Jan's Pages

All the farewells are over with. The tears are dried. The boat is packed to the gills . It is surprising just how much you can stow in such a little boat. Iain just kept bringing box upon box , upon  box. I swear he had all his worldly possessions hidden from me and brought out at the last minute. I have to say though, we just couldn't get everything in. "We do not  own the Queen Mary". The charity shops made a killing with our cast offs. No doubt we rid ourselves of stuff we needed and will have to purchase again further down the road. C'est la vie! Life is good, and so are seniors discounts!!

 We look forward to many adventures and invite you to share them with us on this journey, be it long or short.

8 months later, a few more grey hairs and a lot of fun.

It's the  last day of February and 8 months since we left Erieau. It has been a great experience with a very steep learning curve that's for sure.  Are we still having fun/???? Most of the time, but we do have our days. Put  it this way, we are not ready to come home yet!!! Our plans have change a little but we have always been flexible. That's the beauty of being retired. This seems to be a good time to let you know of some of the things we found to be useful as we traveled.  Some of you have indicated to us that you will be making this trip someday on your own boat.  I would like to help you avoid some mistakes we or other boaters made along the way. You will have plenty of time to make your own mistakes. We would like to help smooth the sailing a little so to speak.

Clothes.....

Remember all those boxes we packed into the boat well................Firstly, We brought way to many clothes for the trip. Yes you do need warm clothing for the way down especially if you are leaving late in the season. You just do not need many of them. I found fleece jogging suits did the job under my Gill jacket. Keeps you warm and do not take up a lot of room. You will get a lot of wear out of  that foul weather outfit. Leave the sweaters in Canada unless you have lots of room on your boat. Once you are down south, shorts & Ts, are all that anyone wears other than on the cool days, then light weight long pants and long sleeve Ts do just fine. Iain hasn't had long pants on since November. 

Remember to pack a light weight rain suit as you will need this for dingy rides to and from the boat when the sea is rough. There are so many weather fronts going through that  stir up the seas. It is surprising how wet you can get . 

We wear sandals most of the time. Ones which can be worn in water are good such as Crocs and Tivas or Keens.   Often when you get out of the dingy you have to step into water and these shoes stand up to the salt water better than most. 

In the hanging cupboards I have used a fabric space  saver shelving unit. It hangs on the rail and gives me shelving without altering the existing cupboard. It also leaves me room to still hang shirts alongside. To help prevent dampness or mustiness in this enclosed space I hang a Damp Rid bag. It keeps everything fresh and dry. I keep my sewing machine in this cupboard. The D.R. bag lasts about 2 months. I bought them in Target  3 for $9.00 Home Hardware & West Marine  have them also but at a much higher price.  There are other products you can put in drawers etc. that do the same job and they are also available from these stores.

Bedding. 

We have a V berth. Fitted bottom sheets are a must.  The bed is so much easier to make up and the sheets stay in place. The fitted sheets are easy to make. I find a queen sheet is a little small to  make a fitted sheet out of unless I patch the corners. A double is plenty big enough as a top sheet. I made up a triangular comforter  using two sheets and some quilt batting.  I put a pretty quilted pattern on top and this is what we have used since we left. It's light , not bulky, comfortable and not too warm.   For the cold days when we were traveling down the Chesapeake, we layered with a triangular blanket and that kept us cozy.

Galley

We all think we know about power, electrical that is. Well on the boat that power is at a premium. Unless you have a big boat with a big generator on board, you are going to have to make some sacrifices. What they are will  be will depend on what you have to work with and what your comfort level is.. We have 5  batteries,  an 80 amp alternator on our engine, a 1000 watt generator to boost the batteries and a 120 watt solar panel.  We have an 1000 amp invertors so that we can use 110 volts appliances.  Sounds a lot right. Wrong!!!  No hairdryers on board. The toaster was left in Erieau. We do not have a microwave oven or coffee maker.  We have refrigeration and it  takes most of our amp hours.  Check it out. Using more power than is available seems to be the thing that causes the most problems for first time cruisers.. 

You only  have so many amp hours a day to use.  Our battery bank is 440 amp hours  of which you can only use 50%. Economically it is only feasible to recharge to 85% leaving us approx 155 usable amp hours. The fridge takes about 48  amp hours every day. Lights and Nav instruments and general living take up another 15 to 20 per day. This does not include coffee makers, blenders and microwave ovens etc. Ice for happy hour is a luxury. 

Charging the batteries.

The solar panel puts in about 41/2 amps at peak  for max of 25 amps a day depending on sunshine. If we are anchored out  or sailing, we are not charging with the engine so we have to run the generator  every 3 days to cover our consumption. We do not have a wind generator. Even with a wind generator there are days when there is no wind or you are in a nice calm anchorage, Some generators are better than others for making power and should be checked out carefully prior to purchasing. 

In conclusion, check out usable amp power available to you and learn how it is  used up.

check out your charging system to make sure it is adequate for your needs

 check out the amp hours of electrical appliances  you would like to take before taking them on board. Remember that the amps are different for  appliances that rated for 110 and 12 volt.

So many of our fellow boaters  had problems  with flat batteries after they were away from the shore power . It was the cause of a great deal of stress and distress that I felt it was necessary to include this in my notes. 

Dishes glasses pots etc.

Our galley is small and storage is at a premium.  We bought melamine dishes. They are very serviceable but be sure to get a pattern you like as you have to look at them every day. Some people use Corning Wear and they seem to work fine for them. I am afraid of breakage. We are in our bare feet most of the time. We have plastic glasses  but did bring along some inexpensive crystal glasses for special occasions. They broke!! 

Pots with loop handles rather than long handles take up less space and can be used in the oven (Boat US or West Marine)   A stainless steel percolator from Wal-mart works well for coffee. They also have a small tea kettle which I have found indispensable.   Be sure , if you plan to bake/ cook on board for those pot luck happy hours and dinners  that you include trays for that purpose. I found oblong baking trays of various sizes and depth work well ( make sure they stack together)  rather than pie plates and square pans.   Zip lock bags of various sizes keep flour and pasta products fresh and bug free.  ( I put a couple of Bay Leaves in each bag).  I reuse the bags many times.  2 gal size purchased in the USA are wonderful for packing clothing in that will not be worn for a long time. 

Remember you will need to include serving spoons etc. for the pot luck meals. Wal-mart have ones with short handles that are easy to store. If you must, thin plastic disposable plates work better than paper plates and take up less room aboard but most cruisers take their regular dinner plates to pot lucks. It reduces the garbage you have to dispose of. Most islands have no facilities to dispose of garbage. I have a fabric tube that I store grocery bags in and I reuse them for the garbage.

Head

A liquid soap / shampoo dispenser works wonders in the head. I bought one out of Wal-Mart that sticks to the wall.  They come in different sizes to fit most needs. No  more messy soap dishes. We also have solar shower bags that hang up either out in the cockpit  or in the head for a warm shower without putting the water heater on. 

Food

We stocked up on most items of food prior to leaving Miami. You can't bring everything unless you have a large boat with lots of cupboard space. We packed what we could and planned to purchase the rest as we went. 

You can buy most food that you need in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is expensive but not for everything. I will,  at a later date, make a list of prices of common items for both the Bahamas and Miami and post it on this page. I will also include what we stocked for the trip and what we had left to give you some idea of what we used. 

I hope, if you plan to cruise, that  you find this page helpful and informative. This is in no way intended to be a hard and fast rule. Its just what I have experienced or seen others experience along the way. Everyone has their own comfort level and should cruise their own unique way . Remember this should be fun!!!!!!!!!!

Should you need any clarification on any of the subjects covered , please send me an email and I will get back to you personally. 

18 months of cruising later

Well we have now been on our cruise for  18 months. We have had some wonderful times but there have been days when things did not go as planned. We have learned a lot over the months, some by the experiences of cruising friends, some by on own.

Galley 

 We have discarded the melamine dishes in favour of the corning ware. I got so tired of eating off plastic. Even the expensive melamine dishes bought out of West Marine scratched and looked awful after a few months. I will take the risk of breakage. We have been using the new dishes for some months now and they have been fine. We are just careful and make sure the dishes are well packed when we are under way.

We are now using a French Press coffee maker we were given as a gift from cruising friends. This uses less fuel to make coffee that the traditional coffee pot.

I found some of my bake ware has started to rust in the salt environment yet others are fine. On checking I found the ones with the heavy Teflon coating have faired better. When its time to replace them, it will be of the better quality.

Our Force Ten 3 burner stove has been a blessing. Works well.

Easily accessible storage has always been a problem in our little boat. I have had Iain put extra shelves behind the sofa pillows, behind the stove and a fiddle below the stove. Our wet locker is the next area to be addressed. This has been great. After a few months on the boat I started looking how things could be improved. All boats are different so this storage varies from one boat to another.

When we left we were packed to the gunnels with so much stuff.. We still are but the contents of the boat have changes somewhat. Some of the things we brought from the house which didn't quite fit on the boat, but I didn't want to get rid of,  we have since discarded.   

After returning from the Bahamas, we took an inventory of food we had left. I found items of the food we brought from the house because we didn't want to throw it out, we still had. We got rid of it. I had made a computer inventory of  food and quantities we took on board. last November.  We checked off what we brought back so that I would have a better idea of what we used. I have used this revised list to help better  provision for the coming season. I have taken into account prices in the Bahamas.

 You can buy most food that you need in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is expensive but not for everything. We found ...cheddar cheese, butter, rice, etc were cheaper in Nassau and George Town than in the States.  Other things like tinned vegetables, beans, corned beef,  fruit punch, milk, eggs and hamburger are just a few pennies more than you are used to.  Pork, chicken, ham and lamb are about the same.  Pop/ sodas and beer are out of this world but rum is $8 a 40 oz,  Crackers, chips and snacks, paper products, personal hygiene products, shampoos etc are very expensive and you should consider taking as much of these products as you think you may need.

Phone cards from the Bahamas have become cheaper lately but still pricey. These can be purchase at the local super market for $5 & $10. Good for using with pocket mail as the 1 800 number does not always work.  We downloaded SKYPE ( voice over internet VOIP) and for just a few cents, we used this with a Wi-Fi connection to call Canada and Scotland to a regular phone.  I have continued to use this after returning to the States to save on calls. Two and a half cents per min to Scotland and about a cent to call Canada. With a head set and mike and good Wi-Fi connection you get very good reception. Many towns and libraries have a free Wi-Fi service for travelers and you can often pick up service in anchorages where there are large houses  . Our total cost for this service for a year (varies with amount used of course) has been $28.

The cost of living on the boat is well within our means however

I try to...stay out of the shops unless I really need something because this is a sure way to spend those $$$

The other thing I have found is...the boat needs more cash than we do... There is always something to repair replace or upgrade. It has cost much much more than I could ever imagine.

This page is just meant to impart what I have found helps me, and I hope it can be of use to you. Once again, if you have any questions  please email me and I will get back to you.

Jan