SHIP'S LOG:
Well,the learning experience goes on. I have to find a new source of BTUs or heat. It seems that both of the heaters that I have, the oil-filled radiator and the blower, do their task at 1,500 watts. I have discovered that I have only a 1,000 watt inverter and as Sister Mary Mojo told you in school, a big number doesn't go into a small number. Strangely, it has been so cold recently that the heaters worked well enough and the inverter handled the load. It handled the electrical load because it never got hot enough to over load and shut down, that is, not until the recent spate of unusually warm weather. Then suddenly, the circuit breakers kept popping as the inverter heated up with the overload. So now I am without heat and am once again off the boat, at least until I can come up with another form of heating it. Probably go with a kerosene heater as propane on the boat, indeed inside the boat, is a little to scary to contemplate comfortably. Of course, the idea of spending more money on another form of heating isn't what I wanted to do but I like to have feeling in my bodily extremities.
It was interesting to sleep, or I should say try to sleep, on the Tuesday night. I am sure that most people would think that a boat tied up to a dock would be safe and secure during a storm. In one sense it is,, but because it can respond to the waves and wind only just so far, its movements are short and snappy, filled with lots of quick and unexpected jolts. In fact, since the wind and waves often move in competing directions, the boat never gets into any rhythmic motion. Trying to sleep on such an occasion is sort of like trying to catch 40 winks in an RV driving along a rutted road liberally sprinkled with potholes of various sizes. At anchor or on a mooring, the boat always orients itself to the wind. Even though it may "sail" around abit, the motion is much more comfortable and will "rock" you to sleep.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I have not gotten that rhythm down yet. Living on the boat still feels like camping out. It isn't comfortable yet. I am sure that it is, in part, because of the cold and perhaps with more heat, be it from a new heater or a radical change in the winter weather, that will change. With all the work I have done over the last FIVE MONTHS, I would have thought that I would know the boat better than I do. I am still not comfortable with all of the systems yet and that will take some time as they are, for the most part, all winterized and are not being used. A late night trip to the bathroom on the other side of the yard is a fun experience I would rather do without, but such is life. Then again, not using the heads on the boat mean that the time until one or the other breaks down is growing longer. (And yes, they will break down. It is never a question of "IF," but "WHEN."
On the financial side of this trip, I have reached and exceeded my planned expenditure of $15,000 for getting the boat ready to go. I had planned, and still do, to use the money from the sale of the condo to cover this part of the trip. Of course, Custer had a plan and look what it did for him. Hey, how was I to know that the housing market was going to go into the toilet. But this too is a learning experience though I wish I was just a little less dense. Evidently God doesn't want me to win the Lottery either for though I am not a regular ticket purchaser, I have yet to get even one number on any of the tickets. Here's hoping that I come up with no more major purchases.
Well,the learning experience goes on. I have to find a new source of BTUs or heat. It seems that both of the heaters that I have, the oil-filled radiator and the blower, do their task at 1,500 watts. I have discovered that I have only a 1,000 watt inverter and as Sister Mary Mojo told you in school, a big number doesn't go into a small number. Strangely, it has been so cold recently that the heaters worked well enough and the inverter handled the load. It handled the electrical load because it never got hot enough to over load and shut down, that is, not until the recent spate of unusually warm weather. Then suddenly, the circuit breakers kept popping as the inverter heated up with the overload. So now I am without heat and am once again off the boat, at least until I can come up with another form of heating it. Probably go with a kerosene heater as propane on the boat, indeed inside the boat, is a little to scary to contemplate comfortably. Of course, the idea of spending more money on another form of heating isn't what I wanted to do but I like to have feeling in my bodily extremities.
It was interesting to sleep, or I should say try to sleep, on the Tuesday night. I am sure that most people would think that a boat tied up to a dock would be safe and secure during a storm. In one sense it is,, but because it can respond to the waves and wind only just so far, its movements are short and snappy, filled with lots of quick and unexpected jolts. In fact, since the wind and waves often move in competing directions, the boat never gets into any rhythmic motion. Trying to sleep on such an occasion is sort of like trying to catch 40 winks in an RV driving along a rutted road liberally sprinkled with potholes of various sizes. At anchor or on a mooring, the boat always orients itself to the wind. Even though it may "sail" around abit, the motion is much more comfortable and will "rock" you to sleep.
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
I have not gotten that rhythm down yet. Living on the boat still feels like camping out. It isn't comfortable yet. I am sure that it is, in part, because of the cold and perhaps with more heat, be it from a new heater or a radical change in the winter weather, that will change. With all the work I have done over the last FIVE MONTHS, I would have thought that I would know the boat better than I do. I am still not comfortable with all of the systems yet and that will take some time as they are, for the most part, all winterized and are not being used. A late night trip to the bathroom on the other side of the yard is a fun experience I would rather do without, but such is life. Then again, not using the heads on the boat mean that the time until one or the other breaks down is growing longer. (And yes, they will break down. It is never a question of "IF," but "WHEN."
On the financial side of this trip, I have reached and exceeded my planned expenditure of $15,000 for getting the boat ready to go. I had planned, and still do, to use the money from the sale of the condo to cover this part of the trip. Of course, Custer had a plan and look what it did for him. Hey, how was I to know that the housing market was going to go into the toilet. But this too is a learning experience though I wish I was just a little less dense. Evidently God doesn't want me to win the Lottery either for though I am not a regular ticket purchaser, I have yet to get even one number on any of the tickets. Here's hoping that I come up with no more major purchases.
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