Building a Solar Electric Houseboat

[gotoluc]

Luc,

Just a few thoughts regarding your heating plans.

First, why all the extra weight and complexity of the heated liquid loop in the floor as opposed to an air/forced air furnace?  I would think you would want to go with minimal weight and power consumption...

Second, it would be unsafe to operate the heater you specified inside the living space due to O2 depletion and combustion gas venting into your living area.  Possibly you could mount it outside, but, doesn't Canada have any inspection/regulations regarding the type of boat you are building and/or require marine certified appliances?  If not, consider a marine certified (or at the very least an RV certified) externally vented furnace anyway (and at least a  couple combination fire/CO detectors as well).  Same goes for stove or frig, I'd suggest marine (or RV) certified...   

You might consider adding an air to air heat exchanger to allow efficient venting of your living space in cold weather.  You can't live in an airtight box!


Regarding your "2000 watts" is that just your panel rating for charging?

How many HP do you plan to have for thrust and how much battery storage to maintain that thrust for how long?

In wind/high winds, a house boat is sorta' like your sailboat, only you can't furl the sheets... 
 

PW

Hi PW

thanks for your post and concerns.

A forced air furnace needs ducts to distribute the heat to each room. I have no space for ducts. It's also difficult to balance the heat evenly as most of the heat will rise and leave the floors and some corners of the room cold. It's also a noisy system.

Radiant heating is just about noise free
Before I do the fiberglass on the inside cabin floor  I will cut the 1/2 inch grooves in the foam (with a router) to fit the tubing, so it's very easy to install and takes no space. The big benefit will be that all parts of the floor and rooms will be equal temperature. No more freezing feet.
I don't agree it will be heavier and quite sure the circulation pump will use less power than a forced air system would.
The boiler will be inside a fire proof insulated enclosure which will have its own fresh air intake. In case of Smoke or Propane the enclosure will have a smoke and propane detector which each will operate a relay (instead of horn) to shut off the main electric valve on the Propane tank located outside.

My oven is a new 3 burner propane made for RV. Fridge is also RV 12vdc Norcold which uses 50 watts while operating. I'm building my own insulated box for the fridge which will have about triple the foam insulation then the manufactures version.

I will have 4 new Argon gas filled awning windows, so fresh air should not be a problem.

Once the boat is done it will be certified by an intelligent Marine surveyor for insurance purpose.

The solar array will be 2KW max. A maximum of 100 amp/hour 48volt Lithium Ion will be the battery storage bank.
The battery bank will be mainly used for the house and for extra maneuvering power needed while docking and coming in or going out of port. Once under way I will only use the power the panels can supply, so I back off motor speed till I maintain the voltage on the house battery and that will be my cruising speed. I'm hoping to have about 6 knots of cruising speed from the 1.2 to 1.5 average KW the panels will generate. For emergency I'll have a lightweight and silent 2KW generator.

The electric drive motor will be a 5kw 48vdc with a Ducted Rice Speed Nozzle Propeller drive system.

Hope this answers most of your questions and concerns

Luc

[tim123]

... Fridge is also RV 12vdc Norcold which uses 50 watts while operating. I'm building my own insulated box for the fridge which will have about triple the foam insulation then the manufactures version.

Hi Luc, I know a chap who wrapped a chest freezer with insulation - he did leave the back open where the vents are.

When he showed me - I put my hand inside it, and  found the whole body of the thing was hot. He then removed the insulation.

It depends on your fridge - maybe its design is ok - but you'd have to ensure all the cooling equipment is outside the insulation.

[gotoluc]

Hi Tim,

some chest freezer will have a small heating element or part of the condensing coil around the outside perimeter so not to have water condensation on the outside of the freezer. So adding insulation on the outside would not work.

Thanks

Luc

[tim123]

I didn't know that before... Interesting. Thanks

Can you use your fridge as-standard, or do you have to modify it?

[gotoluc]

Hi Tim,

I bought this used fridge for the compressor, coil and evaporator only. The box I don't care about.
The compressor is good quality and made in Japan.
Not only does it work on 12vdc but it draws only 4 amps (max. 50 watts) while operating. That's very low power consumption for a fridge.

I'll be making my own box to maximize on insulation and to take advantage of all of the available under counter space I have for it.
The fridge will be part of the cabinet structure. It won't be removable once done. I will try to make  the compressor removable if ever it needs to be replaced.

Hope this answers your question.

Luc