In this episode we talk about our highs and lows of boat life, putting more focus on the things we have found difficult and that have gone wrong. We think ev...

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hi everyone so in this episode we're

going to talk about the highs and lows

of living on a boat and doing a trip

like this we used to watch a lot of the

big saline channels and we thought well

I thought that it was going to be a like

a holiday and lots of some budding going

to amazing places and all be wonderful

it is amazing but there are a lot of

lows and in this episode we are going to

focus on the lows we're going to talk

about some of the highs but we just want

it to be really really sticky let

everyone know what it is actually like

so these are our highs and lows of boat

life

things breaking can be there for pain

you buy new plates and glasses you know

you try to make the place a bit homely

when you first leave this you know you

want to have a nice standard of living

but the reality is prepare for it yeah

prepared for it all to break

I mean we've brought new places before

we left I think all of them have chipped

it now yeah wine glasses yeah baby

none I'm thinking we took a month for

six wine glasses to be destroyed bowls

everything yeah just usual stuff that

you'd use every day just gets destroyed

on a boat cloves the sea and the soul

you know getting the clothes we have a

washing machine on board you know it's a

small washing machine for a but it's not

like one of you ones at home we're just

gonna get everything clean properly but

it does the job

when we're on

yeah when were in marinas 240 NS boat

runs on 12 volt same as most smaller

boats it's only the big ones

clothes were always day yeah

also you can keep on top of the

maintenance on a boat as much as you

want really the more you do the less

stuff will break but our stuff is always

to integrate I mean we spend a lot of

time cleaning and just maintaining the

stuff there's always the things you

don't expect to go wrong that go wrong I

the autopilot as you see in one of the

episodes cause there's a major problem

when we wanted to cross the Atlantic

it's all fixed now thanks to Dave who

owned the boat previously he have just

saw it so big thanks to Dave once again

we had the battery regulator which

wasn't working properly when we first

installed it still don't really know

what was going on there because now

we're is we got loads more power but not

loads more power but we've got the power

that we need so that's that's good

starter motor that also decided to stop

working for a bit spoke to a few

professionals marine engineers and that

and they said it needed to be replaced

but we've taken with the connections off

cleaned them put them back on and it

works but every now and again we still

have an issue with it we do have a spare

one but we haven't feared it because we

just try to get as much life out of the

one we've got anchor controller this was

an interesting one that was a stressful

one yeah we we assume one of the

episodes I think where we was an anchor

and the weather came in earlier than

predicted in the night it was meant to

come in at lunch time the next day so we

tried to leave at first light and the

anchor controller wasn't working it was

but then it would stop and it go over

then it was stopped but you know with

the waves and the wind it got quite

stressful

yes so we got into the marina went to

the Chancery and bought a new one really

expensive that 120 euros something like

this so we came back and my fault right

I'm gonna try and fix it if we're

replacing anyway it doesn't matter for

break here and it turned out that inside

the flexible coating the wires it

snapped inside that's all I've done must

strip it back and reconnect it put it

all back together and it worked fine so

we've got a refund on that basis it's

little things I mean you can reduce the

cost you got B its words you've just

gotta be on it all the time and prepare

to just try and fix yeah try and fix

stuff and it will save you fortunes

cameras cameras have gone wrong that's

why we was very inconsistent about

videos about a month ago because the

month prior to that the camera had broke

we have to send it back to Sony and the

neighbors to week sending it back

such factories

it's not because you're out of the UK

its gift of sending back to the UK and

there to try and send out and you don't

have

and address to you so it's to get things

posted it's actually easy to just go

home again it come back from the

Canaries because it's because it's cheap

flights obviously elsewhere in the world

that probably won't be the situation to

work around it yeah it doesn't matter

how new your boat is I don't think or

how much you keep on top of it there's

always and stuff to do

so leading on from the repairs and the

stuff that held us back everything's

more expensive when revived and when you

leave England it seems so when we look

for a starter motor in the Canaries they

wanted 400 euros for it so we looked

online and in England 98 pounds he did

yeah solar panels we brought them from

the chantry they told us we could get

the brackets made up down the road and

that worked we searched high and low

everywhere we went said it was

impossible so that was interesting

once again Dave Pickford a previous

owner he rose to the challenge made the

brackets for us which are perfect

something that you think would be

relatively easy is like a flight home

and it's like that

yeah I mean we could have gotten posted

but then you got to pay it was more

expensive to haven't posted and then

also they would like if it was let me

stop stopped at customs for two weeks so

you got two weeks extra on marine fees

but it can't go very far because you

know you have to get them sent somewhere

yeah

possible import tax as well so there's

other things to consider also any any

job you want to do on a boat if it's

actually takes you an hour on land is

half a day on the boat we quite often

get out in the morning and we think

right we're going to get that and that

done and you only get half of one job

done and it's crazy because that we've

we have beaten ourselves up a bit

getting things done as quickly as we

would normally at home but I think that

is that is just quite nice everything

else it's a part of the adjustment the

adjustment period isn't it like you have

to adjust to live on a boat but we'll go

into that a bit more in the next section

so it's impossible to stick

we always have plans of where we would

go there would be

he relies so heavily on weather

forecasts and we use windy

we used to win DS and sometimes I write

but the majority of time they're wrong

what weather comes in early or if it

doesn't doesn't think I think that's a

lot to do if the Canaries

I think the Canaries are unpredictable

because of you know they're in the

middle of the Atlantic and they're

volcanic islands they basically create

their own weather and acceleration zones

with the wind coming down you're we

never had that problem it's very

accurate

fairly yeah yeah but it can it does it

does change so we might have a two-week

plan of where we want to go

it all seems fine with the weather and

then something will change and we have

to completely change the plan we were

going to go to the Canaries things went

well and to the Caribbean sorry things

went wrong okay well we're meant to be a

media now supposed to be able to hear

now that hasn't happened because the

weather's been bad so yeah you can't you

can't stick to a plan at all you might

plan to get some spares or anything you

need for a repair from the chandlery and

you'll go to the January and we've found

more from them not the one thing that

you need they don't have they then have

to order it for you which can take a

couple of weeks so then you've got the

problem of do you stay in the marina

which is going to cost a lot for the two

weeks do you go after you come back so

that that can be quite a challenge just

getting the parts that you need

we've been waiting three weeks for which

Greece

yeah it's not it's not always easy to

just go and get apartment and be able to

pick something food shopping is another

thing and we've done it a few times when

we come into a marina and we think we're

gonna go into a really big food shop and

stuck the boat up you get there and the

shop is miles away or the shops that are

close by are really really expensive or

there is no no shop where we can get

that big bulky to restock the boat

facing so that can be a challenge

there's the diesel as well we've not

planned well enough when we need to get

diesel at times and how to get it from

certain marinas and the price can vary

between

it's about $0.50 Selina it can vary it

is a lot when you're filling up yeah but

the problem is the almanacs or the our

chart plot would only tell us where we

can get these it doesn't tell you the

price of it so the best thing to do

there is just to speak to as many people

as possible find out where you can get

cheap diesel here in San Miguel it's

fairly cheap it's 84 cents a liter but

the next marina along port Cologne it's

one euro 30 Alito I think so so for that

and also we bought some really big jerry

cans yeah but that was to cross the

atlantic and now we're using them but

they're really handy because when you

find cheap fuel you can fill up all the

tags and fill up the jerry cans and they

just saves you a lot of money

so the social side of living on a boat

can be quite difficult it can be amazing

we have met some really really cool

people everyone seems to have a really

interesting story so it's great in that

sense but we've both quite used to being

quite social

I was a teacher of Ryan my under

brickwork company so a lot of men I used

to work for us and work with us so you

had a lot of sort of banter

work with boys that yeah and yeah I just

have Ryan enough that's kind of it

that's no girly time there's no little

gossipy chats there that you have at

home so that has been that they've been

really hard also in in some places that

we've been people are quite rude some of

the locals are quite rude and that can

be difficult because we just we just

want to make friends don't we make

friends and talk to people can be it can

be quite isolating sometimes you can go

weeks without talking to people then

there's other times where like yesterday

we had five people just come over that

we didn't know just a chattering yeah so

there's swings and roundabouts okay it

can be it can be lonely and living in

such a confined space there's no there's

no privacy

no no privacy there's you have to really

make an effort to have your own alone

time you know I'll sometimes say won't

you go out and I can chill in and do

whatever and the other way around so you

have to make a real effort to make sure

you've got your own time you have your

own time and also you get time to

socialize and speak to friends from home

I'd say you often it

one thing I find quite frustrating is

we'll spend two days cleaning the boat

but doing a deep clean and if you go out

sailing obviously then it's covered in

so but one thing with the Canaries

there's a name for an accountant member

at the moment we'll put it up below but

you get these winds come from the Sahara

and I think it was a week ago we done a

really deep clean we spent three days

doing everything the metal inside

outside anything we could do it was done

the next day we had this wind come in

for three days and the whole boat was

orange again all of our rigging the

boilers rusta first cousin it's just

this siharan sand it's just on

everything and you know it's it's not

too bad in the marina we'll just wash it

off but when you're out there

anchor in the Canaries it's a bit more

difficult you're using your drinking

water and your showering water yeah it

just feels like it's never clean ever

one one thing happened the other day

with the hose that we use to build the

tanks and to clean the boat is someone

had unplugged us and dropped it into the

marina someone else had also we think

opened their sewage tanks so that hose

that's been thrown away and number one

purchased which is frustrating again but

it's just one of those things that you

have to deal with

don't trust the water in Umbria well I

wouldn't I wouldn't swim in a marina pay

that way

also another thing that needs to be

considered is if you stay in a marina

for a fairly long time you obviously

have sewage tanks and they get filled

now as you saw in the last episode the

tanks were causing a problem was we were

sat in the marina once we went out and

to hit bad weather

somehow the sewage from the tank it made

his way back down into the toilet

because of the Seas better in the boat

he was healing so much what you saw what

happened in the last episode you know

it's all clean now but it was yeah

sometimes you need to just be prepared

to roll your sleeves up and get stuff

done

yeah takes away you know if anyone's got

any glamorous ideas of laid on the front

of the boat somebody been drinking for

seco know maybe a few char away

you

so the psychological aspect

on a boat it can be really scary it can

be amazing but there are a few times

where it is pretty scary obviously and

bad weather but you also have to think

inside when the boat got hit by another

boat you know this is this is our home

so it's worrying you have a lot of times

especially when you're on passage where

you don't have any any sleep or

happiness and the anchor fits raffia and

your super pattern is really disruptive

so we're tired you might be scared you

know it's it's a lot it does take its

toll

you have to eat inside of it as well

that we've found on passages if you

don't eat regularly or sometimes it's

too rough for it for us to cook or

anything and that no sleep not eating

scared it yeah it's not it's difficult

it can be really difficult and each one

of them things makes the next one worse

as well yeah yes by the end of the

passage it's true that a mix of reading

job this amazing achievement amazing

feeling of achievement that you've just

accomplished something that you also are

absolutely detta you have a panic

obviously when it's bad by those similar

to being scared but we had a situation

where the villagers we went in a field

and there was no water in the bilges and

that yeah but why did that happen

so they left the seacock open which had

a uppity adaption with another hose on

it which had another valve on it

not only it she'd left the C open

she had left the valve open so as we

were sailing and we was healed over the

water was coming from the sea up the C

through the valve through the pipe

and into the boat 150 litres we pumped

out no electronics were damaged or

anything like that but it was a bit of a

shock when we open the belgians no it's

not even but is there is that panic

those moments of panic you can go from

having the best time your house is one

thing I find funny with some of the

videos it is a lot of people like to say

they live for the moment I strongly

disagree I think if you lived for the

moment we'd probably end up dead very

quickly because you have to plan

everything in advance like you need to

anticipate problems and pick yourself in

a position where that the problem of

roy's is you'll prepare to deal with

therefore you're far enough away from

danger there won't be an issue so that's

one thing that I just strongly disagree

with you can't live for the moment and

and do this I think that's particularly

so

because you're the captain and you do a

lot of the past passage planning you do

think about that kind of thing more than

mmm but you know another thing to

consider as well what we're saying is we

are inexperienced and we spent a lot of

this trip in the Canaries and the

Canaries is notoriously difficult for

anchoring the marina's can be very busy

so they might turn you away and the web

is very unpredictable so this is our

experience today this might not be

necessary for everybody

yeah we're just saying what we've

experienced and what we think are our

lows yeah yeah that's a good good way of

describing it this might not for

everybody and everyone's opinion but

this is ours but let's give you some of

the highs anyway

the high-stepping you do outweigh the

lows but we're not going to too much

detail on them because you can watch any

salem videos really any of our big

channels and you can see what the highs

are it is it is amazing so we're just

going to talk about our top three or

your top three highs mine is getting

somewhat fixed you know I know that I

know that was a low but at the same time

it's so difficult to get stuff done once

you get it done it really alright so

that's one game safe after bad weather

yeah or a long difficult passage that

we've done you know that that does feel

really good a sense of achievement and

you can relax as well that's one yeah

one of my most favorite things today is

going somewhere new especially places

where people you know tourists can't get

to or it's very remote because you do

feel like you're exploring somewhere for

the first time you're not and people

have been everywhere but it just feels a

bit special I think yeah and for me

that's probably my most favorite I have

lots of favorite things but these are my

top three

my favorite thing is seeing the dolphins

and whales and some of the turtle which

is in the last video seeing them in

their natural habitats out at sea it's

yeah it's amazing it's really really

special when all the dolphins come and

swim alongside the bow and whales that

for me is is pretty pretty cool that's

definitely one night sales I love a

night sale mainly at stars because when

you're out to sea especially when we

were crossing from Portugal to Atlanta

booty and we're what five hundred miles

away from anywhere there's no light

pollution and it stars that you can see

the Milky Way so clearly the whole

crossing was only 750 I think the

farthest from anywhere we was was 250 -

when you're 250 miles away from that but

yeah the stars are the stars are amazing

I've never seen stars like like it so

that's definitely a high learning what

about the scene when it lights up as

you're saving proof you see that and

yeah night sounds you see the sea so

it's the Arab iridescent bioluminescent

bioluminescent bioluminescent

bioluminescence

it's the algae in the sea and as they

can educate it as a wave about or even a

dolphin comes through they all Sparkle

blue like fireflies not you can't really

see the dolphins but you can see the

trail behind him because as a activate

the water

like up guys so cool yeah that is

amazing Geneva that was big

yeah we have so that's really cool and I

think the last one would be watching the

sunset pretty much every day we go down

which is incredible at home I didn't

even think about it I didn't go to ever

seen a proper a proper sunset go down

past the horizon for me back home

a sunset was annoying so I normally be

sat on the motorway in traffic sunny my

heart is yeah you never appreciate you

know whereas we've seen some absolutely

phenomenal sunsets you just sit there

chill out have a big thank you for

watching

those were highs and lows of both life

if you have any questions or comments

please write it in the comment section

or send us a message directly yeah that

was it we also have a Facebook page

which I don't think people can actually

add themselves on if you comment to us

on there then we can add you we'll fix

it soon but we don't actually know what

the problem is at the moment

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