Just a few words on running costs..
Here we are a year on and our records indicate that Caxton uses 1.456 litres of diesel per engine hour. Included in this would be the running of the Hurricane central heating boiler as it is served by the same diesel tank. We have averaged 3.25 engine hours per day at an average fuel cost of 73p per litre so our diesel costs are in the region of £3.55 per day, circa £1300 per year. When I compare that to the cost of running a car and heating and lighting a home what a difference.. Of course there is coal on top of that and that is in the region of two bags per week when we are running the fire 24 hours per day, supplemented by wood of course.
5 comments:
Hi,
I do enjoy reading your blogs.
A question on costs,
Do you use gas and how many oil changes and g/box oil changes per year do you do?
I am evaluating costs before I take the plunge :-)
Many thanks,
Dave Winter(Brassiclint)Twitter
Hi Dave
I am delighted that you enjoy my warblings, thank you. As to gas and oil changes etc. We have 6kg gas bottles aboard Caxton and I use one per month. We only use gas for cooking but I do quite a lot of that! The gas in the smaller 6kg size is dearer, coming in at circa £16 per bottle therefore £16 per month.
We change the oil on Caxton's Beta 43 engine every 250 engine hours (gearbox at the same time) and that uses 11 litres (large sump on the engine) each time. At our present rate that would be four times per year.
best wishes
Lesley
You must also include coal at £7 a bag, (£15 a week) Licence a year around £800 if you want to use the Thames, and also a mooring if you do not continuously cruise around £2500 a year. Plus general maintenance on your boat, its not as cheap as some people may think..... blacking of the hull also needs to be done once every 2 years around £7.50 per foot, be warned there are other costs involved not always mentioned, and insurance around £350 per year..... best to be fully warned before you buy a boat Dave
Hi Lesley,
Many thanks for that.I am gradually compiling a spreadsheet using data from various narrowboats to get a good picture of usage and costs.Its a good way to introduce each other and I may submit the results to Waterways World if it proves useful to others.(No identification of NB's if I do)
Take care,
Dave Winter (Brassiclint) Twitter
Thanks Anonymous,
I thankfully take your advice and its the reason I am getting all costs together and reading the Canal World discussion forums on the net.
Many thanks,
Dave Winter (Brassiclint)Twitter
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