Scott Marine Services (Narrowboat  Training)

 E: admin@hotelnarrowboat.com
P: Scott Marine Services, 2 Bank Place, Stanecastle South, Irvine, KA12 0YE.
T: 07717 845002 (vodafone) or 07702 242100 (orange)
   
Home Page Links to our Main Website Training Courses Our Services to potential 'liveaboards' Water & Space Heating 12v Charging Systems
INTEGRATED ON-BOARD SYSTEMS:
If you own or hire a narrowboat merely for your annual fortnight's cruising holiday, the boat's electrical and heating systems can be fairly straight forward. Summer cruising puts little strain on such systems - electric lights are only needed for a few hours per day in summer, and its warm anyway (well fairly) - most days you will possibly eat out at a canal side pub rather than stay on-board and watch your 12v telly. You will probably cruise for up to 8 or 10 hours per day.

Contrast that to living aboard all year round. Without the pressures of a time schedules, and with winter 'stoppages', there will be days when you don't move the boat at all. During the short winter days you may need the lights on from 3.30pm (rather than 9.30pm in the summer). For occasional spring and autumn cruising, the cost of heating your boat may not be an issue - long term winter heating costs are a different matter. Boat heating in winter needs to be efficient (warm without excessive condensation) AND be cost effective. A 'liveaboard' narrowboat's heating, electrical & charging systems must be efficient, and preferably integrated in use, for comfortable all year round cruising.

In short... a 'liveaboard' and a 'holiday' Narrowboat are very differently equipped!

Furthermore some boat builders / brokers are not always the best judges of suitable equipment for the liveaboard lifestyle - many are merely used to hire/holiday narrowboats.

Thinking of buying a new narrowboat to live aboard - Our consultancy & engineering services could save you thousands of pounds.

It is worth repeating that the website you are connected to is our older, smaller, website (but one that google searches find without fail).  Now that you have found us, can we recommend switching to our newer more up to date site. The new website has all the pages featured on this smaller, older site, plus much more.  Clicking this link takes you directly to the training pages of the main site.

Transfers you to the training pages of our main (more detailed) website

Liveaboard Equipment  12v Charging systems  Water/Space Heating 

  VARIOUS PHOTOS

Nick, at 6 yrs old, sits on the gate balance beam, whilst locking up in 1958 - Health & Safety in the 1950s ??  Look how tatty boats were that long ago - and with very basic on-board systems only suitable for summer use.
Will your boat be set up to take the, albeit pretty, winter weather?