Engine

Under the deck boards, a Beta 42hp engine sits in an immaculately neat engine bay.
A large hospital-generator type silencer, water lubricated stern tube and a degree of soundproofing, should ensure quiet cruising, on top of the low noise output from the
Beta engine.
Engine cooling is by a large single-swim side tank. As well as heating the hot water via a calorifier, additional heat from the engine cooling circuit is used to provide a matrix blow-air heater to warm the steerer, and to run a radiator in the bathroom.

This ensures that more of the ‘waste’ energy is used – plus it can help keep the engine cool when running hard on tidal rivers. Five 110Ah AGM batteries are kept charged by the large dedicated alternator on the engine, plus a 3KW pure sine wave Victron inverter/charger. There are shoreline connections at both the stern and the bow, which is handy when mooring on marina jetties.

A separate 230V battery charger is fitted for the bowthruster batteries and a low-voltage cut-off unit prevents them from being discharged too low. The fuel and water gauges are digital units, so do not rely on float switches – which probably makes them more reliable. The diesel heating unit, a Hurricane boiler, is also mounted on the swim plate. These units are more like a domestic boiler in operation, and although more expensive, seem to give very good service for heating.

The inbuilt diagnostics actually show the owner what is going on, rather than needing a service engineer. The stainless steel casing is similar to the Alde compact gas boiler
in size; mounted in the engine room, the noisier Hurricane’s sound is muted by the soundproofing. The exhaust is less raucous than small forced-combustion diesel boilers, but is certainly not silent. However, it is quite economical, especially for long-term cruising.

If you would like to know more information about the narrowboat, please download the pdf by clicking on the logo below.