Maintenance & Logistics
The stopovers will not only be used for the Hill family to explore the UK coastline. They are essential for the maintenance of the boat.
Water
700 litres of water is carried in the tank. This will need refilling!
It will not always be possible to obtain water from harbours – in
some cases it may be necessary for a boat to anchor up along side Blue
Argolis at sea and deposit water into the tanks.
The fresh water in the tank is used for drinking and cooking. Certain
measures will be taken to conserve as much fresh water as possible
on board:
• Salt Water - conservation of water on the boat can be increased by using salt water to do the washing up (pots, pans and plates etc).
• Capture rain water – this is used to top the tanks up. Is collected in a sheet with a hole in the middle. Tie up the sheet so that the rain water falls down through the hole. This is set up on deck.
• Solar still – you fill the still up with salt water, leave it out in the sun and through a process of distillation, you get fresh water at the end of it!
Refuse Collection
This is not an amenity that gets collected! This will be one of the
logistical tasks when we come ashore.
Electricity
The Blue Argolis is self-sufficient and generates sustainable energy
using a number of techniques:
• Solar – solar panels have been fitted to the deck
• Wind – Blue Argolis has its own wind turbine generator
• Hydro – a hydro-power wheel is dropped into the sea during sailing. The wheel turns as it is dragged along which drives a turbine etc.
All of these energy sources power a 12 volt battery system. This powers
all of the on board electrical requirements but has to be used sparingly.
The use of energy will predominantly power the essential equipment,
rather than being used for entertainment purposes (e.g. the internet).
The need to conserve energy for this purpose will be an interesting
challenge over the 50 days, especially for the children.
Possessions
In a world where we and the children have multiple luxury possessions,
we will explore the essential/non essential items and how to maximise
the use of the restricted space on board Blue Argolis. This will
be particularly challenging for the children who are used to being
surrounded by the latest technology and services ‘on-tap’.