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Ledgards boats and compost toilets


laura hinks

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Hi everyone. 

2 questions really:

Are ledgard boats any good? 

Have they got any good points and bad points?

Also, im looking to buy one so just wanted to know if the boat builder was on top of their game. 

Also secondly, it has a compost toilet. Does anyone know more about these how they work. Has anyone on here got one? Is it recommended?

Thanks

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4 minutes ago, laura hinks said:

Hi everyone. 

2 questions really:

Are ledgard boats any good? 

Have they got any good points and bad points?

Also, im looking to buy one so just wanted to know if the boat builder was on top of their game. 

Also secondly, it has a compost toilet. Does anyone know more about these how they work. Has anyone on here got one? Is it recommended?

Thanks

Ledgard boats from oop norff were fair to middling quality built or should I say fitted out by a one time member of this forum mr G.P  Nowt special but not bad. Composting toilets are a nonsense on a small boat but will be fine if you like storing six or so buckets of poo in a large space on your boat for several weeks/months.

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17 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Composting toilets are a nonsense on a small boat but will be fine if you like storing six or so buckets of poo in a large space on your boat for several weeks/months.

Forgive me Tim if I misunderstand but arguing against storing buckets of poo on ones boat, prior to disposal, sounds like an argument in favour of the pump out system.

Or have I got hold of the wrong end of your, ahem, stick?

:D

 

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6 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Forgive me Tim if I misunderstand but arguing against storing buckets of poo on ones boat, prior to disposal, sounds like an argument in favour of the pump out system.

Or have I got hold of the wrong end of your, ahem, stick?

:D

 

I suppose many people could keep the said open top poo buckets in a shed at home or somett so not necessarily ont boat. Of course closed buckets such as cassettes make complete sense B).

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Yes, I'd rate Ledgard as "mid range" - certainly the shells neither have the feel of the budget end of the market, nor the top end.  Towards the end, like many, they seemed to build only wide beam boats, so late build Ledgard narrow boats don't seem particularly common.

I think the member here who had one built has since indicated that some elements of the fit out could have been better done, but I could be remembering wrongly.  I think it was niggles, rather than anything major.

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31 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Yes, I'd rate Ledgard as "mid range" - certainly the shells neither have the feel of the budget end of the market, nor the top end.  Towards the end, like many, they seemed to build only wide beam boats, so late build Ledgard narrow boats don't seem particularly common.

I think the member here who had one built has since indicated that some elements of the fit out could have been better done, but I could be remembering wrongly.  I think it was niggles, rather than anything major.

Yes I know who you mean. His prime niggle was the builder put the pump out tank where he asked for it without giving advice in a better location hence when half full the boat lists to one side which can be a pain that should havnt have happened amongst a few other niggles. Not a bad boat though. He certainly gives it plenty of use.

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1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Yes I know who you mean. His prime niggle was the builder put the pump out tank where he asked for it without giving advice in a better location hence when half full the boat lists to one side which can be a pain that should havnt have happened amongst a few other niggles. Not a bad boat though. He certainly gives it plenty of use.

Also the fact that there was a detailed build blog on the forum that publiced Ledgard, and that Ledgard managed to still cut oblong holes for the windows when those that were to be fitted had arched tops also failed to impress.

With the best will in the world you can still see the ripples where they welded bits back in to re-fill the holes - that shouldn't happen on a boat being built at that price point!

Presumably, though, most boats they built didn't have arched windows, so it would not have arisen.

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15 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Ignore the comments about composting toilets I have had one for six years, I am refitting a broads cruiser and have ripped out the pump out to fit a composting toilet. They work full stop

Well they are more economical and thats important to me ... i jyst dont no anyone on the cut with one 

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Before you say "a composting loo will be fine" or "a composting loo will be a pain in the backside", isn't it important to understand what type is fitted?

It's not a subject I have ever wanted to study in depth, but I distinctly get the impression that whilst many people are happy with the more modern types that separate the pee, the success rate with the old types that didn't do so were nothing like as good.

You certainly can't say unconditionally "they always work without issues", because there are well documented cases of people scrapping off the expensive earlier types, and replacing with pumpout or cassette.

Perhaps OP needs to specify exactly what is fitted to the boat in question, then really only take opinions from those who have lived with that type and are likely to have had similar usage patterns to what is planned?

EDIT:

Actually I'm thinking it is this one.  There can't be too many Ledgard narrow boats on the market at any one time with a composting loo, surely?


35824.JPG
 

Edited by alan_fincher
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21 minutes ago, laura hinks said:

Well they are more economical and thats important to me ... i jyst dont no anyone on the cut with one 

Economical? Hard to see anything more economical than using a relatively cheap to buy potty and tipping the contents down a hole in a sanitary station for free. Lots of folk here seem to really like doing that too. So much so, they can be quite evangelistic about it. If there's ever a fight between the potty fans and the poo composers, my money's on the potty people! :argue:

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37 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Before you say "a composting loo will be fine" or "a composting loo will be a pain in the backside", isn't it important to understand what type is fitted?

It's not a subject I have ever wanted to study in depth, but I distinctly get the impression that whilst many people are happy with the more modern types that separate the pee, the success rate with the old types that didn't do so were nothing like as good.

You certainly can't say unconditionally "they always work without issues", because there are well documented cases of people scrapping off the expensive earlier types, and replacing with pumpout or cassette.

Perhaps OP needs to specify exactly what is fitted to the boat in question, then really only take opinions from those who have lived with that type and are likely to have had similar usage patterns to what is planned?

EDIT:

Actually I'm thinking it is this one.  There can't be too many Ledgard narrow boats on the market at any one time with a composting loo, surely?


35824.JPG
 

Yes this is the one

37 minutes ago, J R ALSOP said:

Are you sure you don't mean Ledgend narrowboats, or as we used to call them "Leg end" as they were as straight as a leg. Built down the Southern Grand Union and most had Dutch Barge style windows. 

No its not a legend narrowboat, Im very familiar with legend as i used to have one. Ledgard are/ were a company from yorkshire and they have ceased trading from what information i can gather

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Ledgard boats.

Don't know about their narrowboats but friends of mine live on a 15m x 4m (approx) 'replica barge' in France, have done for more than 10 years. They like it but bought what they could afford at the time.

As stated above they are medium quality and the barges are not the best looking. Probably a barge adaptation of a narrowboat, slab sided with a wheelhouse.

My friends' boat is underpowered though and they have to pick and choose times for river cruising. (max about 6 kph). This may be just an undersized engine but equally likely, hull shape.

Depends whether you're after a NB or barge type and where you want to cruise. Overall OK and no more I would suggest.

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4 hours ago, Boaty Jo said:

Ledgard boats.

Don't know about their narrowboats but friends of mine live on a 15m x 4m (approx) 'replica barge' in France, have done for more than 10 years. They like it but bought what they could afford at the time.

As stated above they are medium quality and the barges are not the best looking. Probably a barge adaptation of a narrowboat, slab sided with a wheelhouse.

My friends' boat is underpowered though and they have to pick and choose times for river cruising. (max about 6 kph). This may be just an undersized engine but equally likely, hull shape.

Depends whether you're after a NB or barge type and where you want to cruise. Overall OK and no more I would suggest.

This one looks more like a narrowboat. It doesnt have a wheel house. Its not underpowered either at 45hp. Thanks it seems they are kind of an average boat builder as long as they are not too bad.

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13 hours ago, laura hinks said:

Yes this is the one

No its not a legend narrowboat, Im very familiar with legend as i used to have one. Ledgard are/ were a company from yorkshire and they have ceased trading from what information i can gather

Cant tell for sure but it looks a relatively easy job to remove that silly bog and fit a thetford cassette on the swivel so you can remove said cassette out under where the bog roll is. Very easy to fit and not expensive. They are even more economical to use than a composting bog and there are umpteen disposal points everywhere set up over many years. Do a poll on here ask how many people have each type of toilet then ask yourself why. Composting bogs have been around for decades and are fine in the right environment, a boat is not that environment. Same with solid fuel stoves versus diesel there is a very good reason why most have solid fuel and its nowt to do with being a dinosaur. Tried and tested bits of kit by many many people over a lot of years.

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14 hours ago, laura hinks said:

Yes this is the one

That looks like a Natures Head toilet, it’s a seperator toilet, so your poo goes in one container where you mix it with something (I forget what).  Your pee goes to another which you empty regularly.   Easy to replace if you don’t like with a cassette.  If the rest of the boat is for you I wouldn’t let a toilet stop me buying any boat.

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11 hours ago, Boaty Jo said:

Ledgard boats.

Don't know about their narrowboats but friends of mine live on a 15m x 4m (approx) 'replica barge' in France, have done for more than 10 years. They like it but bought what they could afford at the time.

As stated above they are medium quality and the barges are not the best looking. Probably a barge adaptation of a narrowboat, slab sided with a wheelhouse.

My friends' boat is underpowered though and they have to pick and choose times for river cruising. (max about 6 kph). This may be just an undersized engine but equally likely, hull shape.

Depends whether you're after a NB or barge type and where you want to cruise. Overall OK and no more I would suggest.

It's not really surprising that their max speed is only about 6 kph, as their underwatershape is almost worse than that of a brick.

How can the prop get the water it needs to push one of these boats forwards ?

Several years ago I took some photos of one that was out off the water somewhere in France, and I didn't believe my eyes.

The owners removed a perfect 70 of 75 Hp Yanmar to replace it with a Steyer engine of twice that power, and a 5 bladed prop to replace the 3 bladed.

After that the boat was a bit faster, so they were happy, but it would have been much cheaper to change the shape of the stern and get a better swim.

Here's one photo that showes more or less what the Ledgard Bridge wide beam looked like that I saw.

617971LedgardWB1.jpg

Peter.

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