Solar power on a narrowboat

Having discussed solar power for our hot water at home, we got talking about solar panels on the roof of a narrowboat.

We've seen a few with a framed panel but I really like the idea of the flexible panels that are stuck down to the roof of the boat.  They are much less obtrusive and less likely to get broken, but they do appear have a shorter life span.  There is another compromise with the flexible panels and that is being unable to angle them to the sun.

This website includes prices for flexible panels :
http://www.wirefreedirect.com/solara_solar_panels_for_boats.asp#M%20Series

I also came across this company that uses solar energy to deal with damp issues.  The cost for one of these dehumidifier units on a narrowboat is around £350.  They are a great idea for boats being left over Winter.

http://www.solarventi.co.uk/index.pl?section=10

Dehumidifier unit solar panel

For further information I've found about all types of solar energy on narrowboats :
http://www.canalcuttings.co.uk/Narrowboat-Solar-Energy-Pannels-Power-Modules.html
http://www.midsummerenergy.co.uk/solar-panel-information/Guides/Narrowboats
http://shop.freesolarenergy.co.uk/index.php?p=page&page_id=Solar_Panel_Narrowboats
http://www.wirefreedirect.com/solar-panels-for-narrowboats.asp
http://www.solarboat.co.uk/

Reno - Flat pack cabinets

At "the house up the road" we have a walk in pantry and a walk in robe - for the first time!  Neither of them had anything worth salvaging inside except a hanging rail in the robe.  At first we talked about Mick making fitted cabinets for the pantry but when we looked at the price of flat pack cabinets we decided that would be the way to go.  We'll do the same in the wardrobe as there is no linen cupboard in the house.

Off we went to Bunnings last week and bought up what seemed like an enormous pile of flat boxes.  It's not a fun job putting that stuff together and I know Mick has very little patience for those things.  I think it will be my job.  Fun!!

Narrowboat models!

We don't even have our own narrowboat yet but when we do, and we have to come home to Australia.... I want one of these!

http://www.bespokemodelboats.moonfruit.com/#

Renovating

We don't have time for much else at the moment than work and renovating.  I keep thinking that if we were to sell our house tomorrow, we'd likely have 60 days to get the inside of that house habitable (which it isn't right now) finish packing and storing the things that we won't be taking up there and then packing up the remainder to move.  Rather daunting.  Plus, I'm of to the US the first week of October so that might make the timing a little difficult too.

So with this in mind I won't have time to investigate items on our narrowboat list, instead I'm focusing on the items on our renovating list!  A slight diversion for Narrowboat Dreaming....

Reno - Solar hot water vs. electric

We always intended that our next house would have a solar hot water system.  It's seems crazy not to when the sun shines so much of the time where we live.

Now that we're in the throes of this renovation we've had to slightly re-think that plan.  We know we'll be renting this house out.  We don't have natural gas here so the hot water back up would have been instantaneous gas fueled by a gas bottle.  We've decided we're not comfortable with having a gas bottle in a house that will be tenanted.  Maybe we're worrying about nothing but we both had this same thought separately.  The decision was easy - an off-peak electric hot water service. 

Home alone

For the first time in many years I'm home alone.  Mick has a night at home on his own every week when I'm down in Melbourne for work but it must be about 7 years since I've slept alone in the house.

I've quite enjoyed the last couple of days - there's been no trail of stuff left all over the house.  Jackets over the kitchen chairs, work pants hanging on the foot of the bed, toothbrushes beside the bathroom basin, wallet and mobile phone tossed on the kitchen table and most of all sawdust and dirt traipsed through the back door.  But, I have missed him and I've had to do things I only occasionally do like putting out the rubbish, feeding Coco and bringing in firewood.  He'll be home tomorrow and everything will be back to normal.

Mick's mum had a heart scare a couple of weeks ago so he's gone to New Zealand to see her again.  It was only 8 or so weeks ago that we were there but we aren't going to have all that much more time that this is a possibility so we thought he should make the most of it.  There'll be no booking last minute flights for a 3 day visit when we're in the UK and she's 85 years old now.  We're very lucky to have a childhood friend of Mick's who lives not too far from Auckland airport and he kindly lent him a car so he could drive down to Taupo to his mum's.  Thanks Clive and Marie!

Bread on a narrowboat

In a prior blog entry we've mentioned the possibility of using a breadmaker on a narrowboat.  Mick likes his bread!  I talked about this with Diane when she came up for lunch a couple of weeks ago.  They way she gets around the fresh bread problem is buying part baked bread or rolls.  They don't need to be stored in the fridge and can even be cooked in a microwave.  At £1.49 for the small loaf below it's reasonably economical too.  We did notice that bread was much cheaper in the UK than it is here at home.  We're paying up to $4 a loaf but last October in the UK we bought a really nice loaf of bread for around £1 - better than half the price.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=262949409

Not in the Olympic year?

We know we won't have Coco, our labrador, all that much longer.  She's an old girl.  She's definitely slowing down and her heart isn't as it used to be.  We've discussed possible timings for when we'd consider heading off on our adventure.  The earliest we could consider (depending of course on Coco) would be September 2012.  We need the next year to get all our affairs in order, and to sell and renovate houses.

We've pretty much dismissed that timing because of the London Olympics.  We figure there'll be many travellers to the UK around that time and the airfares might be higher.  I wonder if once the excitement is over and the increased number of travellers have all gone home, if there'll be a good number of narrowboats coming onto the market for sale?  Maybe October could be a good month to buy a narrowboat! 


Any opinions?

Getting ahead of ourselves with enthusiasm!

Not a single day goes by that we don't say to each other "we'll have our own narrowboat one day".  We talk about it before we get out of bed on a Sunday morning, we talk about it over breakfast, we talk about it while cooking dinner, and we talk about it in the car on the way to anywhere.  Like today.

We went to Bendigo today to pick up our flat pack cupboards for the walk in pantry at the house up the road.  On the way the talk turned to our narrowboat plan and how it's progressed.  It started as a year away... but maybe two if we like it... or if we can find a little work to pay our expenses we could even stay longer... and then?  Well, we could keep the boat in a marina for 6 months of the year and go over each year.  We could come back to Oz to work and save up to pay our way for the time in the UK. 

I do recall encountering someone on my travels - it may have been a comment on this blog - who lived in Australia and just went over each year to use their boat.

Hmm. Maybe we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves!

It feels like Spring has arrived!

One sign of approaching Spring is something that has happened for the first time this year - we've had kookaburras nesting in the gum trees at the back of our property.  For the last couple of weeks we've heard them several times a day.  It's such a lovely Aussie sound.

Yesterday was a very mild day and I sat at work with the front door, and the door onto the office balcony, wide open.  It was unseasonal for what is effectively mid Winter.  Today was even warmer, reaching 22 degrees!!  The weather forecast says it will cool back down in a couple of days time.

My mum and her partner came up today for me to do their tax returns and we took lunch up to the "new" house to sit in the sun.  Great day!