I think it’s fair to say that we have taken to this cruising lifestyle like ducks to water!
It’s hard to believe we’ve been cruising the east coast of Australia for over two years – time has flown by. And, we’ve only been north of Brooklyn in New South Wales and spent most of the time in Queensland! So this means we have a lot more of the coastline to explore (and this starts in earnest in 2023) as we head south to Tasmania.
And we’ve learnt a few things along the way. But before discussing our seven key lessons learnt, I would like to say it’s important to live in a space before changing it. Sometimes what seems like a problem really isn’t and as we know, all problems are caused by change!
Simple solutions work
Weather overrules all plans
Work together and use your strengths
Trust your instruments and have backups
Manage power usage
Avoid schedules
Everything in its place and a place for everything
Simple solutions work
Simple solutions are often the best!
There have been times where suddenly, a simple solution to a problem or annoyance springs to mind. As I write about them, they may sound trivial, but they can make a big difference. I’ll describe the best solution of Robert’s and let the photos tell about the rest.
Easy switch to turn hot water off/on
For context, our system heats water at random intervals and uses about 10 amps of power when heating. So if cooking or using higher-power devices like the kettle, we would go up to the pilot house and turn the hot water off by flicking the switch in the fuse box. Of course, sometimes we’d forget to turn it on again, resulting in no hot water!
Robert – aka MacGyver – created a simple (sort of) solution for this, which is highly visible and sits with our other power monitoring instruments – he’s installed a rocker switch:
- It’s illuminated when hot water can heat up, that is, when plugged into shore power or when we are using the generator.
- In conjunction with our AC2 power monitor, it shows when water is actually heating and therefore using over 10 amps of power.
So when cooking for example, we flick this rocker switch off to stop the water from heating. The rocker switch light and light on the AC2 power monitor turn off – two very visible signs that the water is not able to heat. At any time, a quick glance is all we need to see whether the system is on again. Now all I need to do is remember to check this before going to bed!
Open the following photos for comments explaining this.
Other simple solutions
- Regularly, our garbage bag would regularly fall into the bin, but an occy strap around the top has solved that problem – simple.
- Keeping lines off the deck and out the way solved by purchasing some cleats from a friend who no longer needed them – safer too.
- We were having trouble with power at docks and turns out the blades were rusting, so I made a cover for when it’s not in use (on anchor) – solved.
- Where to store the wet umbrella – solved.
- New gas struts hold the flybridge hatch open, whereas previously we had to tighten thumbscrews on old metal poles – simpler and safer.
- A basket for pantry storage fits into the cupboard perfectly (and can be removed quite easily too) – simple.
- A fabric box for containers – means I no longer need to get on my hands and knees to find one – also simple.
Weather overrules all plans
We’ve learnt to be patient and wait for appropriate winds/tides that suit us because no matter where we want to go, weather overrules all plans.
Recently, strong winds and waves stopped many people from cruising, or resulted in people hunkering down to escape the weather event brought on by an east coast low. Open the following screenshots for an explanation. And in case you’re wondering, we use Windy ap for longer range forecast, Seabreeze ap for closer range, and just before travel we refer to the Bureau of Meteorology Meteye.
Work together and use your strengths
While one person could do some of these things, most require, or are easier when we work as a team. Some examples include deploying the flopper stoppers, lowering and raising the tender or kayaks, dropping and raising the anchor, and docking at a marina berth of fuel wharf. Sometimes there’s miscommunication (annoyances can occur) but we have to get over this to enjoy our lifestyle.
Then in terms of using our strengths…well I like the detail of planning our passage, deciding where to go, how long it might take, what options are available if plan A needs to change, then creating the routes. I also do all the communications. Robert is great with all things engine-related, checking the engines, doing fuel changes, solving problems, and so on. Of course there’s a lot more but these are just some examples of how we work to our strengths.
Trust your instruments (and have backups)
When cruising, there are times when things just don’t feel right and it’s important to trust what your instruments tell you.
A recent example was when we started to notice the rudders had moved after I centred them. I centre them when motoring very slowly so I can control the boat direction using the twin engines. It just felt wrong, so Robert inspected the rudder hardware in the lazarette and tracked down the problem. It turned out that the mounting for the rudder ram drive had rusted through and the rudders were not being held in position. Robert rigged up a temporary fix until we could get a new mount fabricated.
Since installing a radar earlier this year, it’s another instrument that helps us identify hazards, especially at night, and we’re learning to read the screen and trust it.
We also have backups. Earlier this year, we updated our chart plotters, which we use for navigating and we also have an iPad with our navigation routes on. Just in case of connectivity issues, I download the charts we are using for a passage onto the iPad.
Recently our original transducer – sensor to determine depth and installed through the hull in 2013 – started to show zero depth below the boat. This clearly wasn’t correct and Robert tracked down and fixed loose connection. This is a single point of failure, which we don’t like having, and of course it’s critical to know the depth of water we’re cruising in. So recently we purchased another transducer that sits in the hull of the boat. We’ve connected it to the new chart plotter and connected the older transducer to the original chart plotter. Both currently provide the same depth reading and it’s comforting to know we have a backup.
Manage power usage
For our 240volt system, both shore power and our generator (Kohler 5KVA) provides us with around 15 amps of power, so it’s important to have an idea of how much power our various devices use.
While you don’t need to know exactly how much power each device uses, it’s good to have a rough idea and here are some examples:
- Background loads (device chargers, TV, WIFI router etc) – use about 1 amp continuously
- Hot water – uses about 10 amps to heat the water and from cold, can take 1.5 hrs to fully heat
- Kettle – uses about 10 amps but it’s small and doesn’t take long to boil
- Hotplate elements –
- Small element – uses about 6.5 amps to come up to heat
- Large element – uses about 8.5 amps to come up to heat
- Air fryer (oven) – uses about 7 amps
- Microwave – uses about 8 amps
- Toaster – uses about 5 amps
- Hair dryer (only used to defrost the fridge/freezer) – uses about 11 amps
- Our Dyson fan (heat and cool) –
- in heating mode starts with a big power surge but settles at around 9 amps
- in cooling mode uses around 3 amps
We also have 2 inverter chargers (Victron 3000w/120a/12v) configured in parallel with power assist enabled. Depending on the 12volt battery bank state/capacity, the inverters can also provide around 15 amps of power if operating stand-alone or can supplement about 10 amps of power to the other power source (shore power or generator). In practice, the power assist function seems to depend on how successfully it can synchronise with the load – large sudden loads (for example, the kettle) often cause it problems.
If we do start to use too much power, you can hear the inverters come on and you might see some alert lights flashing red. If you overload the system, generally the main circuit breaker fuse in the fuse box flicks off.
Previously I mentioned about our simple solution to prevent the water from heating when, for example, cooking. This simple solution has stopped a lot of the issues we’ve had. But I’ve also become very good at juggling and timing when cooking.
Avoid schedules
There’s a saying that the worst thing to have on a boat is a schedule!
If you have to be somewhere by a certain date and time, then you put yourself under unnecessary stress and may take risks. We avoid schedules like the plague, or should that be like COVID? However, we did break this rule recently when we had to be at Gold Coast City Marina (GCCM) by 8am on Monday 8 August. This was so the boat could be lifted out for maintenance – that’ll be a separate blog!
So, to help avoid stress relating to bad weather, we booked a week at Sanctuary Cove Marina immediately before our lift, and it’s only 20 minutes from GCCM. That way, we had a good window of opportunity to be close to the marina. I should note that planned our route, working backwards from the deadline date building in plenty of ‘fat’. This is the first time we’ve had a schedule, and generally we don’t commit to be anywhere at any time.
Everything in its place and a place for everything
After downsizing from our home to Poseidon, it became obvious that we had to keep Poseidon tidy and put things back after using them. Pretty quickly we started saying ‘everything in its place and a place for everything’.
We also decided that we want to be able to store things in situ, rather than finding other places for them. One example is our outside window screens. We roll them up and put a strap around them so they can be stored where they are, rather than taking them off and finding alternative storage, and probably forgetting where we put them! Of course, this can also be considered as another simple solution for storage.
We used to store our outdoor cushions in the pilot house if it was going to rain. Recently I changed the foam to reticulated or open cell foam, which doesn’t hold water. By adding mesh to the bottom/back of the covers I’ve increased the airflow. This means we can also keep them in situ and while they may get a bit damp in rain, they dry out quickly.
In our galley, we’ve also added a shelf inside two of the taller cupboards to increase storage. Then it’s just important to put things back in the same place each time because there’s nothing more frustrating when you lose something – and I’m quite guilty of moving things to different locations!
8 Responses
Interesting to see how much power each device uses. Clever idea of Robert’s to install the rocker switch.
Thanks Pam, very interesting and impressive organising.
I was wondering how well you sleep on board.
Are you so used to it now, you get a good sleep most night?
Hi Mike, thanks for your comment and yes, we mostly sleep very well. And let’s face it, even if we don’t sleep so well, we don’t have to get up for work in the morning…and we can have a ‘disco nap’ during the day if we want to!
ORGANISED and definitely not ‘organised chaos’ as a lot of our lives seem to be.
Well done both of you.
All very good and valid points for sure! It may sound a bit simple or even controlling but order is safety so what we do in practice, we do in real life. What that means is a healthy habit is formed and muscle memory will see you right!
Seriously Pam you need to write a book. Continue safe traveling and love to you both xx
Organised and personalised!
Robert’s arrays of lights and dials and switches looks impressive!
Have you switched to lithium for house batteries!?
We’ve sold our boat now so it’s just academic interest!
Happy travels!
Hi Pete and Kaye, No, we haven’t switched to lithium batteries. Still plenty of life in our Trojans, and we replaced 12 when we were in Townsville last year. Cheers, Pam