Questions - Answered.

Doing the Great Loop on a boat

People have asked me some question since I started writing this blog and today I have some time to answer those questions.

How big is our boat?

The boat is a 38 foot Bayliner but her overall length is 40 feet. She has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a salon (which is like a sitting room area in the boat), a kitchen and then we also have the (enclosed) outside sitting area and the fly bridge from where we steer the boat. We can also steer the boat from inside. The second bedroom is mainly used for storage. You would think that it is a small area to live in but it is really nice for us. Everything has its place and we use all the space that is available.

She is just the perfect size for us.

Where do we shower when we are on the boat?

Well, when we were in Canada, Georgian Bay and even The North Channel we often bathed off the back of the boat. The water was cold in The North Channel but at least it was clean. The rivers in the USA are too dirty and muddy to bath in.

We often took our showers /baths right off the back of the boat,

We also have a shower on the boat and we actually have a bath tub too, not many boats have bath tubs J

We have a bath tub :)

The on-board water system has a manifold that transfers engine heat to the hot water heater, so when we travel, the water is always nice and warm by the time we stop.

We can make our own water on the boat with a Reverse Osmosis System that we installed before we left. The water in the Mississippi is too dirty and would ruin filters so we just fill our tanks up when we stop at marinas.

Bathrooms on the boat?

We have two bathrooms on the boat (they are called HEADS) I have my own which is nice and Gary has to share his with the cat’s litter box. When you use the head you have to pump the stuff in to a tank, it isn’t nice but it isn’t too bad. I believe fancier boats have electric flushes but ours are manual. The stuff goes into a tank where it stays till you get to a marina and get a pump out. To have your tanked pumped out you have to pay as much as $30 in Canada but in the States we have paid as little as $5.00 We buy special treatment stuff so that it doesn’t stink on the boat and I am obsessive about it.

What do we eat on the boat?

Pretty much what we ate at home. We have a full sized fridge with a freezer. So when we get places we stock up on meat and food just like we did at home. I have tons of “pantry “space where we store canned foods and dried foods. When we have a full travel day I sometimes put stuff in the slow cooker and it cooks while we travel and by the time we reach our destination we have a nice warm meal.

Gary makes very good pizza using the boat oven

I also have a bread maker and often bake bread while we are underway. That means I don’t drain the batteries when we are stopped.

We always have lunch on the way and it is usually a sandwich or something like that. Gary would eat hotdogs every day, 7 days a week, if I allowed it. I try to keep it at least a little healthy but when I am tired it is easy to please him with a couple of hotdogs and Anna’s home made relish.

We do eat a lot of snacks because we usually get together for cocktails with the other Loopers. “Snacks” can be anything from salsa and nachos to veggies and dip and stuff like that. I have learnt how to make clam dip from Ann (MV Wild Goose) It is delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food, fuel and liquor are a LOT cheaper in the States than it is in Canada which is nice.

How do the cats like being on the boat?

Well, they didn’t have much choice and we love them too much to leave them at home so here they are. We put safety netting around the outside of the boat to keep the cats from falling in the water but I think mainly it is just there for me to get my small toe caught on whenever I move around the deck.

Jacob, my big boy. Notice the netting that is there just
to snag my little toe on as I walk past?

We have only had one cat in the water and hopefully it put the fear into her that she won’t try and jump ship again. Fortunately we were standing right there and she was hardly in the water for 30 seconds. I don’t know who got the bigger fright, her or me.

When we travel they pretty much sleep all the time but we keep the door closed and make sure they are inside. Just in case one of them tries to get adventurous.

Cats do sleep a lot and that is what makes them good boating pets, also they poo and pee in a litter box so we don’t always have to stop and find a place for them to go potty like dog owners do.

The cats love the cool evenings. We open the boat up and allow them to explore the outside, they are not allowed off the boat but that doesn’t mean they haven’t all gone walk-about when we are parked. It scares us to think we might lose one of them so we keep a close eye on them.

Josie on the lower helm. There are plenty of places
for them to climb up on but as soon as the engines start they
run and crawl into
tight little spaces where they would spend most of the day as we travel.

When we were anchored out once, we saw big eagles circle the boat, so that is something else we have to watch for!! Big birds of prey that might think my pet cat would be a tasty morsel….and of course when we get South, there will be alligators and sharks to worry about too….Oy my nerves!!

The cats get a treat after every travel day. When we are not travelling they get a treat in the morning. This was a lesson well learnt.  We have had some rough water and the cats didn’t like it very much, nothing like coming down stairs and dealing with a cat puking while the boat is rocking and rolling on a rough sea.

We think they are happy, they haven’t complained or anything, so we just assume that they are. We try and spend lots of time with them and give them a lot of love and attention. We love having them with us. Even though it means I have to vacuum cat hair way more than I like to. Also, cat food and cat litter is heavy things to carry when all you have is a bicycle to carry groceries.

Every night we have to close the boat up so the cats can’t get out while we sleep. They had figured out if they pushed against the canvass they could pop the snaps and they kept sneaking out at night. Smart hey!

Grocery shopping

When we were in Hammond we did our shopping at a Walmart about 5 minutes away, that is by car. On a bicycle you had to go up a huge hill and over the highway and down a path through bushes and down another dirt path. (It was a short cut but was still a good haul) Of course you can only buy what you can carry and so that meant we did several trips to the Walmart. (Especially when buying cat food and little)

Some marinas have what they call courtesy vehicles, you can use their car to go shopping and then just put some fuel in before returning it. On trips like these we buy all the heavy stuff; canned food, etc.

Fruit and veggies seem to go bad fast on a boat (probably because it has been very warm) so we don’t buy huge amounts at a time but we enjoy fresh veggies and fruit, so we buy just enough to last a few days and then hope to get some more at the next stop. And really, you are never that far away from civilization that you need to go without anything. And before someone asks…..the veggie compartment in the fridge is used for beer.

It is also a good idea to stock up on booze when you can. Right now we are in a DRY county, which means they don’t sell alcohol, anywhere!!!! in 2012 this still exists, can you believe it?

Also, they play a lot of country music on the radio, just saying.

How much fuel do we use?

Our boat has two engines and they are small engines, only 130 horsepower each. That means we can’t go very fast. We cruise at 7.2 mph and use about 3.26 US gallons per hour. So we can go far on the fuel we have, but we can’t get there fast.

On Lake Michigan we used a lot more fuel than we did in Canada and on the Mississippi we had the current with us so our speed increased to 11-12mph using the same amount of fuel. When we got onto the Ohio River and were travelling against the current our speed decreased to 6.9 mph at the same RPMs. To fill our tanks we have to spend around $600. So as you can see, our biggest expense is fuel. The other big expense is Marinas. They can be pretty expensive so we like to anchor out as much as we can, it is free and we enjoy the quiet and nature.

Marinas are fun though. The one we are at now, Green Turtle Bay in Kentucky, has a spa, a very expensive restaurant and very fancy bathrooms. It is nice to stay in a marina from time to time but I prefer anchoring out. When you are at a marina you can hook up to power and water. That means blasting the air conditioner all day and having long showers. When we are anchored we are using the battery power from the boat for lights and fans but if we need the air conditioner or microwave on we need to turn on our generator.

Our generator is 8 Kw. It can run the aircon and the microwave at the same time, so it is nice and powerful. When we were so warm on the Illinois River we ran the air conditioner just about all day and it just uses some of the fuel out of the one tank, about ½ gallon an hour. We don’t go to sleep with it on but I am sure we could if we had to.

On hot evenings (and if we have no power) we run a fan with the invertor. It is a device that converts 12 volt DC power to 110 volt Ac power. That means I can run an electric fan next to my bed (for example)

What if things break down?

Not if, but when??We have tons of spare parts and stuff and Gary is a pretty smart guy when it comes to mechanical things. Just today he fixed the raw water pump for the port engine and he also tightened the gland nuts; the packings for the prop drive shafts for the cooling water. He is pretty handy to have around. Someone told me recently: “being prepared is what makes the difference between an adventure and an ordeal”

Who drives the boat?

Most of the time, it is Gary. I drive when he has to go to the bathroom and I also drive when we anchor, because Gary is working the anchor on the bow of the boat. I want to learn to get better at handling the boat. I know a lot of women who drive their boats and do an excellent job at it.

Gary working the anchor with me at the helm

What do we do on the boat all the time?

There is always something to do. While Gary (or Otto, the auto helm) drives, I check the navigation and make sure we are on course. On the rivers we were both busy because we encountered so many tows and barges and we kept note of them all in a little note pad just in case Gary had to call them for passing instructions. I also have to keep track of where we are at all times in case he has to give out our position to the tow boat captains.

A tow pushing some big barges, these guys need up to a mile to come to
a stop so we have to know what we are doing when we manuver around them.

I also use this time to plan our next route and lookup the places we are going to stay at. I use Active Captain as a guide for places to stay and we also use Skipper Bob books for information. I am constantly writing on the blog which I try to update everyday so that it is ready to post when I have internet access.

There are always things that need to be done. In fact, I was concerned that Gary might get bored on the boat but there is no time to get bored, we are constantly busy. Some days we just like to chill, read and do nothing but those days are far and few between. Today while Gary was replacing the part in the engine, I washed the boat and it took me hours to do, it is hard work!!

What is the best thing about being on the Loop (So far)

The people we have met. It is by far the best thing about being on this trip. Also, the  places we have seen, the sunset and sun rises.  Every day is an adventure. It is incredibly rewarding and a lot of fun!! Around every corner there is yet another oppertunity to be amazed.

What is your schedule?

We don’t have one. We wanted to be in Chicago before September because Lake Michigan can be a bitch in the fall. We don’t want to be in Alabama before November because of the hurricanes. We would like to be in the Bahamas before January but that is a long time away. We are leaving here on Sunday and we might go to Nashville, but then again we might go to Kentucky Lake. We haven’t decided yet. The only thing that rules us is the weather, especially when we were on Lake Michigan. The weather will also determine when we cross the Gulf because I refuse to go out in big wave water….but that is still a ways awaywater….but that is still a ways away.

I hope this has given you some insight into our lives.

I appreciate all the people who read our blog. If there are any other questions I would be very happy to answer them.

……………………………..to be continued