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Liveaboard diesel usage


Heffalump

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Not wanting to derail lady g's thread, but taking note of some things posted there, I'm adding up some monthly costs.

Are there any liveaboards without a generator, who are on the boat all day, use a TV, move from one town to the next every two weeks, and know how much diesel they use a month?

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I reckon we used about (ish) maybe 120/140 litres a month. Depends really on how far we travel of course. The last month or three we have travelled from Llangollen to where we are now on the K&A. Further than we have done in the past over the same period of time.

But I believe my guesstimate to be about right give or take. Hope this helps.

Edited by Nightwatch
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We don't have a generator, and don't have a TV, but do have a couple of laptop computers. On average we use just over 100 litres of diesel every month. We do find that some of the towns are quite a long way apart. We moved from Bristol to Oxford, then Birmingham, Middlewich, Manchester and to Liverpool. We are now almost back in Middlewich and will then go to Gloucester via Birmingham and Stratford upon Avon.:D

..............Dave

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17 minutes ago, dmr said:

We don't have a generator, and don't have a TV, but do have a couple of laptop computers. On average we use just over 100 litres of diesel every month. We do find that some of the towns are quite a long way apart. We moved from Bristol to Oxford, then Birmingham, Middlewich, Manchester and to Liverpool. We are now almost back in Middlewich and will then go to Gloucester via Birmingham and Stratford upon Avon.:D

..............Dave

Ha, that's a little further apart than I was considering, would you say that a fair amount of that doozil was used over the distances travelled then?

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7 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

Ha, that's a little further apart than I was considering, would you say that a fair amount of that doozil was used over the distances travelled then?

If, we were not travelling so much we could cut our usage to say three litres a day,average. We have fridge,telly,two iPads,two phones,inverter(used infrequently)12v jacuzzi.

 

(We don't have a jacuzzi) 12v or otherwise.

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4 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

Ha, that's a little further apart than I was considering, would you say that a fair amount of that doozil was used over the distances travelled then?

I do work out my fuel consumption a couple of times each year. In the summer we do travel rather a lot, in winter we move less so more of the engine running is just for battery charging. Both summer and winter fuel consumption is very close to 1 litre an hour. We use more diesel in summer because we are doing 4 to 8 hour days whilst in winter a typical battery charge/washing machine/hot water run is about 2.5 hours.

A slow revving type engine should use 1litre/hour. Some more typical boat engines might be close to 1.5litre/hour. So, to predict your monthly fuel consumption just estimate how many hours you will be running the engine for each month.

................Dave

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6 minutes ago, dmr said:

estimate how many hours you will be running the engine for each month.

I guess that's where I'm stuck at the moment! Two of us, one will always be on the boat so may use the TV quite a lot, a washing machine, laptops and phones I suppose. 6 miles or so every fortnight.

10 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

If, we were not travelling so much we could cut our usage to say three litres a day,average. We have fridge,telly,two iPads,two phones,inverter(used infrequently)12v jacuzzi.

 

(We don't have a jacuzzi) 12v or otherwise.

Is that a beans powered Jacuzzi?

Thanks :)

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15 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

If, we were not travelling so much we could cut our usage to say three litres a day,average. We have fridge,telly,two iPads,two phones,inverter(used infrequently)12v jacuzzi.

 

(We don't have a jacuzzi) 12v or otherwise.

I would say that stuck in one place that's about what we useish.

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Does one have to run the engine every day in winter, I would be OK with an hour a day, but not 2.5 hours unless that involved travel,  maybe pottering to the pub, and back? 

I was going to get a tablet and no tv. I think a jacussi is a bit of one upmanship, but just for sake of argument, how long does the engine need to run to heat a hot tub?

Edited by LadyG
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Just now, LadyG said:

Does one have to run the engine every day in winter, I would be OK with an hour a day, but not 2.5 hours unless that involved travel,  maybe pottering to the pub, and back? 

I guess that depends on how much elecktrickery you use :)

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3 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

I guess that depends on how much elecktrickery you use :)

Exactly what I can't get my headaround, the stove will be the main heat sourse, there will be some LED lighting, a tablet, a gas cooker, so why does everyone need such a lot of electricity?

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Just now, LadyG said:

Exactly what I can't get my headaround, the stove will be the main heat sourse, there will be some LED lighting, a tablet, a gas cooker, so why does everyone need such a lot of electricity?

TV, washing machine, fridge, phone, laptop

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1 minute ago, LadyG said:

Exactly what I can't get my headaround, the stove will be the main heat sourse, there will be some LED lighting, a tablet, a gas cooker, so why does everyone need such a lot of electricity?

You had it right when you said sunshine. If you are frugal, get some panels, spend 3 months in a marina, you will easily cope with electric needs. 

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8 hours ago, Heffalump said:

TV, washing machine, fridge, phone, laptop

I don't watch tv,  the fridge will be turned off in dead of winter if the batteries are suffering, perishable food can be kept outside. The phone will be hardly used, and the laptop will be used in summer, I have a lithium battery bank which can be charged when the engine is running or when at the pub, The battery bank can start an engine, run any appliance, charge myfi, phone ec., it is extremely powerfull. I think it could even run a tabletop toaster, oven and microwave [not all at the same time]. I  think that 300 watt solar, and a good 110ah leisure battery might suffice, obviously one has to manage appliances, but that is expected. 

 I watch some live streaming in summer, but not so often in winter. There is a washing machine that does not need electricity [ the plastic cement mixer type], or a 12v one which can be used when engine is running, there are launderettes. Not sure how much power a tablet uses compared to a laptop, but it has to be a lot less than a laptop. Main on board entertainment is Radio and a few DVDs. I have a stack of books in need of reading.

I was thinking about eating out when I want fish n chips, other than that , I can cook from  basic ingredients, best pizza is home made, and best bacon butties are dry cured bacon with Morrisons bread rolls.

Edited by LadyG
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20 hours ago, dmr said:

I do work out my fuel consumption a couple of times each year. In the summer we do travel rather a lot, in winter we move less so more of the engine running is just for battery charging. Both summer and winter fuel consumption is very close to 1 litre an hour. We use more diesel in summer because we are doing 4 to 8 hour days whilst in winter a typical battery charge/washing machine/hot water run is about 2.5 hours.

A slow revving type engine should use 1litre/hour. Some more typical boat engines might be close to 1.5litre/hour. So, to predict your monthly fuel consumption just estimate how many hours you will be running the engine for each month.

................Dave

I have played about with the figures, and say I do an average of one engine hour per day, summer and winter,  engine hours per week = seven hours,  365 hours pa, £365 in diesel. 

one outline plan : Crick  to Ely is 50 hours, and Ely to  Leeds is 160 hours, Leeds to Kennet is 150 hours. I  think that is plenty ambitious for year 1.

360 hours, £360, such a plan seems feasible, leisurely, and not pressurised.

I don't want to live in a marina, but there are a few other options, private moorings, canalside marina moorings etc, or even better, pubside moorings  with electric. These can work out quite reasonably as one does not have to pay for a whole month.

 

Edited by LadyG
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5 hours ago, LadyG said:

I have a lithium battery bank which can be charged when the engine is running or when at the pub, The battery bank can start an engine, run any appliance, charge myfi, phone ec., it is extremely powerfull. I think it could even run a tabletop toaster, oven and microwave [not all at the same time].

Just out of curiosity, LadyG, could you post a link to the lithium battery bank that you have, please? I could find a use for something like that!

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On 03/08/2017 at 09:16, Heffalump said:

Not wanting to derail lady g's thread, but taking note of some things posted there, I'm adding up some monthly costs.

Are there any liveaboards without a generator, who are on the boat all day, use a TV, move from one town to the next every two weeks, and know how much diesel they use a month?

This ^^ describes us to a T.  No genny, I'm on the boat all day, every day, Dave as well "most" days, we travel every 10 days or so, have a large screen TV and use the washing machine weekly, 1 phone, 1 laptop & 1 tablet, fridge & freezer.  We do have 4 x 250 solar panels though.

We had a discussion yesterday after reading Lady G's post of estimating £300 for fuel per year.  Dave figures we spend approx. £80 -£90 per month in the summer, depending on how sunny it is.  As in we've had to run the engine longer each day in July than we did in June - way less sun! and in the winter he figures it's about £95 - £100 per month again depending on the amount of sun. 

**we only turn on the central heating on really cold days and then only for 1 hour in the mornings when needed...approx. 12 - 15 times each winter so far, the rest of the heat comes from the SF stove.  Mind you with that said, we have a seperate tank for the heating anyway; the main tank is for engine use only.

 

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2 minutes ago, Bettie Boo said:

This ^^ describes us to a T.  No genny, I'm on the boat all day, every day, Dave as well "most" days, we travel every 10 days or so, have a large screen TV and use the washing machine weekly, 1 phone, 1 laptop & 1 tablet, fridge & freezer.  We do have 4 x 250 solar panels though.

We had a discussion yesterday after reading Lady G's post of estimating £300 for fuel per year.  Dave figures we spend approx. £80 -£90 per month in the summer, depending on how sunny it is.  As in we've had to run the engine longer each day in July than we did in June - way less sun! and in the winter he figures it's about £95 - £100 per month again depending on the amount of sun. 

**we only turn on the central heating on really cold days and then only for 1 hour in the mornings when needed...approx. 12 - 15 times each winter so far, the rest of the heat comes from the SF stove.  Mind you with that said, we have a seperate tank for the heating anyway; the main tank is for engine use only.

 

Thanks for that, whilst I would like solar, to begin with it would depend on if it was already installed on a boat, until I saved up for some! 

I had budgeted around 100-120 squid for diseasel a month in my workings out.

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6 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

Thanks for that, whilst I would like solar, to begin with it would depend on if it was already installed on a boat, until I saved up for some! 

I had budgeted around 100-120 squid for diseasel a month in my workings out.

I reckon you'll be fine with that budget - I'm no expert or anything, but it looks sensible to me at least.

I would highly recommend investing in whatever amount of solar you can as soon as you can even if you can only get 1/4 of your planned bank, and add to it when finances allow.  It will save you in the long run

Best of luck :)

 

  • Greenie 2
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5 hours ago, rusty69 said:

You might be hard pushed to achieve this if single handed on the Nene and R Gt Ouse and achieve your 1l/hr target. 

nah, I used the canal plan thingy, is no matter if it takes a year, just a guideline, I can potter along. No rush.

3 hours ago, Col_T said:

Just out of curiosity, LadyG, could you post a link to the lithium battery bank that you have, please? I could find a use for something like that!

I was OTT with the appliances, I think it can go up to 18v, but it is the best gadget in the world!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BEZV0IA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited by LadyG
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1 hour ago, Bettie Boo said:

I reckon you'll be fine with that budget - I'm no expert or anything, but it looks sensible to me at least.

I would highly recommend investing in whatever amount of solar you can as soon as you can even if you can only get 1/4 of your planned bank, and add to it when finances allow.  It will save you in the long run

Best of luck :)

 

oops

1 hour ago, Heffalump said:

Thanks for that, whilst I would like solar, to begin with it would depend on if it was already installed on a boat, until I saved up for some! 

I had budgeted around 100-120 squid for diseasel a month in my workings out.

and I  am budgeting £30 min, , big difference.

I looked  at Bimbo, and they do a brand new 300watt panel for a good price, I think that would probably be my starting point. One good 110ah battery, see how it goes.

Edited by LadyG
cost of one solar panel
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3 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

£1 is 45 mins to 1 hour based on a pound a litre, by my workings out :)

Thats engine running time, not the same as travelling time, unless you switch off at every lock/landing stage/swing bridge. 

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