How much?
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Sun 24 Feb 2013 01:46
We have fridges to keep the food fresh.
We have hot water maker that does not seem necessary right now.... We have heaters that run on diesel if we are freezing, they have to be turned on now and then, just so they dont corrode to a solid block of steel. We have hydraulics for sail handling and electric windlass for the anchor. There are navigation lights, reading lights, room lights, extra lights etc. There are 2 toilets and two showers. All with valves, pumps etc toilets drive salt water in their systems. Tanks for black water, 600 l of diesel, about the same amount of fresh water. All divided in 8 tanks with meters and valves. We make our own water from the sea and that is a whole system by itself.
Emergency systems, bildge pumps, extra pumps etc. Navigation systems that today are a network of plotters, radio, satellite communication, GPS, Autopilot, wind, depth, speed sensors, computers, Ipads, Radios, radar, AIS etc
Everything is wired along in the boat. Almost everything but the toilets is dependent on electricity. The boat have about 18holes in the hull to take in or let out cooling water, black water, cleaning water. There are filters at each point that catch squids, garbage and mostly sea weeds.
It is hard to believe that only 50 years ago you would sail with keroseene lamps, a bucket as a toilet and maybe one battery for some kind of radio.
But I believe their days where better in a way. We might be more comfortable but there is a price. EVERY day I have to work on maintenance on something. And still there are 5 items ahead of me.
There was a new boat in Las Palmas that had cost 70.000.000 GBP (for SEK just add a zero) . She was sooo beautiful but the skipper said they have had so many issues for the first year the owner tried to make the shipyard take it back!
I just say one thing, salt water is poison for everything technical. It is the worse because it corrodes slowly, you hardly notice and suddenly it just goes off in a few days!