

Put it this way, when you get free calls to your partner on your mobile, do you really need more junk onboard?

[Albion]

I suspect this is very much down to the quality of the sets.

 

I do believe the people who say they have managed to source ones that work fairly reliably even if the next lock or two are several hundred yards away.

 

Unfortunately ours don't really, which is why they don't get used that often.

 

I think we were lured by a pretty, slim design - a bad choice, I think now.

 

A chunkier set, with a higher output might, I believe, work better.

 

Now amateur radio licences don't have to be renewed annually, I could persuade OH to reapply for her old call sign, (still have mine), and we could use amateur 2 metre VHF, I guess - that would get through OK, for certain !

 

The range is very much controlled by the environment in which they are being used. For some of the more urban lock flights on the BCN with buildings around they were less than useless. On the other hand, in direct line of sight way across the width of a large marina they worked perfectly.

I may be wrong but I don't believe that you can get different power versions. The PMR446 set is limited by wireless telegraphy regulation to a realatively weak power output (and to specific frequencies, of course). That is why you are allowed to use them without a licence.

Roger

[alan_fincher]

I may be wrong but I don't believe that you can get different power versions. The PMR446 set is limited by wireless telegraphy regulation to a realatively weak power output (and to specific frequencies, of course). That is why you are allowed to use them without a licence.

Roger

Possibly, I've never studied the limitations of PMR446.

 

However the same manufacturer often specifies two different maximum ranges for different sets in their catalogue.

 

It might just be a marketing thing, rather than a true difference, I guess.

 

Certainly there have been previous threads on here where people claim ranges, even where not line of sight, that we have never got close to.

 

We have the "Yeti Slim", pictured in this review.....

 

Link to PDF document

 

Fabulously slim and compact, but probably at the "chocolate soldering iron" end of scale on performance, unfortunately.

 

I know from my (legal) CB radio days that two sets made to the same fixed legal spec did not necessarily perform even vaguely similarly, (on the same antenna, at the same location).

[Heffalump]

Ugh don't get me started on my bloody CB radio, damn thing LOL. It never works when I need it! Do people still use transceivers on NB's?

[Chagall]

Okay, so tv's and and cb radios are not necessary, what else is the bane of your existence on a narrowboat and that you would change if you could?

[Tom6]

Other boat owners/users, why are so many of them so dratted helpful and friendly!!? I said "Hi" not "I want to be engaged in hours of interesting dialogue"! and yet other times, of course, people seem quite moody and 'off' - what's that about, what did i say wrong to offend? Why can't people just be like i wish i was?

Edited June 22, 2009 by Tom6

[Naughty Cal]

Other boat owners/users, why are so many of them so dratted helpful and friendly!!? I said "Hi" not "I want to be engaged in hours of interesting dialogue"! and yet other times, of course, people seem quite moody and 'off' - what's that about, what did i say wrong to offend? Why can't people just be like i wish i was?

 

So do you want us to be helpful and cheery or just ignore you?

[alan_fincher]

Other boat owners/users, why are so many of them so dratted helpful and friendly!!? I said "Hi" not "I want to be engaged in hours of interesting dialogue"! and yet other times, of course, people seem quite moody and 'off' - what's that about, what did i say wrong to offend? Why can't people just be like i wish i was?

You could get a T-shirt that says....

 

"Please reply to me not using less that 5 words, or more than 20 words, please".

 

Put another way.....

 

I'm not quite sure from your post how you want people to treat you, TBH.

 

(Sorry, that reply was well over 20 words....)

[Tom6]

It depends on my mood at the time. When it does go wrong i usually hope to bump into the person again sometime when i'm in a better mood. Usually it's all good but occasionally feels like a 'bane'. The answer is usually to chuckle at my own bad attitude afterwards

Edited June 22, 2009 by Tom6

[Naughty Cal]

So can we devise a series of coloured hats (or similar) so that we an judge your mood whilst driving past?

[Tom6]

I wouldn't mind a 12Volt tele - i think the point we had in common was that 240Volt items rapidly become a bane because of the huge % the inverters typically cream off. I've now found a 12Volt adapter for the laptop which is a huge boon. Laptops usually run on 19.5Volts - typical for the computer world to be so non-standard and awkward. While on the boat i don't use the laptop much but i find it so useful for keeping in touch and getting maps and stuff that i really find it difficult to even think of doing without. A bit like when i got down to 2 cigs a day but couldn't give up completely and my baccy would get stale. There has been some suggestion of getting a netbook for general use and keeping the old lappy for when i need a bit more than a quick surf and emailing. Also the lappy now has a decent hard-drive so it'd be good for longer-term storage and the netbook for popping down the free wiifi pub. Now the plan is to get all our cds onto the lappy and copy a few to other players only as and when wanted, that should clear a good armful of shelf space

 

Lol about hats ) I've not seen anything that's a bit like a hat but not a hat, except perhaps a cat

[nb Innisfree]

I wouldn't mind a 12Volt tele - i think the point we had in common was that 240Volt items rapidly become a bane because of the huge % the inverters typically cream off. I've now found a 12Volt adapter for the laptop which is a huge boon. Laptops usually run on 19.5Volts - typical for the computer world to be so non-standard and awkward. While on the boat i don't use the laptop much but i find it so useful for keeping in touch and getting maps and stuff that i really find it difficult to even think of doing without. A bit like when i got down to 2 cigs a day but couldn't give up completely and my baccy would get stale. There has been some suggestion of getting a netbook for general use and keeping the old lappy for when i need a bit more than a quick surf and emailing. Also the lappy now has a decent hard-drive so it'd be good for longer-term storage and the netbook for popping down the free wiifi pub. Now the plan is to get all our cds onto the lappy and copy a few to other players only as and when wanted, that should clear a good armful of shelf space

 

Lol about hats ) I've not seen anything that's a bit like a hat but not a hat, except perhaps a cat

 

Modern good quality inverters are very efficient, ours (Victron) is 94% efficient. In fact our lighting is 230v tri-phosphorous, only needs one 20 watt in the evenings, so I would always go for 230v. Inverters taking huge percentages for running is a thing of the past. Having said that we have gone for 24v fridge, pumps and macerator toilet (another story)

[Tom6]

A true 94% efficiency sounds unlikely, it's gotta be something like an alcohol measure of 'proof'. The electromagnetic coil inside an inverter even in theoretical terms will generate a lot of heat. Typically normal house light bulbs are 40% efficient i think - really we should call them heat bulbs rather than light bulbs. Very modern inverters have got to be a lot more efficient than older ones even if it's just because they are new, let alone advances in technology. 20Watt for a whole evenings lights is pretty impressive

[alan_fincher]

A true 94% efficiency sounds unlikely, it's gotta be something like an alcohol measure of 'proof'.

I'm no fan of inverters, if I can avoid them, and prefer to run what I can off 12 volts.

 

However I do concede from numbers I have looked at that most, even the cheapies, manage something between 85% and 95% efficiency.

 

I think if you assume about 90% you are often not far wrong, (significant, but not devastating, in my view, for most uses they are put to).

 

I wouldn't run a fridge off one personally, because even a 10% hit there has significant impact on battery recharging requirements.

[nb Innisfree]

Difficult to measure efficiency, I have just tried one 20 watt light - 0.7amp on the ammeter, 10 lights @20 watts each - 8.5A. Ammeter only reads to one decimal place, 20 watts @ 24v should be approx 0.8A so maybe more than 20 watts, whatever it still seems to stack up ok. We do switch another one on to make a cuppa in the kitchen or to use the bathroom etc.

I am really impressed with these striplights, a bit pricey but they have given over 4 years heavy use without tube replacement and I think they more than make up, in light output, for inverter losses.

[Lady Muck]

I wouldn't have a 240v fridge either - our neighbour has a 240v fridge freezer but the mains in our marina sometimes trips and he's ended up having to chuck the contents away more than once! At least with a 12v fridge it's less to go wrong (be it the mains hook-up or invertor).

[WotEver]

A true 94% efficiency sounds unlikely

 

Victron state "Maximum Efficiency" of 92% at 12V and 94% at 24V for their current range of inverters.

 

I note they don't state "Miimum Efficiency" or alternatively "Efficiency Range" or even "Average Efficiency"

 

Regards,

Tony

[nb Innisfree]

Victron state "Maximum Efficiency" of 92% at 12V and 94% at 24V for their current range of inverters.

 

I note they don't state "Miimum Efficiency" or alternatively "Efficiency Range" or even "Average Efficiency"

 

Regards,

Tony

 

I don't know how efficient they are at the higher output which isn't as important i.e. washing machine heater etc. which means engine running anyhow, but at the lower end it seems to do what they say.

[Tom6]

Electrics is a huge issue and is largely about minimising usage. My point was to make things flexible from the start by having a decently thick cable/wires running the length of the boat, a decent one for 12Volts and another for 240Volts.

 

This would allow for things (laptops, tele, radio, side-lights etc) to get moved around later - after you had lived in the boat for a while. If it was thick enough to really handle the current it might make it easier to add solar panels and such into the system to run stuff and top-up the batteries.

 

Electricity and water mix shockingly well though so take care with the realities of what i'm suggesting! Electric sparks and gas are an explosive combination too so again there's a worry!

Edited June 23, 2009 by Tom6

[Chagall]

Im dragging this thread back from Yawn! electric's....but thanks for the tips anyway...all duly noted

 

but what do you dislike about living aboard or miss from land life?