332. Canal boats of the future! (Plus narrowboat tours) 

Ditto!!

Do any of the boats with solar panels have fold out panels used only when they’re mowed up to get extra solar input?

The idea is nice. But as I shower without (!) glasses it's no use to me :-D

@@derniederrheiner4518 Thats my excuse why my bathroom isnt as clean as it should be!

He does it professionally, but yes, it takes a lot of skill, experience and time.

Thank you ☺️

Yes. the only people pushing hydrogen are the fossil fuel companies as the hydrogen we get now is produced exclusively from methane. The processing losses in changing methane into hydrogen are such that you would be better burning the methane to get a lower carbon footprint. The massive costs are unlikely to come down as the hydrogen fuel cell uses exotic metals in manufacture of its catalyst. These metals are very rare and very expensive. You would be better doing the triple glazing, heat recovery and extra insulation with heat pumps and as a emergency standby a small petrol generator. The £7000 cost of the fuel cell would easily convert a narrow boat to fully electric. the heat pump and high insulation would mean very low kWhs used even in winter. great channel btw. love the videos 👍

Funny, I found the gentle ker'funk of the diesel charming. Each to their own of course.

Glad you enjoyed it

Yes indeed. The best thing everyone could actually do is reduce their power use.

Thank you.

For 45 to 50 thousand pounds for one boat conversion I guess she does. I'll keep a diesel engine thanks

Ofcause if building new, you off set that against the cost of the conventional installation.

Yes, but we have the intercostal waterway. One of the greatest river systems in the world.

The only reason that the British canal system is as extensive as it is today is because enthusiasts have given selflessly of their time to halt the shrinkage of the canal system and restore canals that fell into disuse. Imagine yourself in your waders up to your waist in stinking mud filling buckets being hauled up by other volunteers on the bank on frosty February Sunday mornings. The sulphurous stench from rotted vegetation is something ...... like that trip to Hawaii ...... that should be experienced at least once in your life.

Thank you for your kind words

There are but you won't like the price...

I suspect that's not the case but thank you anyway 🤣

Relax and share it 1 time every week. Cos in this ypu have so many things here for all boaters

If you allow me you can send me this video and i will share it in all boaters comunetys

That would be cool!

Glad you enjoyed it

Wind power is virtually useless on the canals, see the last bit of this page on my website: cruisingthecut.co.uk/2024/01/23/electricity-on-canal-boats-the-basics/

Thank you kindly

Thank you kindly 😂

@@iaincatt57 Do you have any public info about your build? I'm also curious if heat pumps were considered for water / domestic heating?

Thank you!

Lithium is definitely here already. And the lady is called Caroline.

In the fullness of time...

@@CruisingTheCut Twiggy or we riot

Many thanks!

The tech is improving in leaps and bounds, in ten years suitable capacity batteries will either be much cheaper or there'll be an alternative. Also, given the use in narrowboats, I think the batteries will last much longer.

20:05 the number of cycles that modern lithium batteries will tolerate, especially the lithium iron phosphate batteries. It's quite likely they will have 90% of nominal capacity still after 10 years and not need replacement. The charging regimen that narrow boats would experience (not having superchargers) is ideally suited to a very long life and furthermore motoring at 2-4 knots really doesn't impose great demands unlike blasting along the motorway at 70mph. The biggest issue for live aboards is domestic heating.

@@stephenmccarthy6892 Are heat pumps making their way onto boats? They can multiply the kW in by 2 to 4 times heat out.

Glad you enjoyed it

I needed an interpreter for some of his monologue

Thank you! Cheers!

Much appreciated!

Glad it was helpful!

That's putting it a bit strongly but I generally agree. The H2 man forgot to mention that BOC is probably selling him hydrogen made from fossil fuels (no better than diesel). Hydrogen made from renewables will always be a premium expensive product due to inefficiencies. It will be cheaper to use the electrons directly. So canalside charging points should be being thought out.

Hydrogen is likely to be part of the energy mix in the future, so more readily available, and cheaper, but I wouldn't touch it with a 60ft pole right now. In 10 years, it might be worth considering. I can't see charging infrastructure being rolled out across the canal network, CRT aren't exactly over funded right now. And some mooring spots are really remote, making getting power out there difficult and expensive.

@@philallen7626 remote sites are ripe for solar and battery storage, a swappable battery is also an interesting approach, rent the battery and buy the energy, Gogoro scooters in Taiwan is one example. Whatever the difficulties of bringing power to a remote site, getting hydrogen there is 10 times harder / 10 times more expensive. Hydrogen should be considered the "Champagne of Energy" - very expensive, and only used for special occasions, like hard or impossible to abate sectors such as steel, glass, or to make ammonia for fertilizer - but for transportation or backup power? There are much cheaper, much simpler alternatives already available. Hydrogen has no magic wand to bring the prices down, despite what proponents say, scale won't solve this. Hydrogen vehicle filling stations are being closed (Shell exited the UK), more are not being built, and they could not fill that bottle anyway (it's not 10,000 psi like the carbon fibre tanks in a hydrogen car). It's an industrial gas derived from fossil fuels, and all that effort, expense and inconvenience for 6.5kWh at 200W output.

Thank you very much!

Glad you enjoyed it

Double glazing, yes, triple seems to be rare. Most narrowboats have maybe 2 inches of insulation rather than 3. Heat exchangers are rare.

Cheers

Heating would take enormous amounts of power, entirely impractical other than by burning things at present.

@@CruisingTheCut OK. In (regular) inland navigation electric heating has been employed for decennia. Brands like Speedheat. Hope you will monitor the situation for recreational use. Cheers.

I'm willing to bet the power for that heating comes from a generator though. It's more efficient for a single long space (narrowboat) to get the heat directly from burning the diesel.

Light days produs anof for hold ur good lithium anyway

Ore as I want to. Have my diesel for rivers and fast charge and in need of only

You're welcome!

Glad it was helpful!

Hello Craig, glad you got to see some canal boats and I hope you're enjoying London. If you get a chance, the rest of the country's a lot nicer than grimy, noisy, stressy London 🤣🤣

Petrol generators are available of course, however, you might like to read up on the BSS rules and regs ref storing petrol generators and the petrol itself on a boat.

I'd definitely have electric drive of some sort, certainly.

Sleeping bags of various sorts would be useful here.

You folks still make beds?