scruff
new user
Reged: 02/03/2007
Posts: 8
Loc: Firth of Forth
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I there, Fairly new to this forum and am interested indoing a transat in 2010 - finance providing.
I have been looking / still am for the right boat for doing it in, currently swaying towards the Achilles 24 (provided I can find a tripple keel one!!)
One concern I have about the transat, amongst many others that I'm sure will be resolved before letting go of the mooring rope, is that how much fresh water would you ned for the crossing?
I'm off the thinking that would require a ration of around 5litres per person per day (planning single handed) so that makes 40days x 5 litres = 200 litres + backup. That seems to be an awfull lot of weight to add to a 24 foot boat before you start addingin all your food, exra equipment etc.
Are you thinking of using a water-maker on your crossings or what provisons have you made for this.
I would hate to be in the dryest crossing of the atlantic and to drink my last drop of water - could be mildly disheartening to say the least!!
anyway, great wee gem this forum, glad I found it!!
Regards,
Scruff
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gwylan
regular
Reged: 31/05/2007
Posts: 260
Loc: Portishead, on tour
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Achilles would be a good choice! Lots for sale along the Bristol Channel Coast. in varying states of repair and maintenance. good luck
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CentaurPipedream
regular
Reged: 20/09/2006
Posts: 1192
Loc: Essex
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5l per day seems a lot. Im working on 3 per day for the Azores challenge in May for drinking. Everything else uses salt water.
-------------------- Life is just far too short.
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KBT
regular
Reged: 22/01/2007
Posts: 1538
Loc: France
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Quote:
5l per day seems a lot. Im working on 3 per day for the Azores challenge in May for drinking. Everything else uses salt water.
I agree 3l/day would be heaps, if it,s split up and from different sources probably better. I took bottled water for the backup supply. Probably used 50-60l on a 32day s/h passage. Mind I had a beer supply too!, Bill.
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sterenn
regular
Reged: 15/03/2007
Posts: 189
Loc: Paris France
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Bonjour I confirm that 3l a day is a good value but I would take an extra 50% spear plus 20 litres as a rescue reserve.
As I don't have any water tanks, the water is in bottles. Caution : for the return the 1 gallon US bottles are not waterproff so I transferred the US water into European empty bottles.
200 l, in weight, is less than two crew members and empty bottles provide extra flotability reserves!  Eric
-------------------- Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire complique ?
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Jake_K
PBO features editor
Reged: 20/07/2001
Posts: 186
Loc: Poole, Dorset UK
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Hi Scruff
Welcome to the forum! I agree with Eric that the empty water bottles make good reserve buoyancy. In fact, I have designed my entire water stowage system around that principle, with each empty fitting back into a sealable locker. Bottles also mean you can move the full ones around to help with trim.
Other comments about using saltwater hold good - as you know many yachts have a saltwater pump in the galley. According to a well-known designer, when it comes to weight, the minimum you should allow for (water, food and other consumables) is around 10lbs ( 4.5kg) per person, per day. (This is why micro-yachts struggle with long range trips.)
The crew of Lively Lady (currently circumnavigating) have been using personalised bottles for their water, even though they have a tank, so they can keep a track of how much each person is actually drinking, especially in the hotter climes. (I think they have to get through at least 1 litre bottle each per day - in addition to tea, soup etc).
One boat I know of sailed from New Zealand to Alaska, non-stop, and kept the tanks topped off by catching rain! Personally, I'm going to go with the old addage of a gallon (4.45lt) per day, per crewman, which builds in Erics safety margin. Thankfully, after a slow start, the boat will get lighter by 11lbs every day!
Talking of weight, if the volume of water that would fill the average fridge freezer weighs about a ton, it makes sense to fill in as much of the cockpit as possible....
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CentaurPipedream
regular
Reged: 20/09/2006
Posts: 1192
Loc: Essex
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............ and a thought I had just last night is to mark each bottle with consecutive dates so you know at a glance if you are ahead/behind on consumption. this does mean however you have to use the bottles in a certain order which makes moving them around for trim purposes a little troublesome. Well, you have to have something to do ................
-------------------- Life is just far too short.
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Nicki_Crutchfield
regular
Reged: 07/03/2005
Posts: 419
Loc: North Devon
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Hi Scruff, Excellent choice the Achilles 24. well I hope it is as I have just bought one from Pembroke. It would be great to have another Achilles in JC 2010. Proper racing. Good luck with the search. By the way, did I see you on the Achilles 24 Flicr site? Cheers, Nicki
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nickrj
regular
Reged: 21/07/2006
Posts: 370
Loc: Long Island, New York
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5ltrs is way too high an estimate. I would actually go closer to 2ltrs per day. On my ten days from Lisbon, I actually used less, under or around 1ltr/day. For my Atlantic crossing, I intend on taking 130litres of drinking wanter in 1.5ltr bottles, spread around the boat, with 40ltrs of non-drinking water for washing up, and rinsing after salt showers lashed to the deck.
I truly believe I will end up on the other side with way too much water, but of course, emergencies have to be accounted for.
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Nicki_Crutchfield
regular
Reged: 07/03/2005
Posts: 419
Loc: North Devon
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Why not just make it all drinking water?
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