I think we are going to be stuck here for a few days until the winds change unless we try to plow Kuivato's keel (it's very clean from all our groundings!) through another channel that Tim went exploring with his nifty handheld depth sounder. Woke up to 30 knot gusts for the NW and snow, messy messy weather, cold and nasty.Turns out a strong NW wind blows water out of the bay so the 4 1/2 ft spot we plowed through on the way in a few days ago is now 4 ft! Sitting cozy with the Force 10 propane heater and local classical music station while sipping a yummy coffee drink that almost rivals Kelsey's hot toddy during our NY Harbor evening sail. Note to sailors following this blog, do not take a 5 ft draft sailboat into a bay with 5 ft depths at normal low tides and believe the warning Skipper Bob's publication which says do not go into Barnegat Bay if you have more than 4.5ft draft. Oh well, we have a history of going where few sailors would attempt to take at sailboat go to search out interesting anchorages.....kind of like Star Trek Enterprise.
One of really nice surprises of the trip has been the 25 year old Four Winds wind generator which Tim rebuilt 10 years ago when he bought Kuivato and hasn't been on the boat for 8 years. We almost didn't install it because of the new Renogy 300 watt solar array we just installed but hasn't been hooked up yet ("..hmmmm, do we attach the red wire here or there?"). While the generator doesn't produce anywhere close to what the manufacturer promoted it as producing, it does put out enough power in 20+ knot winds to keep up with the power drawn by the refrigeration system with some extra to charge the batteries. It's a satisfying feeling to be off the grid and making power from the wind. We also replaced most of the lights on Kuivato with LED bulbs which reduced the power consumption of lighting by over 80%! Tim recalls his Dad often having to tell the him and his brothers to turn off the lights to conserve battery power while growing up sailing on his family's sailboat.
3 comments:
No snow up here! Great job on changing your settings I am test posting this from my iPhone!!
I am Anna's friend, and we too are sailing south with a wind generator and solar panels on an Island Packet 380 named Shawnee, blog: DrewandDeb.blogspot.com
Wish we'd met before we both started sailing this fall. We left Marblehead Oct 11 and are now in Southport, North Carolina and watching the 70 degree day turn to 30 with HUGE winds (30k) in a marina slip rockin' and rollin'.
We went from Buzzards Bay straight outside to Norfolk, VA. I guess you're pretty well steady even in the wind; grounded.
True about the LEDs and the solar panels and wind generator. We have those too. It truly helps, we use a lot of energy with the refrigerator too. Always need to be topping off the batteries by motoring. Let's try to stay in touch as we both head south. You will catch up or pass us as we have to drive back for a month. My husband hasn't retired. We'll sail in spurts. More later
Deb
Great blog diane! love all the pics. Don't break that keel:0 i'll be reading!
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