when living on a boat.
This page updated: August 2006
| How to do things when living on a boat. |
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Please send any comments to me.
This page updated: August 2006 |
... I found the following to be
prerequisites to living aboard happily (as opposed to toughing it out):
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Trailer Sailor's "Publications" list
I'm told: eBay has several magazine subscriptions services available to buy subscriptions cheaply. |
From Simon Buckley:
Here in SF Bay, I've been told that none/few of the clubs extend privileges to each other, but will extend privileges to out-of-area clubs. I think they don't want local sailors joining one club and then using the facilities all around the whole Bay as one big "club". From Colin Foster on SSCA discussion boards:
From Steve Van Slyke on SSCA discussion boards:
When joining:
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Choices:
From Tom Bradley on SSCA discussion boards:
From John Heinisch on The Live-Aboard List:
From Richard Goodwin on The Live-Aboard List:
From Karl Jenkinson on The Live-Aboard List:
From Laed on Cruising World message board:
From Doug Barnard on The Live-Aboard List:
From Philip Lange on The Live-Aboard List:
Boat mattress stores: Handcraft Mattress Company, 800-241-7751 (quote for 33" x 73" rectangular innerspring: $450 to $850!) Marine Mattress, 800-749-3626 (quote for 33" x 73" rectangular innerspring: $189 to $289, plus $89 shipping to Marathon FL) Bedmasters Outlet Store, 941-766-9122 (quote for 33" x 73" rectangular innerspring: $400) Boat Mattress.net Your Design Mattress Factory (Cleveland OH) Community Mattress, 925-798-9785 (quote for 33" x 73" rectangular innerspring: $400 to $500, plus $140 shipping to Marathon FL) Florida Upholstery Supplies, Tarpon Springs FL, (727) 934-1350, Rick Blodgett Non-boat mattress stores: Mattress.com, 800-999-8484 (smallest available is twin; $60 delivery to Marathon FL) Advanced Comfort (800-233-7191) Foam and foam mattress suppliers: The Foam Source Foamonline.com (805-964-2001) Tech Products Miami (305-685-5993) Soaring Heart Futons "Standard" mattress sizes:
And the "finish" size (the final size) often differs from the "cut" size; make sure you know which is being quoted. My experience:
From Norm on The Live-Aboard List:
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| You have neoprene SCUBA booties for use in coral (boat launching). Coral will tear these apart. The soles are not meant for walking, and are very uncomfortable after just a few minutes. I use windsurfer boots. Meant for standing, they have arch support and a hard sole. I've walked over many an oyster bed with these. The ones I have are made by Nike, but there are plenty of manufacturers. |
| [especially, for sheets:] Silk is, in my opinion, the perfect tropical fabric! Light, strong, easily stowed, easily washed, air dries very quickly. Nothing like it. [maybe buy from http://www.dharmatrading.com/silk_fabrics.html ] |
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> Saw this in a forum: > "Fort Lauderdale ... you are talking one of the > most expensive locations in the world for boat repair ..." > Any truth to it ? It is all relative: if you are in a yard for twice as long waiting for parts, and the yard costs half as much, then it is a wash. If you are hiring work to be done, and the labor is costing you $35 an hour instead of $12, and the work is being completed in one third the time and properly, are you saving any money with the $12 an hour worker ? I know of many who go to other places for cost reasons and are happy with their choice, and I know of others who come here [Fort Lauderdale] out of choice and happy also. Less than an answer I know. I would say it would have to depend on what you doing in the yard and how much time you are spending. If you are doing your own work, and time is important, cost of time that is. And you have spent the past months collecting all the material you need then I would find a yard, out of the way, where cost is minimal. If on the other hand you want to get a boat out of the water, complete five projects and re-launch in two days then Fort Lauderdale might be the only place in the country where you can do this. This is our scenario at times and I have come out of the water, serviced a prop, shaft, pulled three thru hulls, prepped and painted the bottom and got back into the water in three days. Five workers and about a grand over the cost of the haul. So once again there is no answer, only information. |
| Not worth it. If you are buying that much stuff you are in the wrong business. I can get as good a discount using EB, BoatU.S., Boatowners Warehouse and dozen other places, besides hunting deals. Everyone here [Florida] has a Lewis account, it just isn't worth it. Now if you are going to charter the boat or some such thing, that's different. |
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> If you really want deep discounted marine stuff, get a traders license > and go into repairing boats as a business. You would then get > "Port Supply" prices from West Marine's wholesale division which > is nearly 50 percent off on some things like Ancor wire. > Or work part-time at WM and get really good prices like 50 percent off ... The discounts are not as great as you might think. There are few if any "deep discounts" at BoatU.S. or West. Employees get 20% and wholesale or port supply discounts vary based on the item purchased. Paints are discounted the most, and electronics the least. My experience has been from 2% to 30% for port supply or wholesale at BoatU.S. Employees at BoatU.S. get 20% on everything. |
Can come from:
From Rick Smith on SailNet's Gulfstar mailing list:
From Peggie Hall on Cruising World message board:
SailNet - Kathy Barron's "Odor Control" |
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Wisk and Joy are the only two detergents that will suds up in salt water.
Wisk not only washes clothes, it is great on decks, too.
Grease Relief is the best thing we ever found to clean up a diesel spill on the deck, or remove engine oil from the cabin sole after changing the oil filters. Once you get out of the U.S. a product called Jif is the best all-purpose cleaner we found. It takes the place of Soft Scrub and Comet, for decks, dishes and heads. |
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Cleaning clear plastic:
In my "former life", I used to design, build, and maintain large custom aquariums. Glass and Acrylic. Acrylic was much clearer than glass, but not as scratch resistant. So, we had a lot of scratches to remove. I remember one such tank at a restaurant where a person took car keys to write their name and gang sign in the tank. That was a deep scratch. The following will hold true to plastic and lexan: 1. If you can feel the scratch, you have to thin it down first. 2. To thin it, go to an automobile parts store (discount auto, etc) and get their wet/sand paper (you will need 800, 1200, 1500, and a 2200). Sand the scratch working your way up using water. A single scratch 1" long will end up being a couple of inches in diameter when done. Should end up looking like a white circle. 3. After sanding, go to a plastic supply or I think West Marine is carrying it now. Novus plastic cleaner part 1, 2 and 3. You will also need a buffing wheel with a soft cotton wheel. 4. Starting with number three, put it on and buff it dry and clear. May take several tries with number 3. Then move to number 2, do the same. The final step is number 1 which is only a cleaner and static guard. I have used this method hundreds of times on aquariums and it works great. You may think you can skip a few steps, but don't; I've tried and this was the easiest. Also, get the buffing wheel. It won't come out as good if you try manual labor on it. |
| One of the best cleaners for stainless steel that I have seen is KETCHUP. Sold at any grocery store for 89 cents. Try it and see if it does the trick for you. We use it quite often on all of our stainless. Leave it on for about 10 minutes, come back wipe it up and rinse. |
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Q: What do you use to clean the stainless steel on your deck? Flitz?
A: No, I use Metal Wax (#850) by Collinite (available from a company called Wax Bytes at 409-265-7790). Thank you to Sally on s/v Ti Amo for introducing me to this wonderful product. It has literally doubled the time period our stainless is rust-free between polishings. |
To prevent mildew:
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| Mildew: ... Since only direct sunlight actually inhibits mildew (and encourages algae), one tries all kinds of stuff to inhibit it. Lysol, vinegar, or chlorine bleach seem to work equally well (but vinegar and chlorine are harsh on stainless steel, and both vinegar and chlorine bleach attack dacron sails). To keep books mildew-free, gently wipe them with a rag soaked in undiluted Lysol (covers, inside and out, page edges), let them dry without rinsing. So long as they don't get wet, a semiannual repeat of this treatment works very well (one of the active ingredients in Lysol is the same as in the Mildew Preventive Spray that chandleries sell at an exorbitant price). But it will turn the edges of the book brown. Mothballs (naphtha) in clothes lockers will also keep mildew at bay (but it taints all food not in cans - even glass jars don't seem to be impervious to the fumes, though maybe I just imagined the nasty taste). ... |
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[To inhibit mildew, do your] cleaning with a dilute
solution of citric acid or acetic acid; not too strong, and just leave it in
place. Fungi, mildews, and molds just hate an acidic environment ... stops
them dead. The problem with chlorine-based solutions is that the chlorine
soon breaks down and goes away ... it does make the mold/mildew disappear,
but it soon returns.
The reason to use USP citric or acetic acid is to avoid the odors of vinegar, which can vary depending on the particular vinegar. Remember all, that even if you paint, it will mildew or mold given a bit of atmospheric dirt and dampness. The best solution is a slightly acidic surface and plenty of ventilation. |
Cleaning up a major mold and mildew problem:
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I am doing a complete restoration of a Gulfstar 43. When I
first bought the boat there was a terrible odor when
you went down below.
I removed all the hoses, the engine, scrubbed the sump, removed all the cushions, the heads and the lectra sans. The odor remained. I then started to remove the plywood around the portholes. The ports had been leaking and there were water stains on the plywood in the area of the ports. I pulled the ports and the plywood - the backsides were totally covered in mildew that stunk to high heaven. I then pulled the perforated headliner - again the backside was black from mildew and the stench became quite noticeable once the fabric was pulled down. I pulled out the settee extension and under that was also mildew from leaks from the chainplates that ran down the hull to the back of the settee. I also removed the plywood that is above the settees and behind the small lockers. Now that all of the headliner and plywood around the ports has been removed the smells are completely gone. I did not use any additional ventilation or ozone generators. These boats are known for leaks and if they have not been attended to in a timely fashion mildew begins to grow in places that no amount of ventilation is going to cure. You must stop the leaks and get rid of the existing mildew. This is a very time-consuming, and unless you do it yourself, expensive undertaking, however, if there is already mold and mildew on the backsides of these areas you will not conquer the odor issue without addressing this. You will only be trying to cover it up. |
To clean:
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Use alternative, more environment-friendly cleaners:
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Use salt to:
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Use lemon juice to:
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Use alternative, more environment-friendly cleaners:
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From Ralph Ahseln on Yacht-L mailing list:
Removing barnacles:
Subscrub ($111; wings/brushes thing you drag under hull, while underway, using lines from deck; but web site has disappeared). Waterline stain removers tested in 1/1/2001 issue of Practical Sailor. Waterline stain remover: "wood bleach" from hardware store, diluted with hot water. |
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> How to clean cushion fabric ? > The fabric unzips to allow removing the foam inside.
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| I had excellent success in removing diesel smell from cushions by spraying the foam with a very dilute solution of vanilla extract. The real stuff ($), not the artificial. |
From JeanneP on Cruising World message board:
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| I put a plastic dishpan full of water in my cockpit for foot rinsing; it's dumped and "refreshed" as needed when in use, and stowed when it's not needed. Keeps the mud and sand out of my cabin, and the small amount that ends up on my deck can be sluiced off with a bucket. |
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How Stuff Works' "How Cell Phone Services Work" (how to choose a service plan) Sail-On-Line.com's "Cellular phones in the Caribbean" External antenna may improve performance. But use it offshore only; onshore it will pick up multiple cells and get confused and annoy the phone company. From Mikael Wahlgren on rec.boats.electronics newsgroup:
From Ross Fleming on The Live-Aboard List:
From Mark Mech on The Live-Aboard List:
From Don R on "Windaway": Even a de-activated cell-phone is legally required to allow calls to 911; get a discarded cell-phone and keep it aboard as an emergency device. |
Ways to call:
From Susan / Caribbean Knight on live-aboard mailing list:
Free voice mail is available from Yahoo. Callers leave messages (and you retrieve messages) by calling 1-800-MY-YAHOO and entering your 10-digit mailbox/account number. You also can retrieve voice messages through your Yahoo email account, using your computer's speakers. Limits: 20 voice messages total, each message has a maximum length of 60 seconds, each message is deleted after 30 days. Quality is mediocre, and occasionally the system doesn't answer. |
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PO box typical rates: $75 to $100 per year. Advantages of mail-forwarding services:
Mail-forwarding service prices as of 3/2000 - 10/2000:
Some Mailboxes Etc stores will do mail-forwarding from the mailbox you rent from them; got this from a MBE:
Location of the mail-forwarding service matters, because that will establish your legal residence, and sales tax can vary by county. But got this from Kevin Brown at American Home Base:
From Clifford Barcliff on the live-aboard mailing list:
If in a foreign country, make sure the service sends mail/package to the exact name shown on your passport, and writes your name in block letters. If in a foreign country, have mail sent to "John OR Jane Doe" instead of "John AND Jane Doe". Have mail to remote places sent in distinctive envelopes (so you can find it in a pile), number the envelopes, send them first class, and mark them "hold for pickup". As of 8/2000, the US Post Office no longer requires the letters "PMB" in the address of mail to a Personal Mail Box; use a pound sign instead. This should make various agencies/companies happier with such addresses. Mailboxes Etc will accept UPS deliveries to your mailbox; US Post Office won't. US Post Office will do mail-forwarding to new address for free after you move; Mailboxes Etc won't. Some agencies/companies can be fooled by giving your address as "123 Main St, Apt 999" instead of "123 Main St, PMB 999". If living in a marina, don't just give out the marina's address as yours, without clearing it with the marina office. They may not appreciate getting your mail. From Robbie on Cruising World message board:
From Midwest Sailor on Cruising World message board:
From Bruce Bowman on the WorldCruising mailing list 12/2000:
Donna Yeaw's "Mail Forwarding Services" (a bit outdated) |
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| FAX - Some SSB and ham radios can be equipped with a modem to send faxes from a computer. If fast accurate communication is important to you, this is worthwhile investigating. The wonders of modern communication via FAX have reached the most unlikely places in the world, and are a reliable and fast method of long-distance communication. Where long distance telephone calls are used to subsidize local rates, the information transmitted by FAX or e-mail for a few dollars can cost $50 to $100 by telephone. |
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Fill 2-quart thermos with boiling water, wait 3 minutes,
refill with boiling water. Make a small amount of very strong concentrated coffee, store it, then add boiling water to it when you want to drink it. Wide-mouth 1-quart thermos bottles for soup. Drink soup from mugs. Keep thermos bottles in soft-sided cooler to help insulate them. |
| Put dabs of clear silicone adhesive on the bottom of dishes (inside of bottom rim if there is one), then set down on sheet of wax paper until silicone sets, then peel off paper. The wax paper keeps silicone from adhering to your table, and placing them right side up while silicone is soft insures that dishes will sit flat and the silicone won't set in unbalanced lumps. |
| Dinner plates with a moderate rim keep juices and sauces from spilling all over the place while under way (and we eat a lot of meals from deep soup bowls). |
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To locate a pump-out location just call 800-ASK-FISH. Also, pump-outs should be showing up on some newer edition NOAA charts. |
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> I've heard that the Florida Keys are now a marine sanctuary, and the marine patrol > (I think) checks boats and asks to see a pump-out receipt to prove that you > haven't been dumping overboard in the sanctuary. Have you heard of this ? > Not sure how reliable the source of this info was. There are several sanctuaries within the Keys, and the marine patrol and other groups are very protective ... as they should be. I have never been asked to produce a pump-out receipt anywhere, and I have never heard of anyone else being asked either. I have never heard of a receipt being given for pump-out service, however I have not used pump-out services in the Keys. Generally, pump-out facilities are scarce in south Fla. and the Keys. In some south Fla. locations, mostly on the east coast, officials have been known to actually come aboard boats, close and lock holding tank sea cocks to prevent discharge. In the Dry Tortugas this was taken one step further ... Park Rangers were putting various colored dye into heads so that they could identify those who dumped, even after they left the anchorage. I believe that practice has been discontinued. > How does this square with sailing out 3 miles to dump the holding tank ? Most marine patrol people, regardless of what agency they work for, are very reasonable people; they tend to be boaters, sailors, fishermen, SCUBA divers, etc, and see the issues objectively. For example, if a Catalina 30 with a five gallon holding tank and four people aboard has been in a no discharge anchorage for six days, someone may wonder where the waste is going. However, a forty footer that might have a very large holding tank aboard would probably not attract any attention at all. In reality, I have never been boarded, even though I have been "checked out" by law enforcement (usually when I was towing an unregistered dinghy with an outboard motor installed). Also, I have had boat to boat conversations with marine patrol people, usually at my request, but holding tank issues have never been a topic. > How can you show a receipt in that case ? Obviously you can't. Generally, if you abide by the rules, and conduct yourself in a reasonable manner, this entire issue becomes almost moot. Just to put it in perspective, I am in the midst of installing a larger (20 gal) holding tank in my boat. Yes, that means losing some storage space ... another reason to get a boat that is not just big enough, but big enough in the right places. |
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[I mentioned that I needed to install a lock on the Y-valve.]
Who wants you to lock the "Y" valve? The Coast Guard will accept something as simple as a Ty-Wrap. [I've been told the USCG prefers a tie-wrap; a lock can be unlocked and relocked.] The fact is: don't lock it. If you have to go a marina and pump out every three days it is a pain, and a tank full of shit is where the smell is coming from. Just make sure it is locked when you are boarded. If you think anyone else is pumping their tanks full of feces at the anchorage you are delusional. Up till a few years ago there weren't any pump out facilities from Miami to Key West. One smart guy I know just changed the tags on the "Y" valve. The Coast Guard never did figure it out. [Unless they do a dye test.] Now there are some places that really do count, first is Lake Champlain, they make you pump the head, remove the "Y" valve and put a dye in your head and flush it to make sure it does not go overboard. Here are the realities, salt water is a natural sterilization fluid. And the second best solution to pollution is dilution. One man, one dump per day, in open water is not going to appreciably effect the quality of the water, ever. The first biggest pollution problem in the Keys is run off. The first fifteen minutes of rain puts a tremendous about of fertilizer, oil, anti-freeze, transmission fluid, dirt, particulate matter and feces into the water. The second largest is sewage. Most sewage is treated only slightly and that is the way it has been forever. Biscayne Bay has a pipe about five feet in diameter that pumps nearly raw sewage into the ocean continuously from about a million toilets. Every once in a while they rupture this pipe, or one of two others and pollute the Bay and surrounding area to point that the coliform count is dangerous. But it usually clears to normal levels within three to five days once they fix the break or shut down the flow. The third biggest factor in water pollution is lack of flow and aeration. It is stagnate water that causes the largest health concern, an open cesspool. We have one area here in Broward county that has had real problems. When I was in college I participated in a six month water quality survey that took water samples from Crystal River to Fort Myers. I also worked in the hospital bacti lab doing cultures, looking for fecal contamination. So morally I can assure you that your minute amount of bio-mass added to the ecosystem is not going to cause harm to any one except maybe one of your guests who happens to being swimming next to an outlet. The ideal fix for your head is a macerator pump that pumps the tanks clean, while running the head to evacuate the system. This way you can wait till it is dark and the tide is running and pump the tanks clean. The problem with a normal pumpout is that the accumulation is over weeks, so the solids have settled and you are in a bit of a hurry usually and you don't get a chance to really flush the tank. If you do flush and use fresh water, run some Clorox through the system. It is actually better to run saltwater I think. Another problem is calcification. If the lines have any age, which I am sure they do. The interior diameter will be decreased by calcium depositing on the walls of the hoses. This decreases flow, makes it harder to pump, easier to plug up, and smells terrible. The extra pressure exerted to make up for the decreased flow causes leaks and also destroys the pump. Sooner or later this scale will break off in pieces and these chunks will clog the system like pieces of concrete. The reason for the calcification is the chemical reaction between urine and saltwater, or so I have been told. It might also be just having saltwater sitting in the pipes. I found it helpful to pump a bit of vegetable oil through the head every couple of days. You can not do this while in a marina, it will make a slick which is a no-no. Another idea I have heard about for those living in a marina with continuous sewage hookup is to plumb the head with fresh water and lots of it. Obviously you know that a marine head is a minor miracle of engineering that will choke at the slightest hint of q-tips, sanitary napkins, tampons, paper towels, etc. But another problem is short stroking, you need to make sure everyone pumps vigorously to move a great deal of fluid through the system. It is short stroking that piles one turd on top of the previous one, to jam the system up. One last piece of head advice, get a wet-dry vac. It is an amazing tool onboard any vessel and especially useful for working on heads. |
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Guy in Home Depot in Florida Keys says: You can get a fine-mesh window screen (20 x 20 grid instead of typical 18 x 14) but it's so fine that any wind makes it stretch, ruining the way it looks. He recommends normal screen, sprayed with a sticky repellent, to keep no-see-ums out. |
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From Hap on Cruising World message board:
From KNoel on Cruising World message board:
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About keeping birds off, from Don Beaufort on the Morgan mailing list:
From Jared Sherman on the Morgan mailing list:
From Paul Sedwick on the Morgan mailing list:
From many people: hoist a flag or pole up on the main halyard, so it sticks up at the masthead. From Nick on Cruising World message board:
From Bev Clary on Cruising World message board:
From DBM on Cruising World message board:
From Andrew Bebbington on Cruising World message board:
From BillZ on Cruising World message board:
From Steve Honour on Cruising World message board:
BirdBarrier BirdBGone |
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Re: ... a very large mosquito or no-see-ums net, that will cover entire cockpit. ...
Sounds like you're talking about what brokers call a "Florida House," where the cockpit is completely enclosed with screen. With apologies to those who have them, it's like living in a bee-keeper's suit. I think they're unsightly, hot, and block almost all of the breeze. We tried no-see-um screen on our ports and it blocked almost all the breeze. We have bronze screen in them and they work just fine for a small area such as a port. When in the ICW/coastal area, we used "Bug-Buster" (made by Sogeman) screens on our hatches and companionway to keep no-see-ums out; the weave is not as tight as no-see-um screen but seems to keep them out anyway while letting in plenty of fresh air. When ashore in infested areas, you'll need to use "heavy deet" repellants anyway unless you wear clothing which covers your entire body; we just put it on before going "outside" and enjoy the breeze in the cockpit. |
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I have noticed that most 'tailored' netting leaks, allowing the little
critters to sneak in through the little spaces where the fit is not quite
perfect. Also nets with weights sewn in can make the whole thing hard to
handle.
For our boat, we purchased "no see-um netting" from a camping equipment supplier, did a little cutting and sewing, and ended up with a 20' square piece of netting that really keeps mosquitoes and no see-ums out. We made it square so that it would not have a front or back, and can be 'thrown' over the bimini without concern for "is it facing the right way", and covers the entire cockpit. It is very much oversize on purpose so that we can bunch it up wherever there are irregularities in decks, cleats, lines, etc. There is no critical alignment anywhere. We simply throw coiled dock lines, etc on top of the bunched up netting where it lays on deck, and that very effectively closes all the spaces where the critters might find a space to get into the cockpit. We also have a few loops sewn into the edges that can be used as attach points for small stuff if we want to tie the netting in place. The whole thing folds up to to the size of a basketball - easy to store. We have found this approach very effective, and can sit in the cockpit and watch no see-ums crawl around on the outside of the netting - unable to get inside. |
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Bugs, they are relentless and what they lack in size they make up for in numbers.
There is no escape. The Keys are basically mangrove swamp and there is a reason
that for nearly a hundred years man ... white men, attempted to dredge,
fill and eliminate every part of this ecosystem he could get his Army Corp
of Engineers hands upon.
So now we plan to "invest" a few billion dollars in tax money on "fixing" the problem, but that is another soap box tirade. Look at your chart, Biscayne Bay, approximately five miles across, I have anchored mid-point in the Bay, 2 1/2 miles from any shore and still been inundated with mosquitoes. There is no escape coastally. You need to get away from Florida. Now there are places that are worse than others. Elliot Key is dryer than most and they aerially spray Elliot and Key Largo, so the bugs are less. But offshore, and off to the Bahamas is recipe for escape. And so is dockside and air-conditioning. Pics or is it Piks, you may have never heard of them. This is a green coil that burns like incense and keeps the bugs at bay pretty well, if you don't mind breathing insect repellant all night. No-see-ums are tiny white gnats and can migrate through a normal screen. They come out at dusk and dawn, will not usually bother you during the day and amazingly enough usually not a bother at night. Distance from shore can save you from yellow, black and deer flies. These guys are worse than almost any other insect, they actually take chunks of flesh like tiny piranhas with wings. You understand why Florida wasn't settled until someone invented screens and still did not have much population till the advent of air-conditioning. |
| I have excellent success with Glue Boards. They are about the only thing that will control spiders, especially Brown Recluse. Spiders don't lick the ends of their legs therefore poison dust doesn't work. You must spray poison directly on the spider in order to kill it. Glue boards will catch and hold everything from snakes to rats. Very effective. |
| For mice just about any type of trap works. We like the little sticky traps. If you use the standard squash'um trap, you should use peanut butter (better than cheese). It is sticky enough that they cannot get it off the unit without getting the big zap. |
| [For a mouse,] A trap would be fine. Poison would work, except that the mouse can spread it around the boat and he may die in a space that you cannot reach. |
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On the subject of "bug bombs" be very careful ... a few years ago we had a
fatality when a local boat exploded. The reason apparently is some piece of
electrical gear caused a spark which caused the gas-filled interior to
explode. The crew of the boat were just departing by dinghy (the man killed
was at the transom stepping into the dinghy when the explosion occurred).
The survivor spent several months in hospital as a result. The explosion was powerful enough to blow the deck off the boat entirely. Something to think about ... |
| Some of the bug bombs will soften or dissolve the varnish work inside your boat! |
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We hate critters on board. We have found that these are the best way to
eliminate them altogether:
1. Stay away from docks. 2. When at a dock, spray Orange TKO on all docklines and cleats. It's the concentrated orange peel stuff they sell at boat shows. It really works against repelling and spot-killing critters. 3. If they do get on board, Raid roach and ant traps work great. They have eliminated our roach and ant population. 4. As for mice, I don't know, but we had a RAT on board and it was nasty. We tried everything. Peanut butter on traps, sticky glue boards, everything except poison. Nothing worked. It chewed through every plastic thing it could find in the pantry. We finally had a show down in a lazarette with pepper spray and an oar. The RAT lost. 5. Even being at anchor is no deterrent against rats. We were at anchor when this one came aboard, swimming from the nearest island in Miami FL. We had been away from our boat for three weeks or so and when we came back we found droppings, hair and chewed-up stuff. The next time we were away for an extended period of time we bought two transistor radios and left them on, in the cockpit. When we came home four weeks later we found no RATS! |
| Then there’s the joy of doing laundry while living on a boat. This is an experience that everyone should have at least once in a lifetime. It’s bad enough that you have to load all your dirty laundry into the dinghy and ferry it to shore for the washing, but there’s worse to come. The Laundromats are dirty, smelly and crowded, and sometimes it takes hours to do a washing and a drying. Then you take your freshly cleaned belongings and load them back in the dinghy for the long ride home. It never fails that one of three things happens before you get back to the safety of the boat. You get caught in a tropical shower, you get caught in choppy water, or you somehow manage to drop a few pieces of clothing into the dirty water of the harbor as you try to lift the laundry bag over the side of the boat ... |
| I have lived aboard for almost 30 years and cruised for the past 12. Laundry is a big problem when planning your cruise, and a very small one once underway. In reality, you don't wear a lot. Shorts and shirts. You swim in your shorts daily. Sheets and shirts are easy. We usually have them done ashore, as we like to cruise in areas like Mexico and the Caribbean. A batch of laundry, done by a local lady (who loves the extra income) costs $7-$15. When we are in places like the northern Cook Islands, and there are no locals, our trash can, washing in salt water, final rinse in fresh, does the trick. Believe me when I say, it is not a problem. |
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... on the 65' trimaran I had a great Italian washer/dryer that ended up
being the linen closet after a short while. ...
[I asked why.] ... Well, as I said life becomes very basic for long time cruiser/liveaboards and the sound of the generator becomes more and more of an intrusion so we ran it less and less (for the watermaker) and we wore less and less, thus saving on laundry. Have you heard the saying "sail naked"? I'm semi-kidding, of course, but it's not far from the truth. It was actually easier to put it in the big laundry bag and take a taxi to the laundromat in all the places we were able. And when it was far between places like that I did fire up the washer or I used a toilet plunger in a 5 gallon bucket like most sailors. Diesel fuel is expensive most places so we did try not to use fuel exorbitantly. ... |
| I wash my stuff in a bucket on the boat. There aren't many laundromats where I cruise, and the ones I've seen at marinas in the States are usually filthy, don't work, or are so busy that they must be used in the middle of the night. |
| We kept a covered Rubbermaid bucket under the dodger while we were in the Caribbean. When it was full (about 3-4 days) of T-shirts or shorts, one of us would do the wash. Small tub, not many clothes, made it easier. Once we gave our clothes to an island woman to wash - it literally was beat on with a stone and bleached to death, even the colored items. Laundromats were pretty expensive too. |
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Doing laundry is not horrible, BUT, you must keep up with it or spend a
lot of time hauling stuff to crummy Laundromats. Trust me when I suggest
that shore-side places run the gamut from expensive to filthy, with most
leaning toward a rather vile combination of the two. And hauling it to
the laundry when at anchor is a pain in the posterior.
So, we need to wash the clothes. The thing is, as you may well recall when you go to the beach your suit takes forever to dry. That's the salt in the fabric. Washing clothes in salt water is great. The only trouble is rinsing out the salt takes FOREVER and wastes way more fresh water than you'd ever imagine. Salt on clothing, especially intimate apparel, is unpleasant. The next alternative is to use fresh water -- simple, really. Use a touch of laundry detergent, swish, scrub and rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse. Have I mentioned how much water is used rinsing out the soap? And wearing clothing with soap on it causes rashes. Many people find the use of a plunger effective as an agitator. Also, there are those small pressure-washer's we've all seen in the neighborhood of $50 from Lehman's and the like. The easiest way to do the wash is to hire an island woman to do it for you. Alas, sometimes clothes fade, disappear, or it costs too much. So, we want to be self-sufficient. Right?! Therefore: First, you'll want to use a bucket or even the galley sink -- I prefer the sink so I don't have to bend, but a bucket will work in a pinch. Please fill 2/3rds full of fresh water. Add ammonia (1/2 cup for bucket; 1/4 cup for sink) -- yes, the smelly stuff that you cannot mix with Clorox. Now, swish. You'll want to start with your cleanest clothes and work your way through to the grubbiest. Okay, here's the place where you have to try it to believe it: WRING OUT THE CLOTHES, towels, blue-jeans. That's it. DO NOT rinse. Sure, you're probably thinking there's a trick to this, that the clothes reek, et al. So, try it for yourself. Hang to dry. |
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We had a 'wash whiz' equivalent that we used between Mexico and New Zealand.
While it was easy to use and fairly efficient, we threw it out in NZ.
The design flaw is that the base/stand that holds the tub was made of thin plastic
and started cracking at each of the four supports. When you start spinning the
load with water and clothes inside the tub it simply put too much strain on
the supports. It also was a bit of a pain to store.
Now I use my double sinks in the galley. Wash in one and rinse in the other. I found washing in salt water needs way more rinsing than doing wash and rinse in fresh plus was gentler on the clothes. I have a hand wringer I bought from Lehmans (also sold by Downwind Marine in San Diego). Several larger boats out here have the Splendide/Combomatic style washer/dryer. All seem reasonably happy with the washer but none I've met use the dryer function. Have said that the dryer takes too long and uses way too much power. Hanging clothes on the line seems to be the way to go. Note - on really windy days I run the clothes line through the sleeves of shirts and through legs or belt loops on pants. |
| We started out with one of those [hand-tumble] washers, but wound up giving it to a Goodwill store. It did work fairly well, but the problem was the stowage space it took up. A small plunger and the galley sink or bucket works just as well, maybe better, is no more work and uses the same amount of detergent and water. I think the "less water and detergent" part in the ads are compared to a regular washing machine. |
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Debit card better:
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| I would strongly advise against using credit cards. You will be ripped off. You will be easy to spot as cruisers. A clerk will know that it will be weeks or more before you get your credit card bills and by then you will be many islands away. The temptation is just too great. My advice is to use cash. When we were on our sabbatical [1990 ?] ATMs were not common in the Caribbean, but I suspect they are now. I just got back from Australia and my ATM card worked just fine there. Most of the islands are ex-British and therefore have a Barclays Bank. Find out which ATM network Barclays uses and get an ATM card from a USA bank that uses the same. You can start by calling the bank that issued your current ATM card and asking them where you can use it in the Caribbean. They have directories that will tell. |
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... We went to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman and Mexico.
In Nassau, Bahamas and George Town, Grand Cayman there are ATM's. They work fine, dispensing cash in several currencies. They also charge no ATM fees. That seems to be a USA invention. In places other than those we got cash on our credit cards - again, no fees at the bank. We never had a problem getting as much cash as we asked for within a few minutes. This ranged from $50 to $1000 at a time. Places of business accepting credit cards were not as common, and often there was a substantial fee to use them. |
| Watch out when using a debit card. They can be used by no-good-nicks to drain your account, and its overdraft. With a credit card you just report the fraud and its their problem, but with a debit card you have to prove you didn't make the charges. |
| ... It is helpful to have both a MasterCard and a VISA card - in some places one works, the other doesn't; or one works better than the other; or the distance to go for a MasterCard is hours away from the closest VISA place (or vice versa). Establish a good filing system right away to keep track of your charges because banks make mistakes. ... |
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Getting your mail is easy.
When you get somewhere you are going to be for a few days you call
home to whomever is collecting your
mail. You have them send it to you via FedEx or International Express Mail.
For FedEx you need an actual address (like a marina).
For Express Mail you can have it sent to general delivery.
Express Mail is also a good way to get spare parts.
Here is a story of how fast it can be: We were in Trinidad. A friend in Miami mailed us parts on his way to work Monday morning. The parts arrived in Trinidad that night. We got a post card Tuesday morning at the marina saying the parts were in and we could pick them up at the main post office. We got them Tuesday afternoon. |
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The preferred method of shipping to the Bahamas is Fed Ex Intl Priority. It
runs between $20-$27 based on how much mail you have and usually arrives
overnight - 2 days on the outside. You could pick up from the local Federal
Express office in the Bahamas or if your dockmaster will accept mail on your
behalf you can have it sent to them. We usually send only first class mail -
no catalogs, magazines, etc to keep costs down.
We would just need your instructions and a credit card and expiration date to bill the expense to. |
| Many first-time cruisers over-provision before starting out; food is available in other countries. |
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Before we left last winter, I freaked out about what we were going to eat and tried to stock up on
everything we'd eat normally. As we cruised, we found that a BIG part of the fun was trying new
stuff and shopping locally. It's important to look at it as part of the adventure tho' because some
of what you try, you'll HATE and some you may like better than what you have at home! We have
several things we MISS now that we're back in the States for hurricane season!
When we head back to the boat in late October, we won't take much in the way of foodstuffs. Even the red wine we get in Guatemala -- Chilean -- is good, and loads cheaper than if we stuck with American brands! My advice ... forget American brands and start experimenting. Try buying just one of something and if you find you like it, go back and buy more! But BE FLEXIBLE! You can't plan to go to the grocery store and simply buy items on a list to adhere to a menu plan. You have to do it in reverse -- oh look, these smoked pork chops look great, oh, they have blah, blah here -- I can make XXXXXXXXXXXXXX! Be flexible and creative! We always have enough food aboard that we could last a week, probably more without having to supplement it. But it's mainly things like tuna, etc -- stuff that we don't usually touch -- and it makes useful trade items for local fishermen so it doesn't get outdated! When it's been on the boat for a season, I use it to trade and buy more before the next winter season. But we'll buy even our stock foodstuffs locally this year! |
| Like most Caribbean cruisers we did our big provisioning in Miami. There is a huge, warehouse-type store there called Xtra with good prices, open 24 hours a day. |
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You also should get one of those contraptions that squashes metal cans.
We used the stomp-on-it-with-your-foot method, but the devices
do a better job. Anything you can do to reduce the amount of garbage is a plus.
We also forgot to mention that we had a barbecue grill. You know, one of those round Magma jobs that clamps on the rail. We even rigged it to run off one of our large propane bottles so we would not have to fool with the little one pound cylinders. We didn't use it as much as we thought because there is so much wind you have trouble keeping the grill going. In planning recipes for your trip you need to know what sort of fresh items will be available to you. [In Caribbean] You CAN get eggs, milk, cheese, bacon, chicken (usually frozen), beef (usually frozen), spices, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, green peppers, squash, tropical fruits, all sorts of root crops (like jicama and malanga) and bread. You CANNOT get lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, berries, apples. Basically any sort of cold weather crop is unavailable (surprise). Interestingly enough, you cannot buy fish many places except from fisherman who come to your boat. I guess everyone is supposed to catch their own. A word of caution about fish. There is this nasty parasite called ciguatera you get from eating reef fish and their predators (like barracuda). You'll see the locals eating them, but I wouldn't. Stick with the groupers, bass and dolphin. |
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... don't try and take home to sea. Eat and live like the locals or you
will be a very unhappy tourist.
... take lots of T Shirts and cartons of American cigarettes. These will accomplish much that persuasion can't. ... You will also eat a lot in the cockpit and probably have other cruisers on board for cocktail hour fairly often. Have little goodies that are easy to serve for these situations. On cooking we probably do 2/3 of our cooking on the BBQ when at anchor. Virtually everything gets cooked over the BBQ in either aluminum foil or stainless pots with removable handles. While underway it is stews etc. that get cooked in the pressure cooker. ... Another hint. After finding the weevils had made homes in the flour, roaches were chewing on the pasta and salt water had eaten into the Coke cans (beer never lasts long enough) we have taken new precautions. We purchased a cryovac vacuum pump and sealing bags. I think the pump and heat sealer cost about $100 and the bags are reasonable. Secondly, we bought cases of ZipLoc FREEZER (not the thinner storage) bags. They are not available in most places other than North America so carry lots. Last, we purchased a dozen plastic dish pans that fit in the bilge.
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| Packing butter in salt water, canning meats and jams, wrapping vegetables in newspaper and smothering hard cheeses in oil are but a few of the tricks we utilize to keep our food fresh and yummy. We have even transcended the need for cold beer by switching to Speight's dark ale, from New Zealand, which is perfect at room temperature. |
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SailNet - Kathy Barron's "Cooking Under Pressure" Pressure cooker is good:
From "The Cruising Life" by Jim Trefethen: Pressure cooker is bad: makes vegetables overcooked and mushy and tasteless.
From LaDonna on Cruising World message board:
From George Geist on The Live-Aboard List:
From Marce Schulz on The Live-Aboard List:
From Kate / Aquarius on The Live-Aboard List 12/2000:
From Louis on the Morgan mailing list:
From Doug Barnard on The Live-Aboard List:
Books recommended (by others): "Pressure Cookery Perfected" by Roy A. De Groot something by Lorna Sass My experience: I started with a very cheap pressure-cooker, and I'm glad I did: I don't like pressure-cooking. It's kind of "blind" cooking: you dump everything in and then try to guess when it's done, you can't stir or taste or add ingredients while it's cooking, and it seems to take longer than normal cooking. But I haven't given it a fair shot yet. I suspect it's best for big roasts or whole chickens. From "Voyaging on a Small Income" by Annie Hill:
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Maybe FoodSaver brand, but requires special plastic bags. Or Rival Vacuum Seal-A-Meal, $40. But, from Mary Heckrotte in Living Aboard magazine:
From Chuck / Jacaranda on Cruising World message board:
From Sarah Tanburn on The Live-Aboard List:
SetSail.com's "Vacuum Packers" |
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| Canned meat and vegetables: If you didn't like it on land, you won't like it at sea. Seems like half the cruisers we met in the first year were trying to trade cans of canned peas or something equally disgusting. We still had canned goods at the end of our 4 1/2-year circumnavigation that we'd ... carried most of the way around the world. It is a common mistake. |
| The best-lasting flour was put into heated metal containers which were then placed in hot oven for about 5 minutes after filling with flour, lid placed on, and lid seam sealed with plastic mailing tape after they had cooled slightly. It was well worth the extra effort. |
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First 3 items from "Woman's Guide to Boating and Cooking" by Lael Morgan.
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I haven't done this (yet).
Mostly adapted from "Sailing The Farm" by Ken Neumeyer:
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First 4 items from "Woman's Guide to Boating and Cooking" by Lael Morgan.
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These seem to fall into several categories:
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From "Woman's Guide to Boating and Cooking" by Lael Morgan:
From "Beachcomber's Handbook" by Euell Gibbons:
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Article by John Payne in issue 2003-2 of DIY Boat Owner magazine MSAS L/MAC by Tantyme Radio Shack 49-425 motion detector ($20) Can run fishing-line trip wire on deck, connected to a switch that sets off the alarm. Gives great flexibility. Motion/ultrasonic/infrared detectors don't work on boats (false alarms) ? Have alarm system squawk on an FRS radio, so you can hear it when on shore ? Have alarm system connected to strobe light in rigging ? From Rick Kennerly on The Live-Aboard List:
From Rick Kennerly on The Live-Aboard List:
If you have an alarm aboard, notify the dockmaster and nearby friends about how to disable it, and post your name and phone number prominently on the boat so you can be contacted if there is a false or real alarm. |
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Chain-locks to prevent theft of dinghy, kayak, dinghy's outboard motor ?
Have read lots of reports of thefts of these. Dinghy/outboard theft is rampant in Miami and West Palm Beach. DIY's "Preventing Outboard Theft" Use as alarm for dinghy theft at night: Angel Alert Child Distance Monitor Add a secret switch that prevents a thief from starting the outboard ? Want it hidden, so they don't see you using it, and they can't find it quickly. Or make it a key-switch. But most kill-switches operate by grounding the ignition, and a semi-knowledgeable thief will just take off the cowling and cut any extra wires. Add a chain-lock that locks the outboard in a full-port or full-starboard position, so even if the thief starts the outboard, he can't motor the dinghy away. Might even make it hard to tow it away. Someone makes a lock that prevents use of the starter pull-cord ? It's a pain to have a big, heavy outboard such as my Mercury 20 (112 lbs), but there is one advantage: it would be hard for a thief to lift it off the dinghy and carry it away ! Secure motor to dinghy: Q-LOK Mercury item #67-829245 is a similar bolt-locking thing. Fulton also (but the small tack-welds on my Fulton bracket rusted apart). In high-theft areas, don't leave dinghy in water overnight. Hoist it up or onboard, and remove its motor or lock the motor to the main boat. From Tom S. on Cruising World message board:
From SailNet - Doreen Gounard's "Caring for the Cruising Outboard":
My experience so far (7.5 years in USA and NE Caribbean): I always locked my dinghy and motor to the dock when in the Miami area, and almost never bothered anywhere else. But I rarely go ashore at night; I might lock it more often at night. And I might lock it more often now that I have a new outboard. |
| Be aware too, that secret compartments are forbidden by Federal Law and may be presumed to exist for the transportation of illicit substances and therefore subject your vessel to summary confiscation. If any government agents board you, you must inform them immediately of any secret compartments on board (thereby making them non-secret compartments). |
| The thieves do not look at the dinghy dock, they simply cruise the anchorage and look for boats with no dinghies. They then knock on the boat. If someone appears they tell them that it looks like their boat is dragging. If nobody is aboard they help themselves to your stuff. |
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I had a welding shop make four "security grates" for my hatches.
I designed them so they (mostly) "clamp around" the woodwork
instead of having to screw fittings into the wood, and
the grates can be removed entirely and stored.
With the grates in place, the hatches can be open or closed,
and the screens can be on or off.
I had them made of 3/8" steel rod. Derusted them with phosphoric acid and painted them with Rustoleum (but they started rusting through the paint after 2 months). Lock them with a set of identically-keyed padlocks. I leave a key inside the boat near each hatch, in case of emergency (fire). And a key hidden on deck so I can get in if I lose the key I carry. Unfortunately, the welding shop costs ballooned beyond my estimate. Added up to $565 by the time I was done. And the welding shop moaned that they lost money on the first few grates because they underestimated the time they would take. I thought it was pretty simple welding, but I'm no expert. If I did it again, I think I'd make the grates out of 3/16" x 1" steel strap. I would have a machine-shop cut the lengths I needed, then I'd fit them in place, wire them together, and take them back to the shop to drill holes in the junctions. Bolt them together, and use thread-lock to lock the nuts (a thief probably wouldn't have the patience or tools to sit there and use wrenches to undo half a dozen thread-locked nuts, reaching through the grate to get at them). Should be a lot cheaper than welding, but heavier and a little uglier. I don't think I'm being paranoid doing this: I'll be going to some pretty poor countries, everything I own (except bank accounts) is on this boat, and another cruiser told me of having his boat stripped while at a mooring in the USA. [And I was very happy I had them when I got to Miami; theft is rampant there.] |
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... Our boat was boarded while we slept [in a marina in USVI] ...
took checkbooks, wallets, credit cards, ...
Our advice to fellow cruisers, at least in this part of the Caribbean [especially in harbors in USVI], is to sleep aboard with the boat locked up, even at anchor. Especially when at a marina, sleep with the companionway locked. ... do not be ostentatious, do not wear jewelry or expensive watches ... ask the marina staff if they have had any recent incidents that you need to be aware of ... stock up on battery-operated motion detectors, pressure detectors, personal alarms and so forth ... lock the dinghies every time they are unattended ... |
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> What is the best way to clean the gunk that > grows in a shower sump pump ? Prevention is easier than cure. A weekly dose of Raritan C.P. in the sump when it can stand at least overnight will keep your sump and sump pump clean as a whistle AND sweet smelling. Although it's positioned as a toilet bowl cleaner, it's also the best sump and drain cleaner around. The enzymes in it not only destroy odors on contact, but also "eat" hair, soap scum, body oils, etc -- all the stuff that leaves a ring in the bathtub and gunks up a sump pump. It needs a little time to work, so the best time to use it is at the end of the weekend. Put some water down the drain into the sump, add a healthy squirt of C.P. Run the pump just long enough to get the solution into it ... then go away. Just be sure you've put enough water and C.P. in the sump to leave at least a 1/2". If it's too late for prevention, you can clean out the sump and pump with a strong solution of detergent and water. Turn on the pump long enough to get the solution into it and let it sit for a couple of hours ... then rinse and flush it out. If it's really bad, you may have to do it a couple of times. Once you've flushed ALL the detergent out, follow with the C.P. treatment. |
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"A sun shower will give you a VERY HOT shower as long as you are in the south ..." From "Voyage of the S/V Paradox":
From Mark Sienkiewicz on The Live-Aboard List:
From Mike / LaVida on The Live-Aboard List:
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Take clear plastic storage container that holds 2 gallons. In lid, install two rubber-coated exterior 120 volt light sockets. Use two 12 volt 50 watt light bulbs. Connect hose to bottom. Fill with water until lights are immersed. Run lights for 10 minutes to heat water. Take shower. |
| ... Want to get clean? Jump in. Get out. Lather up with diluted Dawn. Jump back in to rinse off. Then get out and towel off to get the salt off you and onto the towel. You end up surprisingly fresh! And, if you are lucky and leave the towel out on the rail, the afternoon rain will rinse out the towel and leave it good for next time. ... |
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[Use bleach in the water tank] only to recommission the system annually (or in the event it becomes
contaminated, requiring sanitizing). Adding a little to each fill is
a very bad idea ... so is too much or too little, left in too long or
not long enough.
... The cumulative effect of carrying chlorinated water is far more damaging over time than the occasional shock treatment. And it's that cumulative effect that makes it a VERY bad idea to add a little bleach to each fill. Not only does it damage the system, but unless you add enough to make your water taste and smell like a laundry, it's not enough to do any good. Even if it were, any purifying properties in chlorine evaporate within 24 hours, leaving behind only the corrosive properties. |
| Water purifiers: We use the Omni Filter, made for under-sink mounting in the home. They run around $30. If you have pressure water, then use the activated carbon block filters ... if you have foot pumps (like us), then use the activated charcoal paper filters ... works great, with a single filter change every year ... at around $5. |
| ... Although we filled our water tanks before leaving, all of our drinking water came from one and two-gallon spring water jugs purchased at a supermarket. ... Water in disposable jugs tastes much better and there is less chance of contamination due to the safety provided by several small containers. It is also easy to inventory your water supplies since you can simply count the remaining jugs. Dehydration, especially when crewmembers are seasick, is a common voyaging malady, so water consumption should be encouraged for health reasons. We used tank water for clean-up, personal washing, and an occasional shower. ... |
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Ahh for God's sake. Where do you think you are going ... Timbuctu?
Wherever you find people, you will find food. And water. If you are going to go cruising you had better get past the bottled water thing. Any time you eat out you will have a salad ... rinsed in local water, dishes washed in local water, ice in your drinks made from local water and all foods cooked ... in local water. The biggest pain in the **badword** I ever ran into while cruising was a couple in Venezuela (actually only 'she' was the problem) who insisted on buying only bottled water for 'everything'. The poor shmuck of a husband had to cart hundreds of individual gallon jugs of water to fill their tanks everywhere they went. Watermakers are okay I suppose but what are you going to do when it breaks down? ... they always break down ... everything breaks down. What could be worse than being stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to drink the local water? ... Being stuck in the middle of nowhere and having to drink the local water ... without ever having your body build up immunity to the various grades and quality of 'local' water where you have been traveling. Unless you have some rare disease that requires nothing but the purest of water entering your body, you should break yourself into the acceptance of drinking local water ... wherever you go. |
Fresh water use and how to reduce it, from "The Voyager's Handbook" by Beth Leonard:
To wash dishes: use one spray/squirt bottle of soapy water to wash, another spray/squirt bottle of water to rinse. Using salt water to wash dishes or shave tends to cause corrosion of sinks and faucets. |
From RichH on Cruising World message board:
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Peggie Hall's "Freshen Your Water Tank" (fresh water system problems -- foul odor or taste) "How to keep water potable" article in 7/2000 issue of Cruising World magazine
From Randy on the live-aboard mailing list:
Sanitize water system:
From Jerry Donofrio on The Live-Aboard List:
Summarized from article in issue 2003-3 of DIY Boat Owner magazine:
From Bruce Bowman:
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