293. I tried an electric canal boat
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 เม.ย. 2023
- An all-electric narrowboat is now available for hire by the day so it's a low-cost way to test the waters of near-silent narrowboating and leave no air pollution in your wake.
Prior electric narrowboat videos
Narrowboat trials • 244. Electric Narrowbo...
Holiday hire boats • 169. Electric narrowbo...
Trip boat • 168. Electric narrowbo...
Hybrid boat • 69. A hybrid diesel-el...
Boat from www.abcdayboathire.com
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I can see an advantage to electric propulsion on the British inland waterways, especially in the country side. The quiet will only enhance the experience.
Another great vlog!
That’s a perfect set up for day hire.
I’d imagine it’s far easier to maintain for the hire company as well
Thank you David for this (for you ) new experience. I am member of a volunteers group doing canal tours on electric open barges, 30-36 ft long in Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands. We can handle up to 26 guests. We already do this for 15 years now. To my experience: when not doing a tour with guests, we ‘regulate’ the speed of the barge by looking at the Amp-meter. In our barges anything below 8 Amps is tickover speed, below 15 Amp is steady going.. and (we never do this: ) speeding can take up to 80 Amps. These are also the numbers we exchange with our new skipper/guides during their training…. Nice video and sorry about your camera dropping…. Regards, Koos
11:07 thanks for trying - that was beyond the call of duty! And thanks to
ABC for giving you a second chance
And RIP to the Sony AX53, now in Davy Jones' locker. You were a noble steed, your images enjoyed by many!
I've not found it yet.
It’s never the loss of the camera, it is about the loss content. I feel your pain. Thank you so much David. In this world of so much conflict and anger. You bring a little peace to us all.🙏🇦🇺👍
Hmm, David, a thought occurs ... without going overboard (groan) on research then perhaps a squint via Google for kit to stream your footage to a remote hard drive somewhere out of harm's way aboard the vessel?
Apols' if you are doing this as we type 😉
With next to quiet sound kinda takes you back to the days of horse drawn canal boats.
Once the economies of scale start bringing the prices down a bit, I can't wait to replace the petrol outboard on the back of my little Dawncraft yoghurt pot. I'm sold on the concept just by the thought of not having to worry about the water cooling inlets constantly clogging up with canal crud.
I'm doing this! I've got everything to go fully solar. Just gotta bring the outboard from the lockup and wire it in! (ok, and add a lever to steer :P ).
Mine is a 30 odd footer so will let you know how good she goes if I can! :D
PS, mine seems to be one of the larger Rovers, but looks like a Highbridge with her current facelifts. XD
@@TechyBen Mine's just a little Dandy, so in theory shouldn't need much to power it. It's got a Honda 7.5 at the moment, although I ran it in an emergency with a 3hp Yamaha once, and it seemed to have no problem pushing the boat along! Be interesting to see how you get on with your electric solution.
Thanks again King David!
I realise there are a lot of people out there, who love the chugging/tapping sound of a vintage engine, but I do love the idea of these relatively silent engine and being able to hear the birds or other sounds. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to your next videos (and hopefully another electric video sometime down the line, if you’re taking requests)
Hello from Detroit Michigan USA thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for taking us on your adventure
Thanks for watching!
I can easily see this being the future of canal boating - with some advancements in battery power. Love it.
An amazing trip, so quiet. I could live with this. It reminded me of being in a rowboat on a lake but without the exertion of rowing - lol!
An obvious addition would be a few notch positions in the throttle for significant speeds, like wakeless/max range/normal cruising speed/max legal speed or whatever is deemed most appropriate while keeping it simple.
I agree, especially for novices. A three-position switch might be appropriate; off, slow and ‘max’ (actually less than max)
@@CruisingTheCut
Or a vehile speed monitor as fitted to motorvehicles and relying on GPS to give the speed.
As a bonus these usually have a head up display that project the speed and heading on your windscreen directly (or just off to the side of) the driver's line of vision.....
They plug into the cigarette lighter with a USB adapter...
No 'Plaid' setting? ;-) !!
Ah a floating mobility scooter. Brilliant.
It's a little like the canals going backward in time through technology. They would have started out towed by horses and oxen, no machine noises (maybe coal or oil heaters), just animals and people making noise. Then they switched to coal and diesel engines, making a lot of noise and fumes, and eventually electric will eliminate the engine noises and fumes again.
That’s what I was saying the other day.
The electric boat experience is as close to the original experience back when they first began.
Bird song and horses clip clopping. Just without the horse sounds.
When people look back, it'll be that brief, weird time when people were somehow ok with angry, farty, smelly, unhealthy motors 😅
This video was brilliant. I think I’d find it a bit unnerving, but it would be great with a group having a conversation
I keep hearing of new motor and batteries that are much better and safer. Also new prop designs but they are very expensive due to machining. I can see narrow boats going all electric and being very comfortable practical,deisel free and quiet. Anything to keep those English ducks happy is a good thing.
This is a perfect application for an electric boat - large, slow, displacement hull craft. I doubt diesels will be replaced in either of our lifetimes though.
Great vid David. That hire boat is very cool. You’re right, electric is the future. Hopefully the CRT and marinas come into the 22 century and they start installing charging stations.
Very interesting. Slightly OT - there is a building near us which is listed because it's one of the first examples of a factory using reinforced concrete beams (so much bigger windows than brick built factories - therefore more light). It used to be owned by a company called Tillings Stephens, who produced busses, lorries, delivery vans, etc 100+ years ago.
But the interesting thing (and connection to this video) is that these vehicles were all electric!
Early motorised vehicles were steam powered, but we're too complex and expensive. Electricity was the modern alternative.
Until the bloody internal combustion engine came along. But now, the evil ICE is going and, once again, electric power is the modern alternative...
For those who prefer the thought of 'self sufficiency' etc, bear in mind that there is a middle ground - electric motor, paid with a diesel generator. A diesel generator is more fuel-efficient than using the same engine to directly drive the prop, and should also generate fewer emissions, etc. For reference, this setup is referred to as a 'Serial Hybrid' (diesel generator charges the batteries, that then power the electric motor).
It may take a bit of finangling to find space for a generator *and* the elector motor (plus enlarged battery bank), but the result would be quieter cruising and reduced fuel usage, albeit with higher up-front costs (but perhaps not as high as a fully-electric boat with multi-day battery bank).
Indeed, see vlogs 69, 168, 169 and 244
Great to see you managed to refilm the missing footage, edit, and release so quickly. At least you tried to find the camera, a shame you had no luck.
Presumably the 'sound' of the e-boat would be similar to the sound of the old horse drawn narrow boats, apart from the clipclop of horse hoofs.
Great video and experience! Thanks.
Commiserations on the camera. Good job of managing after.
A trick to recovery of sinking objects is a bit of floating string (test first) at a length about the depth of the canal… plus perhaps a half meter… just leave it loose on deck/roof so your camera now has a lead that will be easy to see and retrieve floating on the surface.
On objects like anchors a length of polypropylene braided rope left longer than depth and again loose on deck will give your anchor a bright yellow “tail”
Or better still tie the other end to the deck/roof so you don't lose it in the first place! :D
I've lost to many camera to water myself, I can't believe it doesn't happen more often. Electric NBs I think enhance the auditory sensation of the outside environment, but I think there has to be a lot of infrastructure change to accommodate live aboards and continuous cruisers. Unless solar efficiency increases exponentially. I would love to own an all electric NB (especially a remote controlled one) but it doesn't seem practical quite yet (to my lament mind). Great video!
Would be good going though tunnels no eye watering fumes.
Definitely
12:55 Our hero explains, "...Surely it's better that pollution from combustion engine exhausts is eliminated..."
13:00 Just seconds later (almost simultaneous), a sign offering "Coal..." comes into clear view.
(Yes, you're correct. I still agree. I'm just admiring the precisely-timed irony. Well played sir. 🙂 )
Fantastic and what a perfect usecase it is for an electric narrowboat. I was quite gutted to learn you could hire a electric canal boat on the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal, just as we returned to drop off the hire boat for the week. That would be another ideal spot, it's fairly short so you don't need a big battery bank.
Sure it would be great if the canals had "tesla like" chargers up and down, but every little improvement takes time. The idea of a silent narrowboat lets you immerse yourself in the surroundings without the distraction of noisy engines thumping away - plus early morning and late night cruising becomes more socially acceptable.
Thank you David. Sorry to hear recovery efforts of the wayward camera have thus far been unsuccessful. Perhaps renting a SCUBA dry suit would allow you more time in the water while looking for it. Love the silence of the electric motor.
I just love the idea of a world without the noise of engines, especially on the river...so peaceful and relaxing.
That drive belt noise is totally unforgivable. Fix it beta Marine!
Glad you got to finish this one. Listening to the birds along the way is enough to convince me. I'm changing all my garden gear to electric and the quiet is so nice. The only quibble is that, as from the belt on the boat, the sounds seem rather high pitched and annoying. We need industrial sound designers to fix this. But all in all the quiet and not messing with gas cans is a delight.
Call me crazy but I like the sound of the engines. All of them. Some are like steam engine trains, Some sound like a cartoon tugboat, some sound like they could fall out anytime. It's almost hypnotic. The screech of the belt from the electric one is almost unbearable In comparison. Lovely video as always
That whining sound from the belt would drive me crazy.
You don’t notice it as much when you’re there, the camcorder seems to highlight it for some odd auditory reason.
Solar energy is a good addition to boat installations.
When I'm working on and around the water, I always put a string on my equipment.
Maybe a useful tip.
It seems ideal for a day hire boat. I'd like the option of an old diesel soundtrack though. 😁
I could listen with eyes closed and imagine it the very same way. Great story telling.
I came here because I think the entire idea of using canals for leisure is great (as in the past they were use mostly for industry and stuff). And then I get a nice breakdown of a business idea that could be used as a small but good example (decide to change things, try to see if the new change can be adapted to the existing capital. Monitor performances, etc..). Neat. I find it very nice when well thought plans pops up in unexpected "leisure/chill mode" topics.
So happy you were able to go back and refilm this segment, it was very interesting... RIP to your old camera... gurgle gurgle... Sorry, had to do that :-) Cheers from Tennessee, USA
Lovely video, I built my electric narrowboat Nuera 12 years ago, powered by 4 x 14kW thrusters (no rudder) a large battery bank and a 240v 14kW gen set. BTW Electric boats were used on the Thames extensively in the 1800's for leisure use until steam then diesel took over.
What a peaceful boat. You and yhe wildlife.
You looked so relaxed. Great video! Sorry about the loss of your camcorder.
Sorry you didn’t find your cam corder! Neighborly people to take you in and help you like that ❤️ Another Canal Blessing! 👍👍
I’m so used to the background audio of an engine in your videos, this is weird. Awesome!
well, I’m waiting for canal boat 2.0 and for you to get back out there :-) selfishly I’ve lived vicariously through you a life I do not have.
And there`s plenty of room to make a cheese sandwich ,,,😂😂👍👍
1 Cleaner air - but the canal was drenched in mud, I've never seen it so brown 😖😒
2 I am sure I am not the only one who would have found your expedition into the canal in your underpants, 'gone fishing' 😁😁 would have made a great video on April 1st ‼️😁😁
Thanks for the look of the future. Much appreciated. Be well and stay safe.
Thanks, you too!
David at the helm i can see you gloin over the experience with this silent boat.
Although i love those old Listers such a electric boat realy would be something for me... at least once the technology is such that charging is as quick as with conventional propulsian and more important once i win the lotery.
One remark, the reason why i started to watch your video's and still do is the amazing footage you offer !
Your naration always is joyfull and your camera work is excelent... thanks for that.
Thank you so much! 😊
Wow, so very cool, If I were there, I'd be a customer in a heart beat, love the sound of wash from hull or blade. Yep... I'm sold ...
Being able to hear birds as you cruise the canals is like being able to smell everything as you drive in a convertible
I'd be forced to the loo all the time by that sound.
Thanks for this vid. Canal boats are the perfect class to run as electric boats. I have converted a few boats for the west coast here in Canada and even the Grand Canyon in the USA. Cheers.
Thank you, David, yet another glimpse at what could be the future for travels along the canals. The lack of engine noise was very noticeable so socialising with friends will be at comfortable le els. No need to shout at the tiller person due to the noisy diesel under their feet.
But the putt putt of the older engines, such as the fuel boats, that has a traditional charm that cannot be denied. It just sounds so right.
Thanks again for bringing this clip to us. A lovely interlude.😊
Love it David, thanks for bringing us along, and sacrificing your camera.
If it's as loud in real life as on the video then that high pitched whine would drive me round the bend after a while.
I suspect the microphone plays tricks because you really don't notice it much when you're there. Like all things audio, your ears will tune it out 'in the moment' but have trouble doing so on a recording. Why this is the case with recordings, I don't know.
What a cute little boat! I could definitely see myself puttering around in this, with a picnic lunch.
Thanks so much for this demonstration. I love electric boats because they're so quiet and clean. Accumulators never die, they just get recycled with all those expensive and hard to come by constituent metals. I was impressed with the professionalism of this installation. Three cheers for Betamarine! (Note: I hold no shares in the company)
It's great, what a wonderful vlog. You have excelled yourself again. The mighty noise of the propeller. So nice to see it splishy sploshing along. Oh so well done. Congratulations to you. Take care stay safe, and enjoy yourself 😘😘😘
Glad you enjoyed it!
So nice to have another cruising video. I like the direction of these informative videos. So appreciated!
Looks fun, what a great idea for day out. I bet it’s popular. Thanks for sharing 🦋
This is a good illustration of why the electric milk float outlived electric cars of the 19th century. More than adequate for a day's use but always back at base for a night long charge. The remote battery health monitoring sounds like wise husbandry. A rough shop for 20 Kwh of lithium battery seems to be around £8,000, working charge of electricity not included. A bigger live aboard would need much more and would have reliability issues without hybrid support. I have 3 Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles plus several drones, torches etc using lithium batteries. On a repeated liesure ride the bikes show how battery capacity reduces with use and the more you try to stretch a depleted battery the quicker you kill it. Turning the battery off and pedalling in low gear up the hill to home is the way to extend its life and maybe mine but I am not so sure about that. Prolonged periods without use and the recommended charge are also unhealthy. On the otherhand constant use with low drainage rates has left me with smallish 12 year old batteries that still function. I would rather predict the number on the horse that wins the 2025 Derby than put a life on a new lithium battery though I would be prepared to have a stab at the price of same. Powerful diesel trains have used electricity as a power transmission system in the face of impractical use of mechanical clutches and electric trains leave elecricity production at the other end of power lines. Cars and boats are left with yet to be perfected batteries which may or may not be the future. I do know that the likes of UK government and car manufacturer boardrooms will not give a pragmatic answer. David, you used the word "surely" in that final statement in a fashion that sounded more like an insecure sales pitch than a racing certainty. Boats, in UK, have a better chance than cars but how they all behave in the second hand market will point to the future. The best aspect of this is that it is another of your excellent productions
Absolutely perfect solution for a day boat. In Kerikeri Ne Zealand there are electric boats Jan 2022 my wife and I took a 6 metre English river launch out for 3 hours. I had no propellor noise as it was 4.5 metres behind me. I was REALLY IMPRESSED with how nice it was
Excellent video as always David. Thanks also for your open minded comments about electric as cleaner power and any battery issues will be addressed. Kudos!!
You did mention down in the comments that the belt whine shows up more in the recorded audio than in real life, but I can't help wondering how much could be achieved with a few strategically placed sound deadening panels or acoustic foam patches applied by someone who knows the audio business. I would bet that with 10 min work and at minimal cost the propeller would become the dominant sound by far and the belt whine next to inaudible.
I thought the same thing. The engine bay was entirely uninsulated and with a bit of effort, I’m certain it could be even quieter.
Oh wow. Happy to see you’re considering a new boat again 😃
Great video. It has to be the way forward. I had to smile when you spoke about the importance of clean air around canals as you cruised under a sign advertising coal and logs!
Welcome David! Good to see you!
Thanks!
Nice goin David, No overnighters or week stay in those configs, yet?
It depends on how big your firm is… the big firms could have (limited) recharging sites along a route enabling multi night stays by hopping between marinas and similar. I strongly believe we will see this happen in the next few years, if only initially as a gimmick. All those canalside homes with private moorings could make a fortune as recharge stations 😊
Hmm ... first electric boats on the Thames in 1892.
Cheers Greg. There are hybrid boats with generators as well which enable overnight stays etc, some links in the video description if you're curious 😀
I think electric will become the norm. It is closer to the original narrow boat experience when where they were pulled by horses.
Not with ripoff electricity prices, they will not. Also, for most people who cruise around batteries is a big nono.
If you are based in single "port", maybe. But then diesels are cheaper, more convenient for refuelling...and you always plug-in boat in marinas anyway. So you don't waste fuel by charging boat's batteries.
The picture looks very sharp. :D
The future? - I see dozens of exercise bikes, wired up in rows, coach parties of drunken galley slaves & a great big drum. : )
That was fun, watching you pilot a narrow boat again, and judging by the look on your face, you had fun too! At least until the camcorder went into the canal. Ack! And you actually went in after it. Good for you, trying at least, but so sorry you were unable to retrieve it. I think if I ever have the chance to try a narrowboat, I'd like to try an electric one. Like the idea of quiet, hearing bird song, rather than engine noise. I hope that it is the wave of the future, as it is a cleaner way of operating all the way around. Thanks for sharing your quiet adventure with us and again, so sorry about the camera!
Hard to loose a camera, specially on a boat. When my Uncle had a boat, he kept his keys on a small float, just enough to keep the keys from sinking. You might also use a tether on your next camera. Just in case. I think soon, maybe in 3 ti 5 years, electric cars and boats will become more main stream. Even where I live there are charging stations for electric cars spaced just right. So when charging stations start showing up on the canal's, its time for an electric boat. I ride a electric bike, well it pedals also. Take care, and stay safe.
What I don't understand is why electric boats still have a stern gland and bilge pump. It would be much better to have the electric motor and propeller external to the hull (like they have on submarines) with just the power cable coming into the boat above the water line? It seems like a missed opportunity to eliminate the stern gland which is one of the biggest risks to narrow boats sinking.
and bow thrusters for better manoeuvring.
The futures looking good!❤❤
Almost think with more engine room insulation they could really mute down that whine as well. High frequencies are easier to get rid of than the lower rumble of the diesel.
I was thinking that. Still a lot quieter though.
I wonder if they'll add optional fake engine noises like they do in some electric cars? You could switch between a nice Lister JP3 and any others that take your fancy.
I'd enjoy that!
It might let fishermen know you're coming and avoid any unpleasantness
I’d rather have them quiet so can listen to nature- also great not to have to breathe in those harmful diesel fumes
Or a Merlin v-12
On the Hargreaves electric trip boat we judge speed by the current the motor is using, so one current for cruising and a lower one for passing moored boats. We also note if the cyrrent suddenly goes up as that tells us we have something on the prop😊
What sort of size motor (kw) do you use Terry? And what kind of consumption do you see in terms of kw hours? I guess at cruising speed, though an average over the trip would also be very useful to know.
Many thanks!
Yes, I noticed that on this one too
@@theoilybeard3287
If you consider one horse could tow 50 tons, and a horsepower is around 756 watts, then you will note once the horse overcame the inertia then moving a boat is not too onerous for a horse.
Ergo once on the move the power required is not a lot. However it's the emergency stop or manoeuvre you need to be concerned about. A horse would not be going very fast over the ground, as in it would be walking and not cantering sort of thing. Might only be two miles an hour after a few hours if towing into a headwind.
Suspect the batteries, as installed, would be more than sufficient .. as would presume the boat's operators would have added more if the customers ended up running out of energy before they arrived back at the moorings.
That said a battery powered boat would be a vastly different proposition on the Thames or the Severn, say.
David, that was grand, thank you so much, very interesting.
Thank you for bringing this to us
Thanks for covering this. I also believe it is the future. One can only imagine what that future without the noise & pollution will be like.
Thank you for doing this David, really interesting and a great application (day hire) and likely to reduce in service maintenance costs for the operator. When you mentioned the bilge pump coming on while you were underway, I did notice in the brief shot of the engine room around 1:50 there was a lot of water sloshing in the bilge (stern gland issue?).
As for the future you may well be right on the electrification of canal boats but the effect will be increased capital costs which may not be an issue for genuine leisure cruisers - but for the more impoverished class who have sought refuge in a narrow boat in response to the state of the rental market/high house prices and are currently struggling to survive within the CRT restrictions. In essence the canals will be ‘gentrified’ and some will say ‘that’s fine by me’, but that’s progress I suppose.
As with anything, the tipping point will be the availability of charging stations. For now, this is great for day boats, and those who are willing to confine themselves to routes with existing chargers.
How about some electronic wizardry to provide the sound of a diesel synched with the load on the motor? You could then, for instance, choose the sound of a Lister when purchasing your boat. If you later sell the boat the new owner could choose to have the sound of, say, a Gardiner instead :)
I am surprised they don't have GPS / Galileo built in to give speed display as well. Would seem good for the average renter, to make sure you don't exceed the speed limit. 😁👍
I doubt the thing is even capable of speeding.
Ah, a reminder of why I tried to build 'The Poor Mans Electric Boat'... quiet cruising! Alas the project never got beyond a few 'test drives' before grinding to a halt. But I am sure we will be electric at some point in the not too distant future (and still on a budget!).
I definitely think serial hybrid with a small genset is a good choice for certain usage styles. Maximise the leccy with shore power and solar, but you've got the genset there if you ever need a longer excursion.
Thanks for showing this! Electric! Good show! 👍👍 ❤️
Would love to convert that to a full-time "Home".
Mixed feelings: I get it but kind of miss the 2 stroke also.
sounds lovely
Great video! It's good to see more and more boats converted to electric.
Also it was funny to see the "Coal, Kindling and Logs sold here!" sign just as you talked about pollution, nice touch!
thank you
Do most canals have electrical power lines buried in the tow path? The Trent and Mersey canal at Willington in Derbyshire does - you can see the occasional man-hole cover over the duct. The utility companies love to find new routes to transport power around the country to avoid having to build pylons. If a beefy supply is already present then it would be cheap to fit 7 kw AC chargers with the vehicle doing the conversion to DC (as per cars). 22 kw machines also deliver AC from a three phase supply and are also cheap because they are really just solenoids with circuitry to make sure they are plugged into a vehicle and not dropped in the canal! The higher charging rate machines that you see on motorways are more sophisticated and expensive delivering DC at the correct voltage which varies from vehicle to vehicle but I don't see that that's really necessary for a narrow boat - just need a 7 kw connection at the moorings to charge up overnight and perhaps an occasional 22 kw one at marinas for passing boats to charge up in an hour or two. Of course, you would have to pay for the service but it should be cheaper than diesel.
Great idea, except that they're probably high voltage underground cables. They'd need to install an expensive transformer to turn it into "consumable" 415/240 low voltage mains, plus provide switchgear and safety standoff. That's what substations are for (and pole transformers in rural areas). It's a lot of money and space. Plus right now Ukraine is consuming more HV transformers than the entire world can produce.
Way cool, David. Very tranquil. High blood pressure, goodbye. 😎😎😎💕💕💕🥰🥰🥰
Add this kind of drivetrain to one of those little fibreglass boats you featured a while back and there you have a narrowboat i'd quite like to live on.
Any passing boat would rock those punny burgers like in the storm LOL
Fantastic.
Very interesting!! Thanks for sharing this us all😊😊😊😊
My pleasure!