The nautical adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Gray
Sun for our solar panels
The wind hadn’t died down, but at least the sun was back. We quickly adjusted the position of our solar panels and within no-time the batteries were full again. Within a few hours we had collected more power than in the last 3 days. All the computers, tablets and phones were powered again, so although the sun was shining we spent most of the day inside to catch up with work.
Time for an evaluation
Today it has been exactly three months since we left Stellendam and started our journey. It seems like a lifetime ago while on the other hand the days have gone in a flash. We have experienced and learned so much in the last few months that now seems like a good time to evaluate.
The first thing we realized is that there is a huge difference between a vacation and perpetual cruising. You can’t hurry a journey like this. We were rushing in the beginning and tried to visit as many places in the shortest amount of time, which made us very unhappy. It was hard to shake off the attitude of a tourist who only has 2 weeks to see the whole of Europe. We’ve realized that we have all the time in the world, and now we’re moving slower. It not only feels much better, but we have time to see and experience things and time to work. Before we slowed down we hadn’t even time to reflect upon what we’ve seen and done, let alone write about it or make movies. Now we also have time to work on commission and earn some money. And that was the plan to start with, to earn money along the way to support our travels.
The freedom of living in a mobile home is fantastic. You can live in all the big urban cities for a while, and when you’re done with the hustle and bustle and are in need of some peace and quiet you head for a remote anchorage somewhere. If you don’t like it somewhere you leave, and if you do like it you stay as long as you like.
We have also come to realize that you need very little in life. When we left we thought we hadn’t brought enough stuff, now we know we have brought too much. We can’t buy much new stuff either, because for every new item we want to buy we need to throw something away, otherwise there’s simply no space. You also don’t need much money, especially if you avoid marinas and stay at anchor most of the time. But even the total fee for the marinas you pay as a visitor (which is way more than if you are a regular berth holder) is less than the rent we paid for our house.
To live self sufficiently as much as possible is very liberating as well. We generate enough energy with our solar panels to power all our electric tools and batteries. We grow micro greens like been sprouts and alfalfa on board so that we always have fresh veggies. We also make several alcoholic beverages, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables, and make our own tofu and bread. It would be great if we can be even more self sufficient, so we keep adding to the list.
Every day is full of surprises. You might meet an amazing person, discover a beautiful spot or learn something new. Your world becomes bigger, and you learn a lot about your environment and most importantly about yourself. And that everything is always completely different, is at the same time the difficult part of perpetual cruising. Sometimes life throws curve balls at you, and you just have to deal with it. These can be technical issues like when your engine won’t start and you are drifting towards a shallow spot, or when the heater won’t work and you’re cold. But sometimes it’s just plain overwhelming that everything is different and nothing is familiar. We people are creatures of habit after all.
The journey is more important than the destination. Yes it’s a cliche, but there lies a whole world between just quoting the proverb or truly realizing what it means. And we’re just starting to grasp what it actually means. We still haven’t left the Netherlands, whereas when we started we thought we would be in Sweden by now. Although we keep saying to ourselves that ‘it’s all about the journey’ sometimes it feels a bit like we haven’t reached our goals. But it makes us happier to travel slower now we’ve realized no one is pushing us. There are new experiences every day, even if you stay in the same spot for two weeks. Besides, the Netherlands is beautiful as well. There is so much to see here, why would we rush past it all to get to St.Petersburg without having seen Enkhuizen or Edam, or without having anchored at the Braassemermeer or the IJsseloog?
One thing we’re still struggling with, is the weather. The weather is very decisive in how you spend your day if you are a perpetual cruiser on a sailboat. No wind? You’re stuck. Too much wind? You’re stuck. Rain? The solar panels won’t work and you don’t have power. Too much sun? You can’t do very much because you can’t escape the heat. We’ve learned that fighting the weather and stubbornly do what you’ve planned is a recipe for disaster.
But whatever happens, and whether we can continue this lifestyle or not, we’ve done it. In stead of talking and dreaming about it we have untied the lines and are now living our dream. And although it’s not all fun and games, we’d rather regret the mistakes we’ve made than regret the missed opportunity.
Self-sufficiency is priceless
Our last day at anchor here in our beautiful corner of the world. The sun was back again, making the day even better than it already was. In the warm morning sun we gave the cockpit a good scrub which was long overdue. Cleaning a boat is always more fun when it’s warm and sunny.
This is the 7th day that we are anchored here. We’ve never anchored for such a long stretch of time, simply because we have never been able to do that. Before we had the solar panels we could stay at anchor for a maximum of 2 nights. Then we had to hurry back to the marina because we were out of power. The fridge would stop working, but that is of course less dramatic than when your engine won’t start because of depleted batteries.
But the solar panels work like a charm, especially when we move them around following the trajectory of the sun. The batteries are full every day (provided there’s at least a bit of sunshine) and the panels generate enough power to run all the 12 volt equipment like the fridge, the anchor light at night and all the lights in the boat, charge 2 phones, 2 iPads, a handheld VHF and a computer every day. We can also run the alternator, which transforms the 12 volt output of the batteries to 220 volt, and with that we can charge another computer, the batteries of 3 cameras and power a rice cooker. Even on a cloudy day like last Wednesday the battery doesn’t deplete more than 87% of its capacity. So we are very happy with this set-up.
If you buy solar panels to get cheaper energy it’s hardly worth the investment. It takes a long time before the investment has paid itself back. But from our perspective every day at anchor is a day less in a marina, which on average costs €20 a day. In this calculation it doesn’t take long for the investment to pay itself back. But what’s more important, to be off grid and the increased self sufficiency gives us so much more freedom and mobility. That is truly priceless.
Next on our wish list is a water maker. Before our time at anchor was limited by our battery life. Now the only limit is set by the capacity of our water tank. If we can generate fresh drinking water ourselves, we would be truly self-sufficient.
Speaking of which, we’re running low on water, so we have to leave. When we checked this morning there was still about 30 litres in the tank. Probably we can stretch our supply till tomorrow evening, since we’ll be sailing all day tomorrow. That means that with the solar panels and our current water capacity we can stay away from shore for about 7 to 8 days, which is great!
Dusk has fallen now, time to go inside. Early start tomorrow. It truly was a glorious day.
Finally finishing the solar panel project.
It was promising to become a really warm day. Funny that just four days ago we sailed with thermo underwear to this marina, and now we’re walking around in swim wear.
The beautiful summer weather was ideal to finish the solar panel project. The new connector had arrived, so we could finally connect the last cables and install the panels and monitor permanently.
It was way too hot to do more chores, so while Captain Fluffy was making new friends with Pepper, the harbour master’s dog, we enjoyed home made beer in the sunshine.
Powering our boat with sunshine!
The moment of truth; will the new boards and the mattresses for the v-berth fit? Drumroll please…
Yes, it all fits! Pff, such a relief that we do not need to adjust them again. Bed mattresses are quite big and a pain to handle. The only thing we need to do now to successfully wrap up this project is to hand-stitch the cushions to close them. One done, three more to go.
On to the next project: the solar panels. We bought two 100 watt panels optimized for our northern latitudes where the sun is known not to make a regular appearance. We want to attach them to our life lines at the side of the cockpit, but unfortunately our panels didn’t came with holes. And it’s quite scary to drill holes in your brand new – and not exactly cheap – solar panels. Plan is to drill holes, fit them with grommets and use carabiners to hang them from the life lines. After gathering courage Jeroen finally drilled the first hole and pounded in a grommet. Looks promising!
But due to a sudden hailstorm we had to postpone the drilling exercise. More luck tomorrow.