practical
THIS MONTH 1926 HerresHoff restored • jet stream explained • tying to sHore • pre-start tips
SPECIAL REPORT
CHRIS TIbbS on power management
A
cold drink at the end of the day while
watching the sun go down is one of the
joys of cruising. But the more luxuries
we have, the greater the demand for power.
My first transatlantic in 1980 was typical of
the time with paraffin lights below, which give
a great soft light that doesn’t destroy night
vision. We removed the bulb in the heads so it
didn’t get left on and it was a challenge to keep
the nav lights burning through the night without
turning the engine on to charge. Tinned food
was the norm and we didn’t miss the luxuries
that have since become standard. However,once we arrived in the Caribbean, chasing
around for ice and water became a daily chore
and, without a fridge, shopping for fresh food
took up a good part of our time.
We have just completed a passage from
the UK to Australia in our own 40ft boat. I felt
that we had all mod cons with two fridges and
a watermaker, but a lot of cruising boats have
much more including freezers, ice makers,
air conditioning, and even washing machines
and dishwashers. This takes a huge amount
of power and the main topic of conversation
around various watering holes (after theweather) is all about power and batteries and
how to keep it all running.
Most boats still rely on a 12V or 24V power
supply – a form of a lead acid battery, as
first invented by Gaston PlantŽ in 1859.
Fundamentally it’s a simple equation: we have a
store of power in the battery and as long as we
put the same in as we take out, all will be well.
But this is easier said than done.
We spend considerably more of our time
in harbour than sailing and harbour can be
anything from an anchorage in an uninhabited
atoll to a fully serviced marina. So the first
question has to be what we want to equip the
boat with and where we expect to go. The
further off the beaten track the more self-
sufficient we need to be, both in terms of power
and in the facilities we want on board.
Sailing to Australia we wanted to be as self-
sufficient as possible and only to switch on the