America's Great Loop--The Retirement Plan

With Doug's impending retirement nearing, concerned friends and relatives are asking "What is America's Great Loop?" America's Great Loop is an adventure designed to take about a year--or more exploring the Eastern United States by waterway.  The route will take us south to the Florida Keys, north up the East Coast through the Intercoastal Waterway, up the Hudson River, through the Great Lakes, through Chicago, and down the Mississippi River--with lots of stops along the way.  Much of the way we will use our inboard motor (a Yanmar Deisel), and hopefully we will get to sail. The trip will be slow (about 5 miles an hour) and there are a couple of places where we will have to remove our mast to pass under bridges.  This route will keep us close to land and is traveled by many people every year--there is even an association for these folks, commonly referred to as "Loopers."  After that we may opt for the Bahamas and beyond . . .

Answers to Common Concerns:

1. How can we contact you? We will still have phones and internet in most places.
2. How will you prepare meals? We have a propane 2 burner stove with an oven and we also have a propane BBQ grill. (We also kept a portable charcoal grill.) We have a water tank, water heater, refrigerator and a very large ice box. 
3. Do you have heat/air-conditioning on your boat? We have a small Honda generator, a portable airconditioner and space heaters. 
4. What kind of safety equipment do you have? We have 3 flare guns (and lots of flares), several life vests (even Trouble has a personal flotation device), 3 working marine fire extringuishers, smoke/noxious gas alarms, weapons, 2 vhf radios with distress signal buttons, lots of tools and spare parts for our vessel.
5. What if your boat becomes disabled? We will have insurance for towing us to a marina to get repairs done, much like AAA for your automobile--and we have a dinghy with a small electric motor (12 volt) that also has sails and can be rowed as well.

America's Great Loop Map - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1nV-lUkJ4eTi51hm1LH3wr5vCu20&hl=en&usp=sharing

Originally published on www.tumbleweed84.wordpress.com in November 2016.

Scary Stuff Under the Bed

I finally decided how to start a thorough stern to bow inventory of our sailboat contents.  Sounds simple enough, but if you are living aboard while trying to do the inventory, you have to find a place to put the stuff that is in the way of getting to the stuff you want to identify, count and maybe even photograph.  I decided today was the day.  I removed all of the bedding, including mattresses and memory foam pads on top of the mattresses.  This is an opportunity to vacuum and clean the berth (bed) platform which houses storage lockers.  There are three storage lockers under our bed in the aft cabin–starboard, center and port.

Our starboard locker houses one of our batteries, old life lines, and scraps of teak wood for repairs or leftovers from previous owner alterations.

Central locker: holding tank and rudder mechanism.

The center compartment holds a fairly new plastic black water holding tanks (yes a holding tank for poo), the depth sounder and steering mechanism for the rudder.)

Port locker sans contents

.The starboard locker holds more old life lines, and something that appears to be our knotmeter (boat speedometer.)

I take photographs as well, because I may have misidentified an item that my husband is looking for and there are just too many mystery items on a boat to identify them as thingies. The port locker has items that may not respond well to shifting heavy objects, so I have opted to store our winter blankets there along with dry bags and duffles.

So, along with a list and a map of areas and the names I have given each locker, the inventory continues.

Spice Storage on SV Tumbleweed

We love spicy food, but when storage space for spices in a tiny galley is a big issue, so how do you keep those spices on hand?  

I scoured the internet.  I questioned other boaters. And then I started experimenting.  Maybe a small container with multiple spices would do.  So when I saw this at one of y favorite stores and used it onboard.  It is good for a short camping trip, but an unsatifactory solution, but it fits in a very small space.  

Next I tried a wee little multi-spice cabinet box--cute, but just not enough for our purposes.

I tried a solution this great solution proffered by a boater that worked well for her.  She used clear bead storage jar units with boxes. I had to stack the units in my cabinet, which required putting silicone on the bottom of one unit so that it didn't slide around. I was constantly refilling the jars and needed to take both units out every time I cooked taking up valuable counter space.  The jars also were not as airtight as the jars you purchase spices in, so my spices began clumping.  So, I began searching for anothe solution on the internet.  My criteria: 1) easy access, 2) uses jars available anywhere, 3) room for lots of variey, 4) fits in my cabinet, and 5) doesn't rust.

Voila!

Manufacturers photo

I scoured the internet again.  I found a product that seemed to fit my criteria, but it seemed too good to be true.  It wasn't cheap, but if it would work, I was willing to pay.  I found a store in town where I could look at the cabinet,and if my measurements were off, I could return it.  It worked!  I can access my spices while I am cooking without taking up valuable counterspace.  I have been using this for more than 6 monts, and I love it! 

My spice cabinet aboard SV Tumbleweed.

Florida Summers--Trying to Stay Cool

Living in Florida, on a sailboat, in a marina, in summer makes having air conditioning close to a necessity.  Our current unit has stopped removing humidity from the boat interior and is only cooling the boat a few degrees.  When our interior temperature 86 degrees inside, and it was about 90 outside.  We have successfully employed multiple strategies to keep the interior cooler than the exterior, even though our air conditioner was failing:

• Boom tent
• Bow tent
• Fans, strategically placed to move air through the interior
• Insulation
• Retro fit car window shades
• Portable air conditioning unit
• Shade hatches

We have recently purchased a newer, more powerful airconditioner that keeps the indoor temperatures comfortable during the day despite the temperature and humidity--oh, what a few more thousand BTUs can do.

A Random Bit of Knowledge: Zinc Fish

After living aboard for a little over a year and a half, we have learned that we need to have sacraficial zinc anodes hanging over the side of our boat to keep the electrolysis from erroding our propellor. Not only do you need the anode, you need to know which one to buy, and how to attach it to your boat properly.  
So what is electrolytic corrosion?

According to Defender: "What is Electrolytic Corrosion? If you've noticed corrosion on the metal parts of your boat located below the waterline, you are the victim of "galvanic corrosion". The scientific term "electrolytic" or "galvanic" corrosion describes the type of corrosion that anodes are intended to absorb. This corrosion is normally caused by different metals being near each other in salt water. Galvanic corrosion, an electromechanical action, causes metal parts to decompose. This destructive process is caused by electrolysis, an electric current set up between the metal parts of your boat, with salt water as the electrolyte. The effect is like a flashlight battery -- an electrical current is created and continues until one of the metals is eaten up -- the battery goes 'dead'." 

There are three types of sacraficial anodes, and you cannot use two different type anodes on the same vessel at the same time. The anodes are categorized by water type:
                Salt water: use a zinc alloy anode
                Salt water and brackish water: use an aluminum alloy anode
                Fresh water:use a magnesium alloy annode
These anodes need to be attached to a ground. 

We are currently living in a marina in salt/brackish waters where conditions for electrolysis are optimal, so--our sacrificial "zinc" will arrive in the mail next week.

More information can be found at: http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/sacrificial-zincs.asp

What is Impeachment?

I keep seeing references to impeachment of the incoming President after the election from both sides of the political fence. Most Americans equate impeachment with removal from office, but impeachment does not always result in removal from office, so what is impeachment? It is the formal charges of wrong doing passed by the House of Representatives.  The Senate serves as the court judging the alleged crimes.  A verdict of guilty can result in removal from office. This link to the House of Representatives webpage explains things a bit further.



http://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/

Finally!

I finished our cookbook--volume one, yesterday.  The book features original recipes alongside old family favorites.  We plan to update the cookbook annually, adding recipes as we experiment and travel.  Our Cookbook

Rest Area Shennanigans

Sometimes we still travel on land, and when we do, we stop at rest areas.  Sometimes you have an unintended adventure--it's just Murphy's way.

So, for those baby boomers out there . . . you remember what your mom told you about using public toilets right? Never touch the seat, squat over it. I was following my mother's advice at a rest area, when the paper got stuck. I gently tugged the end of the paper, and the entire roll jumped into the toilet behind me, roller and all. In my mind, I can hear my dad saying that you can't flush that because it will clog the toilet, so . . . I whorl around to see the damage just in time to hear the automatic flusher kick in. I scream "noooooooo!" Then I do the unthinkable and grab the roll from the tainted water and hurl it into the trash can across the room, just in the nick of time. I then wash my hands very thoroughly several times and exit the lady's room nonchalantly, confident that I have averted a near disaster.

Hot Ice Issue

We were informed by email on Saturday that another of the liveaboard ammenities is being taken away. Ice, which was to be included in our liveaboard fees (1 10 lb bag a day), will now cost residents a bargain price of $1.50 a bag. The charge for everyone else has gone from $2.25 to $2.50.  Many of the liveaboards in our marina are elderly and/or on a fixed income. If those same folks are depending on that daily ration of ice, their cost for living here just went up $45 a month. This is not right.

Yay! The New Stove Arrived!

We purchased a propane stove to replace the CNG stove we culled because we could not find a tank or fuel for it.  The heavy-duty homemade crate it came in was heavier than the stove.  We still need to test it and put the noxious gas alarm in place before we use it.