Life On The Hard - Fridge, Freezer, Head, Yard Clothes.

Dec 2017

Our fridge and freezer work using seawater.  Being on the hard means being out of the seawater.  Tom thought long and hard and came up with a plan.  He remembered a conversation with Stefan on sv Tango who converted a spare water tank for  his freezer/fridge.  It circulated fresh water rather than sea water and worked just fine.  Tom filled a five gallon bucket of water and placed it in the cockpit locker and re-routed the cooling water intake to draw from the bucket.  The outflow went back into the bucket creating a closed system.  This system worked like a charm for the seven days on the hard and meant that we didn't have to thaw out our frozen food.

We also use seawater to flush our heads.  We can use fresh but we didn’t want to use all our fresh water up and more importantly, we didn’t want to fill the holding tank even though we have a big one.  Thus, we used the marina facility.  This meant up and down the ladder.  Actually, it wasn’t too bad as we were on the ground most of the time or on the scaffolding.  Additionally, we were sweating so much that no matter how much water we drank, we didn’t have to pee very often.  However, at night it's a different matter.  Many people have to pee during the night.  As we age, this becomes a given.  Luckily, it is not too bad yet for us.  However, have you ever tried to NOT think of doing something?  Yep, it makes you want to do that thing even more, right?  So reading this right now, try to not ask yourself “Do I have to pee?”  Just tell yourself you don’t.  “I do not need to pee.”  “I am fine.”  I can wait until I get up next time before I need to go.”  You have to go now don’t you?  Yep, go ahead.  I’ll wait.  You back?  Anyway, night time becomes a challenge.  Many cruisers use a bucket during the night and then dump it in the morning.  I know, I know....TMI, but I am just telling the truth.  I myself have gotten up in the middle of the night because I couldn’t stop thinking of NOT peeing and thus then had to go, thrown something on, crawled down the ladder and traipsed off to the marina bath house.  This explains some of the weird things you see people on the hard wearing late at night or early in the morning;  shirts inside out, PJ bottoms.  One Italian guy wore his robe to and fro. 

Blue Team

Speaking of clothing, cruisers all have Yard Clothes. There are grubby work clothes.  More often than not, they are tossed in the trash after the boat is splashed.  We have yard clothes but we also have our sv Honey Ryder, navy Dickie coveralls!  Yes, we be styling.  Local Nigel keeps teasing us by calling us "Blue Team".  But we didn't mind, it was nice to strip those off at the end of the work day and not be quite as covered in dust, paint, dirty and such.