Our biggest power consumer by far is the autopilot at about 15-25 amps each time it corrects our course, but, boy, does it earn its keep! It corrects our course around 20 times per minute so quite a draw. We occasionally hand steer when changing course and sometimes "just because", but 99% of the time it's doing its thing day in and day out. (We also have a second autopilot on board in case this one fails).
Refrigeration is our second biggest consumer. We've discussed eating what remains in the freezer, which is a separate unit from the refrigerator, to cut back on that power draw. That draw is about 15amps when it's running but this is more sporadic. Of course, each time we open the door adds to power consumption.
Suggestions; I think we spoke about this (or maybe it was with somebody else) but I was wondering about cooking with seawater. Obviously only something that needs salt but that covers rice, pasta, potatoes, bread etc. At least it would be one less fresh water draw. Also, I'm sure you've considered it, but manual steering would save a huge amount of power and under such benign conditions surely it's not a chore to sit at the helm? I'm sure you're all over the matter.
ReplyDeleteYes, Antoine used seawater for pasta at least once. The accepted ratio is about 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh so it doesn't save a bunch... but every little bit counts.
ReplyDeleteWe hand steered a bit but hardly made a dent, I'm sure it was way less than 1% of the time. But, of course, we knew we could do it if we needed to.