As I wrapped up the last entry on this blog, I suggested that “Living along the waterway is much more than tropical breezes, beautiful sunsets and friendly boaters.” It is a whole different way of living that requires adjustments of all sorts. I'll use electricity as an example. For most people who live in houses, few give any thought to their electricity. If one needs power for a TV or a toaster, one just plugs in and it's there. There's never any concern about how much power is already being called for in the house and what impact that might have on this particular need.
Now lets shift the scene to a typical cruising sailboat. You are interested in watching TV. The issue that must have been addressed prior to even thinking about turning on the TV is: where is the power coming from. Cruising sailboats use 12 volt DC batteries as their primary source of electricity. One must have hooked up on board an inverter that will convert the 12 volt DC to the normal sort of electricity found in most land dwellings – 110 volt AC. That should get the TV to turn on. Of course out on a mooring we have no cable connection, so we need an antenna (like in the olden days. An added issue here in Marathon is that we're too far from any transmitting antenna, so we get no TV stations.) OK, so we'll assume that we're not in Marathon, but are anchored a little farther north in Miami Beach, so we receive several channels.
Of course our ability to watch TV and run other electrical appliances or lights is dependent on how much electricity we have stored in our batteries. That's right. We must produce all our electricity unless we are at a marina slip and plugged in to power like most houses are. Boaters produce the needed electricity in one or more of several ways. Most boats have an alternator attached to their engine which produces electricity much the same way that a car does, as long as the engine is running. Additionally many boats have a gasoline or diesel generator designed to produce the needed power. We don't have one of those, but we do have solar panels and a wind generator. These limit our need to run our engine to produce power while we're tied to a mooring or at anchor. Of course both are dependent on Mother Nature providing sufficient breezes and sun. Otherwise we must run the engine for our power, using expensive diesel fuel and polluting the atmosphere a bit.
Because it is necessary to produce all that we use, we tend to turn lights off when not needed; we don't leave the TV on as background while we're on the boat, and we seek the most efficient options for meeting our power needs. For instance LED lights, which use much less power than other options, are becoming increasingly popular on boats.
It may appear that I'm focusing on a negative aspect of boat life. But I'm actually a bit proud of this situation. In a typical day here in Marathon, we have lights on as we need them; we listen to music and watch movies with DVDs quite regularly. Our refrigeration keeps our food cold, and our electric water pump keeps the water pressure up where we like it. For all that we use the electricity needed each day to keep two 120 watt light bulbs burning for 6 hours. And none of that electricity comes off the grid. So when it comes to power usage, we live a pretty “green” existence.
I've found that we cruisers do our best in several ways to limit damage to the natural world around us. That must be, in part, because we live in somewhat closer touch with our environment. We appreciate the beauty of our surroundings and notice the damage more quickly. Provided with this close view of how things are, we should probably do a better job promoting “greener” living for all. After all, we do hope to share this beautiful world with our grandchildren in the years to come.
Captain Bob
Carpe Diem
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