You ask, Alex answers
Anchoring
What kind of anchor are you using?
Delta from Lewmar 20 kilo (44lb) as a main anchor, Cqr 25 kilo (55lb) as a secondary anchor. Third one is a Danforth on about ten kilos (22lb). For the dinghy we have a grapnel anchor 1 kilo (2.2lb).
Do you use any type of chain shock-absorbing while the sea is heavy?
Yes there is a nylon/polyester line.
How much does the boat weight? do you use 8 mm chain?
Boats total weight is now around 8 tons. Yes, 8 mm chain is used for the anchor.
Do you have 1000W electrical windlass?
No, 1500W, 12 volt.
Is it stainless steel or galvanized metal?
Aluminum. It’s a Vetux Ajax.
How much chain do you put in the sea while anchoring over night?
Depends on the conditions obviously. Can be everything between 30 and 60 meters. For tonight for example, we got 30 meters of chain as of normal wind conditions. Usually I put 5 times the depth in normal conditions, if there’s more than 30 knots of wind, I prefer to put 6-7 times the depth (depth counted from the anchor roller to the bottom).
Do you have problems finding the right spot to anchor, considering the wind conditions?
Not usually and very rarely here in the Caribbean, in Mediterranean it can be more tricky as the wind changes quickly. The only anchor problem we encountered in the Caribbean was when anchoring in very muddy ground with this new Delta anchor. For some reason it doesn’t grip as well in soft mud as in other grounds. But normally you just had to reset it a couple of times and it’s solved.
Navigation
What type of navigation equipment do you have on board?
Garmin GPS and Chart-plotter 720s, Garmin portable GPSmap 60cs, paper charts of all areas we’re cruising in, Astra IIIB Sextant, Garmin Radar, Max-Sea as a backup. Generally we always check with the paper charts to confirm.
What e-charts do you use? (Navionics, Garmin etc.)
Garmin. C-Map.
Can you rely solely on electronic charts or you also use traditional way of navigation? (paper charts, compass etc.)
See answer above.
Do you use radar?
Yes, from Garmin.
Electrical
How many amp-hours do you use per day?
Depends. On the Atlantic crossing we used around 90-100 amps per 24 hours. That’s to run the fridge, GPS, Radar some hours in the nights, the fresh water system, the watermaker, the satellite Internet, charging computers etc. Here on anchorage we use much less obviously. Will have to get back regarding this when I did a proper counting but I would guess somewhere around 50-55 amps per day.
How do you monitor your power consumption - do you have only voltmerer or do you have a amp-hour consumption display?
Amp-hour consumption display. Nasa BM1.
What kind of batteries do you have onboard? what capacity?
Service battery bank 320 Ah, Engine starter battery bank 110 Ah.
How do you charge it - how much energy can you get from solar panel and wind turbine? How often do you have to run on motor to charge the batteries?
Solar (Kyocera), wind generator (Aerogen) and a fuel generator 2000W. We run the engine once every 36 hours more or less during downwind passage but never on anchorage.
Do you use LED lights? do you use fridge all the time? how much time per day do you use computers and watch TV?
Every light is LED except the steaming light, will change this to LED too soon. Fridge is on all the time. We never watch TV as we don’t own one and we're happy so. During the Atlantic crossing the computer was used max one hour per day, normally Taru uses her Mac Pro 0-3 hours per day. Charges it on the boat every second day.
That's all for now, let me know if you'd like to add some questions to those areas and I will try to answer when I have time. /Alex
