With the boat safely tucked away in Brunswick we returned to Mount Dora to enjoy settling back home, visiting friends, and of course in my case, returning to work. When I gave up my partnership at the start of this journey I took a pay cut in exchange for having no commitment to work a minimum number of hours per month or year. This has worked out well so far. When I’m home in Mount Dora I work full time, and when the weather is pretty and we want to be on the boat for a few months, I just let my job know so I’m not put on the schedule.
But this August as I returned to work I realized that I had a unique opportunity. My work had just got an additional contract and were expanding and needed additional full time docs. Coincidentally, we are in need of some upgrades to our boat.
Our current limiting factor is lack of power on the boat. And to fix this issue means money, and a lot of it. Even though our battery bank is larger than before the wreck for some unknown reason we are churning through power. Whereas before at anchor we could go all day or all night without cranking the engines or worrying about our battery bank, now we are having to get up in the middle of the night and run the alternator on our engine just so we don’t wake up in the morning to dangerously low batteries. We end up staying in marinas much more than we would like to just so we can plug in all night and get a good night’s sleep. This is expensive, and not how we prefer to travel.
This summer we’ve done quite a bit of trouble shooting. I resealed the refrigerators and even insulated the tubing trying to make them more efficient. We went through every single electrical item on the boat to determine how much amperage it draws and then made a spreadsheet of our power needs at sail and at anchor. We also tried to calibrate the battery monitor thinking it wasn’t calibrated correctly, meaning it is reading a lower voltage than what the batteries actually have.
After spending thousands on repairs we have finally given up on the generator. We tried to have it fixed on multiple occasions, but the only time it ever worked was at the hands of the mechanic and as soon as we pulled away from the dock we could never get it to start again. At last, we had it taken off the boat while the boat was taken apart to remove the port engine.
Looking forward we would like to get the refrigerators troubleshot…are they as efficient as they can be? Should we just replace them? We definitely want to upgrade our solar panels. Our solar panels are about ten years old, and not very efficient compared to the technology available in solar power now. And if that doesn’t work we might end up having to spring for another marine diesel generator. Yep, B.O.A.T. = “Bring Out Another Thousand”.
So I approached my boss with a proposition. In exchange for my commitment to work full time for a year I get a little bit extra an hour. We negotiated the amount and came up with something that is acceptable to both of us. I hope I don’t regret it. I know there will be times I’m driving into work and it is a beautiful day to be on a boat. I know just knowing I can’t leave makes me want to leave even more. But I also know that it will be good to have the extra income, that this will give the kids more opportunities to do extra-curricular activities, and our whole family will enjoy getting the time at home to spend with friends and neighbors in Mount Dora.
So plan on us being around, me being at work, August 2016- August 2017.