Day 276 Colder and with less amps

Here's the newest addition to Zephyr.  A new refrigerator system.  The one on her now is on her last legs and we felt it was time for a new one.  The Adler-Barbour we have now uses well over twice the amount of  amps that the new one uses and since that is any cruisers goal(keep amp consumption to a minimum) it was time for a change.  Even with it being rewired, it was beginning to cycle on and off repeatedly.  Unfortunately, that's the sign of a frig about ready to go bad.  The new Cool Blue will require some work on our part.  First, we will have to install another hatch on the counter for access to the freezer section.  We plan on splitting up the current box--it has a freezer section about as big as two cereal boxes--into two sections.  The left will be the freezer(gets the new hatch) and the right(has a large opening) will be the refrigerator area.  This way, we can keep more things frozen longer for better long term storage and use less amps.  There are companies that make the hatches so we will be talking to them today while back at the show.  We will have to install a new partition between the two halves to keep the really cold air(will cool down to 0 degrees)away from the frig area.  The cold air from the freezer side flows over the top of the divider and into the frig side.  All the materials are available at Home Depot for the partition so that won't be a problem.  It comes with a five year warranty so that makes it even better.

The classes I went to yesterday were great.  Diesel Engines was the first and Marine Electric Systems was the second.  Both taught by Nigel Calder.  He's one of the "gurus" of the boating world with several books to his credit.  I think you will find his books on just about every boat that does any kind of serious cruising.  It's like bibles are in every hotel room except it's on boats.  Pens were flying as everyone made lots of notes and asked questions.  He brought up things I had never thought of and things that I will be following up at Pats" Marine next weekend.  That's when I have my class on my specific engine--a Ford Lehman.

Tracy spent the time taking other free classes on preparing for cruising and talking to Washington state folks about sailing in their waters.  They have relatively strict rules about how long you can stay in their waters without having to have your boat registered in their state.  We're registered in Colorado and want to keep it that way.

We took the Bremerton ferry this time.  A simple 20 minute drive and an hour ferry ride.  It beats a 45 minute drive and and a 35 minute ferry ride.  We use less gas that way and the drive home after we get back is a lot faster.  We've been staying at the shows till 7:30 every night or later and that puts us home after 9:00.  It makes for a long day.

We're back to the show again today.  This time for a few more classes and to buy the Hydrovane auto pilot system.  Plus we need to make a few more contacts with companies and get more question answered.

Have a great day everyone.