12v Appliances

[atavist]

7 straight weeks at sea would indeed be grand... unfortunately by 7 week passage I mean Tortola to Sweden.. we stopped in Horta and Brixham, England... we just didn't refill out tank since we had a second one, and made it to Sweden on the single tank...

And I definitely agree crew habits make all the difference in the world to supplying... on that same trip we went from Tortola to England using less than 150 liters of water from the tanks (about 6 weeks) we only used tank water for rinsing after a salt bath pretty much, we drank bottled water, which we had oodles of.... on the last week from England to Sweden I swapped my guy crewman for a girl and we ran out of tank water the day before we arrived in Sweden... I told her to be frugal with water... apparently she was washing here hair everyday.... thank god it wasn't her on the crossing... wasn't a big deal because we were in the final stretch but what amazed me was that she really thought she was being frugal by not using conditioner everyday

[redbopeep]

Nope, the stove is not gimbaled. It's a shipmate coal/wood stove that can take a diesel insert in the firebox. We've got non-pressure (Trangia) alcohol burners for quick use/summertime use as well. One of the reasons I'm a "one burner" girl, is that when we're at the dock on shorepower, I'm just as likely to pull out the hotplate and cook as I am to fire up the stove or use a couple Trangia burners in the stove eyes. We spent 9 months living aboard while still working on the boat in the boatyard--most that time I was cooking on a one burner hotplate Only real issue was that coffee had to be made before the meal started whereas I'd usually do it all at once. We boil water for coffee and either use a french press, make camp coffee, or (hubby does) instant, btw. No coffeemaker. I'd only start up the wood burning stove in the evenings for dinner meal and night time heat.

About 30 years ago, I learned many one pot cooking skills from lots of canoe, bike, and backpacking trips with typically 2 to 5 people. A helpful book for folks who just can't imagine working with a single burner is a camping book called The One Burner Gourmet.

My fry-pan of choice for that breakfast meal is a large 11-1/2" one but would only serve 4 people with the meal described. I'd have to move to two pots for more folks

I'd love to be at sea for 7 weeks. I'd have loved to do that trip you describe. Next month, here in San Diego, there's a fellow and his girlfriend who will be giving a talk describing their circumnavigation--they just did the whole roaring 40's thing/all the great capes in 8 months w/ about 60 days in port. I bet it was a blast.

Back to stoves...while we love using the stove with wood, the energy density of coal is better and diesel even better still so on any long trips, we'll likely be using coal or putting a diesel burner in the firebox. This type of stove gets "all hot all over" so that you're able to bake and use all burners at once--thus the only limit on pots really is how many you'd like to clean In the winter, I do a lot of baking and in general we eat better, too

[redbopeep]

"wasn't a big deal because we were in the final stretch but what amazed me was that she really thought she was being frugal by not using conditioner everyday"

Things that make it less likely that folks use too much water:

Don't use pressure water system on any fresh water sources..kitchen...shower...etc..

Only use solar showers with gravity feed. They come in 2 gallon and 4.5 gallon sizes. Suggest the 2 gallon one when in doubt

Using cold water for showers also makes them much shorter...

Finally, on the topic of hair washing--I know that folks say it takes more water to get salt out of clothing, etc than if one just washed things in freshwater...but this is NOT the case when it comes time to wash your hair. It doesn't seem harmful at all to wash hair in salt water (nix the conditioner it doesn't work in saltwater anyway) and then do a quick small-water (scalp) rinse with fresh water. I have auburn hair with red and gold highlights--the highlights get much more pronounced with salt water so I love to wash my hair in saltwater in the morning and then not rinse it with freshwater until that evening. No, it's not so soft that way, but it is clean and I get the added benefit of enhancing the highlights

[atavist]

You know I never thought of that as the reason but on my crossings I have pretty much gone blonde, even though I probably wasn't outside anymore than normal... I always pretty much live outside

Unfortunately that crossing was a delivery and the boat was all power, no manual pumps but the couple I brought on in case of an emergency... lovely girl but not my type.... that goes for the boat and the actual girl