A Dragon's Tale

Daily challenges

Whether sailing on a short holiday or a longer “expedition” or adventure, just as in everyday life, there are day-days tasks that cannot be ignored…even if we do sometime delay them! Taking some precautions and planning in advance pays off.

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  • Shore power
  • Water
  • Provisioning
  • Power management
  • WC
  • Household waste
  • Getting weather forecasts at sea

Shore power

This is easy, right? Just plug in shore power into the marina pontoon socket and away you go. Yes and no.
Shore power supply is (in Europe) 230/240V and 16 amps. Where larger yachts are present the amps may be even higher and you may require an adapter. As in the home, this power can kill, so safety is critical.

  1. Make sure your cable is thick enough for the task and has good quality terminals. Also that the connection on your boat is safe, not cracked etc.
  2. There should be a fuse box on board your boat.
  3. When connecting, connect the lead to your boat first and then to the marina second. That way if you drop an end in the water, it is not live. Disconnect the marina first.

Other things that can help

  1. Martindale electric industrial socket tester.
    This devise allows you to test the marine power outlet. It is a fantastically useful devise, highly recommended.
  2. Adapter to connect to higher amp socket ( more info to follow)
Martindale socket tester
Martindale socket tester

Water

Much simpler and safer than shore power. A long enough hose and some hose adapters to connect to the varying threads on marina taps and away you go.

Consider the following additional measures to ensure you have good quality water onboard:

  1. Check with the marina if the water is OK. Sometimes in Spain and elsewhere there can be restrictions and quality issues.
  2. Run some water through the hoses before filling the tank just to clean out any stale water.
  3. Consider adding a simple filter to filter any course particles and rust and stop them entering your tank. (add picture)
  4. Consider adding a highly filtered additional tap in the galley to remove any taste taint for drinking water and hot drinks. (saves buying bottled water and having to dispose of the empty bottles). See General Ecology details below.

I’m a big fan of the General Ecology filter. It was simple to add in the galley and ensures your drinking water and hot drinks taste good.

General ecology water filter