After a long summer with the boat in storage, I've now been aboard Blue Heron for about a month at the Vero Beach City Marina, the month of December 2014. It's been a noteworthy month in that the temperatures have been cold for Florida -- in the 50's during the day and dropping down to near freezing at night. I've become accustomed to the cold. I really only notice it when the sun sets and the boat cabin starts to cool, and also when I get out of the toasty warm sleeping bag in the morning. I should mention, I'm living off the grid with no shore power, just the solar system. Shore power is required to run the 1000-watt electric heater, so I have no heat on board. Like I said, I don't notice the cold. I wear a fleece jacket and blue jeans during the day and a Baseball hat with the words, "Blue Heron" printed across the front. I sort of went overboard and purchased 25 of these ball caps for Christmas presents. Now I have 15 left over, a lifetime supply which wouldn't be so bad, except I might be selling the boat soon (more on that later).
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| Custom printed baseball caps |
This blog really is about the solar system. On paper it looked like there would be plenty of solar power to run the boat's modest electrical system. I'm pleased to report that this is the case. I have a small refrigerator, an Internet radio that runs constantly as well as LED cabin lights all running off the 255-watt solar panel. On sunny days the batteries are fully charged by about 1:30 pm in the afternoon. I've been using about 45-amp-hours of electricity per day. Even with several days of clouds the batteries don't fall below 50% charged. I should mention that there are three large group 27 deep cycle batteries on board. I described the solar system more fully in a previous post.
This past summer living in a condo here in Vero I enjoyed bicycling. I'm proud to say that the Vero Cycling Club to which I belong ranked #22 out of several hundred clubs in the National Bicycle Challenge. I wanted to keep riding while on the boat, but there was no room for a full-size hybrid bicycle. I was able to find a folding bike for sale on eBay that fits on the boat and in my car trunk, a new Melon Slice folding bicycle. I've been very pleased with it, riding most every day.
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| The Melon Slice folding bicycle |
So I'm settled in for what should be a pleasant winter on board Blue Heron. There is a possibility of my buying part ownership of a Nordhavn 43. If I did, I'd probably be cruising from Florida to the Caribbean, and maybe through the Panama Canal and up the West Coast to Vancouver, BC. That would be exciting! But I'd have to sell Blue Heron just when I have it fixed up to the point where I'm very happy with it.
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| A Nordhavn 43 |
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