Some Urgent Questions

[Guest]

Hi Dreamer, the good thing about the BSS is its mainly about safety, so its a good thing to have done before living aboard.

I must admit the thought of living on a small outboard powered boat with no 'home base' mooring, especially over winter is not something I would contemplate lightly, I'm  assuming  you have made some modifications in the areas of insulation, heating, power generation, water storage etc and would be interested to know the details if you are willing to share them. Also if you do need any help or ideas this forum is a great resource as well.

[Dreamer]

Oh, no worries there,  I'm one who loves wildcamping (proper wildcamping in a tent), so I'm used to extreme temperatures!

At the moment she's not insulated at all, but that's one of the first things I'll be seeing to once I'm over there.  Beautiful boat that she is, I must admit she's looking rather tired both inside and out at the moment due to previously being used as a sea boat.  But I will change all of that.  I'm a skilled designer and it'll give me something to do inbetween working on my electronics stuff.  By next summer, she could be the sexiest Hardy Family Pilot SE to ever have graced the Broads

For now though, I'll just bring an arctic-grade sleeping bag, and maybe add to that a hot-water bottle.  That's plenty warm (probably too warm).  For general warmth in the boat while awake, the built-in stove has a special setting used for keeping the cabin warm.  I'm expecting to get through at least a few small gas bottles over the winter, put it that way.

I also intend to stock her with some non-perishable food as well as the usual stuff, just in case I happen to get caught out somewhere remote in the middle of a river freeze-over!  Being caught out in something like that would be very enjoyable for me, wouldn't bother me in the least.  I'm odd like that, I'm always excited at the thought of being cut-off for a period of solitude, and the more remote, the more it excites me!

Love it!

 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Have you thought about your nearest pump out and fresh water station... 3 days in things could start to run out and fill up quickly....

[Baitrunner]

A lot of the general water points also get turned off over winter. 

One of the reasons we ended up with a bigger boat was the size of the waste and water tanks. 

2 days and the tank was full (if we were careful) and the fresh water tank was good for maybe 2 showers!!!

fine for a weekend....

but then we aren't into wild camping. More like camping with our butler to turn the bed down

i can appreciate the simplicity of it though. 

Good luck.  

[ExUserGone]

12 hours ago, Dreamer said:

For general warmth in the boat while awake, the built-in stove has a special setting used for keeping the cabin warm. 

Never heard of that on a stove and it sounds a bit scary to me unless it is a room sealed unit, we've had enough CO deaths on the broads already, we don't need another one.

If you are re-designing the fitout don't box in any usable space as there's never enough on a boat.

[Vaughan]

1 minute ago, Dilligaf said:

unless it is a room sealed unit, we've had enough CO deaths on the broads already, we don't need another one.

Hear Hear! A gas cooker should NEVER be used as a space heater.

[Vaughan]

Just a point of detail, this would be a death from CO2 and probably not CO, but you would still end up just as dead!

[imtamping2]

What is the make /model of this "built in stove" ?

[ExUserGone]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Just a point of detail, this would be a death from CO2 and probably not CO, but you would still end up just as dead!

It's all about colour coordination, do you want to go red or blue? What colour are your curtains it could clash?

[Dreamer]

Before I forget again, I need to ask about something Scrumpy mentioned, that being "Fresh Water Points".  I've looked all over the Broads Authority website and was not able to find a single map with the free water points marked out.  I'm not "paying" for water when I have an annual licence.  On the canals, once you buy a licence, you're entitled to use of the moorings, water points, waste diposal points, and even showers.  There's no additional charge for any of it.

All of this stuff is clearly and professionally marked out by the Canal and River Trust on their website, but I can't find anything like that on the Broads Authority website, not even the simplest things, like were 's the Broads Auithority map for free water points?

Regards the gas stuff, I don't see what difference it makes whether the device is designed for cooking or simply heating the place.  It makes no difference whether that gas is heating-up a pan, or heating-up the air around it (which happens naturally while heating-up a pan anyway).  It's the same gas coming from the same bottle, and it's entering the cabin through the same device.  If the device is deemed safe for cooking, then it is safe for heating as far as I'm concerned.

I'll invest in a detector though, obviously, and I would never leave it running when I go to bed anyway.

I'm unaware of the brand of stove, but I think it came with the boat cause it's professionally fitted in a way that the openings in the wood are designed for the stove.  I could be wrong about the setting used on the stove.  I'm basically just repeating what I was told, which is what the guy I got the boat from was told.  To me it makes no difference what the setting is used for, cause as far as I'm concerned, it's just a simmer setting (and probably is), something to be used to set-about that wonderful aroma of smoked bacon in the morning!

Thanks for the concern though.

 

[TheQ]

To My Knowlege BA don't provide any facilities except for an ever decreasing number of 24 hour moorings, there may be the odd parish supplied tap But I don't know of them.  Oh if you've paid for a mooring you get the water for free at GT Yarmouth and Norwich yacht stations http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/boating/facilities/yacht-stations at GY they also have showers for the cost of £1

If you go to http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/ then click on the green book tab on the left then click on the tab for electricity water etc on there you will see all the boats yards, where you will normally have to pay to use anything.

[TheQ]

Gas for heating, it is assumed if you are up and about that when cooking you are awake enough to be going in and out of the cabin letting fresh air in. IF you use you cooker for heating and asleep or not doing a lot laying about on your bunk then you are all done up with the doors and windows  shut  Therefore burning up your oxygen supply.

There is a regualtion In the BSS that specifies a minimum area of non closeable ventilation to the outside world...

I used to sleep on my Lysander sailing boat in the winter,

arm out of four season sleeping bag , reach across and light the cooker, kettle preprepared on top, with draw arm, watch frost slowly melting down the windows. when kettle boils, get half out and make the first cup of tea...

[Vaughan]

I don't know Hardys very well but I have looked up this boat and studied a lot of images.

First question : on your version of the Family Pilot SE, is the cooker in the cabin, or in the aft cockpit under the canopy?

I have studied a lot of photos and can see no evidence of low level ventilation in the hull sides or high level ventilation on the cabin top. I am talking, of course, about fixed ventilation. This does not surprise me as Hardys are designed as very seaworthy offshore boats which can take a lot of weather, but I don't image they were ever conceived as a boat to live on, on the Broads. As it has an outboard engine, and if the gas appliance is in the the open cockpit, then regulations would not require much ventilation in the living space, but one has to be practical!

Fact : The exhaust fumes from an LPG burner consist of CO2 and water. One cubic meter of gas burned on a cooker will release two and a half litres of water into the air in your cabin. So if you are not overcome by the CO2,  all of your bedding, clothing, headlinings and woodwork will become damp, mildew and rotten.

Boats, especially with small cabins, are designed so that the gas cooker is used for short periods, for cooking. They are not designed as a space heater and on hire boats this is strictly forbidden.

If you want to heat with gas then install a Trumatic, room sealed heater which will not burn the oxygen in your cabin and will not release either CO2 or water into your living space.

You have posted this thread on the forum to ask for our advice. Please accept this as very serious advice.

 

 

[Dreamer]

I'd post a picture of her if I had one, cause even looking on Google Images just now, I don't see any exactly like mine.  It's all original Hardy fitments though.  I think maybe she's one of the rare posh versions of the time.  On this version you have a full-sized four-part louvre door entrance into the cabin, where you have plenty of headroom, and is where the galley and cockpit etc is situated.  Then as you work further towards the bow, the height drops where it enters the seating/sleeping area.  Now on some models, they have a little door seperating the seating/sleeping area from the main area of the cabin, but on this one, that door is not there, because it has a main set of doors used for the entrance instead (which the others don't have) - giving a much larger, roomy cabin.

She has two hatches, one above the seating/sleeping area, and one in the larger standing area of the cabin.  The one in the larger area is more like a big sunroof than a hatch.  There are also two deeply recessed port-hole type windows that have an opening mechanism on the inside for ventilation.

It's true that Hardy are respected for building very seaworthy boats, and I think this version was an attempt to make her interior space more suitable for longer periods aboard.  Regards any condensation etc, there will be none once I've done what I intend to do.

 

[Guest]

I know there is a version called river pilot which has doors from cockpit to cabin, is that what you have?

I would be reluctant to use the heating you describe, personally I would fit one of the propex blown air units, as all combustion gases are exhausted outside the boat so no safety issue and no condensation. We have an Eberspacher which is a similar thing but diesel powered and its great, off season cruising is very comfortable.

Are you aware that it is hard to get petrol on the broads? I think there are only 2 places on the whole system that you can get it riverside, so you will need to know where you can moor within walking (and lugging!) distance to a petrol station.