Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:47am

Very interesting article in April Mag. It is possible through your column to ask (contact if willing) the family about any records of diesel fuel costs they may have kept whilst cruising last year. Details would help us to plan for new boat early next year. Also did they find regular access to water any problem.

Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:17pm

We'll happily ask them, and if we can get the information we'll post it back here. Nick W

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:18am

Dear Geraldine, the way you phrase the question makes me think you may be very inexperienced as far as inland boating is concerned so I will give some guidance. A diesel narrowboat will consume between 1 and two litres of fuel per hour. My own experience, last year, with a 54ft boat and 34bhp engine it returned 1.5 litres per hour during river work, including several hours running up the Severn at close to maximum speed. I would expect the consumption to be slightly lower at canal speed. My advice is to plan on 1.5 litres per hour. If you intend to tow a butty it will worsen the consumption when starting away but only make a marginal difference when you are at cruising speed. AS far as access to water is concerned, do you mean getting hold of water for the domestic water system. If so your boat will probably carry between 100 and 200 gallons of water. I have no idea how much tank holds but with two aboard we can easily go three days between refills. The distance between water points on BW canals varies but they are all marked in the guides so you can plan where to stop and will typically be three hours or less cruising time apart. The same applies to the EA controlled river Thames but some of their taps are for filling containers only. I suspect the river navigations are less well served than canals but you will normally be within one day of a filling point. You just learn to plan according to your usage. Tony Brooks

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 3:14pm

Tony, Many thanks for your reply. We have cruised the canals quite a bit but only on hire/timeshare boats which meant diesel included in price. With the DeLeie family continuous cruising and doing so during the change in respect of duty rules thought we might get better idea of total costs involved. Obviously we have and are investigating manufacturer's consumption figures but there is nothing like getting information from those that do cruise every day. Water? - we intend to have 150/200 gal water tank and here again as we have no yard stick for continuous cruising for any length of time especially including use of washing machine whilst cruising I asked the question. Look forward to hearing from DeLeie family if at all possible. Regards Geraldine

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 5:41pm

Dear Geraldine, the manufacturers' consumption figures will/should be based on operation on a test bed and that is done at full throttle with the load being applied sufficient to hold the speed at each test point. For inland use this figure is all but useless, you will get far better consumption so accept the 1.5 litres an hour as the best estimate. The water consumption is very much down to individual use so if you intend to shower every day and wash up after each meal without using a plastic bowl you will use more water that if you are more economical. Even with daily showering and the washing machine I do not think you will have many water problems. Now the new bit of information causes me some concern, but I do not know the full facts of course. A washing machine almost certainly means a small domestic one, that in turn indicates the use of a large inverter to get the mains. Once you have that there is a great temptation to add more and more mains devices like microwaves, coffee machines, toasters, irons hair dryers etc. If you are not very careful you will run into battery problems because it seems many boat builders are happy to keep adding stuff without thinking about the consequences. I am now far more concerned over your electrical system than getting enough water. I must advise that it is vital that you start doing a power audit and the charging calculations that you will find in either set of course notes on www.tb-training.co.uk. That way you stand a chance of ensuring your electrical demands, alternator size and running time are all matched. Otherwise plan to replace your battery bank every two years - even if you get talked into buying expensive batteries. Far better to juggle the figures on paper than to get a boat built and the have to try to overcome its shortcomings. Tony Brooks