West Coast of Mexico bound

[Anne Castleberg]

Hi Dave, Welcome.We are planning (hoping) to do the Southern California to Baja, on to Mazatlan and ending up in Puerto Vallarta cruise next year, Feb - May.We have been told we should add a generator, so far we have a souped up alternator to top up batteries when we cruise at our local offshort islands. Works fine for us, the longest "cruise" has been ten days to Catalina Island. Also, a water maker, and most importanlty to replace the cheap heads that came with our boat. We are thinking of the Vacuu flush for one and a manual for the other head - any sugestions.Also, what do you think about adding a Y valve option to bypass the holding tank. We seem to have had lots of problems with macerator pumps getting stuck. Recently upgraded one macerator pump.Also, any sugestions on watermakers.Do you have a comment on the need for airconditioner?And finally, what about weather reporting and email capability. Look forward to hearing your ideas.

 

[dave abt]

Mexico Bound

Good morning Anne,This sounds like a wonderful trip. Let me try to give you some ideas regarding your questions.The need for a genset is more a function of what your electrical needs are going to be more than amything else. If you want to run Air Conditioning at anchor or underway you will need a AC genset. Gensets take up a lot of room & so does HVAC at the expense of spare parts and food. The other factor to consider is how often you will be movng & how often you will be anchor. Diesel engines like to run under a large load; running them at low speed to charge batteries is not very good for them. The first thing to do will be to determine your electrical demands, then the best compromise can be reached. (We have a worksheet to help with this on our website under the section for downloads).As far as water makers go, if you want a 110V AC system I like the HRO systems; for 12V we are hearing really good things about the Spectra system. Monitoring battery power & water availability tend to be many cruiser's biggest worries. This is one item I would serously consider for an extended trip.Holding tanks and heads are a great topic of discussion, and one we have spent many hours debating over boat drinks. The VacuFlush is a wonderul system, but.... it is chemical intensive and expensive and parts are expensive & hard to find in some places. They also draw a realtively large amount of power to run. If you want to replace your headI might suggest the Lavac head or the Wilcox Skipper head. Both are very reliable and tend not to clog. If making passages, I would definitely consider a 'Y' valve. Beware though, there are some local law enforcement districts that consider any 'Y' before the holding tank illegal. You might want to consider installing a large manual gusher bilge pump to pump the tank in lieu of the macerator pump.I hope we have been able to provide some insight and good luck.Let us know if we can be of any further help.dave

 

[Gail Moorehead]

Cheap Heads

We are liveaboards in Channel Islands since 1 August 2000. Our compact JABSCO cheap head has been trouble free for over a year. I rebuilt it once since purchasing the boat over two years ago. I believe my experience with this model is typical. At least one other liveaboard I know has had the same trouble free operation.

 

[Tim Schaaf]

Same cheap head

I installed the same cheap Jabsco head four years ago, and I live aboard. One rebuild, so far, and several shaft seals. They last for about a year and need an occasional application of teflon grease.At this rate, I think I will keep the head!

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Gail, you MAY be the only person on the planet

who's ever rebuilt ANY toilet within the first two years unless something broke. That's WHY it's still working just fine. And it'll keep working for years, if you keep rebuilding it every year. But the problem with rebuilding cheap heads is that the cost of the rebuild kits is usually about half the cost of a whole new toilet. By the time you've rebuilt it 5 times, you could have replaced it twice. Since you can usually get 3-5 years out of one before it starts getting cranky, it's just more cost effective not to rebuild 'em, but to just use 'em till they do and replace with a new one.It's also worth remembering that live-aboards usually have far fewer problems with ANY equipment than "weekend warriors" do, because lack of use is harder on it than continuous use. And that doesn't apply only to boats, but to cars, home appliances, engines, water pumps--just about anything with moving parts. When things sit more than than they're used, rubber and neoprene parts dry out and become brittle and/or stick to the insides of their housings...lubrication settles or congeals...pumps lose their primes and seals wear against dry housings till they reprime...it all takes a much harder toll on equipment than keeping it working constantly does. I remember a dockmate once saying that, when he lived in FL where he kept his boat behind his house and used it just about every day, he had almost no problems with anything on it...but since moving to Atlanta, where his boat was 30 miles away and he could only use it on weekends, it seemed that there was always something that needed repair.