Tag: water tank

No easy chores

Boat chores before leaving Enkhuizen

July 15th 2015

Ready to depart

It is really the last day in Enkhuizen. And since it’s the pre-passage day we had to do all kinds of chores to prepare for the next passage, like getting groceries, clean up the mess in the saloon and filling up the water tank. 

Today is a typical example how a simple task on a boat becomes an afternoon’s work. We still had two full water containers, that we had filled a week ago. With the current temperatures isn’t prudent to drink that anymore, so we had to empty them first and refill them. That reminded us that we also needed to clean the bilge. There’s always a little puddle of stagnant water in the bilge, so you have to clean it once in a while. And the last time we did that, was in Middelharnis 3 months ago. The reason we thought of cleaning the bilge when we were refilling our water containers, was that we could empty the containers in the bilge, scrubbing at the same time, and then the bilge pump will pump out the water. This way we wouldn’t just toss the water overboard, but use it before we throw it away.

With a clean bilge we could progress to filling all the empty water tanks. Refilling a water tank isn’t that straightforward when you live on a boat. First you have to unroll the hose. But you can’t just pop the hose in your tank, especially not in high summer. To prevent that harmful bacteria end up in your water tank, you have to let the water run for a few minutes to flush the pipes and thus get rid of the stagnant water in which bacteria like legionella can grow. Usually you let it run until the water gets cold. So while we were waiting for the water to become cold, we thought we might use that water to clean the anchor locker while we’re at it. There is an outlet in the locker to dispose of excess water. But no water was coming out. Hmm…apparently the hole is blocked. Jeroen heaved out the anchor chain to see what was causing the blockage. The culprit was soon found. A clump of clay had accumulated on the bottom, blocking the hole. It was no mystery how that clay ended up in our locker. In all our anchoring adventures we had scooped up so much clay that this was bound to happen. We spent the better part of an hour prying all the clay out of the small hole. Two hours later we could finally refill the water tanks. There is nothing like an easy chore on a boat…

Freedom

Self-sufficiency is priceless

June 28th 2019

Dusk has fallen, our last evening here.

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.