Diesel narrowboat future?
Discussion
I'm lucky enough to own a 25ft Aintree Beetle but still hanker after something larger. Potentially as a liveaboard. The costs of using a boat full time versus having it sat for weekends and is negligible from the advice and conversations had with those who live afloat. Mooring, blacking and licence fees go unchanged regardless of use. Fuel, energy/heating and general maintenance will obviously rise.
I wouldn't be selling my home so to enable this so that's not a consideration.
Anyhow, I'd be looking to spend around £40K on a 40-45ft boat. There'd only be me on board and I hate clutter, so this size should be fine. Plus it keeps size-associated costs down too.
I'm nervous over the future of ICE and what future legilsation might mean for boats. I wouldn't be mooring anywhere remotely close to a town/city centre, so would escape any potential low emission zone leglisation. It's more that will diesel be redundant, difficult to source or prohibitively expensive in say 10-15 years? And just as bad potentially render the value of a boat at peanuts in years to come? What do you reckon?
Hybrid engines don't seem to be the way to go either having read that Beta no longer off support to their allegedly unreliable hybrid units. Or so say the forums.
I wouldn't be selling my home so to enable this so that's not a consideration.
Anyhow, I'd be looking to spend around £40K on a 40-45ft boat. There'd only be me on board and I hate clutter, so this size should be fine. Plus it keeps size-associated costs down too.
I'm nervous over the future of ICE and what future legilsation might mean for boats. I wouldn't be mooring anywhere remotely close to a town/city centre, so would escape any potential low emission zone leglisation. It's more that will diesel be redundant, difficult to source or prohibitively expensive in say 10-15 years? And just as bad potentially render the value of a boat at peanuts in years to come? What do you reckon?
Hybrid engines don't seem to be the way to go either having read that Beta no longer off support to their allegedly unreliable hybrid units. Or so say the forums.
Jimbo. said:
Diesel won’t be going anywhere in that time frame, or even multiples thereof. Too much out there (agriculture, energy, haulage etc) depends upon it.
I keep thinking that too. But then another post about 'major advances in electric HGVs' or 'electric container ship technology' slaps me in the face. That said, I'm still yet to see anyone run them other than a few parcel carriers who run electric vehicles for trips close to the hub.SimonTheSailor said:
Buy a boat and start enjoying it running on old chuggy chuggy diesel engine !!
In 10-15 years time IF things have changed dramatically where everybody had to change to something else, then costs would have come down by then as competition will be huge.
Quite enjoy the diesel engine on mine even though it's only a 2 cylinder Beta.In 10-15 years time IF things have changed dramatically where everybody had to change to something else, then costs would have come down by then as competition will be huge.
Hoping you're right about conversion or engine change costs. An article on the tourist boats in Amsterdam - £250K per boat to change to electric. I know it's not exactly a fair comparison but still!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45783085
I think you're applying car logic to boats. For every one boat there are probably 5,000 cars so things are different. Most obviously, while diesel cars are now suddenly Very Bad non-PC enviro-killers, in boats diesel is the preferred choice because H&S say petrol will explode and kill you. That's if the CO doesn't get you first. Amazing any boater is still alive really. Anyway, electric? Forget it; until there are charge points at every mooring spot and a conversion is less than £20K, it ain't gonna happen. A weeks' cruising on batteries? No way Jose. Diesel is the way to go with boats.
ETA But I couldn't live in something only 6'10" wide. Get a barge!
ETA But I couldn't live in something only 6'10" wide. Get a barge!
thenortherner said:
I'm on the Shropshire Union. It's all narrow locks in and around here so no chance of anything wider I'm afraid.
Ah, bad luck.I was amazed that the CRT canal maps don't distinguish between wide and narrow canals. It's rather important! I contacted them and they said basically 'yeah whatever'.
BrettMRC said:
Get a really old diesel instead, a hot bulb for preference. Something like a Kromhout, Deutz or De Industrie... you get the sound, the smell and the heritage...and they'll more or less run on anything you can get to go through the injector.
Might be overkill on a 45ft though...
Narrowboat heritage doesn't use Kraut engines! Lister Petter, Gardner or perhaps a Swedish Bollinder - thud thud thud! Might be overkill on a 45ft though...
What is the average power requried to drive a narrow boat at "cruising" speed? Given they used to be pulled by a couple of hourses, i'm going to guess the answer is "not a lot", and therefore, given that they also tend to sit mored for long periods of time, the long term answer surely is battery electric with solar panels?
As more and more passenger cars become EVs, then there will be a massive and cheap source of s/h batteries and motors etc that i suspect will be come avaialble for retrofit to other users
As more and more passenger cars become EVs, then there will be a massive and cheap source of s/h batteries and motors etc that i suspect will be come avaialble for retrofit to other users
Max_Torque said:
What is the average power requried to drive a narrow boat at "cruising" speed? Given they used to be pulled by a couple of hourses, i'm going to guess the answer is "not a lot", and therefore, given that they also tend to sit mored for long periods of time, the long term answer surely is battery electric with solar panels?
As more and more passenger cars become EVs, then there will be a massive and cheap source of s/h batteries and motors etc that i suspect will be come avaialble for retrofit to other users
Narrowboats are heavy; I'd want 100hp for decent manouverability.As more and more passenger cars become EVs, then there will be a massive and cheap source of s/h batteries and motors etc that i suspect will be come avaialble for retrofit to other users
Yes, as old parts from EVs become available then cobbled-together conversions will probably happen, but there's still no infrastructure and solar panels aren't going to recharge running batteries any time quickly. The power to shove a narrowboat along at 4mph for a day is going to take a while even for mains to put back.
Solar panels on narrowboats are for recharging lesiure batteries to keep fridges etc going.
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