Although we were the first, several others have followed our lead, which is great as we believe that this will speed up the conversion of our waterways from fossil fuel to green energy.
Although we were the first, several others have followed our lead, which is great as we believe that this will speed up the conversion of our waterways from fossil fuel to green energy. The trouble is, some of these electric boat builders still seem to insist on installing a small battery PLUS a diesel generator which, for us is missing the point because it takes more energy to charge a battery with a diesel generator than to power the boat directly with diesel - so this is not really the greenest of options!
The next thing we’ve noticed, is there are many solar electric boats produced with tiny solar arrays on the roof - often producing just 1000 watts on a 57 foot narrow boat - where as here at Thames Solar Electric Boas, we're able to install panels that will produce 3600 watts! on the same type of boat. This is more than enough solar energy. Not only to power the boat along the canal system all summer long but also to power the internal domestic side of the boat including cooking with electric and doing away with the need for gas and all the risks that brings with it.
What about room on the roof deck for the mushroom vents we hear you ask? Well mushroom vents allow heat and moisture to escape the cabin but they very soon become clogged with spider webs and dust which eventually prevents the boat ventilating and why traditional boats have problems with condensation. We solved this with a simple device that has been used in 'Passive Haus’ in Germany for over 30 years, and this is called a Heat Recovery Ventilation System. A clever German worked out if you wanted to insulate and store heat, the most important thing is not to let air escape. The problem with this, is when you air-seal a space and humans who expel water vapour are in that space the warm moist air finds a cold surface to condense on. So the clever Germans needed to change the air continuously, so they came up with this ingenious heat exchanger which means you could exhaust warm wet stale air and replace it with cool, fresh, clean dry air by recovering 70% of the heat you would have otherwise lost through your mushroom vents.