Uhhhh...what's that called?

Water

We make our own water onboard Bedouin so conserving our water helps us stay off-grid and happily at anchor.

Cleaning consumes most of our water:

  • Washing dishes
  • Laundry
  • Showering

How we adapt:

  • When using water, we turn it on then off–it never runs constantly.
  • We skip the full shower by taking swim-suit showers off the sugar scoop (our aft stairs) after our final swim of the day. We’ve got a shower nozzle at the stairs and plenty of  towels, shampoo, and even razors all ready to go right there.

Power

Bedouin’s wall outlets are a mixture of Euro and Australian outlets.  US plugs need an adapter to work.  The good news is that most of the electronics on board Bedouin have the correct connection already and for the ones that don’t we have an assortment of adapters and usb type charging cords.

At home on Bedouin, making power is a full time job. We try to generate most of our electricity by the sun using our solar panels.  When the demand is higher (more people onboard, cloudy days, or higher usage), we supplement the power need with our generator that runs on diesel fuel.

How we minimize our use we:

  • Keep unnecessary things unplugged.
  • Turn off lights when not using.
  • We open the fridge and freezer like bank robbers. We get in and get out as quickly as possible.  These appliances are huge power consumers and this keeps them from having to turn on and cool back down. (see Galley)
  • We convert our power into usable energy by using an inverter to exchange stored battery power for 220 volt power. This prevents us from using high draw power appliances such as hair dryers, curling irons, and microwaves.
  • We charge our electronics when the sun is out and the boat batteries are at their best. At night we unplug most things.

Galley

The galley is a tight space, so don’t be offended if you ask to help and you’re politely turned down. Everything that happens in the galley is very nuanced and requires a bit of training on things like water and power usage.

Refrigerators/Freezers—Fridges and freezers are the biggest draw on our power consumption so we have a system for keeping the doors shut and the cold inside those appliances as much as possible to keep our power usage down. To do this:

  • We use the Bank Robbery method to open and close the fridge; Get in, grab stuff, get out…and nobody gets hurt.
  • We organize food in bins inside the fridge. Lunch stuff is usually in one bin, fresh veg in another, and so on.  This allows us to open, grab an entire bin, and shut the door.

Doing the dishes—We use a technique called the “Navy Shower” but with a few more tricks to minimize water usage.

  • We rinse dishes in salt water first.  Don’t drop Stacy’s dishes overboard or she’ll test your dive skills.
  • We use a tub inside the sink for soapy water.
  • Use less dish soap.

Ways to be helpful in the Galley:

  • Set the table.
  • Take beverage orders.
  • Scrape the dishes after meals.

Heads

  • We NEVER flush toilet paper. 
  • Only human waste is flushed.

Use the Navy Shower Technique* when:

  • Showering
  • Washing hands
  • Washing dishes
  • Landlubbers commonly use about 17 gallons of water for a shower.  
  • It takes Bedouin a little over an hour to make that same amount of water with the desalanator on board.

 

  • We love our guests so much that we’ll you give you a whole gallon of water for your boat shower. You’re welcome.

Navy Shower Technique:

The basic technique for a Navy shower is to turn the water ON to wet down and turn the water OFF— soap up. Turn water ON to rinse then back OFF again.

The complicated life of a boat toilet:

I hate to say it, but Jabsco’s diagrams for the toilet operation remind us more of those awkward diagrams from our middle school health class illustrating the complexities of fallopian tubes rather than clear flush cycle buttons for a boat head.  Yeah, you’re welcome for that visual. 

TO FLUSH OR TO FILL, that is the question. And we’ve got some very personal and robustly divergent answers according to whom you ask. It seems every sailor has their preference and are willing to defend their crap talk. Bedouin’s crew is no exception.

Our advise is to familiarize yourself with these buttons and when you come aboard we’ll explain the life cycle of your poop and then let you decide on your personal preference for a royal flush.

Sail Ready

Just before we set sail we prepare the boat to be under sail by locking things down:

  • Batten down the hatches
  • Stow anything that could shift around  
  • Lock drawers and cupboards
  • Lock drawers and cupboards
  • Batton down the Hatches:

Shut all hatches and portholes and lock

  • Stow anything that can shift

 

Locking the cabinets & drawers:

Each drawer and cupboard has a push knob which will lock it shut so it doesn’t slam open and shut while underway.  Push it it to lock and press it inward again to unlock.

Battening down the hatches:

Portholes are located on the side of the hull and should be closed before getting getting underway. When locked shut they have a tight waterproof seal. In order to shut and lock them you will need to push them closed with a lot of pressure, leaning your body weight into it often helps, and then use your palm to lock both latches pushing upward to lock. There are a total of 6 portholes on Bedouin.

Hatches are the widow skylights that run along the deck. Each hatch has two handles that are easy to shut by pulling them downward and twisting to close. Hatches are large enough for people to gain entry so when we leave the boat we slide the red tab towards the handle base to lock the hatch so they can’t be opened from the topside.