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Single burner stove oven

August 26th, 2011

I’ve been developing this idea for a while and thought it’s about time that I shared it.

As I have ranted many times, I love the Origo stoves. My first was the single burner Origo 1500, and I have since upgraded to the Origo 3000 twin burner, oh wow,  a brew with my breakfast, that’s amazing model. They are simply the best option for a gasless boat, but they do have limitations. There’s only so much you can cook in a pan, and since I’m very nearly in my 4th year of living on the boat, this was getting tiresome. I love curry, that is never tiresome, but curry needs naan bread, and I couldn’t heat it so I did without; you can’t fry a naan, afterall.

That was until I came up with this little idea.

pan

Take a standard casserole dish. I’m pretty convinced a nice heavy caste iron dish would be much better for this job, but mine us a really cheap super-thin-walled-made-in-some-dubious-country version, and it works.

pietray

Next, get a tinfoil pie tray of roughly the same size as the casserole dish. My dish is about 8 inches, ooh err, and your standard pie seems to be about that too.

theoven

Stick the pie tray upside down in to the dish, and poke some holes in it with a sharp knife. The heat should, to my mind, transfer without the holes, but I seem to get better results when they’re there. This is to raise the contents of the “oven” away from the direct heat at the bottom of the pan which otherwise quickly starts burning.

naan

Finally, break the bread up and stack it on the pie tray. Be careful to not let the bread touch the sides of the dish, or it will burn.

Stick it on the stove on a medium heat for about 20 mins with the casserole dish lid on, and it’s cooked perfectly. Just right for dipping in the curry simmering on the other burner. Yum!

This little invention doubles as a steamer too. If you poor a little water in to the bottom of the dish, you can cook ready meals intended for steaming in a microwave. Actually, you can probably steam anything.

So there you go, us single burner folk don’t have to suffer a life without naan.

Enjoy!

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Living on a small boat

May 13th, 2010

I’ve been inspired to write this post due to a couple of people I’ve met recently. I shall withhold their details to protect the guilty, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by meeting other people that not only don’t think I’m a nut case for living on such a small boat, but actually want to do the same themselves!

I suppose this article is directly the fault of a guy who came to view Kudu today. He’s about a decade older than me, but in exactly the same position I was when I first considered living on a boat: Confused and unsure.

As a result, and to perhaps help the 2 or 3 other people in Britain that are considering life aboard a small boat, I’ve decided to write this article, which will hopefully dash some erroneous preconceptions and put you on the right track.

Introduction

There are many articles, and indeed entire websites and books dedicated to selling up and sailing away. Sell up and sail by bill Cooper is one such recommended book, but there are hardly any (none that I could find) dedicated to living on a small boat with an equally small budget.

All of these living on a boat guides are aimed at people with, well, money. Either at a stage in life where savings are well established, or in a position to sell a house and use the equity to buy a large floating home with all the creature comforts one could desire. Sure, there are always going to be sacrifices since living on a boat is never going to be as easy as living in a house, but what about the people, like me, that have a burning desire to live this fantastic life without such a fortune.

This article, I hope, will help you realise that it is possible.

My own entry to this world, this life which I would not wish to swap for any landlubbers domicile, is documented in the first post I made on this website back in June 2008. It describes how my liveaboard life came to be, and can be found here. It’s amusing to read that post now, because I had absolutely no idea how my life was going to be changed by that action.

What sort of boat?

This article is going to be focussed on sailing boats, since that is my experience, but it could equally apply to a small motor cruiser.

Now, I’m willing to bet that you’ve already got quite a solid idea of the essentials for a liveaboard. You obviously need a toilet, and a shower is pretty important too, and an oven, and… no. These are things that you think are essential, they are the product of trying to imagine a life on land squished in to a little boat. They are things that should be left to the realm of well funded sailors, and things which you can get on with perfectly well without. Heck, I dare suggest comfortably without. Of course, adding a toilet will increase your comfort, as would an oven, but honestly, you really don’t need a shower.

One of my must haves when looking for a boat was a sea toilet. I couldn’t imagine not having a loo, it just seemed preposterous. My boat, Kudu, had a sea toilet. In the 2 years I lived on her I used it once. She no longer has a sea toilet; the small boat liveaboard values storage space more than anything, you see.

Ok, let’s be realistic here. You could, in theory, live on a leisure 17, but there are limits to the capabilities of one’s ability to seek comfort, at least in my case, so I’d argue that my Corribee, a 21ft boat with 4 foot 6 inches of headroom, is about as small as you should dare consider. As you move up in size you get a whole host of luxuries. For example, only two feet away from Kudu, is a Leisure 23SL. On that boat you get standing headroom, space for a proper oven, and a separate fore cabin which has (or can easily be made to) an infill, thus creating a sort of double bed. Having a separate “bedroom” will make a huge difference to life onboard. To have a distinction between cooking and living space, and sleeping area (at least while you’re not at sea) offers untold comfort, but it all depends on your budget. You can pick up a Corribee for a thousand quid (if you’re willing to put some work in), but a leisure 23SL is going to cost you at least £5,000.

Another important factor for the small boat liveaboard is your reason for being. Why are you living aboard? If you just want cheap digs, and don’t intend to move anywhere, then I suspect you’ll hate this life, and if that doesn’t put you off, I’d urge you to look at a motor cruiser since they have much more space than sailing boats.

One rule of thumb is thus; presuming the length is a constant, the more room it has onboard, the worse it will perform at sea. Big accommodation means sluggish handling and a tendency to dislike lots of wind. A good way of looking at it is this, the length of the boat is like the size of it’s engine, and it’s interior (thus exterior) size, is like the size of a car. A Mini with a 2l engine will perform much better than a bus with a 2l engine.

On that basis, you need to decide what you (realistically) intend to do with your boat. If you plan on some extensive cruising (highly recommended!) then I would opt for a smaller boat with better sea keeping abilities. If, on the other hand, you only expect to be popping out of the marina for a short weekender from time to time, then by all means take advantage of the bigger boats. I should stress that this is all relative to the length of the boat.

Financing your boat

The most annoying part of your liveaboard dream is paying for it. If you’re anything like me, you’ve formed this dream, this desire, during a crap period in your life, and that probably means you’re skint too. Sucks to be you, eh? Not to worry, there’s a boat for all budgets.

If you’re willing to “slum it” for a while as you work on the boat, then you could adopt this life with a thousand pounds, perhaps a little less, but more realistically if you can muster 5 grand, then you’ll easily be able to buy and equip a small boat to live on.

Loans

It is tempting for me to advise you to seek a loan, and plaster this section with affiliate links to earn me some (much needed) commission, but I won’t, can’t, do that since it’s bad advice. I strongly advise you to steer clear of borrowing to buy a boat because the ongoing costs of it will lead to misery. A loan is a ball and chain, a tie, a device directly in conflict with the freedom you’re trying to attain.

That said, I must be candid, I bought Kudu with a credit card. I made a cash withdrawal of a thousand pounds, and met the rest of the asking price with another thousand from my monthly salary (I had absolutely no savings). I did, however, have a fairly well paid job and the ability to pay back that loan within a month. If you can’t clear your debt within a similar timescale, then in my opinion, it’s just not worth it.

Of course, each persons financial situation is different, but I implore you to think carefully before borrowing to buy your boat. An overly enthusiastic purchase could turn your dream in to a nightmare.

Where to keep your boat

There’s only one real choice here for the small boat liveaboard, and that’s a marina. you simply cannot survive for any prolonged period without the umbilical chord we call shore power. I have heard of, and know of folks that do live afloat without this addiction to coal and nuclear power, but I’m not writing this article for masochists, I’m writing it to show you that you can lead a comfortable life on a small boat, and to do so requires participation in the national grid.

Also, the vast majority of marinas (almost all of them) have the other essential ingredients required for a pleasant life; showers, and laundry facilities.

Of course, the larger your boat, the more self sufficient you can make it, but ultimately us humans are land dwelling animals and you will always need to go ashore at some point, no matter how big your boat is. This is true for nuclear submarines, so it is true for you.

One caveat about the idyllic haven of the common or garden marina, is that many of them don’t allow liveaboards. This is understandable, because amongst other reasons, they don’t want a pontoon full of skint folk in floating wrecks hanging their washing out in the rigging, and generally spreading their lives beyond the confines of their cabin. If however, you do actually intend to leave at some point (why else did you buy a boat?) and you’re well kept and tidy, then most of them will tolerate it. Basically, empathise with their business, and don’t ‘take the mick’ and you’ll be fine. It should be noted, however, than their are a few marinas that are absolutely intolerant to liveaboards, so do your research before committing yourself.

Internet access

It’s a fact of modern life that most of us need access to the internet, and if we don’t need it (it’s my livelihood) then we’d rather not do without it if possible. Thankfully, this modern life brings a whole host of options for connectivity onboard.

Many marinas offer some sort of wifi service (you will have to pay for it) but the best option, especially for the cruising sailor, is mobile broadband. That link will take you to an article I wrote about it, which explains your options.

Continuing

I intend to develop this article further, so please feel free to offer some feedback. As I think of more things, and you suggest them (or ask questions) I will build upon it. Also, please let me know if you found this useful, since it’s a big waste of time otherwise :p

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Filling a hole in your hull

April 17th, 2010

So, you’ve removed a sea toilet and have a seacock sat there doing nothing, or perhaps you’ve moved some through hull transducers, and now you’re left with an enjoyment compromising hole in the bottom of your GRP boat. Fear not, it’s dead easy to fill such a hole, and hopefully this article will show you how.

There are a couple of methods available for this job, but in my opinion this method is the safest.

Items for the job

Polyester Resin (circa 100ml for a small hole)

Acetone

Chopped Strand Mat

West System Epoxy

Filler substrate (west system do this too, 404 high density filler)

Gel coat repair kit

Drill with wire brush attachment

Angle grinder with a pad

A few other assorted bits (mentioned in this article)

Method

So, you’re currently sat looking at the great hole in your boat. It’s going to look a lot worse before it gets better, but don’t worry. I know attacking your boat feels horrible, but this will give you solid repair, so have faith in your initial destructive efforts.

The first job is to taper the hole on the outside of your hull. The easiest way to do this is with an angle grinder. It’ll rip through your anti foul, gel coat, and GRP with ease.

Excuse the crude picture, but this is basically what you’re aiming to achieve.

profile

Once you’ve ground out the taper, grab the drill with the wire brush attachment, and rough up the surface of the exposed GRP. It should look something like the following when you’re done. Don’t worry about scuffing up the surrounding gel coat.

15042010695

The next job is to clean up the inside of the hull. If your boat is painted you need to remove about a 8inch square area around the  hole. The best, and indeed cleanest way to do this that I’ve found is to use the wire brush again. You can use a power sander to but it takes forever and kicks up a load of fine dust. Use the angle grinder at your own peril, because you will be cleaning up dust for days afterwards!

You need to take the area down to bare GRP, and again make sure it’s rough, which the wire brush will do in one stroke.

Once the area is cleaned up, use a paintbrush to ‘paint’ some acetone over it all. This will make sure the surface is prepared to make a good bond with the polyester resin.

Before we can resin, however, there’s another preparatory step. You’ll need a 6” square of cardboard (cereal box type of stuff), some Cling film, and a circle of wood roughly the diameter of your hole.  Don’t worry if it’s a bit smaller. The easiest way to make a suitable wood circle is with a hole saw and a scrap of plywood. Make sure the wood is thinner than your hull by a few millimetres.

Place the wooden circle on your cardboard, and wrap a single layer of Cling film over it. A friendly word with the staff in the marina café should source these items for you :)

The finished article will look something like this.

17042010701

Using some Duck tape, stick this to the outside of the hull, with the wooden bung located in the hole. It’s simply to stop the chopped strand mat from being push too far through the hole during our next job.

So, back inside the boat, cut some squares of CSM (Chopped Strand Mat). Start with a bit that covers the hole with a couple of inches of edge, and cut each piece slightly bigger, until the final piece is the size of your prepared area. 5 or 6 layers in total will be enough. Next, mix up about 100ml of polyester resin, and using a paintbrush, paint the entire area with the resin.

Take your smallest piece of CSM and place it over the hole, then ‘stipple’ it with the paintbrush, adding more resin until the fibres are clear. White fibres are weak spots, so make sure it’s all clear and well saturated. Next add the slightly bigger piece and repeat.

There’s one more tool you need, and it’s one of these.

17042010702

It’s a roller, and they’re available from all fibreglass suppliers. Don’t try this job without one, it’s important since it will get the air out of the layup and create a safe bond between the layers. Believe me here, you NEED one of these. Every time you add a new layer, give it all a good rolling over until it all looks wet with no air bubbles.

Once you’ve added your final layer of CSM, the repair should look something like this.

16042010699

Note: Mine isn’t square because I was also repairing a smaller drill hole further up the hull.

Leave this to “go off”. The time this takes will depend on the temperature, but it’s a good idea to leave it overnight if you can.

We’re not far off now, only one major bit of chemical warfare left to inflict upon your boat, and that’s the West System epoxy. I use epoxy because, unlike polyester, it’s waterproof (that’s why your boat has gel coat, to protect the porous polyester). We’ll be gel coating to finish anyway, but epoxy provides a stronger bond, so that’s my gunk of choice.

On the outside of the hull, remove the Duck taped wooden bung, peel off any stuck Cling film (if there is any), and prepare the tapered surface with a final light scoring with the wire brush. Score up the outside of your new polyester resin too, then clean the area with acetone. If you didn’t let your polyester go off properly, then this is going to make a total mess of the job, so don’t be tempted to rush things.

Mix up some West System (again, about 100ml), and using a paint brush paint the entire area with epoxy resin. Now, add your filler substrate to the epoxy mix until it’s the consistency of double cream. Paint this in to the repair, making sure you get all the nooks and crannies.

Now add more filler until the epoxy mix is more like toothpaste, and smear a load into the hole using the paint brush. Take a piece of cardboard or plastic with a flat edge and smear it up the contour of the hull to smooth out the repair. It doesn’t need to be totally flush or ever so neat, the main thing to worry about is making sure it’s properly filled with no air gaps. If you have to do this in two sittings, then so be it. Don’t worry. If you’re a bit slow and the epoxy starts to gel, then stop what you’re doing, and mix up a new batch. It’s easy to make a mess of a job by trying to race against the chemical reaction, although the West System mix should give you plenty of time.

Once that’s done, the repair will now look something like this

17042010700

Wait until it has gone off properly (not just gelled) and then sand it flat.

To finish the job, apply a layer of gel coat repair, then sand and polish as required.

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Mobile broadband on your boat

March 25th, 2010

A guide to getting internet access on your boat with a mobile broadband dongle

My livelihood is based entirely on the internet, and so for this liveaboard, reliable internet access on the boat is essential. This short article will explain what’s on offer, as well as include some tips and alternatives to a dongle.

Mobile Broadband Dongle

There are a few options available when it comes to bringing the world wide web to you chart table, but if you want a solid, fast connection almost anywhere, then a dongle is your only choice. With mobile broadband I have written blog posts all up the East coast, checked Facebook on the Norfolk Broads, uploaded a video to youtube from a picturesque creek in the Essex rivers, and chatted to a bloke over Skype while a mile or so offshore in the North sea. Not to mention the fact that I earn my living through it.

The usefulness of an internet connection on your boat is not limited to simply providing your fix of social networking though, nope, it’s far more useful than that.

Having the ability to check tides on line, look up marina websites for prices (something I have done whilst at sea and before I made the choice over which one to go to), check the weather, find phone numbers, and even ask for advice on your favourite sailing forum, can save an awful lot of hassle and time.

When I first moved on to the boat I was stuck for options. Mobile broadband was available, but I didn’t know much about it, and so I spent a month or so following the other liveaboards’ wifi signal advice. "If you sit on the bow of our boat, you can just about pick up the Ping Pong network". It was not uncommon to see contorted bodies on their boats or pontoons, holding laptops at obscure angles above their heads in the desperate hope that the signal would cling on just long enough to send that important email.

This was obviously no good. A temperamental and borrowed internet connection was welcome in an emergency, but I needed something far more reliable, if only for my sanity.

I ended up going for a Pay As You Go dongle from Three. I bought mine from the highstreet, but based on previous experience with mobile phone shops, I’d highly recommend buying online. The distance selling regulations offer you a lot more protection than if you buy from a bricks and mortar shop.

With the Three network, most places I’ve visited, with surprisingly few exceptions, have delivered good signals capable of streaming video from Youtube, or downloading large files. Occasionally, out in the sticks as it were, the signal may become weak, but surfing the net, checking the weather or dealing with an inbox full of spam are still acceptable.

Cost

Obviously this depends on what you want from an internet connection on your boat, but PAYG prices start from £10 for a 1GB top up.

If your internet use is fairly light and occasional, then I recommend PAYG (Pay As You Go). The cheapest contract on Three is £10 per month for 1GB, and that’s going to tie you into a 12 or 18 month contract. PAYG gives you the same deal without the commitment to the contract: If you’re not on the boat over the winter, then why pay for internet access? Also, with PAYG, you have the option to buy more data should you run out.

For heavy internet users a contract is the cheapest option. For £30 per month you can get a 15Gb data allowance, and a "free" netbook laptop thrown in for good measure. Most of these things now have battery lives of up to 8 hours, which is ideal for using on the boat. Bonus!

Data Allowance

For the benefit of those that don’t know, this sentence is 76 bytes in size. That is to say, in simple terms, a single character is one byte. A kilobyte (kb) is 1024 bytes, and a megabyte (mb) is in turn 1024 kilobytes, or 1,048,576 characters. One gigabyte, or 1Gb, is therefore 1024 megabytes. That is obviously an awful lot of text. It’s a mass of email and web page content, indeed, you’d have to spend almost your entire month reading and writing emails non-stop in order to use 1Gb of data. However, if you throw the modern day internet in to the mix, with pictures and videos, then this quickly gets eaten up. A single viewing of something on BBC iPlayer, for example, would use over half of a gigabyte!

In short, if you include websites like youtube in your internet activities, then you should really opt for as much data allowance as you can afford.

The maximum allowance that Three offers is 15Gb per month. This is the package I use, and despite heavy use I rarely run out. Unfortunately, I have twice reached this limit, and woe betide the sailor that follows me, because Three charge a whopping 10p for every megabyte beyond your allowance. To use the iPlayer example again, a single viewing of Professor Brian Cox’s wonderful series on the solar system would cost you £65 in extra data fees!!

T-mobile, on the other hand, adopt a much fairer system in that once you go over your allowance, they simply throttle your connection speed. That is to say, they make your internet connection much slower, so while you could no longer stream video off the internet, it would still be possible to check the weather or your email without incurring further cost. Unfortunately, T-mobile doesn’t have the best signal coverage, and so it’s not ever so useful for the travelling yachty.

There are, of course, "dead spots", but during my travels up the East coast of Britain in 2009, I found these to be surprisingly rare. Of course, this will vary depending on your network, but Three has certainly impressed me with their coverage so far.

Oh, but as with everything there is a downside to Three, although for most people I don’t think this will be a problem. Three cap your usage, and even when on the highest available package (15gb per month) they will simply cut off your connection should you exceed this limit. If you wish to continue your access you will be charge at 10p per megabyte. This is wildly expensive, and the only option available until your next monthly billing cycle starts.

I do have the highest package, and I have (this month for example) ran out of data allowance. Since my connectivity is directly related to be ability to buy food I have a second pay as you go dongle (again with Three) that I can use in an emergency. £15 will buy you 3gb worth of data.

Tips for internet access on a boat

It sounds obvious, but if you’re lacking in signal strength, try to get the dongle as high as possible. A 5m USB extension lead works a treat in dry weather since you can haul the dongle up a flag halyard. I have done this on the broads and gone from not a sniff of a signal, to three bars of usable connectivity.

For heavy internet users, particularly people who do make use of iPlayer, download the iPlayer desktop application. When you find a cheaper source of data (free pub wifi for example) you can download a selection of your favourite viewing and watch them off line back on the boat later. This will save you a huge amount of data.

Alternatives to Mobile Broadband

There is only one realistic alternative, and that’s wifi. Unfortunately, it’s just not constant enough to be relied upon unless you never move your boat. However, if you’re willing to go for a bit of a walk into the local town, you’re fairly sure to find a free wifi hotspot somewhere.

 

Good deals I’ve found

For the heavy internet user, this is a pretty decent deal. Indeed, I wish I’d had seen this when I signed up to mine. 15Gb for £25 per month, including free dongle and 100 quid cashback! Click here

For the weekend, casual broadband user, then this deal from Vodaphone is pretty good. £25 for a PAYG dongle, including a free £15 top up (3GB). Sadly the top-ups only last for a month, so if you don’t use all your data within 30 days, you’ll lose it and have to buy another. Most annoying for the truly casual user.

Fear not though, because t-mobile offer a cracking option to buy daily access for just £2! Click here. That’s perfect for the weekend weather check on the boat.

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