Dunnage

Let’s talk about toilets on boats today.  Contain your excitement, I know you were hoping I’d get to this topic.   It’s the same but different and those differences are important.  The same parts are that toilets look the same, so there was no retraining on how to go.   It’s what happens after you go that’s where the difference lies.

The toilets are filled with sea water, which means there’s an unlimited supply of water.   That’s good because you can only use four squares of toilet tissue per filled bowl.  That sounds scary right?   What if you need more than four squares?   Not to worry, you have as many flushes as you want, with each flush being eligible for another four squares of tissue.

Here’s how the toilets work: there are two buttons, one to empty the toilet, the other to refill with sea water.  When you flush the toilet everything goes down the pipe towards a holding tank.   In order to ensure all wastes make it into the tank and out of the pipe below the toilet we’re doing three fill/flush cycles.

Those steps get all the waste products safely stored in tanks.   These tanks fill up so the next step is emptying them.   There are Coast Guard regulations on how far out to sea you must be before opening the dunnage valves so the holding tanks will empty out into the ocean.   Every time we get to appropriate distance, Richard calls out, “open the dunnage valves” someone goes below to the bathrooms and turns these handles a quarter turn:

The valves are in the shower.    Standing in the shower and facing out is the rest of the bathroom, including the toilet and the two buttons to operate it:

 

If your above deck when this happens, you can see the “dunnage” escape out the back of the boat and then disappear quickly as we sail on.

When we did the initial inspection of the boat Richard and Alice noticed something they didn’t like at all from a safety perspective.   There were these lovely ports at the very bottom of the two fore bedrooms.  My children would be in one of these rooms.  Here’s a picture of the port as we’re under sail:



It’s right at the bottom of the boat and it’s not just a viewing port, it’s openable.   Here’s another picture looking out, where you can see the other portal on the other side of the boat.   This portal is almost in the water.   Why, I ask you, why is this thing even possible to be opened?



Yes, yes, there is a nice warning on it, but if someone opened it while we were under sail, when water is pounding against the window, the ship would take on water—fast.   Other, similar boats from the same company had portals lower down, but not openable.

Richard wasn’t taking a chance, even if it was a safety thing for the rare and highly unlikely probability that the boat was capsized and we needed to get out and couldn’t get to the other two openings within six feet in the same room.   He zip tied the opening mechanism for the duration of the trip.

My last topic this morning is about a kitchen feature I really like.   I like it so much I would consider adding it into my kitchen at home if we were still building our house.    Here’s a picture of our kitchen.  It’s very functional.   We’ve eaten most meals on the boat including pasta, chili, sandwiches, eggs & bacon, lots of toast, hot dogs and, of course, more pasta.



Notice the round circle inset into the left side of the countertop?  It opens up to the trash can below,   No need to open and close the trash can door fifty times while you make a meal and clean up.   Just leave the lid off and drop everything in:

That’s it for updates today.   We’re anchored at Buck Island today and plan on going to the beach and exploring.   We’re going back to St. Croix for a dinner off the boat at a real restaurant tonight.  It’s our first time eating off the boat since we boarded on the 8th, seven days ago.

The Big Boy Update:  Two nights ago my son slipped away from the dinner table.   We were taking turns giving riddles to the group to try and figure out.   My son snuck out to go to his room and play on his Nintendo Switch.  When I went to find him a while later (and to take away the video games he shouldn’t have been playing) he came upstairs and said he was hungry.   I put some pasta in a bowl and I sent him back out to the table where most people were still talking,   He came right back in, complaining that the food was cold and could I warm it.   I told him no, but he could warm it himself, that it had been hot when he left the table.

He was angry.   He pouted and stomped fully around the top side of the boat.   Andrew said when he got back, “what are you complaining about?  You did this to yourself.”   My son got his bowl, came inside and asked how he could heat his food up himself.   He had to put Saran Wrap over it first, which he had trouble with, and then he had to move things out of the way to get to the microwave in our very small kitchen. Then he wasn’t tall enough to reach the microwave easily.   He said in an exasperated tone, “how do you adults do all this?”  I told him we did it every day and we always appreciate a thank you for taking care of the family.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves to help.   Anything purposeful she can do in a world where she has to ask everyone else to help her is a good thing.   She feels useful.   She knows something other people don’t and she can contribute.   I relocated the water supply to a new, more easily accessible location on the boat yesterday and my daughter helped me with the move.   She hadn’t know where the water was stored before, but now that she does, she’s been asking people if they need any water and bringing them some if they say yes.   She has a such a strong desire to help and be useful.