Boat Differences with Theo
You might think that living on a boat is very different from living on land. And you would be correct, but not in the ways you would think. Sometimes it feels very similar to living on land because our boat is big, comfortable and house like. We have running water, electricity, a fridge, internet, tv, a stove, and many of the other things that make a home, a home. But there are many differences.
Water is a big difference from living on land. One of the ways we get water is with our water maker. A water maker takes the salt water from outside the boat and runs it through a bunch of filters and pumps, making it fresh and clean. That water is then put into our water tank and stored for when we need it throughout the day. We have a 150 gallon tank. We also have 5 gallon jugs that we fill up sometimes when we go to land and there is a place to fill them with fresh water. How we do that is we load up the dingy with our 5 gallon jugs and zoom to land. Sometimes there are hoses on docks to fill up your jugs with water. Sometimes you have to bring your own hose. We always bring our own hose and a separate filter that attaches to the hose. We have 8, 5 gallon jugs. So if we fill up all the jugs we will have 40 gallons of water. That is 8x5. We would need to do 4 water runs to fill up our tank, and we would have 10 gallons left over. I know this because we used wood rods to work out the problem.
Because water is so tedious to get, we have to conserve as much water as possible. When washing our hands, brushing our teeth or doing dishes, we make sure to not use very much water. We never leave the faucet running. When we take a shower it is very short. If its nice out we will hop in the salt water to get all the sand off and we will soap up and wash our body and hair while in the salt water. When we get out of the water we rinse off with warm fresh water on the back deck. If its cold out, we will use the normal inside shower and turn the shower on and off as we need water. When we are at a dock, and water is free, or there is an on land shower, we will always take a nice hot shower! Speaking of hot water, hot water takes a lot of electricity. When we are motoring the engines will heat the hot water through something called a heat exchanger, but if we are anchored and not moving the water needs electricity to be heated.
Electricity is another thing that must be conserved. We have solar panels, a wind generator and a diesel powered generator. When we are motoring we can make electricity through something called an alternator. We store the energy we make in a bunch of big batteries. We are always turning things off. Mom and Dad are always yelling at us when we forget to turn off our cabin lights! Not only do we make sure lights aren’t on but we also turn stuff off at the breaker. There is something called phantom draw and thats when things are plugged in, but seem to be off, but they are still using a little bit of electricity. On a boat, every bit of electricity counts!
Another thing that is different about living on a boat is how we get food. We cant just hop in a car and go to the grocery store. Instead we hop in the dingy and zoom ashore and then walk to the store. You may think that’s pretty similar, but on wet, windy, stormy days its not so easy. We have to bring a big bag to carry all of our groceries. Its always a nice surprise when the grocery boat comes in on the same day you go shopping, because all the food is fresh and there is lots choose from! Last time we went to the grocery store we were lucky to get yummy strawberries and some Oreos!
There are lots of other things that are different on a boat, but those are the big ones. If you have any questions about other differences, please ask below. I will try and answer when I get a chance.
Thanks for readinggg!!!!!
-Theo
