Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, premiere sailing today. Bye bye boring
winter.. I just LOVE springtime and summer.. I can only hope that the summer will be half as hot as the
winter was cold.. haha.
Some summarizing of my experiences of a winter on board:
You need to REALLY know that it´s a small area to live on. I´ve spent almost any time I can on a
boat for as long as I can remember so I was fairly sure I knew what to expect. Even so, after several days of not going outside for more than a short time, I felt that I´d like at least 2 more feet of
boat at times.
Shore power: Wouldn´t have made it w/o access to "unlimitied" supply of
shore power. Especially during the coldest period.
A
cockpit tent is a must, preferrably with some possibility to heat it up, at least a bit. It gives you an "extra room" and you can store wet/damp clothes there along with all the stuff you "might need"
My
water tank is only 75 litres and even though Vänerns
water is good enough to drink, it would have been nice to have double that capacity, unless you are really close to a tap.
How you pack stuff is vital. Some consideration as to what to pack together with what, and where is worth a lot when you are standing in a heap of clothes, cords, dry foods etc, not knowing where to put it while you are
diving the stowage compartments to find that last bag of underwear..
Good
insulation. Cannot emphasize enough on that. I had
condensation problems in the beginning, in the 2 wardrobes where I at first only glued one layer of foam, and had no vent fans installed. That caused a jacket to go to the dumpster.. A small computer fan is
cheap on
power and makes the air circulate well enough to keep the moist away. Also, don´t forget to insulate any surface below the water line extra carefully. If you keep any fabrics in the compartments, consider installing a fan there too.
For the times you are frozen in, make sure you do have plenty of things around you, to keep your mood at a maximum.. Even if you think you have no room for a TV, then get a USB-stick for your
laptop and watch TV through the computer. After a week of darkness outside, even Idol is worth watching.
If you have no running water, get a BIG
electric water boiler. I boiled water and poored into a
solar bag along with cold water, strapped it to the boom and took showers even in the dead of winter.. Refreshing and it fells like a luxury not having to get outside to the marina facilities each and every time.
Toilet: Either use a "portapotti" that´s easy to empty, or use the
marinas toilets. You dont want a full
holding tank when you cant move the boat an inch towards the sewage dumping station.
Any through
hull outlet/inlet valve should either be filled w anti freeze, or have a safe and reliable
heating source nearby.
A de-icer is good to have. It gives you open water around the boat, minimizing the risk of ice making any damages to the boat. Especially important if there´s a fair amount of increase/decrease of tide but also nice since it attracts a lot of animal life.