For those of you who like statistics here are some from our first years cruising.
Cruising Stats 1/6/2017 – 31/12/2017
Miles – 536
Locks – 331
Swing Bridges – 5
Aqueducts – 109
Tunnels – 20
Propulsion Stats 1/6/2017 – 31/12/2017
Miles travelled – 536
Cruising time (approx.) – 265 hrs
MPH (including locking) – 2mph (average)
AMPs used for propulsion – 33A (average)
KWs used for propulsion – 1.7kW (average)
HP used for propulsion – 2.28hp (average)
Living Stats 1/1/2017 – 31/12/2017
Diesel used – 1,363 ltrs
Cost of diesel used – £971
Generator run time – 298 Hrs
Battery cycles – under 50
Shore power use – 11 full charge
Alternative energy
Miles walked – 1,467.24
Steps taken – 3,298,280
Daily average steps – 9,036
Pints drunk – too many to count
Notes
Cruising stats are for the 6 months after our boat was completed when we could finally leave the boat yard. Since we lived on the boat from January the living statistics are for the full year.
It is interesting to see how little power we use to propel the boat – just 2.28hp. If we did not use electricity for lighting, cooking etc. we could cruise for 32 hours on a single battery charge.
We use diesel for all our heating, hot water, and charging the batteries other than when charge from shore power. It is noticeable how much more we use now the weather is cold.
Unlike a diesel propulsion engine our motor only runs when needed to propel the boat so it is only used for perhaps 10 seconds at low power in a lock and not at all while waiting for a lock. So flights of locks use negligible battery power.
One full battery charge last us about a week, but in reality we prefer to run the generator several times a week for shorter periods.