16 minute read
Amp it Up
Malcolm Bridge, member of IWA’s Sustainable Boating Group, shares his experiences of building and cruising an advanced electric narrowboat
Ampère is based on a BCN tug-style shell and has a deeper-than-usual draught.
Barbara and Malcolm cruising Ampère in 2016. The solar panels have since been removed.
My wife, Barbara, and I own Ampère, a 57 6in BCN tug-s le narrowboat with an innovative electric propulsion system. It was completed in 2015 but I have a long history of boating, which started with family holidays on the Thames in the late 1950s. By the ’70s, I’d hired narrowboats on the canals with universi iends and purchased a 30 steel shell to fi t out myself.
The idea for the electric boat started back in the ’70s when a few of us were working on our boats at the same time, sharing just one socket. This used to trip fairly equently, and in those days the chandlery where the power could be reset closed on Saturdays at lunchtime until the following Monday. I mulled over the prospect that if I ever built my own boat again I’d have a generator so that this didn’t keep happening. I also remember reading that electric motors were good at turning propellers – something that I fi led in the back of my mind. My next boat was actually a 30 Sea O er shell that I bought in 2003. I never gave up on the idea of going electric, though, and the experience of fi ing out two cra gave me a good working knowledge of boat systems.
A er Barbara and I got together in 2006, we consolidated our resources and realised we had enough money to seriously consider having a boat built. My training is as a chemist, although I spent more time doing engineering in the textile industry, including control systems for special purpose machines than anything else. I thus have a decent background in electrics, so that all stood me in good stead when I started doing the research for Ampère.
Electrical experiment
The shell was built by Roger Farrington and the fi t-out was done by Wharf House Narrowboats. When Tim, the electrical engineer, and I put our heads together, we came up with the drive design between us. Tim’s very conservative and I had to twist his arm a few times to adopt technology that wasn’t 20 years old. On the other hand, he has the practical experience that stopped me doing stupid things, like pu ing the inverter under the bed where it would have cooked us or even set on fi re.
I’d done a bit of work with programmable logic controls (small industrial computers) and I would have used one of those to control all of the electrical systems on the boat. Tim wasn’t familiar with them and wanted to use individual units so, as he was doing the work, I let him. I think we ended up with a boat that wasn’t quite as good as it could have been as a result, but it still works very well.
Undoubtedly, it was an experiment in designing an electric boat. When Ampère was launched in 2015, it was the most advanced cra of its kind on the
inland waterways, and I think it’s fair to say some of the boats that have been built since represent backwards steps. The only limitations that Ampère has are caused by it’s tug-style hull with a 30in draught, which is much deeper than most modern narrowboats.
Comparing consumption
My objective in designing this boat was always to make it as efficient as possible, and I think we’ve achieved that. At 23 tons, Ampère is very heavy (few narrowboats get above 20 tons and the average is around 16 or 17) but we use less than half the fuel of what a typical narrowboat would for propulsion. We get through around 0.6 litres per cruising hour, which is pretty much the same as the very, very lightweight 30ft Sea Otter we had. A typical diesel-powered boat of around 57ft will probably use something like 1.5 litres – more if it’s as heavy as Ampère.
There are many ways in which an electric boat consumes less fuel; the motor doesn’t tick over while you’re in a lock, for example, which I reckon is worth about a 25% saving on what an equivalent diesel boat would use. We’ve then got a massive propeller by normal standards – it’s 20in by 14in and is still probably a bit too small. Electric motors have much higher torque than diesels, so they can spin bigger props. A 43hp diesel unit would stall with our propeller. We’re probably getting at least a third more thrust. In open water we’ll get about 55% prop efficiency, and I doubt most diesels would get much better than 40%.
Hot water
It’s quite normal for boats these days to use waste heat from their propulsion engines for hot water systems. We took it a step further and linked it to underfloor heating. We only get about 2₀⁄₂ hours of warmth rather than the four that we hoped for, and if I was doing it again I would rethink the routing of some of the pipework.
One big thing that we missed when designing Ampère was a water source heat pump. Given that we’ve got a lot of electrical power stored, we could easily run one. We tend to get most of our warmth from domestic fan heaters and if we’ve got enough power to run those then we could easily run a heat pump, which would have given us the same heat while using a third of the power. I realised the possibility before the boat was finished but it was too late to build one into the design. Knowing what I do now, I’d say that it is a must-fit for any boat with a decent-sized bank of batteries.
A brass wheel for speed and direction, and a display for motor and battery data at the helm.
Generating power
There’s very little about Ampère that I would change. The only thing that’s caused us any problems is the diesel generator. I would still have one of about the same size and in the same place but it would be a different model. We chose the one that we’ve got because it was the most compact and quietest available at the time. Now I would find a decent industrial generator and build in more soundproofing to compensate for the lack of a cocoon. It would also save me several thousand pounds.
Where I didn’t do my research was for the solar panels. When we were having the boat built, getting free power off the roof seemed like something we couldn’t refuse. Our panels actually failed after around 3₀⁄₂ years, which was very disappointing and unexpected. When I sat down and looked at the figures, we’d had a little over £200 worth of power off them each year. But the panels themselves were around £2,000 plus the cost of the controller and fitting, so it wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile replacing them. Even though the price of the panels has dropped, it’s still hopelessly uneconomical for our situation.
There are, however, circumstances where solar panels are very good. If you’re a liveaboard who doesn’t cruise very much, you can get much cheaper rigid panels and angle them towards the sun and you’ll get cheap power. They’ll probably also last longer than flexible ones. If you don’t have a generator, it’s probably something worth considering too. I don’t see them as financially viable for a cruising boat with a diesel generator.
The battery bank is stored underneath the double berth.
Tech specs
Ampère has electric propulsion via a direct, coupled three-phase motor, driven from a 48V 1,250Ahr battery bank. The batteries are charged by a 8kVA diesel generator, and the battery charging and mains power are handled by a 10kVA inverter.
The electric motor is linked to a large propeller. Single berths are stored under the long tug-style deck.
The generator is stored in the bow locker.
Greener future
If you want an electric boat, my advice would be to follow what we’ve done with Ampère, with just a few tweaks to make it more affordable. In terms of improving the performance or ‘greenness’ of an existing boat, putting in a much smaller diesel engine would make a significant difference, but there are restrictions to doing this. When I started boating, a 57-footer would have had a 19hp engine, but now it would be fitted with a 40hp-plus unit. The difference is the speed at which the engine runs and the torque it produces, so you’d need to gear it down and you just don’t get the equipment needed to do that at the moment.
Hybrid systems, on the other hand, are very expensive to install and produce only a small saving on running costs. For instance, the biggest saving you can get on a parallel hybrid is around 25% by turning it to electric power while going through locks. But not all owners of hybrid boats understand enough about how the systems work in order to get the best out of them.
One thing that has excited me recently is that I’ve been put in touch with someone, through the Sustainable Boating Group, who runs a hydrogen fuel cell business, and while I’d always imagined the cells to be hugely expensive I discovered that they’re not. There is potential for them to replace a generator, reduce the need for large banks of batteries, and produce a lot of heat suitable for use with radiators. I would think that 2kW of fuel cells could power the entire boat for around the same price as a standard diesel installation. The fly in that ointment is getting hold of and storing the hydrogen. The technology is there but exactly how you fit it into a boat is another matter. The prospect of having a system with absolutely no emissions, and that is very economical to run as you use all your waste heat, does excite me. If I was ten years younger, I’d be planning my next boat with a fuel cell in it.
If you’d like to find out more about Ampère and electric boating, contact Malcolm at malcolm.bridge@waterways.org.uk.
Jam-packed
Roving traders Helen and Andy Tidy have been making and selling jams and preserves from their canal boat since 2012. They tell Waterways how the business came about, and why they’re already well practised in dealing with the trading challenges this season presents…
Best-laid plans… As Waterways went to press a slew of canal festivals had been cancelled as part of strict Covid-19 containment measures. Among the disappointed roving traders booked into these events however, there can be few more resilient than the Jam Butty’s Helen and Andy Tidy, whose very business was spawned when a freak accident forced an entirely new career path.
For Helen the dream was always academia rather than cottage industry, and she was well on her way to completing a Masters in Shakespearean Literature when a head injury put a spanner in the works. Where she’d once immersed herself in books, impaired vision and chronic neuralgia now made reading near impossible, and it was the couple’s narrowboat which ended up filling the huge void.
Canal convalescence
Moored at Calf Heath Marina near Cannock, the 42ft Wand’ring Bark offered the perfect convalescence and, as Helen’s strength returned, it also presented the seeds of a new idea. “I spent a lot of time cruising and I realised I knew most of the fruit along the canal banks,” Helen explains. “As a child I did a lot of nature walking with my mum, who used to make elderberry and blackberry wines and jams. That came back to me and I decided to make jam as part of the recovery from my accident. I’ve always been into food, and I just found it was something I could do. It was a reason to get out of bed.”
In terms of fresh ingredients, Helen quickly realised she was spoilt for choice on the network. “There’s such a lot of fruit along our inland waterways. I usually pick on the far side of the towpath – fruit that goes to waste. I couldn’t walk very far but I could pick handfuls of plums, cherries and sloes and make a batch of jam. It takes two hours from picking and making to potting, and that was me out for the day. It’s very therapeutic. It’s not rocket science and at the end I could literally see [or eat] the fruits of my labour.”
Licence to forage
The inevitable surplus of jars were passed around family and friends, and quickly created a dedicated fan base. “People started asking me for stuff specifically,” Helen continues, “and it wasn’t long before I realised I could make a business out of this.” She launched Wild Side Preserves in April 2012, aspiring to use “something wild” in every recipe. “I use rosehips, I use sloes, even wild garlic. I obviously have to buy stuff as well, but what I can gather from the canalside all helps.” She has permission from Canal & River Trust to forage on the towpaths (not required for personal consumption, but necessary
First sighting of Montgomery – the back cabin of which forms half of the Tidys’ trading butty.
for selling goods which include foraged ingredients) and, as a thank you, the couple make a donation each year to its work.
Meanwhile Andy has built a mental map of the uit trees around the British waterways, “certainly very detailed within a 21-mile radius of Birmingham”. He explains: “Most of the time this uit would just be le to rot as many people don’t know what to do with such an abundance. There are times when we’ve moored up and a local resident will spot what we’re selling and invite us to eely help ourselves to their garden’s harvest.”
Birth of the butty
Andy, who previously worked in commercial banking for HSBC, does the books for Helen and was also a driving force behind the couple’s conversion in 2013 of a secondary cra to accommodate the business. He says: “Initially operating om a table at the stern of our 42 boat, the limitations of this space soon became apparent. We toyed with the idea of buying a larger boat or stretching our current one, but then we thought why not operate om a second towed boat which would, of course, be called The Jam Bu ?”
And that’s where the idea rested for a year or more. A few enquiries were made about having a short unpowered hull built, but none of the options really caught their imagination until they spo ed Montgomery at Keith Ball’s yard at Stre on on the Shropshire Union Canal – 12 of a reproduction horse-drawn Josher bu built by Keith over 20 years ago. Originally it was part of a short bu built to accompany an icebreaker tug, but the bu was later extended and then motorised with the original back cabin cut o . Its cabin had been kicking about the yard for years looking for a new home and when Andy explained what they wanted to do, Keith suggested joining it to an old iron BCN day-boat which had also been buried in weeds there for years.
Andy insists seeing the boats together was “love at fi rst sight”. He continues: “It was exactly what we wanted. Be er in fact, with that drop-dead gorgeous 5 -high boatman’s cabin, and a 10 hold built inside genuinely historic bows. It ticked all the boxes and then some – you just had to be able to look beyond the peeling paintwork and rus metal!”
Trading challenges
The bu , all 25 of it, fi nally launched at Birmingham’s Floating Market in June 2014 and has subsequently toured much of the network, stopping at festivals and fl oating markets as well as opening ad hoc to sell preserves during their journeys to these events. It hasn’t all been plain sailing however, as Helen’s health took another blow om cancer. Andy recalls 2016 being a particularly quiet trading year as she underwent chemotherapy, although he still found time to take the boats to IWA’s Festival of Water at Pelsall. “It has a special place in my memory because apart om being very, very busy on my own (I was desperately selling o all the stock made before Helen fell ill), I was surrounded by a lovely set of people who helped me out more than I dared hope for – om making endless mugs of tea to including me as part of a scratch quiz team on the Friday night.”
In fact, the social scene, the couple agree, is one of the reasons IWA events are always such a joy to trade at. Andy remembers: “We also had a lovely weekend in Ware a couple of years ago when we a ended the IWA gathering as a destination for our cross-London trip. We were the only trade boat and had a great time, being welcomed into the evening barbecue and the Sunday morning service on board the trip-boat.”
Inevitably opportunities to meet up with IWA iends and trade om the towpath will be harder to come by this summer, as coronavirus tears up the roving trader rule book just as it has done other parts of ordinary life. But the couple are surprisingly sanguine about ma ers. Andy refl ects: “There are some spooky parallels with Helen’s chemo year. That summer we had a season’s worth of preserve made and ready to sell during what was supposed to be a six-month fl oating sabbatical, and this year we again have a season of stock in the store room.
“With June and July events being cancelled on the Grand Union, it’s our hope that we will still be able to a end the IWA Worcester event – but we will have to wait and see. From the preserve perspective all is not lost – jams and chutneys do, by defi nition, keep so even if a large part of this trading year is wiped out, most of our stock will still be okay next summer. Also, we can always a end a few Christmas events and probably move any short-dated stock (jams and marmalades) that way. It’s not the way we like to sell, but in some ways it takes us back to the days before The Jam Bu .”
In the meantime, to paraphrase the White Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday.” Only, while lockdown lasts, there’s no jam today.
At a fl oating market in Birmingham.
Find out more
wildsidepreserves.co.uk
