Hair Straighteners

[Guest itslewis]

Hello,

just a quick topic.. anyone know if you can use simple GHD Hair Straighteners on the boat? Don't want to take them if they can't be used.

If they can't be used, are there nearby places where I could like communal toilets?

Thanks

[jimbo]

It totally depends on which boat you hire! Some boats have invertors, which provide 240v some don't Welcome to the forum by the way

[Guest itslewis]

Brilliant and thanks for the reply. We have 240v so I shall take them and hope for the best. I'm also taking a 12v converter 'thingy' to charge the iPod and Blackberry as I was told this would be the best from browsing through the forum!

[senator]

with GHDs you may find you have to run the engine while using them as I think they are about 600w

Welcome from me too

[mbird]

Most hire boats with 240V inverters have a minimum of 1000W units. Just beware that a 600W set of hair straighteners will totally flatten the batteries in about 15 minutes! I would suggest only using them when the boat is going along.

Also, your yard will probably tell you you need to run your engines for at least 4 hours a day to charge the batteries. If using the inverter, this should be increased to 6 hours a day, or you will forever be calling out your yard to replace your flat batteries, which will spoil your holiday.

[AdnamsGirl]

Aaah ... hair straighteners ... my pet subject!

If in doubt, you can purchase 12 volt hair straighteners now .... whilst not quite as good as those that you plug in to the mains, I am impressed with just how well they do actually work. I initially had some gas powered ones for boating ..... don't bother with those as they are worse than useless!! They don't get very hot and they just tend to rip your hair out!

My eagle eyed hubby then spotted some Vidal Sassoon 12 volt in-car straighteners - he's earned brownie points for life with that one! They are very small, but do get quite hot and have ceramic plates - the size means it takes a little longer than using the usual variety, but they do the job nicely. I don't know what the drain on batteries is, but presumably not that much. I will usually try to use them whilst underway but have used them for ten minutes in the morning before we set off and haven't flattened the batteries yet!

I have had a quick Google - there are quite a few makes of 12 volt straighteners now but someone is selling the same model I have on Ebay at the moment for £13 inc. postage:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BNIB-VIDAL-SASSOON-CAR-CERAMIC-STRAIGHTENERS-/250650326871?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Hair_Care_Hair_Straighteners_PP&hash=item3a5bec7757

Carol

[MY littleboat]

Moderators - can I hide this thread from Annie as she was asking for just such an item the other day and of course I denied any such knowledge of their existence... my pocket is buckling at the seams!!!

[mbird]

Moderators - can I hide this thread from Annie as she was asking for just such an item the other day and of course I denied any such knowledge of their existence... my pocket is buckling at the seams!!!

PM sent to Annie to let her know what a tight wad you are

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Like the idea of the 12v straighteners, pity i did`nt know about them 3 weeks ago then SWMBO would have been happy on Tower Bridge. Never mind, i`l surprise her with a set for next year (might even try and talk her into another trip in September if finances will allow).

[mbird]

Thanks for the link Carol. One set duly ordered for her indoors!

[MY littleboat]

PM sent to Annie to let her know what a tight wad you are

Conspiratorial... I think I'm going to have teurettes now.... I mean, if she had asked me for something more useful like a polishing machine or a new mini-vacuum for the boat I may have thought differently.....

However, she has just seen this and is now furiously looking up 12v running machines......

[Mark42]

My wife and daughters took some GHD's last year along with another make, our boat was only 2 year old and could run up to 2000 watts using the invertor and they would not work for some reason yet the powerful hair drier did work which was 1600 watts.

[Guest itslewis]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I shall take them and just hope for the best

[blademan]

Thats a big help Thanks to everyone

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Like the idea of the 12v straighteners, pity i did`nt know about them 3 weeks ago then SWMBO would have been happy on Tower Bridge. Never mind, i`l surprise her with a set for next year (might even try and talk her into another trip in September if finances will allow).

We DID buy a pair of 12v hairstraighteners from "Towsure" (the caravan and camping company) for our trip last year, and they DO work, albeit not quite as well as 240v ones, but they are very effective. I`d recommend them, as you can plug them into the cigar lighter socket, which most boats have. Even though we now have a 240v hook-up socket (thanks John ), we will still take them along for when we`re moored up somewher where there are`nt any hook-up points.

[g0akc]

Some GHD straighteners will work on an inverter and some won't. I have been experimenting recently ahead of an upcoming trip to the Broads. I'm an electrical engineer.

I've found the older GHD Mk3 (or Mk3.1) models will not work on an inverter (unless it is a very expensive one). This is likely because most inverters do not produce a true sine wave as found on the mains.

GHD MKIV or MKV (mark 4 or 5) models will (can) work, or at least they did on the two leisure inverters that I have tried. These models will also work properly on different mains voltage (i.e. in the USA and UK).

The inverter will need to be rated at least 300W (preferably more) and have a GOOD connection to the 12V battery. It's best to have the engine running so the alternator provides power. A connection via a cigar lighter socket is unlikely to be good enough and the fuse may blow. The DC current is around 30A, particularly during the warm up phase.

There are a number of variables involved here so there is no assurance that any particular combination of inverter, boat, wiring or straightener will work.

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

A connection via a cigar lighter socket is unlikely to be good enough and the fuse may blow.

That`s exactly what we found. When we plugged them in, they blew the fuse immediately, so we changed it, and did the same again, so we did`nt use the inverter at all. The 12v ones are pretty good, and worked well. A lot more effective for 12v items than a 12v hair dryer, in comparison to their 240v versions. I forgot to say, the inverter was of the type that plugs in to a cigar lighter socket too. Probably best suited for charging up phone and camera batteries only.