Life on Board
This is where we write about the little things that make such a difference from living on land.
Laundry
5 July 2009
We thought you might like to know how we are getting on with the day to day aspects of living on a boat. While many of you reading this website will be familiar with boats, others may be less used to layout, facilities and so on, so here’s a brief description of the domestic “arrangements” on Minnie B.
We have three double cabins (bedrooms), two heads (small toilet/shower rooms), a saloon (living area) which comprises the galley (kitchen area) , chart table and navigation instruments, dining table and seating for 6-8 people. We also have a cockpit with a fixed table, so we can eat outdoors very easily. The galley has a top loading fridge, but not a freezer, and a stove with a good oven, grill and two burners, which runs off bottled gas. We have adapted to life without a freezer by bringing a great deal of dried food (pasta, rice, pulses, bread and cake mixes), tinned goods, and Chinese, Indian, Thai and Italian sauces. Fortunately, there is plenty of storage space in the saloon for this, and actually it all fits on the port side, the starboard side being given over to more manly items such as tools and spares (under the bench seating), as well as the pilot books, guides to every item on the boat that we both use, not forgetting the vast wine store.
The main item missing from the above is, of course, a washing machine and this has been the cause of some recent debate. When we initially discussed the purchase of Minnie B, Norma said she’d like a washing machine, but subsequently allowed herself to be talked out of this by Phil and many other people who told her among other things that on-board washing machines were “power hungry”, “inefficient” and “unnecessary as every marina has a laundry”. While the first two may be true, the third certainly isn’t, or at least not in this part of Spain. So, how do we and other long-term sailing folk manage here?
Norma's research has revealed at least four approaches. The most common is that the female partner washes practically everything by hand to try to keep on top of things. On a day when the sun’s out and there’s a nice breeze, as soon as she’s had breakfast, she washes as much as she can manage and hangs everything on a line strung up at the bow. The down side is that such a day would be perfect for sailing ... A second approach (not so common) is to have a built-in washing machine and this is favoured by those who also have a diesel generator, for electrical power. One friend we’ve met went for this option after spending 5 months sailing last year and experiencing the frustration of having to spend a lot of time queueing in marina laundrettes, and even then only being allowed one wash – not much use if you’ve had visitors staying, and you’re left with the bedding, towels etc to wash. The third approach, and ours at present, is a mix and match – use a marina laundry if there is one, do some handwashing to supplement this, and if necessary get a service wash done in town. This can be reasonably priced, but the down side is that the washing is done at a very high temperature, which is fine for bedding, towels, jeans, but not for many other clothes – Phil now has a fine collection of t-shirts which have shrunk so he’s having to watch how much he eats. Finally, there’s the option of adding in to the mix a small portable washing machine and this is what we’ve done. It’s ordered, and will be with us in early September when Jill and Brian come to visit us in Portugal. After all Norma's campaigning to buy this item, she hopes it’ll be worth it!
We have three double cabins (bedrooms), two heads (small toilet/shower rooms), a saloon (living area) which comprises the galley (kitchen area) , chart table and navigation instruments, dining table and seating for 6-8 people. We also have a cockpit with a fixed table, so we can eat outdoors very easily. The galley has a top loading fridge, but not a freezer, and a stove with a good oven, grill and two burners, which runs off bottled gas. We have adapted to life without a freezer by bringing a great deal of dried food (pasta, rice, pulses, bread and cake mixes), tinned goods, and Chinese, Indian, Thai and Italian sauces. Fortunately, there is plenty of storage space in the saloon for this, and actually it all fits on the port side, the starboard side being given over to more manly items such as tools and spares (under the bench seating), as well as the pilot books, guides to every item on the boat that we both use, not forgetting the vast wine store.
The main item missing from the above is, of course, a washing machine and this has been the cause of some recent debate. When we initially discussed the purchase of Minnie B, Norma said she’d like a washing machine, but subsequently allowed herself to be talked out of this by Phil and many other people who told her among other things that on-board washing machines were “power hungry”, “inefficient” and “unnecessary as every marina has a laundry”. While the first two may be true, the third certainly isn’t, or at least not in this part of Spain. So, how do we and other long-term sailing folk manage here?
Norma's research has revealed at least four approaches. The most common is that the female partner washes practically everything by hand to try to keep on top of things. On a day when the sun’s out and there’s a nice breeze, as soon as she’s had breakfast, she washes as much as she can manage and hangs everything on a line strung up at the bow. The down side is that such a day would be perfect for sailing ... A second approach (not so common) is to have a built-in washing machine and this is favoured by those who also have a diesel generator, for electrical power. One friend we’ve met went for this option after spending 5 months sailing last year and experiencing the frustration of having to spend a lot of time queueing in marina laundrettes, and even then only being allowed one wash – not much use if you’ve had visitors staying, and you’re left with the bedding, towels etc to wash. The third approach, and ours at present, is a mix and match – use a marina laundry if there is one, do some handwashing to supplement this, and if necessary get a service wash done in town. This can be reasonably priced, but the down side is that the washing is done at a very high temperature, which is fine for bedding, towels, jeans, but not for many other clothes – Phil now has a fine collection of t-shirts which have shrunk so he’s having to watch how much he eats. Finally, there’s the option of adding in to the mix a small portable washing machine and this is what we’ve done. It’s ordered, and will be with us in early September when Jill and Brian come to visit us in Portugal. After all Norma's campaigning to buy this item, she hopes it’ll be worth it!
Food
8th August 2009
When Sir Robin Knox Johnston set out to sail non-stop around the world on Suhaili, he is reputed to have taken with him a year’s supply of his favourite food (bully beef perhaps?) so he had exactly the same meal every day. We’re not claiming any kind of parity with the great man, but we did have to make a similar decision regarding food –what to take with us? Before this summer, we’d never been on board for longer than two weeks, and had generally eaten out quite a bit while cruising, but this is different. We anticipated that we’d be able to buy fresh food easily everywhere we stop (and this has been the case so far) but were less certain that we would ever find such items as sauces for Chinese food, which we love. Also, when we shop now, we have to carry everything back to Minnie B ourselves, so we decided to stock up with heavy goods like cans and cartons, to save our backs for at least a while.
Before we left Northern Ireland, we did a massive Sainsbury shop, and got some very surprised looks at the check out as our trolleys contained 30 packets of Chinese sauces and 20 pasta sauces, as well as pasta, rice, cereal, bread mixes, cake mixes, pizza base mixes, cans of tomatoes, chick peas, kidney beans , baked beans, tuna and olives, packets of soup mix, long life milk and orange juice, chocolate bars and biscuits, rice crackers, part baked bread and rolls, coffee and English Breakfast tea, the last being a must for starting the day. We also brought on board all our herbs and spices from home as well as everything in the kitchen, which included two tins of “saucisses et lentilles” bought as emergency food for the trip from Les Sables d’Olonne in 2006, but which we’ve never been able to face eating. We’re not sure we ever will, but the eat by date is end 2010 so there’s still time!
We’ve been surprised by what we’ve used so far. Cooking on board requires a different mind set compared to cooking at home. Here, the pressure cooker is our best friend because we have to try to keep our consumption of gas as low as possible. So, none of those casseroles in the oven that we used to eat so often, but we’ve found that many recipes can be adapted for use in the pressure cooker and we now have stews, chilli con carne and curries instead. We’ve also used the pressure cooker for stir frying, not under pressure of course, so we have a chinese meal once a week or so. The pasta sauces were great when we were on passage across Biscay and the boat was rolling quite a bit, as cooking the evening meal was then very easy but we’re conserving our stocks now for the longer passages ahead. Another favourite is Ainsley Harriott’s cup soup, especially Country Style Shropshire Pea, again great when we’re on the move. And finally, we wish we’d brought more pizza base mixes as these are brilliant. They take up very little space, are simple, work every time, and only require 30 minutes in the oven. We’ve now run out, but will definitely bring more back with us from our next trip home.
Storage of fresh vegetables is an issue we haven’t entirely resolved. Our fridge capacity is limited, so we have to date been keeping vegetables in a storage locker in the galley. This is fine for potatoes, onions and carrots and we’ve found that vegetables last much longer if they’re bought fresh but not chilled – why do supermarkets do this? We keep salad veg in a cool bag in the locker, and this has worked OK up until now, but may be less successful as we go further south. Clare from ‘Phalarope’ advised us to buy “green bags” which we’ve now ordered from Lakeland, a UK based kitchen and giftware supplier. We’d never heard of green bags, but they are plastic bags impregnated with an anti-bacterial powder and get rave reviews on the Lakeland site, with claims that they extend the storage life of vegetables considerably, even without refrigeration. Again, thanks are due to Brian and Jill who will bring these (and other supplies) when they meet us in Portugal. Of course, if there wasn’t so much beer in the fridge, there’d be more space but that’s the last resort!
Before we left Northern Ireland, we did a massive Sainsbury shop, and got some very surprised looks at the check out as our trolleys contained 30 packets of Chinese sauces and 20 pasta sauces, as well as pasta, rice, cereal, bread mixes, cake mixes, pizza base mixes, cans of tomatoes, chick peas, kidney beans , baked beans, tuna and olives, packets of soup mix, long life milk and orange juice, chocolate bars and biscuits, rice crackers, part baked bread and rolls, coffee and English Breakfast tea, the last being a must for starting the day. We also brought on board all our herbs and spices from home as well as everything in the kitchen, which included two tins of “saucisses et lentilles” bought as emergency food for the trip from Les Sables d’Olonne in 2006, but which we’ve never been able to face eating. We’re not sure we ever will, but the eat by date is end 2010 so there’s still time!
We’ve been surprised by what we’ve used so far. Cooking on board requires a different mind set compared to cooking at home. Here, the pressure cooker is our best friend because we have to try to keep our consumption of gas as low as possible. So, none of those casseroles in the oven that we used to eat so often, but we’ve found that many recipes can be adapted for use in the pressure cooker and we now have stews, chilli con carne and curries instead. We’ve also used the pressure cooker for stir frying, not under pressure of course, so we have a chinese meal once a week or so. The pasta sauces were great when we were on passage across Biscay and the boat was rolling quite a bit, as cooking the evening meal was then very easy but we’re conserving our stocks now for the longer passages ahead. Another favourite is Ainsley Harriott’s cup soup, especially Country Style Shropshire Pea, again great when we’re on the move. And finally, we wish we’d brought more pizza base mixes as these are brilliant. They take up very little space, are simple, work every time, and only require 30 minutes in the oven. We’ve now run out, but will definitely bring more back with us from our next trip home.
Storage of fresh vegetables is an issue we haven’t entirely resolved. Our fridge capacity is limited, so we have to date been keeping vegetables in a storage locker in the galley. This is fine for potatoes, onions and carrots and we’ve found that vegetables last much longer if they’re bought fresh but not chilled – why do supermarkets do this? We keep salad veg in a cool bag in the locker, and this has worked OK up until now, but may be less successful as we go further south. Clare from ‘Phalarope’ advised us to buy “green bags” which we’ve now ordered from Lakeland, a UK based kitchen and giftware supplier. We’d never heard of green bags, but they are plastic bags impregnated with an anti-bacterial powder and get rave reviews on the Lakeland site, with claims that they extend the storage life of vegetables considerably, even without refrigeration. Again, thanks are due to Brian and Jill who will bring these (and other supplies) when they meet us in Portugal. Of course, if there wasn’t so much beer in the fridge, there’d be more space but that’s the last resort!