PBO whinge - open letter to the Ed.

Gordonmc

Gordonmc

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For the first time ever I am compelled to have a right good whine about the latest edition of PBO that dropped through the letterbox (yes, I subscribe. This is under review).
The article I had bookmarked for a read last night was on boats without gas. It's a waste of rainforest. I had been expecting a considered article about the pros and cons of paraffin versus spirit; comparison of solid fuel stoves; diesel heaters; engine heat exchangers etc. Even a piece dealing with safe venting of gasses from the saloon would have been good.
Instead we are told to plug in a domestic appliance.
Has the author ever had a season on a swinging mooring or spend the night at anchor?
What piffle.
 
Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

It is perfectly possible to run a boat without using bottled gas.

Cooking may be carried out on a spirit stove, such as an Origo, or on a paraffin pressure stove such as a Taylor's, whilst heating can be achieved with either a solid fuel stove, with a diesel heater or with a paraffin pressure stove (Taylor's, again).

Besides the reduction in fire and explosion risk, people like me cite the following benefits of paraffin pressure cooking stoves:

1. Cost. Taylors say, and in practice this seems to be right, that one burner will run for eight hours on one pint of paraffin. Paraffin costs about £4.20 or so per gallon in the UK, and can be found at most ironmongers, garden supply shops and, rather cheaper, at old fashioned garages. There is no need for a CORGI qualified fitter and the piping lasts quite a long time.

2. Stowage. It is far easier to carry enough paraffin for a long voyage than to carry enough bottled gas.

3. Heat output. A pressure paraffin stove burns hotter than a gas stove, so the kettle boils faster.

The downside is the need to replace burners from time to time (roughly every other year, in regular weekend yachting) and the smell, which some people notice.

I have a solid fuel cabin heating stove, and wrote a long article in Classic Boat on installing these. The main benefit of solid fuel is that it is reasonably safe to leave the boat, or to go to sleep, and of cours eto go to sea, with the stove running.

We even used the stove in August this year, to dry things after a downpour!

One does need to be aware of CO build up - I find that keeping a couple of hatches or ports open is enough. Needless to say the stove must be properly vented with a good flue and through deck fitting.
 
Completely agree - I bought the mag (subscribe to YM) on the basis of the promised article and all we got was pointless waffle about the benefits of a £10 kettle / toaster and how lighting open fires on the pontoon is great. I had been thinking through our options regarding a new galley but instead wasted 15 minutes reading that. Did he get paid for it?
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

How do you heat the water for the shower (serrious question please don't say in a kettle) cos the family insist on it.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

Oh dear; in our case the answer is "in a kettle" (we have a great big copper one on the solid fuel stove for this very purpose - obviously our shower is of the garden spray variety!

But, more generally, I think that most boats now have a calorifier on the auxiliary engine, and this seems to work well, certainly in my experience, on the basis that you will run the engine whilst making port.

This works well with a pressure water system.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

[ QUOTE ]
How do you heat the water for the shower (serrious question please don't say in a kettle) cos the family insist on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

most comfortable boat I've sailed on had a genny and an immersion heater. to say it made anchoring more civilised is an understatement - nothing is worse than feeling dirty.

second best system was a gas water heater that I had in the Prout. Water whenever you wanted without the need to run the engine.

One thing I would never consider is a paraffin heater. I've seen two boats badly damaged by them, one with its deck burnt off. OK they may have been badly maintained or installed, but that comment applies to gas equipment that gives problems too.

wouldnt consider paraffin. its smelly, dirty, generates co2 and water inside the boat just as much as gas, has poor availability and the equipment is expensive. if you want to use a liquid fuel then surely the sensible one is diesel.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

Ah but you see,the idea is to make our boats more technical.By doing a feeble article on alternatives to dieselheating'calorifiers/microwaves and 4 burnerhobandoven cookers,it makes all those glossy adverts and'how to install an electric loo'' type articles more tempting....
Telling peeps to boil a kettle and top up the solar shower would be too obvious..
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

Diesel cooking stoves are large and heavy (and expensive) and suited to big boats perhaps. They need a built in vent. I've never had a problem with paraffin availability in the UK. Don't really follow the "smell" point - don't notice it on our boat, or on the boats of friends with Taylors cookers either. Obviously if you don't preheat the burners properly you will get yellow flame and a smell.
 
Worse is to come. The article was part of a series. Next month it's about boats without anchors, followed by boats without any means of propulsion, followed by how to put an attractive snow scene in that compass you never use...

I can only salute PBO for waking up to the reality of modern boating. Most yachts spend all their time in marinas, so who needs all that expensive stuff? Far better to epoxy your boat to the pontoon and spend your money on a decent cocktail shaker.

Christ, I haven't read the piece in question, but if anybody actually needs guidance in the possibilities of electric kettles, they shouldn't be allowed out of the house.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

Quite a lot of boats have gone fully-diesel/electric with a good inboard diesel generator. We have a decent generator and a gas oven near the top end of the market but it is nowhere near as good as a cheapish electric one. If this gas hob/oven fails I shall consider replacing it by electric. My parents did that in the 1970s and it had its drawbacks, but it is worth considering very seriously.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

So maybe a nice article on how to go diesel/electric?.... I too was somewhat bemused by the 'electric kettle' article.... bit sad if you ask me..... and for a magazine from the same stable as Des Sleightholme once inhabited, not good enough IMHO.....
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

I had to laugh out loud when I saw and recognised your post. I agree totally.

I re-read the article to make sure I was not missing some hidden depth /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It was a very lame attempt at headlining with no substance what so ever, bless them.
 
We have an all electric boat with a 6kva generator, which is fine on a motor boat, at anchor, swinging mooring, or underway, but not really a practical for Yachties I suppose. I won't have gas on a boat - end of story. One explosion was enough for me! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif It's nearly 2007, gas and all that other spirit stuff is from the middle ages, not the 21st century.
 
[ QUOTE ]
We have an all electric boat with a 6kva generator, which is fine on a motor boat, at anchor, swinging mooring,

[/ QUOTE ]

Fine for you, but what of every other poor sod in earshot of your generator or exhaust, worse still have their boats filled with exhaust fumes when you make a coffee.

Having been in two rafts now with people who think the only way is a big genny I can honestly say it is not fine at all.
 
I'm getting a bit fed up with PBO, I can never recognise the latest edition if I put it down with the old ones as its always the same sort of picture on the front, never a MOBO. (OK someone will correct me on that but it feels that way)

I was looking forward to the article on Red Diesel, but the boats and usage compared did not include a twin engine like mine which, from looking around is one of the most popular sizes and combinations in MOBO's

Many of the DIY bits are gluing wires and all sorts of odds and ends into decks to hold up sails.

Maybe I should switch to MOBO monthly, but I wanted a practical mag.

Some articles on how to get more MPG, or how to make less wash, or where to mount a radar reflector when you don’t have a mast, or how to do chart work at 25 kts, or better ways of fitting canopies, or improving the steering at low speeds on legs would be nice

Why do I still always look forward to it arriving? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Yes, it is practicable for yachties - we are a sailing yacht with a 6kVA genset - though there are issues and the biggest one is the impact on others nearby. No generator is 100% silent or fume-free. On a quiet Sunday morning in a creek off the Helford you no NOT want a genny running for someone's early morning cuppa. If we go all-electric we will keep some way to do the basics with spirit or a small gas cylinder (I am not anti-gas).

Sadly, some people seem to have fallen for the manufacturers' story that generators can be 100% silent and smell-free and that simply is not true. At least, I can always smell 'em and hear 'em! You need to be very considerate of others if you are going to go all-electric, IMO.
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

[ QUOTE ]
"most comfortable boat I've sailed on had a genny and an immersion heater"

Was that the No 1 or No 2?
 
Re: Let me take a shot at writing the article you deserve...

I too was disappointed by the article, as it assumed shore power
I do use the 6 quid toaster and 6 quid kettle on shore power when the opportunity arises.
Also the Lakeland 'Remoska' mini oven/grill that is a big saucepan with a 500 watt radiating heated lid. Makes nice grilled/baked stuff but can be put away.

At sea or anchor I use the Origo cooker and have now developed more of an immunity to getting eyefulls of meths vapour.
 
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