Reliable black water levels make the boat easier to operate and lower costs by reducing the number of pump-outs required. We have sufficient black water tankage to go for two weeks in normal use and, with some care, we can go much more than a month between pump outs. However, when using inaccurate level sensors,…
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Hoorn
Hoorn was the birthplace of Dutch explorer Willem Schoutens, who in 1616 named South America’s Cape Horn after his home town. Also born in Hoorn was Jan Pieterszoon Coen, an officer of the Dutch East India Company and a two-time Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Not surprisingly, Hoorn was a major Dutch East India…
13.2 kW Alternators and Beyond
On Dirona, we aim to always run the boat using a single power source. When we are plugged into shore, we aim to drive the entire boat off of shore-side power and never run the generator. This may sound easy, but in Europe you frequently won’t find more than a 16A shore power service and…
Krabbersgat Naviduct
We’d passed over vehicle roads in Dirona several times, for example in Boston Harbor and Norfolk, Virginia, where a vehicle tunnel runs under the waterway. But until we transited the Krabbersgat naviduct, near Enkhuizen, we’d never passed through an aqueduct over an open road. A naviduct is a special type of navigable aqueduct that also…
Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Enkhuizen, Netherlands received city rights in 1355 and, as a Dutch East India Company harbour, was among the most important cities in the country. The city once bordered the saltwater bay Zuiderzee, with sea locks to protect the harbour and adjoining canals from flooding. The completion of the Afsluitdijk dam in 1932 transformed the Zuiderzee…
Terschelling, Netherlands
Even in the Netherlands, a country of cyclists, the island of Terschelling is known for its extensive and diverse bicycle paths. It was a great landfall for us after the 160-mile run across the German Bight from Cuxhaven, Germany. After a fresh seafood lunch in town, we set of on an afternoon bicycle trip that…
Germany to the Netherlands
On our run from Germany to the Netherlands, we’d hoped to exit the German Bight on the border at Delfzjil and take the sheltered Netherlands canals through Leeuwarden to Harlingen. But the least depth through some of the waterways is an optimistic 1.9m, too shallow for our 2.1m draft. So we instead returned to the…
Cuxhaven, Germany
Cuxhaven, Germany sits at the mouth of Elbe River and the North Sea. For centuries the location was a stronghold to control sea access from the river and continues that tradition as an Elbe River pilot station. While the river provides much positive value to the city, it also has negatives. Dangerous seas form when…
Brunsbuttel to Cuxhaven
After three exceptional days on the Kiel Canal, we followed five large commercial ships into the Brunsbuttel lock and out into the busy Elbe River. We made a short run downriver to our final stop in Germany at Cuxhaven, where we had a berth waiting for us at the YC marina. Below are trip highlights…
Updating the Maintenance Log
A few years back we posted the Excel-based spreadsheet we wrote for our maintenance log, along with instructions on how to use it. The spreadsheet has continued to serve us well, and still is our main tool for managing maintenance items. While it’s fairly easy to add new maintenance items for a given piece of…
