An early start and early finish.
Course: Stonington, CT to Branford, CT
Weather: sun and clouds, not many though
Seas: 2-4 feet on the nose, again
Distance Made Good: 42 miles (N), by GPS
Distance in the Water: 37 miles (N), the tide was with us
Departure Time: 0615
Arrival Time: 1230
Day: 13
Sea Days: 6
The day began early as we left Stonington at 6:15 AM in a flat calm with the sun just over the eastern horizon. We watched the misty shores of Fisher's Island and Connecticut from the flybridge while sipping hot tea and breakfasting on bananas and chocolate, mmmmmm. Civilization is definably on the increase as we near New York City but at sea we only are aware of it by the increased development of shorefront mansions and summer estates.
VELOMER handles calm as well as high seas with similar ease, and she had a bit of both today as we encountered building seas later in the morning before our turn into Branford. I found the pesky leak today while underway. It was a simple fix: tighten a hose clamp on the heat exchanger and all was well, no more leaking coolant. Another good moment for confidence building as a cruising couple.
I am enjoying this time on VELOMER as much if not more than any other time in my life, and its just beginning.
PM's Perspective -- Don't Mess With My Head
Why is a boat's bathroom called the head? Back when sailing vessels went out to sea for days or months or even years at a time, the bow or head of the boat contained two square openings or boxes one on either side of the boat just aft of the bow sprit. Just large enough to squat upon, these openings were used as the ship's toilets for the common seaman (the captain had his own private accommodations). I imagine they would also double as bidets in rough seas. In any event, this is where the term came from. Last fall when Bob and I attended Trawler Fest, we sat in on a workshop about the Great Loop that had a question and answer period during which one of the participants asked if in preparation for doing the Great Loop you should buy a boat with one head or two. The presenter, without missing a beat, responded, "Definitely with two heads, because one is always not working."
One of the special features about boat living is becoming ever so aware of your impact on the environment, including human waste. The boat is self contained and anything that goes on the boat must come off the boat. On land, a simple flush of the toilet involving pushing down a short lever washes away all -- waste and toilet paper and whatever else there may be. Out of sight, out of mind. On a boat, not so. Velomer has two heads, one in the master suite and one in the V-berth. Each head has a manual flush toilet meaning that next to the toilet bowl is a lever that gets pumped by hand and a two-position switch that pulls water from outside the boat into the bowl in one position and drains the bowl in the second position. When the toilet is pumped, the contents of the bowl drains into the boat's holding tank. Velomer's holding tank is located in the bilge and holds 40 gallons, not a whole lot of capacity when one considers that the average flush on land consumes 5 gallons of water. However, on a boat one gallon per flush is more the average. Some boats have an electric flush toilet, however, I understand that these tend to malfunction more often than manual, uses a lot of electricity, and is difficult and expensive to repair.
When we first looked at boats, one owner was telling us that they never put toilet paper in the head. When I heard that I thought, "Well what the hell do you do with it? Put it in your purse and take it off board with you?" What I have come to realize during my time as a boat live aboard is that toilet paper really gums up the holding tank works which you don't want to happen for obvious reasons -- that is, someone has to fix the situation and it might be you, and the job is not a pleasant one. So, next to each head on Velomer is a small trash can lined with a supermarket plastic shopping bag ready to accept used toilet paper. I must confess that it took me a while to train myself not to just drop the paper into the head and be done with it. Earlier this summer, I made the mistake of doing just that. I looked in the bowl with horror as I realized what I had done. "Oh crap, what do I do now?" I had two options. One was to retrieve the paper, the other was to pump and hope for the best. If I was to retrieve it, how was I going to do that? I could go get a chop stick from the kitchen, scoop up the paper and throw everything out in the trash can. I chose the easier way out and pumped and pumped some more thinking that the paper will just move on through. Not so. Those three little sheets made it through the piping to the holding tank but decided to wrap themselves around the holding tank float switch that indicates how full the tank is. As the person who looks after all these things, Bob realized that something was wrong. Time for true confessions and I fessed up. My hero had to remove the float switch from the holding tank and clean it off and reassembly the works. We both had to deal with the odor which was pretty intense.
As we have found, boat heads need regular maintenance to remain in top working order and relatively odor free. The stench of human waste can really ruin a boat trip. Harsh chemicals can erode the delicate piping from the head to the holding tank. Some of the brand name odor inhibitors can be quite expensive, and I am cheap! What we have learned is to pump the holding tank before it gets full to the point of maximum capacity (an obvious step!) and once a week to put in about one-half cup of the cheapest vegetable oil in each head to keep the pumping mechanism well oiled and about one-half cup white vinegar to control the odor. So, if you happen to come aboard Velomer and use the head, if you smell salad dressing and see a chopstick, you'll know why.
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