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From: John Bierrie (ix.netcom.com!bierrie)
Date: Mon Oct 07 1996 - 18:40:40 EDT
>>Over this past weekend (and last week) we have been doing a fair amount of
>>work to the boat. While doing this work, we seem to be constantly "looking"
>>at things with an eye towards living aboard (which is as it should be).
>>Some of the questions which come up (either from myself, or my wife) we are
>>able to answer, most we are not, so we have a couple after this past weekend.
>
>Any time schedual for moving aboard? Just curious. We moved aboard our
Valiant
>about a year and a half ago, and do enjoy it, but don't get out sailing as much
>as we would like.
Mike,
I am sorry to hear about the latter as it was/is one of our concerns. Your
not going out as often as you'd like... is this due to actually "living
aboard" or other outside situations?
We are "planning" on moving on sometime in April. That schedual may be
advanced or delayed a bit by what progress is or is not made over this
winter on the boat. Right now we are in the process of (hopefully) making
the cabinhouse water "resistant" as opposed to being more of a filter... We
have replaced quite a bit of rotted wood, given the bare wood (all of the
wood was bare...) a good coat or two of primer and sealed the
cabinhouse/deck joint as best we can. Hopefully it is good enough, if not,
we'll do it again. G! After that is to take care of the other rot and then
hit the major "systems" (frige, water, propane, etc.).
>>Icebox... The one currently on the boat is (to my standards) HUGE... A top
>>loader with three access hatches. Approximately 4' long by 3' wide (at top)
>>and about 3' deep.
>
>I would advise leaving it is at is for now and seeing how it works for you.
>>From the increase in my wife's four letter word vocabulary, I would say that
>the ice box/refridgerator is one of the most difficult things on a boat to
>adjust to. Ours turns out to be very narrow, but long and deep. Very hard
>to get to things at the bottom. Sounds like you have something like 15 cu ft
>of space total, pretty good sized for cruising, probably about right for just
>living aboard. I have my doubts about a Alder Barbour actually keeping the
>freezer cold enough to freeze in that size of a reefer unless it is extreamly
>well insulated.
The box itself is lined in stainless steel. After that is about 4" of
insulation followed by the outer covering. Not sure if this is "good",
barely adequate or "do it over" specifications...G!
Getting to the "bottom" is the concern my wife has already voiced... At the
moment I have little alternative but to see how things go. There is
sufficient space in the aft end of the cabin to install a "stand up" unit if
necessary. Though I hate front opening friges, it may solve some of the
other problems. It would also allow us to use some of the other space more
"efficiently" (to us that is).
>>The unit is run by an Adler-Barbour unit which will probably need service
>>(haven't had it run yet...).
>
>If it needs service, and is more then 5-6 years old, you might be better off
>just getting a new one. From what I hear they last about 10 years and then
>the entire unit needs replacing. You can just replace the bad part, but then
>next week something else goes, etc. Since they are do it yourself, they are
>fairly cheap. One disadvantage of the new ones is the new refrigerant, it
>really doesn't do quite as well as the old r-12, but at least you can get it
>here in the states.
I have heard this problem from a number of people, not only in the marine
environment, but others as well. At this point though, I suspect we will
end up changing out the unit at some point in time. Either due to a
"re-design" or simply because what is currently there is not really
salvageable. It's been quite awhile since the system has been run (years...
3 - 4?).
>This information is from other friends, Pathfinder came with an engine driven
>system and we added a 110 volt compresser and circuit to the cold plates. By
>the way, all of them work better if the freezer is kept full.
This is to be expected, at least from our experience as well.
>>Stove... Included is a four burner "propane" stove, with oven. Stove is
>>old, but in good condition (a little cleaning needed). Two 10lb propane
>>tanks are on the after deck. Anyone know the approximate usage rate for
>>those tanks in a live-aboard situation??
>
>We have a pair of 20 lb tanks, and I am pretty sure that in a year and a
half we
>have not gone through more than two or three. I think that you could expect to
>use a 10 lb tank about every three to six months, depending mostly on how much
>you bake. For safety, bring the system up to specs, ie, single feed hose with
>no connections outside the propane locker except at the stove. I assume you
>have the mandatory selenoid, think about adding either a propane sensor or
>one of the selenoids that has the sensor built in. The sensors also detect the
>hydrogenfrom overcharged batteries, and mine, at least, detects the SSB
radio:(. >No talking while Susannah is cooking!
Right now the twin tanks are connected "externally" to one line feeding
below decks down to the galley. Though it "appears" to be one line of
copper tubing, I am probably going to replace it anyway. The system does
have a solenoid, but no apparent "sniffer", which we will want to install as
well. We will probably replace the whole system as well... The steel tanks
which came with the boat need a "special" adapter to fill, something most
places do not apparently have. Yes, we could get one (I guess), but it
seems easier, not to mention we'd have "new" equipment, if we do a complete
replacement.
I'm heartended to hear your estimated usage level... Even if we are going
through 20lbs in 4 - 6 months I would be happy. Oven use will probably not
be very high during the warmer months (it isn't in the house either), but
winter months are a different story. G!
>>Hot water... Hot water tank is a 6gal unit... Could probably be replaced
>>(badly corroded outside). Should we go larger?
>
>You know, I don't know how large ours is, but we certainly always seem to have
>hot water. Generally the hot water is VERY hot, so it goes further.
>However, we do not take showers aboard. Every boat that we know of that
people >have used the showers has ended up with rot someplace around the
shower, not to >mention the extra humidity that builds up.
Rot is something I have learned a great deal about... all sorts of rot!!
Know it well and wish to avoid it as much as possible!!!!!! I wonder how a
shower head would look sitting on the mizzen mast?? Maybe even mount a
"horn" and have it do double duty... Air, it makes noise, water... simply
insert the strainer head and you have a shower...G!
>>Head... The boat has a "Lectra/San marine sanitation treatment system. I
>>do not know what work I will have to do with it, but are they worth having
>>in the situation we will be in or would a holding tank be a better choice?
>>We will have dockside/slipside facilities, but at 3am, I'm not, nor would I
>>expect my wife to wander off to the WC on shore.
>
>I installed a LectraSan system in Pathfinder, primarily to be legal in the
>Chesapeake Bay, works fine, the Coast Guard accepts it! What we did was
>plumb the head so that it goes directly to the Lectrasan. From there it can
>be switched so that it either goes directly overboard or into the holding tank.
>This way if we are in a no discharge zone we can hold it in the tank until we
>get out of the no discharge zone and then pump it overboard legally. And if we
>are in waters, like the Bahamas where it is legal to discharge, at least it has
>been stirlized before people swim in it, or better, it goes to the tank till we
>get a bit offshore.
The "concept" of them did/does sound good to me. My lack of experience with
such systems made/makes me wonder about their viability in actual use. The
previous owner said it worked fine around here, so... we'll see.
>Our Marina does not allow discharge of sewage into the water, a good policy in
>my view (I had to dive for an anchor that I dropped overboard)! However we are
>a bit lax in using the holding tank or LectraSan for just urine. But as you
>say, the 3:00 am stuff at least gets run through the Lectrasan before going
over.
Again, I will have to bow to your experience on the matter as to how they
work... The head area is one place I have yet to thoroughly go through, but
I hope to start on that portion later this week. I know there are thousands
of other things needing to be done, but this weekend is when I bring the
boat around, so it might be "needed". We do have the ol' bucket, just in case.
>The LectraSan has a high and low salt level warning, and I am convinced that
>this is simply monitoring the current that flows through the system. I
have heard
>several people complain that the only way they can keep the low level light
from
>lighting is by running their engine while processing. My guess is that
they are
>a bit light on the wire used to power the system. I suspect that if they went
>one gauge heavier they would eliminate the problem. We do have to use extra
>salt in the system while in the Chesapeake (or at least our area of it) to make
>up for the lack of salinity.
This is something I will file away in the old memory banks to be dredged up
again as/if needed (with my luck it will be needed, but forgotten!). Thanks!!
>There is some thoughts that I have on the three questions that you asked,
>hope they can give you some starting points for thinking about what you
want to >do.
A big help, thank you!
John
Alden 42 - Nordfarer #3
"Time & Tide"
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