Mobert the Dream, the Reality..

So we’ve been on this trip this summer for 5 days.  We have 11 more days to go, which is awesome!  I somehow (my job put off for an entire week not withstanding) managed to install the water maker I’ve been working on.  I actually tested it on the 2nd, and we’ve used it to fill the tanks yesterday and today.  Unfortunately our water usage has been higher than I’d like and I haven’t been able to top off the tank yet. In the two days I ran the water maker for a few hours we made 50 gallons of water though, so the tank *should* be pretty full.

Currently the water meter registers around 900, which means in 5 days we’ve consumed about 110 gallons of water (don’t ask how that’s calculated, it’s lame).  That’s not so bad for 5 people (2 of which are children) equaling about 4 and 1/2 gallons per day per person.  I’m pretty sure a normal shower at home uses over 30 gallons at a whack.

As we came across the Georgia Strait into Pender Harbour, it was time for me to shower..  It really felt necessary.  To be honest, I love showering on the boat, despite the obvious limited water supply challenge.  Mobert has a really nice hot water tank and decent water pressure, so it’s almost like home but it’s on a boat, with a view of the sails through the overhead hatch as you shower.  Due to limited water supply, and the small hot water tank, you sort of get the feeling that a shower is contraband, and that makes it Oh So Awesome!

Refreshed, I was able to ready the boat for docking before we came into Garden Bay.  Devon at the helm, it was another parallel parking job.  Port prop-walk to the rescue of course, and the bow thruster, and a couple of helpers on the dock.  The wind was pushing the boat away from the dock and it was hard to come at the right angle so it took two attempts, but it was ultimately a great docking experience.

Tonight we had arepa’s with chicken and cheddar cheese prepared by Katherine — Awesome!  I think I had 3 or 4 of them.  Then Katherine and I were WiFi deprived so we walked up to the Pub and set up shop.  A long-range WiFi extender is now on the shopping list for Mobert.

The pub was cool..  WiFi worked pretty well as I was able to upload photos to Facebook, update my iPhone’s Podcasts list, and check email.  It’s unfortunate that the WiFi on the docks doesn’t work.  I’ve discovered that if I can find a way to monetize it, fixing these marina WiFi networks could be pretty lucrative, since no one seems to know how to build them right.  Literally none of the marina’s we’ve been to have WiFi that actually works well.  Nanaimo’s was dead slow, Ganges was unusable (a “new system” according to the dock boy), Garden Bay’s dock WiFi was “broken”.  What worries me is that it seems none of these people care all that much.

<soapbox>Knowing how large your marina docks are, you can anticipate the maximum/average number of boats you would have at any given time.  You could then build a WiFi network that accommodates that number pretty easily and then divvy up the bandwidth appropriately across the users.  The freaking floating WiFi hotspot in  Montague Harbour worked better than the terrestrial WiFi in these marinas we’ve been to.  </soapbox>

Anyway, this vacation is awesome!  I feel like we have so much more time to go still and the boat is performing great.  The kids are doing well for the most part (some nights the bedtime is rough), Katherine is settling in, and the we are just all having a great time.  This boat is fantastic!  Today it was rainy as we crossed the Georgia Strait so we zipped in all the cockpit canvas and had a sunroom in the cockpit.  I made water for about 4 hours, took a shower, the kids watch two movies, and nothing has broken yet. (knocks on wood).

Our new house battery bank seems to be up to the task, as we leave the inverter on, charging phones and laptops all night, and run my stupid CPAP.  Refrigeration takes a bunch of power of course but overall we have not had an issue with power at all.

This evening there was a literal swarm of moon jellies around our boat and it was really quite cool.