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Wifey B:A dozen quarts of milk? For what? What do you use so much milk for?
We're British.
'nuff said?
Plus cereal for breakfast.
Cruising The Exumas
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We're British.
'nuff said?
Plus cereal for breakfast.
Wifey B: Now you got me curious as to what British do with milk other than put in their tea.
Didn't think of the cereal thing.
Not saying there's anything wrong with milk, the quantities just struck me as we don't use much.
Our water quantities would shock you as we take at least four 16-oz bottles per person per day with us.
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cardude01
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Awesome trip. That was some serious scheduling having all the friends flying in, with all the windy weather.
I'm going to try to go from Lake Worth the the Abacos in July for a short 2-3 week trip.
I'm going to try to go from Lake Worth the the Abacos in July for a short 2-3 week trip.
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Next time, if there is one in the Exumas, we have them fly to Staniel so we can stay on the bank and not have to exit to the sound. Lesson learned.
Wifey B: Sian was right. She'd had enough for one trip but it's what you didn't get to do this trip that makes the next one so exciting. Next trip, Abacos. I think the perfect time to leave is when there's still more to see but you feel like home would be nice too. It's before the trip gets too long. Then you go home and before long you're planning the next one.
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Wifey B: Sian was right. She'd had enough for one trip but it's what you didn't get to do this trip that makes the next one so exciting. Next trip, Abacos. I think the perfect time to leave is when there's still more to see but you feel like home would be nice too. It's before the trip gets too long. Then you go home and before long you're planning the next one.
I know, but....... we also said that we knew after being at home for a couple of weeks we would be looking at each other and saying "why are we here!"
In fact it didn't last that long. Once we hit the brown waters of the ICW Sian said "I want to go back to the blue water!"
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When we planned this trip I thought that, with our tankage of 1000 gallons, I would be able to top up in West Palm and not need any fuel until we got back to Fort Pierce.
Was never going to happen. First you never really get 1000 gallons in there since you don't want the tanks totally topped up. So maybe I had 850 to go over. Still, at between 1.5 and 2 KPG, that should have given me enough to go up and down the island chain.
I never for once considered just how many times we would go up and down!
In all we went the length of the chain (or pretty much) eight times! Plus the in and out of cays.
Add in genny use and no way were we getting away with not buying fuel.
We took on fuel top ups three times 450 gallons and 100 gallons in Georgetown and 150 in Staniel, for a total of 700 additional. We returned to Fort Pierce with around 250 gallons.
So usage was roughly 1300 gallons. I plan on estimating the miles traveled when I have some time. I did start off my keeping a detailed log with photos of the tank gauges but you soon realize that you are there to enjoy yourself, not worry about fuel burn as you are there and it is going to be what it is going to be!
This will be one of the lessons learned in our final post!
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menzies
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I have three tanks, 425X2 and 150X1
They are managed by sight glasses by the tanks and a finger pump tank watch gauge in the PH. The sight glasses, because of the valve design and placement, will never show you the top of the tank, and the PH gauge, based on an inches reading driven by a small pressure pump, isn't accurate enough.
So the only way to really top them up is to keep filling until fuel comes out of the vent - and that's not the best idea!
So I fill to just above the sight glasses. Which I estimate leave me about 100 to 150 short of full across all of the tanks.
Additionally I fill the smaller forward tank, shut it off and not use it. That is my back up should I get bad fuel in the islands. Well managed that would get me 150-200 miles to somewhere I could get the issue fixed. I transferred that into the two other tanks after getting back to Florida so as not to let it get old.
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I never keep a log, I don't want to know how much the trip costs.
Probably, like me, you have a good running total in your head anyway!
Wifey B: That's how we've figured it out. Cruising 6 weeks, home 3 seem to be our best pattern, although we do a lot of boating even when home. Limit seems to be 2 months cruise, 1 month at home. Wherever you are, you learn there's a time you're ready to get back to the other. Yours may be 3 months away and 2 weeks at home. We're all different.
That's the way we did it last time. You can pull your dinghy up to about a hundred feet away from the airport terminal (and, I use the word "terminal", loosely)!
Capt.Bill11
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Going over short 150 gallons of fuel makes no sense.
And a properly calibrated Tank Tender should be accurate.
If you can't tell when the tanks are full by listening to the vents, next time you fill, have some one watch the sight gauges. Have them tell you exactly when the tubes appear full and they can no longer see air space in them. From that point fill slowly and keep track of the amount of fuel you put in till the tank just vents. Catch the overflow with an oil sorb.
From then on you'll know how much fuel it take to top off the tanks after the sight gauge is full and you can fill up to 95% or so without over filling.
Filling up with an extra 100+ gallons of fuel before crossing over can save you $200-$300. Which could go towards more milk and wine.
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menzies
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Going over short 150 gallons of fuel makes no sense.
And a properly calibrated Tank Tender should be accurate.
If you can't tell when the tanks are full by listening to the vents, next time you fill, have some one watch the sight gauges. Have them tell you exactly when the tubes appear full and they can no longer see air space in them. From that point fill slowly and keep track of the amount of fuel you put in till the tank just vents. Catch the overflow with an oil sorb.
From then on you'll know how much fuel it take to top off the tanks after the sight gauge is full and you can fill up to 95% or so without over filling.
Filling up with an extra 100+ gallons of fuel before crossing over can save you $200-$300. Which could go towards more milk and wine.
Got all that but, really, just how much do I want to micromanage fuel to that level?
And that's just 8 or 9 bottles of semi decent wine over there!
Capt.Bill11
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Got all that but, really, just how much do I want to micromanage fuel to that level?
And that's just 8 or 9 bottles of semi decent wine over there!
Just like the fuel, you buy the extra wine before you go.
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Just like the fuel, you buy the extra wine before you go.
We already had nine cases on board - where do you think I am going to put any more where is doesn't boil!
Capt.Bill11
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I once inventory a boat that had 1500 bottles of wine on board.
Plus I I've taken 50+ cases of beer over to the Bahamas on my own boat at a time.
You just need to work on your alcohol storage management.
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Bigsfish
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Great trip, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I usually tell people to go for a week the first time and then add a week each succeeding trips until they find the difficult period and learn their practical limits.
I once inventory a boat that had 1500 bottles of wine on board.
Plus I I've taken 50+ cases of beer over to the Bahamas on my own boat at a time.
You just need to work on your alcohol storage management.
Wifey B: Our record in beverages taken on a trip is 100 cases/2400 bottles of water, 15 cases of soft drinks, 12 bottles of champagne.
Wifey B: We don't drink while cruising unless there's a very special occasion and then only when we don't intend to move the boat the following day. We don't drink often even on land. I'd say we average consuming alcohol perhaps 4 or 5 times a year. Then it's either champagne or occasionally wine paired with each course of a 5 or 7 course meal in a fancy restaurant. We drink tons of water. Hubby and I don't drink soft drinks at all.
Bigsfish
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I'm about the same except I drink water that is flavored and has artificial sugar. Wife drink water when she can't find wine, I buy her the good stuff that comes in boxes or twist off caps.
