One of the goals of this trip was to test our boat and equipment for extending cruising & livability. Listed below are some random thoughts on what was working or not working.
What Works & What Doesn't Work
July 1, 1996
I guess this cruise is officially a little over two weeks old. As I sit here in Meldrum Bay I've been thinking about the new things we've tried for this cruise. This would be a good time to reflect on what worked and what didn't.
What Worked and Didn't Work
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The refrigeration up to now has been great. I'm still a little worried about the belt setup but hopefully it will be OK. The space the compressor is in is very small, if a belt breaks it will be real fun to replace it.
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Our storage data base is working great. Not once have I heard or said, "it's in there somewhere!" Some how we will have to make the individual areas behind the settees divided to make it easier to find stuff.
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I finally got around to cutting off a length of old fire hose to use for chafe protection on the anchor rode. This has been working fine. The chafe has been cut down and the boat is now much quieter when at anchor. The rode no longer rides up and down the bob stay.
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Since we are just getting into the "real North Channel" cruising grounds it's hard to tell if my planning has helped. There are so many coves, bays, etc. that it's overwhelming to try to think about where to go. I guess my little table of ports that were suggested to me will serve as our starting point.
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Using the rubber maid containers in the wet locker was a good ideas but the stuff stored in them is hard to get to. Maybe if we install shelves and then put the containers on a shelf it may work better?
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The flower pot idea for heating the boat works pretty good. The pot does put out a good amount of heat but it is concentrated in the galley area. The propane is producing quite a bit of moisture also. We have also been cracking the pots when heated, although they still work fine with a crack.
July 8, 1996
More things that work and don't work:
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We have been relying more on "sea water" for some of our cleaning tasks. Rather than rinse off dishes or clean the shower stall with our fresh water we have been pumping sea water into the sink or a bucket. This has really extended our fresh water capacity.
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After we have been anchored for more than a day or two the water heater cannot keep up by just running the engine. We run the engine an hour in the AM and half hour in the PM for refrigeration. The engine runs cool enough that we can't really get hot water in that amount of time. We will have to find an alternative way to heat water. Perhaps an inverter large enough to run the electric water heater or a propane heater?
July 18, 1996
We have now been on the boat for one month. This cruise is already one week longer than any we have done in the past. Even though the boat has been fine, we have compiled a fairly large list of things we'd change. Other than adding a cabin heater and possibly a propane "on-demand" water heater most of the items on the list are minor adjustments to the boat.
For the two of us the boat seems to be the right size. It would be nice to have a little more storage area for clothes etc. I guess this is where a boat with both an aft cabin and a Vee-berth would come in handy.
The North Channel has been everything I'd expected and in some cases more. Up to this point, knock on wood, navigation has been easier than expected. This is probably true due to the fact that the GLCC books are so extensive. It has been hard to get used to the scales on the various charts, everything is much closer than I had expected. After only a few days up here it became obvious that we weren't going to see every cove & inlet. With this in mind we slowed down, kicked back, and enjoyed the scenery. At least there will be more to see next year, and the year after, and the year after, . . . . .
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