Cost to Cruise – July

July comes, July goes;  all of a sudden we are in a place where we can receive TV and what do we see?  Office Depot and Target Back to School ads..   Wow, just one-more-reason to stop watching TV all together.   But August also brings another update to the Cost to Cruise, this time for July.  And with it we complete our 2nd year of tracking (and reporting) costs.

Some highlights:  While still in the USA we took the opportunity to top off the fuel tanks.  Too bad we did not do it in June on the way down as fuel increased about $0.20/gal on us, but it still was less then it is now!  Plus, we have more than enough to get us into the winter, and perhaps even through it.  Carrying 500 gallons gives the option to tank-up when costs are lowest, and ride out the peaks.  (Providing my crystal ball is working).   Under Travel we  show the car rental fees for both my quick trip back to Portland and our planned trip back to Minnesota.  Communication reflects an overlap between TELUS in Canada and us Turing Verizon back on while in the USA.  Other than that, typical month for us.

Viking Star Costs - July 2013

And having said that, over the past two years we HAVE come consistently in at the mid $40K’s, higher then I still am hoping for, but it is what it is.  Kristi and I do not really pace ourselves (Might have to start, given my contracting job is all but finished), and we have seen some expenses that are a bit out of the norm - I would say namely:

• Kristi’s early cataract surgery.
• Hauling Viking Star once a year while I decided how she behaved in saltwater (am moving to a every other year schedule and will reassess at the next haul out)
• BOTH inverters needing replacement last winter, plus adding in the whole solar system.
• Extra travel associated with unexpected family events.

All the above can account for upwards of $15k, maybe $20K ‘extra’ over the two years.  Again, going forward time will tell.

Solar worked well, in fact given 193Ah/day average and well exceeding the projected 157Ah.  ‘Generator’ time reflects us firing up the Watermaker, though to be honest there is also some of the ‘let her run to fully top off the batteries’ in there as well.  We are finding with the anchorages being closer in the Gulf Islands we do not put as much time moving, and hence recharging the batteries from the main motor, as say when we were in the South Sound.

Ok, On to the Dog Days of Summer!

Arduino based DC Generator controller and Alternator Regulator - finished?

Well, today is kind of a milestone.   Today I posted what might become the 1st 'final' release of source for my integrated DC Generator and Alternator Regulator project, the automation project that gave me a nice push-the-button remote control for our Kubota based DC Generator and Watermaker.

What is so special about today?  Over the past few weeks I have been exercising the last part of this controller, namely the ability to manage the watermaker's high pressure pump in conjunction with the alternator.   Previously (when I was using a common 'smart' regulator, one that comes in a Blue heatsink) I would need to turn off the alternator when running the watermaker, the poor little Kubota just did not have enough horsepower to run both at the same time, and the 'smart' regulator did not have sufficient flexibility to adjust things.


Well, that is not the case anymore.


Now when I press the 'Watermaker' button, not only will the High Pressure pump for the Watermaker start up, but the output of the Alternator is scaled way back to account for the power needed to drive the pump.  After a few runs I have settled on scaling the alternator back to around 50A.    So, the 2nd major goal of the project is completed - I can put a small amount of power to put back into the batteries WHILE running the Watermaker.

And today I finished with the tweaks and small bug fixes to allow smooth transition into and out of Watermaker mode.

I am really happy with the outcome of this project.  I am able to maximize the Kubota's usage while it is running, shortening overall recharge time, co-generate while powering the Reverse Osmosis watermaker, have the engine speed adjust down to an idle as the battery becomes charged, and then auto-stop the generator when the battery is full.  Monitor all from a nice remote display and know the controler is also looking out for faults like oil pressure, raw water flow, overheating, etc.  Not only that, but we have noticed that with the unit slowing down towards an idle as the battery gets fully charged (and the demand on the alternator is reduced), we now tend to just let the generator keep running - finishing off the battery charging (as opposed to stopping things when they batteries got to say 85% charged).   Over the long run I am sure the batteries will be much happier - and this is really a bonus as I had not 'planned' on this going into the project!

This fall I will be adding simple monitoring of critical pressures in the Watermaker: the pre-filter boost pump, and the High pressure pump.  Currently I have to check the watermaker every 10-20 minutes to make sure those are still at their targets, adjusting as needed.  I want the controller to watch these critical pressures and alert me when they start to stray out of bounds, and then shut things down if they get to a place where damage can be done to some part of the system.   Not sure I will go beyond that (ala, full automation of the Watermaker); at least not for now.  But I do want to add in the safety monitoring capability.

But unless something major comes up for now it is 'done'.

And if anyone is indeed interested in this, check out the blog where I have documented all  (Everything is available for non-commercial use at no charge), and if someone is really interested: I do still have a blank PCB left over from the manufacturing runs.

http://smartdcgenerator.blogspot.com/

Third Time's a Charm!

We got an email from our friends Dave and Sandra from Light Spirit and they shared some of their photos of our time together.

Both these shots are from our finally successful Pub Bus trip to the Hummingbird Pub on Galiano Island.  We had previously visited in April, which was too early in the season for the bus to be running, and we ended up walking the whole way, BOTH WAYS!  About a 6 mile hike.

Then we stopped in June, when the bus was running most days, but not Mondays.  And you guessed it, we were there on a Monday!

Third time's a charm!

Light Spirit

We DID meet up with our friends Dave and Sandra at Glenthorne Passage last Tuesday!

Light Spirit, snuggled up to Viking Star in Glenthorne Passage

We met Dave and Sandra last spring at Prevost Harbor in the San Juan Islands, and ran into them once more at Sucia.  Their dog Max was obviously aging, and we were sad to learn he did not make it through last winter.  This year, when we spent some time in Vancouver BC in May, they invited us to their home, where we met their new puppy Jake.

Jake is now five months old.  Though we consider ourselves to be more 'cat people', even Al said that Jake is the first dog that has made him think we would like to HAVE a dog.  Of course, the biggest deterrent for that ever truly happening was watching Dave row Jake to shore four times a day.

We so enjoyed our time together in Glenthorne Passage that when we moved on to Montague Harbor, both boats went and rafted up there for another two days.  The men did some brainstorming and problem-solving -- Light Spirit had an engine issue, and Viking Star had a blip with the watermaker we had fired up after more than a year out of service.  The women discussed and traded books.  We had quiet times on our own boats, and we shared dinners, drinks, and games in the evenings.

We enjoyed Jake!  And he enjoyed Viking Star -- gnawing on cleats, 'magically' nearly swallowing a length of rope with which we had tried to replace the rope toy he had lost, losing a baby tooth, running the side decks and up to the bow for a better vantage, and just the occasional bark at birds and seals.

Jake's bed was brought along to Viking Star in the evenings and had its own special spot, but his favorite place was at the foot of his people. 

A wonderful family!

Watermaker Update!

The past few days we have been running Viking Star's home-built watermaker (follow the whole story via this label link:  http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/search/label/Water%20Maker ).  Have put about 160 gallons into the tank and have a few more thoughts.

Do we still think we need it?

First off, we once again got into the conversation with a fellow boater about the 'need' for a watermaker.  This fellow has done a bit of cruising here in the BC area, and commented they never had issues finding water - even all the way up to Alaska.  It is something we have heard before, and yet we fired up our watermaker after leaving Ganges.   Why??

Well - see I think this is again a situation where you need to consider the cruising lifestyle of who is giving you an answer.  As with our questions about the South Sound, where we got 'it was great' or 'there is nothing down there',  I think it really depends on if the person we were asking liked to anchor out (it was great), or liked to go into full service Marinas (there is nothing down there).

And to the same end I am beginning to think the 'Yes, we use our Watermaker all the time' vs. the 'We never had any problem finding water' might fall into the same camp.

I have no question that water is available anywhere in the world, it really comes to a question of access and cost.  For our experience cruising in the South Sound last year, there was easy access to water at many of the public docks. And as such we did not use the Watermaker at all last year.  This year we had planned to take on water in Friday Harbor (which we did), with the next stop at Ganges where we again knew water was available on the public dock.  But in the end we did not take water at Ganges.    Oh, we tried - as we came to the dock a space opened up just our size, and while Kristi was prepping the boat for a Starboard side tie we got within 5 minutes when someone else planted themselves right in the middle of the open space.  So we went around and dropped Anchor (not in a great spot, but I was going to stay on the boat).   During the next three hours I watched boats come and go, and AT NO TIME was there a space large enough for us to get in.  It is Summer - and you see,  though water was available, but not accessible.  

Of course, we could have taken a slip in the local marina - that would have solved our access issue.  (At a cost of over $60 for the night).  We could have hung around for a few more hours, maybe into the evening, or we could do what we ended up doing:  Move on and run the watermaker.

So, in this example:  had we been the type to often pull into marinas, our access to water would be simple.  And I suspect that will be true elsewhere as we work more north.  But even this perhaps only in selected areas (Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, Ganges, Nanaimo being the ones here we know of).  More likely, as water is a scarce commodity on many of these islands, even if we did pull into a marina many of them would not be able to let us take on 200 gallons.  Example: The upscale marina at Poets Cove limits you to 10 gallons / day, and the marina at Montague Harbor's water is undrinkable (they barge in water from Victoria for the local restaurant).  So, even the approach of Marina-to-Marina does not guarantee availability of water.  I have no doubt that if we wanted, we could find a marina with water every 10 days.  But even that brings up a point: when you also consider these places where water is available can easily be out of our way (we motored about 2 hours into and from Ganges primarily to secure water) - it does become one more thing to plan around.

Alright, back to that overriding question:  do you NEED a watermaker:  Well, for us - answered here in the RAIN FOREST of the Pacific Northwest - all I can say is:   We have already found it highly desirable; unless we wanted to purchase a night at the marina  or perhaps the fuel dock would have sold us water, like in Deep Cove - at $15/20 for a tank.    But for US at least, when you consider we are not interested in rationing our water (we use about 20 gallons / day between everything:  Showers, dishes, cooking, clothes washing, etc.),  and the time it takes to get into places like Ganges (which we would not go to this time of the year for any reason other than water),  I for one am glad we have our watermaker and expect to put many hours on it this summer.


Some Other Notes:
We have been operating in a rather high Algae area.  So much so that the 20u primary filter clogs up after 2-3 hours of run time!   The 1st time this happened, the system went out of normal operating range (vacuum on the pre-filters, and high pressure on the RO membranes) causing the single drive belt to squeal in complaint.   I changed the filter and all is well, but a few  notes from that experience:

1. The Automation of the Generator is working so very very well, but there is NO automation of the watermaker.  That would be a major project, mostly around physically controlling the valves and such.  I am however going to look into monitoring critical pressures in the pre-filter and the high pressure pump, sounding warnings when they get a bit out of range and shutting things down when they turn critical.
2. Until then, I need to shorten my check-in time while the Watermaker is running, check it every 10-15-20 minutes MAX.
3. The high pressure pop-off did pop-off like it should have, but its capacity to release both the pressure the the flow from the CAT high pressure pump was not sufficient.  So, it in effect had no value.  Plus it did not reseated itself and continued to leak.  I have removed it for now, and will reconsider a replacement once I do some more research.
4. I am not sure why the high pressure side went up when the pre-filters clogged, but one idea is a small bit of lint might have freed itself from the Oil filter element, passed downstream to partly restricted the pressure adjusting needle valve.  I am thinking this because I also had one of the three positions in the CAT pump drop out, resulting in a massive pulsation on the output.   After R&Ring the pump and inspecting  it, I seem to have cleared the issue - am wondering if some lint also got into one of the piston's valves, rendering that piston useless.  
5. In any case I swapped the order of the Oil filter and the 5u filter, placing the 5u last.
6. I had a stainless fitting split on me on the High Pressure hose.  Likely due to my ham-handed over tightening.  But I am SOO glad I have a pool of spares, just installed the spare hose and we are good to go.  Will get the original repaired / replaced this fall.

And on the primary 20u filters that get clogged up with Algae, I just clean them.   They get covered with about 1/4" of green 'slime' that I gently brush off in a pail of water, then I tie a string around them and dump them overboard for a few days floating around where lots of hungry guys get busy cleaning up the rest of the Green from the filters.  After that a few days in the Sun to 'bleach them out' and they are ready to go again.   

And this is why I selected the String type filters for the 20u, they are a lot more tough and able to stand this cleaning cycle.  I use the pleated accordion type filters to the 5u, as there is more surface area and they will last longer before requiring replacement.  (Not sure how well they will clean, mostly because anything in them would not be the soft green algae).

Or.....  maybe I should be saving this 'harvested' algae - drying it and selling as a health supplement!  Hum. . . . .

And one last thought -- I changed the order of the plumbing to run the seawater 1st through the Kubota's heat exchanger before sending it to the Watermaker system.  This was to raise the water temperature a little and improve the efficiency of the RO membranes.   I figure I am getting perhaps a 4-5 degree F raise doing this. However, someone asked a question about safety: what happens if the heat exchanger on the Kubota starts leaking and starts dumping antifreeze into the water before it gets sent to the watermaker.   

I think that is a great question...

So, I am going to be looking into coolant for the Kubota that does not involve the green antifreeze.  Maybe just plain water, or the Pink RV stuff?  Not really sure right now - I am more concerned about the mixed metals in the Kubota engine (steel and Aluminum) than freezing at low temperatures, and need to consider how to prevent excessive corrosion inside the Kubota...     Does anyone have some ideas on this???

.

Kristi's Big Adventure!

Sadly no pictures to go with this story -- I was too BUSY!

We left Winter Cove yesterday morning, bound for Ganges.  We needed provisions, and to fill our water tank.  We arrived with not a lot of time to spare for Al's appointment, and the public dock was FULL.  We dropped anchor amid some boats on buoys, one owner questioning our position, but he was satisfied when Al said we were only staying an hour or so and he wouldn't be leaving the boat.

In anticipation of being able to fill our water tank, we had done two loads of laundry on the way to Ganges, and our gauge now said we had none.  But now we couldn't get to the dock to get water.  Hmmm.  We had planned to flush and clean the watermaker in another week or so, once we went north of Nanaimo, but I guess we could move that up.  Well, we HAVE to move that up.

So the next problem to solve is:  how to get groceries without Al leaving the boat.

That was solved by me taking my first solo adventure with the dinghy!  I was a bit nervous -- OK, quite a bit nervous.  Ganges is a busy harbor, with boats of all sizes coming and going, and float planes adding to the mix. I put my wallet and shopping bags in my backpack and Al came with me to the dinghy to review operations of the engine.  I have not operated it since last summer!  And never without Al right there with me.

I think the most difficult time I had was finding a spot at the dinghy dock!  (Busy harbor, you know!)  But I wedged the dinghy in between two boats and killed the engine.  Then I pulled myself along the length of a neighbor boat, pushing with my paddle, trying to make more space.  I was going nowhere.  So I took my line and climbed into the neighbor boat and yanked, then climbed into the NEXT boat and yanked some more.  Then I climbed up onto the dock.

But my dinghy was probably three feet from the dock still -- further than I wanted to throw my lifejacket, since I would want it when I returned with grocery bags and may have to crawl over more boats again to get to mine.  So I carried my jacket with me.

I was a bit shaky with nerves, and discombobulated.  So I forgot about going to the liquor store to check the wines, darn!  I was just set on getting groceries.  I had even forgotten about finding an ATM and getting more cash, but luckily I had enough to cover what I expected to spend.  There was NOT an ATM at the grocery store, and I didn't feel like pushing a cart to the bank, or carrying three bags of groceries around town, so I returned to the boat without TWO errands completed.

There was another couple looking for a tie spot when I got done loading the dinghy.  She said, 'We'll take your spot if you're leaving!'  I warned her that it was my very first solo adventure, so they stayed well back.  I wasn't TOO embarrassed by my exit.

It took three bounces off the swim step, but I finally grabbed it and got secured to Viking Star.  Mission Accomplished!  We have groceries!  But I forgot onions.

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On Sunday, we visited Wild Thyme, again.  We were spending more than $20 a day there.  Now the coffee and food was really YUMMY, but our budget can't continue indefinitely, so three days was the limit.  After visiting St. Christopher's for an inter-denominational service, we motored 'around the corner' to Winter Cove.

Cute church!  I was going to take an outside photos also, but forgot.  It reminds me, just a bit, of the small church I grew up in -- there were about 8 pews on each side.  We were told that typical attendance is about 7, but I counted 22 this Sunday.  That's the sun shining through the cross.

Sunday evening sunset

At first I was upset that 'that dinghy is ruining the shot'....but he didn't after all.  It was a man out by himself, who paused and drifted, to enjoy the sight before him.  I've decided it was the best shot of the night!

There were a lot of boats in Winter Cove.  And as I was checking facebook that evening, I told Al 'We should email Light Spirit -- they said they were going to be in this area about now.'  The next morning, guess who snuck up to us as they were leaving the cove?!  We made arrangements to meet up later the next day in Glenthorne Passage.

But first there was another reunion planned!  The boats we travelled up the Columbia and Snake Rivers with in Fall 2009 were passing through the Gulf Islands on their way to Desolation Sound, and they planned to stop in Winter Cove after clearing Customs.  'Maxine' with the Hamiltons showed up first, and 'Brigadoon' with the Critchlows followed about an hour and a half behind.  It was great to catch up!  (I think both couples will appreciate that I not post the photos I took of them.  Serves me right for only one shot of each of them, catching them unaware, with not very flattering results.)

After dinner, we retired to the deck to sip Fireball as the full moon rose: