Fill ALL the Fluids!

This is a message I wish I’d been told before we left on our first cruise. Or maybe I had been told, and in the chaos and excitement (and anxiety) of that last frantic bustle to get off the dock we just forgot. Or each of us thought the other had done it.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about filling all the tanks.

There’s propane. We like to leave for any kind of cruise with both propane tanks filled to the brim. In the US, it’s increasingly harder to find access to propane refilling stations period, let alone ones within walking distance from the water. (If you’re okay just exchanging the tanks, like a standard 20 lb bbq tank, you’ll have a much easier time with it. Our tanks are horizontal aluminum ones that cost a very significant amount of money, so filling is what we do.) We still have our car, so the drive to Gloucester (30 minutes each way) is doable. It’s helpful that the Fire and Water Company actually charges for the propane purchased and not just “it costs xxx to fill a xx pound tank” regardless of how much is in the tank. One of our tanks was totally empty and the other was half full. When we’re full up, we’ve got enough cooking fuel to last 6 months or more. Whew.

*3 cruisers go to a propane filling station . . . Photo courtesy of Loren, SV Voila*

There’s water. Yes, we have a water maker. We still fill all tanks, including the shower and the jerry jug, with water from the dock before we leave. And if we hit a fuel dock along the way where there’s good water for free (or a low fee) we’ll top off. Our water maker has a small capacity; our general MO is to keep our water tanks full and use the water maker to top off. This way if the machine goes on the fritz, we should have at least 60 gallons of water available to us. We run the watermaker off of 12 volts - charged by solar panels - but if we have to run the generator to do it it costs us the cost of gasoline. Cheaper to fill up at fuel docks!

*Filling our water tanks involves a hose and moving floorboards*

There’s diesel. Going to a gas station on land with your jerry jugs will almost certainly be less expensive than going to a fuel dock with the boat; check on the price and weigh that (hahaha) with the ease of going alongside. For us, filling the 39 gallon fuel tank plus the 4 jerry jugs (20 gallons) would cost an additional $27. Plus the cost of the gas to drive to the gas station 3 times. Plus the hassle of schlepping those cans down the (long) dock. 2 cans a trip, at 35 lbs each can . . . yeah, it’s worth $27 for us to bring the boat alongside the fuel dock. We won’t always have access to a fuel dock. Let’s live a little. In the Bahamas, diesel is quite a bit more expensive than in the US. We know we’ll have to get diesel while there, but let’s not incur that cost more frequently than we need to.

*Diesel at the fuel dock in Fishing Bay*

There’s gasoline. We have 2 outboards on board. A 2-stroke 9.9 hp that we’ll use when we are in “dinghy exploration” mode and want something that will take us far fast and a 4-stroke 2 hp that we’ve been using almost exclusively lately as we’re in harbors and more in commute mode. The 2 SIPS fuel while the other outboard is a bit hungrier. We carry 3 different jerry jugs for gasoline with us, one that is the fuel tank for the bigger engine and has mixed gas in it (gas/oil combo that 2-stroke outboards require) and the other 2 jerry cans are filled with regular gasoline.

There’s beer. Oh wait. That’s a different category. (But when going to the Bahamas, where a case of beer is $53-$80? Yeah. It matters.)

Fill all the fluids. Your peace of mind will be grateful.