Cruising Amenities

[ebs001]

Just got back from cruising to the Bahamas where we had a wonderful time. We added four items to the boat this year that really enhanced our cruising experience.
1. An electric windlass. Made deploying and retreiving the anchor so much easier. It also meant I had a hand free to operate the washdown hose.
2. A 80 gallon per day watermaker. Makes excellent water (better than what is available at the marinas) and relieves jerry canning. Making anchoring out for long periods of time, which we did almost exclusively, all that easier.
3. An Engel 45 which we used as a freezer. Meant we were able to carry all our meat for the 4 months we were away.
4. A Honda 2000. Meant we were able to keep our batteries charged without running the engine to do so. We also used a breadmaker, ran the watermaker and did our computer work while running the gen.
There was a fair amount of expense involved but it for us it was worth it.

[chucklesR]

Glad to hear the Honda carried the load and managed the marine environment.

[Valiente]

Interesting stuff, ebs. I just received my Honda 2000 for much the same reasons, and I will be installing my Lofrans Tigre manual/electric winch this season.

I have been mulling over the watermaker logic, as I am completely redoing my potable tankage into 4 x 50 gallon HDPE tanks down low, instead of SS tanks hanging from under the decks. I think I'll see how this affects stability first, before deciding whether the expense and amp-cost of having a small watermaker aboard equals the convenience not only of having the water, but of having the tanks, which perform in part a ballast function on a full keeler, outweigh the need to periodically go to shore or to "harvest" rain water.

(Part of the idea of having 4 x 50 gallon tanks in the first place is to fully sequester drinking water from "utility water", which could be rain water, for instance, or slightly suspect local supplies.)

[camaraderie]

Ebs..glad you had a great time...welcome back.
On the watermaker...about how many AH's a day were you using with that and did you leave the "harbors" when you ran low or was it ok in harbors?

[ebs001]

Cam, thanks for the welcome back. I usually ran the watermaker about 2 to 3 hours daily and used about 6 amps per hour so 12 to 18 amp hours per day. I made water everyday even when I was in harbours like Hope Town and Marsh Harbour. The pre-filters had to be cleaned and/or replced more often but water quality remained excellent. I pickled the watermaker for storage as soon as I got back to the States as water is readily available and free at marinas where we have to go for fuel anyway.