Whist a lot of the responses here on this thread have been very helpful, it is worth bearing in mind the unique nature of the British canal system, and the boats that use it. Canals here were built in the 19th century for "narrow boats". These are between 25 and 72 foot long and mostly have a maximum beam of just 6feet 10 inches. The maximum theoretical beam of a narrowboat is 7 feet but due to age related subsidence of the locks 6'10" is the modern accepted maximum. Due to the displacement of the traditional narrowboat design most need quite a large ballast which of course could be replaced by the batteries. The other important factor is the speed limit of 4 kts on all non flowing and non tidal inland waterways in the UK, this makes them ideal for electric use, however the river sections and more importantly the tidal waters would need a good power reserve. I saw an all electric narrowboat some years ago whilst cruising the Grand Union it had banks of solar panels on the cabin roof and I remember the skipper telling me that he was able to cruise all summer without need to switch on his generator. With modern solar cells and the huge leaps forward in battery design I could imagine that narrowboats would be ideal for such a conversion. Some marinas have hookup to mains power but the way that the canals are it is not common practice for people to use marinas for overnight stops when cruising.Solar Navigator ( http://www.solarnav
When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
~ Cree Prophecy
To: electricboats@
From: p0054107@brookes.
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:44:53 +0000
Subject: [Electric Boats] solar canal rambling
I'm guessing that a better regime would be to just do a few miles per day using a small depth of charge. Any comments?
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