On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 00:56:57 EDT, you wrote: We got out for a long Labor Day cruise this year and went out twice with a grandson. Which is better than last year when the boat never got out of the yard because Bob was having dental work and I was trying to take care of my mom's estate. The year before we got about 100 yards from the dock and stopped dead in the water because Bob had forgotten that he had shut off the fuel to work on the engine and he hadn't turned it back on again.
>Now, after spending a few days on the hook, we're evaluating what we've >learned. We learned that good working autopilots can quit at any moment. I >should >have realized that, as I can't recall any deliveries where the auto pilot >worked the whole trip. Wait - I think the one on the boat I took from Long >Island >sound to Jacksonville, Florida just before 9/11 still worked when I got off. > Ours has worked except for once when it had a broken connection due to a crimped cord which only showed up when it was installed vertically. But most ocean sailors don't use (or at least don't rely) on them. Since we are coastal sailors, we do use ours. >We learned we are big power hogs. I thought our 550 watts of solar would come >close to keeping up. It probably would for real conservationists, but that is >not us. Our 125 amp alternator that puts out about 65 amps doesn't do enough. >So, we're scratching our heads and sharpening our pencils trying to decide >what is the best next step. We're about solared out - it would require >covering >the entire cockpit to do much more, and that has been veto'd by the first >mate. Carrying our little Honda generator might help. But, I think I need to >build >a jackshaft and hook up the big old 180 amp alternator Lew talked me into >buying some time ago. That would certainly help. > >We've noticed that the fridge runs about 95% of the time, and don't see why. > >Nellie learned that, away from shore power, we can't run the tv, microwave >and toaster at once. > We don't have a microwave or a toaster on board. We rarely use the toaster at home, so we didn't consider it. If I did want toast, I'd do it over the stove burner. We had the microwave the first year and didn't ever use it so we got rid of it. [We did look at one boat that had an electric stove BTW] We do have a DirecTV antenna (and a regular antenna but we don't use both at the same time), a Follow Me, and a TV-VCR. I also have laptops, one of which is used for navigation. When we were cruising, we also used the LectraSans. Also the radios, SSB and radar when underway. The engine heats the water when we run the refrigeration (half an hour twice a day) so we rarely use the water heater. Our refrigeration is engine driven so it doesn't rely on the battery bank. And our battery bank is very large. In the past when we had electrical problems it was usually because of undersized wiring. People that cruise in the tropics tend to rely on solar, and take out their wind generators. Those of us farther north need both. _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
