Why don’t you get all-solar narrowboats?
It sounds great, for sure. A narrowboat needs only 1-2kW to move along (once it has begun moving) thus a 20kWh battery pack could sustain 5-10 hours travel (presuming standard
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Bonus video: realtime canal cruising (Slow TV)
This is a bonus video, not a vlog or suchlike but the bow-camera recording as narrowboat Nautilus Enterprise cruised from Crick Marina to Yelvertoft while we filmed for video #322. There is intentionally no commentary, just the sounds from the (electric) boat.
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Vlog 322: Make It So
In May 2022, I published a video about a narrowboat being built for a couple who had specific mobility and agility requirements following illness. This is a follow-up video to see how they’ve been getting on with it since launch.
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Vlog 313: Hip-Hip Hoo Wrey!
It’s 18 months since I sold my canal boat, “Wreyland”, but I’ve just been back to see what the new owner has done with it – and it’s had quite the makeover!
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Vlog 312: Peace in a Pod
I was kindly invited aboard NB Tranquility to see its one-of-a-kind (on the canals) electric propulsion system as well as the many other technical features of this intriguing boat.
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Bonus video: Slow TV cruise
This is not a vlog, there’s no talking or music (deliberately) – it is a “slow TV” uninterrupted recording from the bow camera of the electric day-hire boat seen in video 293 doing the return journey from Tamhorn Farm Bridge to Kings Orchard Marina on the Coventry canal near Lichfield.
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Vlog 293: Amped Up
An all-electric narrowboat is now available for hire by the day so it’s a low-cost way to test the waters of near-silent narrowboating and leave no air pollution in your wake.
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Vlog 286: Click and Collect
For single-handed canal boaters, shimmying up and down lock ladders or trying to get through swing bridges can be a huge nuisance. How much easier it would be if you could steer your boat with remote control! That’s exactly what Gill Gregory can do aboard “Desiderata” so I went to see the system in action.
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Vlog 271: Fun and Games
On Saturday 25th June 2022, around 80 narrowboats took part in a colourful and noisy parade through Birmingham to mark the city hosting this year’s Commonwealth Games. This is my record of that day.
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Vlog 266: 2 Unlimited
What would a narrowboat look like if you were able to start with a blank sheet of paper and design it so that the boat was still very usable in later life or with limits on your physical agility? A couple from Hampshire have done just that so I went along to see the finishing touches being put to the boat ahead of it going on display at the Crick Waterways show in June.
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