Cruising on $500 per Month . . .

[ImaginaryNumber]

Boatman61,
Could you better explain what a spillover system is?
Thanks

Originally Posted by boatman61

...I had a big icebox with a simple spillover system fitted on one boat I bought...
Suddenly I could keep fresh fruit and veg (not supermarket stuff) much longer... some I'd buy green and have to ripen them out of the fridge...
So... if you can convert your icebox by adding an old spill system cheaply.. do it, its worth the effort..

[boatman61]

Actually a fridge is quite simple to knock up... just get an old small domestic fridge n rip out the gas tubes and ice box (carefully... very) then figure out your 12v system of heating the liquid to gas....
I'm sure there's plenty of variations..

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by callmecrazy

Also, if you're living on $500 a month, you're probably not buying a whole lot of meats and dairy products, and beer... So you really don't need refrigeration. It's a nicety. The serious budget cruiser will be supplementing that stuff with fresh fish and seafood caught by hand on a daily basis. The priority of refrigeration falls far behind other important things, like say, $500 for an emergency medical visit, or a plain ticket home for an emergency, or emergency repair, Or an extra month cruising, or about 20 fuel fillups, or....

With a Fridge (and especially a freezer) can extend the life of a good days catch......

But I do appreciate we all have different priorities / views - and that for many things there is no single "right" way that is applicable to everyone - certainly none that are cheap, quick and easy .

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by ImaginaryNumber

Boatman61,
Could you better explain what a spillover system is?
Thanks

It's a freezer that allows air to "spill over" into the refrigator side of the box with separation between the two. Most boat systems are this way if they have a seperate freezer box without having two separte systems.

My 2001 boat has a "spill over" system, but it has an that moves the air between te sides also which is run by separate themrostat fromn what operates the compressor. In oter words I don't really have a refrigator, I have a freezer that allows air to go to te other box.

[boatman61]

For those who MAY want to have a go...
How to Make a Refrigerator | eHow.com
Personally I rather like the idea of a Gaz Fridge... with flame failure devices...

[southace]

Im currently at anchor and working ,I have not had a drink for 8 weeks and a smoke for 7 weeks I feel healthy for this and i am able to save $400 per week.....every weekly payday I walk to the shops and fill my backpack with Meats,fruit and veg which cost me close to $100 per week, just the regular maintance to the boat (37ft) is required Oil change,slipping,polish etc I would estmate $2000 per year divide by 12 $166 per month would total approx $666 AU per month

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by boatman61

For those who MAY want to have a go...
How to Make a Refrigerator | eHow.com
Personally I rather like the idea of a Gaz Fridge... with flame failure devices...

That web site has some funny stuff.

This article really caught my eye - how to make ice without a refrigerator. Wow thinks me. This could be like magical wizardry.

There are three methods - method 1

- pour water into ice making trays
- check outside temperature is below freezing
- put trays outside
- wait 4 hours

Is this website for people just arriving from outer space - LOL

Visit the site for the other two amazing methods to make ice without a refrigerator.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4881225_make...rigerator.html

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by goprisko

This thread is about cruising not about an expensive overly extended refit of a broken boat under trying conditions.

For what you claim to have spent, you could have flown to new zealand and bought a 3 skin kauri boat. or gone to the St Michael's boat auction and bought a decent boat.

INDY

My boat was not expensive, overly extended or broken, the only thing trying was that I am on low fixed income.
I started with a very nice William Atkin boat with nothing that needed to be repaired $17,400
The only major maintenance I had to do was epoxy barrier coat and new standing rigging.
Everything else is to make living more comfortable and efficient.
Gadgets, gizmos, widgets and other such things are something I avoid. Though I did add radar (used $125) gps, new vhf and lap top.
Final cost for everything is still under $25,000 for very sound boat in great condition.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

That web site has some funny stuff.

This article really caught my eye - how to make ice without a refrigerator. Wow thinks me. This could be like magical wizardry.

There are three methods - method 1

- pour water into ice making trays
- check outside temperature is below freezing
- put trays outside
- wait 4 hours

Is this website for people just arriving from outer space - LOL

Visit the site for the other two amazing methods to make ice without a refrigerator.

How to Make Ice Without a Refrigerator | eHow.com

That is hilarious. The sad thing is that is how I make ice during the winter.

This is how I would like to make ice, at least during the day.
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/about/news/solar-ice-maker
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/08/solar_icemaker.php

And there is this way too, but is a little more time consuming. (look at the other answers about using Ammonium Nitrate and water)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3163956AAHeMsU

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by SunDevil

That is hilarious. The sad thing is that is how I make ice during the winter.

This is how I would like to make ice, at least during the day.
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/about/news/solar-ice-maker
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/08/solar_icemaker.php

And there is this way too, but is a little more time consuming. (look at the other answers about using Ammonium Nitrate and water)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3163956AAHeMsU

Wow. That is cool in more ways then one.

14 lbs of ice a day! Scale it down, pretty it up and there is a huge market in RV and boating world. I am sure most boaters would be happy with a couple of pounds of ice a day. Especially if they don't have to haul it in a dink.

[SunDevil]

If they had leftover ice, this could be switched to being an air conditioner too.

[w1651]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Once you have the equipment it doesn't with many caveats.

Therre are many boat skills and when you get to "cruising" level one skill that I think is vitally important is DC electrics skills followed by ac electrics skills. This is because when you pull the plug you become and island and much of what we deem as comfort becomes a power management exercise.

Time over time people have posted how to make a DC power budget. It is not rocket science at all and very simple to do. Once you do a power budget you must simply make a system that supplies that budget day in and day out. If you used 20 amps an hour all day every day with no variation one solution would be a generator producing 20 amps an hour. Theoretically you wouldn't need batteries.

But no one runs everything all day every day. Everything has a duty cycle, lights at night, pumps when they cycle, nav eqiupment underway but not parked, even the fridge is not running all the time.

So you get an average daily consumption. Now you need a charging system that supplies this average over time. How much time? That's where a battery comes in.

Lets say my average is 100 amps a day. If I install 200ah battery usable capacity I could not charge them for 2 days. But at the end of that 2 days I better be generating power and on average I better be generating 100 amps a day. So at the end of this two days I have a 200 amp deficit. In the next two days I better generate 400 amps, and so on...

How you charge has options. The engine alternator, solar, wind, towed generators and gensets. Nuclear power has not yet reached pleasure boating.

Each generating source has benefits and drawbacks. So multiple generating sources are usually desirable. However in most all cases where high power items are desired, aircon, refrigeration, electric propulsion, electric heating of water and cabin, cruisers flock to the genset. 2-3kva seems the sweet spot.

The fridge is probably not the holy grail of pleasure boating. It is probably aircon or electric propulsion.

So the original question. A fridge generally draws 4 amps on a 50% duty cycle. If you want one you simply have to generate 48-50 (4x24x.5) amps of power for it, every day.

The equipment to generate 50 amps is readily available but not cheap. A failure of a charger, inverter, solar power controller could consume several months of the $500 a month sailors total budget to fix.

One reesson battery banks are sized the way they are is to allow some set time between need to charge. A system reliant totally on solar as a minimum must serve the needs overnight as solar wont charge at night. Also in many places the sun doesnt shine every day and there is seasonal variation on how much energy can be harvested from a given array.

So anytime someone says, "I'd like to add XYZ electrical service to my boat" there are rreally only two questions. Can you generate its daily consumption and does the daily consumption impact your "mean time between mandatory charging" based on the current battery bank size.

The reason the 2-3kva generator is the magic is because it generally will supply enough power to run anything the boater wants as long as it is running - i.e. aircon - without consideration of the need to store the power for this utmost of power hungry services.

Why is it everyone leaves out the most important cheapest thing to power consumption bliss? If you have the capacity to begin with you have already gotten ahead of the game.
The best way NOT to drain your batteries is have as many as you can carry.
Two house batteries is a joke. You need at least four very good (not the best) batteries for the house lights and electronics alone. Once you have these then you need to top them off regularly. Wind, Solar, and a portable generator come to mind. Also I have more then a few solar lights that last all night on my deck in strategic places so other boats can see me and I'm at a dock right now. Still solar lights are the bomb (just use good rechargeable batteries in them) and I'm thinking of getting green and red lenses for the obvious reasons.
Also if you need hot water then use the sun. Many have said on a sunny day you can heat water in a solar shower in 1/2 hour. use it to wash or shower on deck.
Why not buy a cooler that plugs into a lighter to keep things cool not frozen but cool? A lot less consumption there and the price is under 100 USD on line.
There are ways to do it but you have to think outside the box and have a plan and a method to get there before you are cruising.
I just went and spent 54 dollars for food this week. That's enough to make two weeks of meals on my boat. The most expensive thing was the meat in cans. But canned vegis are cheap, really cheap and can be added to food to help it out. But once it is opened then you need to put it away to keep it cool for the next meal in the morning. Go over seas and they don't get out the cereal and milk for Breakfast they eat things that you and I wouldn't even think of.
Ex-Calif you know because your in Asia. When I was in China breakfast was really no different then dinner. Maybe more rice or dumplings that's all. In the morning grab the open can of vegi's and a couple eggs with condensed milk and make a omelet if you want but it's all right there in your cooler. I've seen Chinese people order fish for breakfast.
P.S. They also go to the market every night for dinner so there vegi's are as fresh as they can get.

Here's a good example I hope the link works.

12 Volt Snackmaster Deluxe Family Size Cooler/Warmer RPSF5235 - $82.59 :

[w1651]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

With a Fridge (and especially a freezer) can extend the life of a good days catch......

But I do appreciate we all have different priorities / views - and that for many things there is no single "right" way that is applicable to everyone - certainly none that are cheap, quick and easy .

So will vinegar, lemon, and lime juice. Ceviche is a wonderful thing. So is vinegar,onion,peeper,salt, allspice with a touch of suger for the fish. If the fish is Herring even better.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by w1651

I just went and spent 54 dollars for food this week. That's enough to make two weeks of meals on my boat. The most expensive thing was the meat in cans. But canned vegis are cheap, really cheap and can be added to food to help it out. But once it is opened then you need to put it away to keep it cool for the next meal in the morning. Go over seas and they don't get out the cereal and milk for Breakfast they eat things that you and I wouldn't even think of.

Canned food is cheap but not sure I would recommend as a staple long term for health reasons.

[w1651]

Originally Posted by downunder

Canned food is cheap but not sure I would recommend as a staple long term for health reasons.

True but fresh fish isn't always around.