On 5/7/2015 12:31 PM, Sir Gregory Hall, Esq. wrote:

I never felt ok about doing this given the bird s**t I had to rinse off
of the decks and the often serious diseases carried in that stuff. I
kept a tarp to deploy in cases of rain instead of bare decks. Even so I
did the Clorox trick as well.

A clean tarp is a much better idea. I would hesitate to drink water
gathered off the decks even when Cloroxed but it sure could be used
safely for bathing, laundry, etc. I suspect most of the water Skippy
collects is used for bathing, cleaning and laundry. I have found that
one conceited woman with long hair can use 25-50 gallons of water a
day.
If you read Skip's recent narrative in whole, you'd see he's rather
penurious with his fresh water. He bathes in salt, for example, most of
the time.

In my case, all my boats have had integrated water systems in the sense
that fresh water is fungible with no way to pull water from tank A for
washing but tank B for drinking. Even if I closed one tank reserving it
for drinking, the lines would contain the lesser quality water. This is
why I didn't drink from the deck water although others did.

Most bird transmitted disease are from pigeons and the like but seagulls
were the source of a disease breakout in NYCity a bit back.



All chain rode is unnecessary, destructive of the environment,
prohibitively expensive and it causes undue stress on the deck
hardware, deck and boat in general. It is also too heavy and
doesn't take long to rust. Responsible and wise sailors use a
combination of chain and nylon rode.

I had that on my previous boat finding no issue with nylon bent to chain
but this boat came with all chain. I saw no reason to not deploy it. I'm
skeptical that it is more damaging to the sea bottom than rope / chain
rode. Only a short length is on the bottom and that is the same whether
the rode is partly rope or not.

I found a few situations where I had to ride a short scope and there the
all chain was invaluable.

I had a winch but didn't use it all too often.

If you need a winch, then either your boat is too large
or your body too weak.



I'm boatless now but hope to be afloat again in a few years. I will
never again buy a large, heavy complex boat like I had before but I
don't have an issue with those who wish them. I can remember fewer more
pleasurable experiences than, after single handing offshore for a number
of days, anchoring in a quiet cove and then going below for a HOT fresh
water shower. It was a luxury beyond belief.

However, the constant maintenance and cost wore me out. On the balance,
I will KISS for sure next time out.



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