What is it with Nigel Calder and electricity?

I'd suggest that:

A. Those peeps that haven't lived aboard in forin parts don't actually know how important the things that NC is worrying about are.

B. NC over complicates stuff but we love him any way.

C. What the heck, it's only journalism sweeties and it is a story.

D. TK is a luddite, but we knew that anyway



PS I haven't read the piece but have had the benefit of a couple of glasses of wine...
 
Hi all,
truth is cold beer, wines and food are possible only because of Solar Panels and maybe a bit of wind energy.It makes life aboard much more comfortable in hot climes.We used to lower the milk bottle to the bottom of the canal in summer, but in 1974/5/6/ this failed as the water was too warm due to the marvellous summers then.Nigel Calder maybe gives you choices.We all have different approaches and ideas as to how life can be made more bearable. For me it was shortwave BBC , a Sangean ATS 909 radio running with a clothespeg onto the backstay and a clear signal from the BBC. Shut down I understand, along with useful Northwood weather facsimiles. Progress, my undersides!
Witnessed two skippers in Elba scrapping over the noise made by a generator on the quay wall, Bloody nose received by the generator operator.So Solar preserves ones facial features intact!Please do not be too hard on Nigel Calder, some of the ideas can be separated out like cheesemaking and we can use the best of them.Remember Nigel Warren's articles on propellor sizes and thrust. Really good they were, I engined a motor sailer with 3:1 reduction PR motors box with a 23 inch three blader ( all from T Norris Isleworth) in the '70's . Best motor installation I have ever had coupled to a (Thorneycroft like) BMC 1.5 diesel.Torque was instantaneous, economy brilliant, sailing below force 6 was a bit retarded!Great fun all generated by articles from PBO.
So take it easy lads and lassies, go to the pub more often and have a good old natter!
 
Well, he makes a good living at it. My vote is for NC, I enjoy his articles in Prof. Boat builder on his Malo project. Yes it's techie and no, I wouldn't want/couldn't afford that level of complexity, but as a scientific/engineering experiment in modern technology application, it makes fun reading.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Pyro,

You'll have to argue that one with Nige - I dunno. Is it amps x volts = watts?

[/ QUOTE ]

You are right Ken and the unit quoted was kilowatt hours.

Just for the sake of accuracy..../forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
If one didn't know the man one could assume that he was more interested in the technicalities of the boat than sailing. I remember a nerdy friend who spent hours building a hi-fi but only owned one record.

He is in fact a pretty experienced cruiser with some substantial passages to his credit.

Some people get more satisfaction from building boats than sailing them. I know several who have been over 20 years on their projects before growing too old to sail them.
 
I think that the guy has more money than sence - I started reading the article, but quickly decided that this was just not rellevant to a normal boat. I have just instralled 2 x 85 watt pannels - so what they produce will dictate what I can use. I have radar - it is never switched on. I have a 4KVA genset - which I never use.

Hasn't anyone heard on KISS.

But the fridge? must have my cold beer and wine...... But newly insulated with 4 inches all round, leaves it hardly running at all (so far in the uk)
 
500AH a day. NC on his essential list as 21amps when all his kit is running.
So for one hour that's 21Amp per Hour.
At 12v he's consuming 252watts (for round figures.)
So over 24hrs 6048 watts.

I'm rusty on this stuff so hope it's correct.
 
The arithmetic is correct (if we ignore the point that the average voltage is, in practice, likely to be rather higher than 12V), but the units are wrong. Sticking to round numbers:

500 Ah X 12 V = 6000 VAh = 6000 Wh = 6 kWh

This is the daily energy requirement. The average power demand is 6 / 24 = 0.25 kW = 250 W
 
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