Betterton and Some Reflections

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's) 

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

Day 54 - May 24, 2017

No offense to residents, but Betterton, MD, is not a destination. It is a stopping off place between Annapolis and the  C&D Canal. There is a free Town Dock here, but the approach is difficult and the depths are questionable. There are no boats on the dock. We are anchored just to the east of the private pier next to the Town Dock. So no photos, and no commentary.

This does give me the opportunity to reflect, 1500 miles into our 6,000 mile journey, about what works and what perhaps does not.

Navigation

All that is really necessary to do the Great Loop is a depth sounder and an iPad with both Garmin Blue Chart Mobile and Navionics, backed up with the same apps on our iPhones. In the Pacific Northwest, depth is hardly ever a concern. Here on the East Coast it is the number one concern - there is so much shoaling that running aground is a constant concern. Depths of two feet are commonplace in marked channels. We have polished our skeg in marked channels, do you go left, go right or down the center? Who knows? One eye is always on the depth sounder! Where you are or need to go, on the other hand, is completely handled adequately by the iPad with BOTH Navionics and Blue Chart Mobile. Navionics has far superior cartography and better presentation of tides and currents. Blue Chart Mobile has Active Captain, which is indispensable for finding marinas and anchorages, information on locks and bridges and a lot more. We use them both.

Coastal Explorer on the PC is great with the detailed NOAA charts and the AIS receiver, but for us it is marginalized because we do not have a daylight viewable monitor. A suitable daylight viewable monitor would cost at least $1,500, as far as I can tell. So we run Coastal Explorer with our regular USB computer monitor, but it is not our primary navigation device like we thought it would be - the iPad is primary. I do like the AIS receiver, and I wish I had purchased a transponder so other vessels could identify us. Next year I will rewire the AIS to the Raymarine C-80 Classic, since we have all the CF card for California to Alaska. Coastal Explorer will probably be retired for use for desk planning.

Autopilot

We love it! We use the Raymarine S1000 every day for long boring straight runs, and it takes a lot of the stress of trying to keep the boat on course manually. We do not use it to follow routes, only to keep us going straight, since we do not have routes on the Raymarine C-80.  

Battery Management

Everything depends on 12 volt power, so knowing where things stand and being able to do something about it when power gets low is critical. It is not a problem when we are running every day, but it can be a problem if we stay several days in one place without shore power. In the "things right" column are, first, the Victron Battery Monitor, which tells us in the morning the voltage, percent of charge, and number of amp hours used during the night, and second, the Honda 1000i generator and West Marine 30 amp fast charger that can put things back where they need to be fast in the event the solar panels don't get us there during the day. So far, we have had to use the generator and charger twice when the days have been dark and stormy, not bad over 1,500 miles. We have never had to run the generator more than an hour and half to get back to 100% state of charge.

iPad - iPhone Charging Technology

Since the iPad is our primary navigation device and the iPhones are our backups, we need to be sure they are fully charged all the time. We had cheap USB charging adapters and off-brand lightening cords for our iPad and iPhones when we started out. We quickly found that that the iPad battery would run down to nothing even while it was plugged in. We ordered two Anker Quick Charge 3.0 39W Dual USB Car Chargers and three Anker PowerLine+ Lightning Cable (6ft) Durable and Fast Charging Cables from Amazon, and everything quickly comes back to and stays at 100% charge. These are worth the cost for sure. Probably not necessary, but good for extra insurance, we ordered the Anker PowerCore 26800 Portable Charger 26800mAh External Battery with Double-Speed Recharging, We take this in the backpack with the lightening cords when we are going to be on shore for extended periods and need to recharge our iPhones.

ARB Freezer - Pelican Cooler

These work great in tandem. We have two one gallon water jugs, which are switched out daily between the freezer and the cooler. The frozen jug keeps the cooler nice and cold, and the freezer has our drink ice, frozen foods, and a little area that is not frozen but nice and cold for cheeses and charcuterie.  The cooler has everything that, well, needs to be kept in a cooler. No melted ice, no stuff sitting in water in the bottom of the cooler. This system is about as good as it gets.

Internet - Communications

Our T-Mobile phones, so good where we live, are awful just about everywhere else except some of the big cities. We bought a Verizon Jetpack in Savannah, and recently upgraded our data plan to Unlimited. It is expensive, but we cannot afford to be without internet access, mainly for weather information, which is so critical in making go / no-go decisions. A big plus to Verizon here. It may seem nuts, but sometimes we have made internet assisted phone calls on our T-Mobile phones through our Verizon Jetpack. It works great for Facetime on the iPad with the grandchildren too.

Airhead Composting Toilet

Maybe in the TMI department, but this has exceeded all prior experience and expectations. We changed the composting medium from peat moss to cocoa coir, and seeded it with an enzyme recommended by Airhead, which is actually a drain cleaner! We now have complete confidence in the Airhead to get us around the Loop with daily use. It is great to not have to worry about pumpouts like people with normal marine heads do.

I will probably think of other things, but that is enough for tonight!