Consumption and Production

We are spending our 2nd night on a free mooring in North Cove at Old Saybrook, CT.  Yesterday's 40 mile run from Block Island was tougher than I expected, with 3 ft. confused seas for the first 2 hours then nasty opposing current of 1-2 knots for the rest of the trip.

Old Saybrook is a nice town with a town dock providing fresh water, which we were low on, so this morning we pumped 110 gallons into Spray's nearly empty water tank.  It turns out that water is the consumable we most often need to replenish.  We had last filled up with water as we left Portland so a tankful lasts about 9 days.  We need to find an accommodating town dock, or stop at a marina, at least that often.

Compare that with diesel fuel.  I just dip-sticked our tanks to find we have used 75 gallons of fuel since Rockland, but we hold 240 gallons so we can wait on fuel.  I like to refuel when about half empty so maybe in NJ I'll be checking the web for a good price on a fill up.

Food we buy when it's convenient, mostly for fresh veggies (we hit a farmers market today in Old Saybrook) and other perishables.  But we have enough rice and cans of beans, soup, etc. that we could probably go a month or so without buying food, if we had to.  We hope to not need to confirm that.

Other needs for stopping now and then has to do with production rather than consumption.  We produce trash and recyclables which I put in large bags in the lazarette (Spray's cellar), but we've found that we never need to accumulate for more than a day or two before we find handy dumpsters at a town landing, including recycling bins.

We also produce sewage ('black water') which is stored in a 35 gallon holding tank that definitely wants to be pumped out before its filled.  It looks like this needs to happen every 3 weeks or so but we'll be very careful with that.  For instance it's about half full now but we plan to get it pumped out tomorrow.

That leaves only 'gray water', which drains from sinks and showers.  For better or worse that goes straight overboard.  This is why marinas provide showers since the high density of boats draining showers overboard would be a problem.

Oh yeah, one more consumable : beer.  I've been buying 12 packs of canned beer (used cans can be crushed and store much better than bottles).   These must be replenished regularly.

Tomorrow morning we make a short 20 mile run westwards to Guilford CT, where a slip at Guilford Yacht Club awaits us for the next 2 nights.  We'll be visiting with my brother and sister and their S.O.'s.