In this episode of Sailing A B Sea there's no sailing and no maintenance but we do get into our Q & A 2019. You asked the questions and we provide the answer...

Closed Captions (CC):
It's Q&A time for 2019 and before we get

started I just want to say a big thank

you to everyone who's been watching us

from the very beginning. It's quite

amazing to think that some of you have

been viewers, subscribers and even

patrons from almost two years ago when

we first started our journey. We love

reading your comments and we reply to

every single one of them but before we

get into the Q&A if you're a longtime

follower but you're not yet subscribed

you can really help us out more than you

know

by clicking the subscribe button and

hitting the bell icon next to it, also

leave a thumbs up and a comment, that

helps us out more than you can imagine

with promoting A B Sea and also promoting

our inspiring story to other people. So

together let's see how far we can take

Sailing A B Sea in the coming year.

Normally when we're doing talky bits to camera

we like to have sunnies off but we're

sitting at the edge of the little

harbour here at Limni and the sun is

quite low in the sky and the glare is

absolutely amazing so I'm gonna to have

to wear sunnies for this one I'm sorry.

What's our first question? Our first

question is from Frank Schwarz and he asks

"My question is related to your energy

management i.e. how to charge the house

batteries and other batteries on board

A B Sea. I saw that you had to replace the

lead-acid batteries just after a short

period. Are you intending to upgrade to

lithium at one point? Well Frank this is"

something that we've been considering

quite a lot since the incident you

mentioned where we had to buy three new

house batteries because the three that

were only 18 months old were completely

dead. I'll link to that in the

description down below and also on

screen over there.

We haven't gotten around to that part of

the maintenance for winter time yet but

we will be having a really in-depth look

at our batteries. Right now the situation

is we've got three 100 amp hour lead acid

batteries for our domestic use and one

separated 95 amp hour lead acid battery

for our starter motor for our engine. The

charging currently is done by our 600

watt solar array and

that seems to provide plenty of power to

get the batteries back up to 100% as

long as it's nice and sunny even in the

winter. Of course when the engine's

running then the alternator charges the

batteries too. As regards to lithium

batteries they are looking like a good

contender but the only thing that's

holding us back is quite literally the

price, it's not just a question of buying

lithium batteries and sticking them in

place of the lead acid batteries, there's

a lot of other changes that have got to

be made to the alternator, the charging

system, the MPPT controller - that's just a

little tweak that needs to be done to

change its configuration to charge

lithium batteries as opposed to lead

acid batteries. So here's a question Baz

from Denise and Bryan Keith and they

ask "What has been the most unexpected

negative you've experienced so far. Before

you undertook this journey you would

have had some concerns. Have any of those

concerns actually been relevant?"

Obviously the biggest thing that

happened that was very negative was

when we came loose from the mooring in

Javea in Spain, but that was last year

and we've talked about that quite a lot. That was in last year's Q&A as well. This

year? I don't know, you got anything? Well I was thinking when the outside sheath broke away from the inhaul

Yeah yeah yep the furling line

from the headsail yeah we couldn't get

it back through the jammer and we had 30

knots of wind coming at us so... but we

figured that one out. Yeah we did. I think I think

that make the main concern before we

began this journey for me was really the

wind. Yeah. And you know we'd heard a lot

of stories about the wind in the Aegean,

the Meltemi

and I think it was hyped up a lot more

or maybe we just got lucky because it

wasn't that bad this year. No or we just

chose anchorages that

made sure that we were out of the worst

of it ahead of time. Henrik Thystrup asks "What you do

to pass time on a daily basis? On land

people spend weekends and evenings with

family and friends at the theatre or

restaurants. All that's not so possible

living on a boat so how do you cope withfilling your spare time?" Spare time? What's that? That's a good

question but surprisingly we don't have

that much spare time because we do spend

quite a lot of time on the computer

obviously editing videos, we reply to

people's comments on social media and

also write our blogs, which does take

quite a long time in itself. By then

after our meal in the evening

well we usually just either read a book

or watch a movie, something like that.

Yeah. Henrik has another question and

this one I think it's more of for you

Baz. "How much time do you spend on

maintenance on the boat? It seems that

you guys often need to repair as things

are broken. Is that due to the age usage

of the boat? It seems to me that my

friends who have boats don't spend so

much time on the repairs." Maybe they've got newer boats! A B Sea was born in 1995

so she's nearly a quarter of a

century old but she is in good nick for her

age and it may look like we do a lot of

maintenance but really it's preventative

maintenance, lots of small jobs that

you've just got to keep on top of before

they become big jobs

So boat maintenance, it's one of those

questions that starts with, well it all

depends. Murray Westenskow asks

Have we ever been to the US and if so where?

The answer is yes, I was there in ... but not in a boat!

I was there in 1990 to

1991. I was attempting to get work as a

radio DJ over there but that didn't pan

out so I went back to Spain, yeah, and you?

Yeah I was there around about the same

time - separately -

and I stayed in Carmel mainly in

California and where else? Oh yes I did

go to Las Vegas for a two-day seminar

with a guy called Stuart Wilde so

I was actually in the air longer flying

to and from Australia than I was actually in Las

Vegas but I had a great time! 2Moza asks

"Have you fitted any lightning protection

to the mast of your boat or instruments

on board so as if you were hit it's not

a total loss of said equipment? The"

answer to that is, I'm not sure. I would

imagine Jeanneau when they built the

boat put in some sort of lightning

grounding system. I haven't seen it yet, I

haven't come across it as we've been

doing maintenance and fortunately we

haven't really been in any electrical

storms so it's so far not an issue. But

it is one of the jobs on the list to

find out this winter if we do have

lightning protection. Yeah and the way

you're gonna go in and out of the boat

we'll find it. Boston and Piper Elmore

ask, "How do you protect your computers

from the salt air or the moisture that's

on board the boat?" There isn't really

surprisingly there isn't really a lot of

moisture on the boat and even when we're

using the computers up in the cockpit

during the warm summer months we're just

at anchor and there's not a lot of

moisture so there's not really any

protection needed. Mmm I mean the boat's

been closed up for a while, it's rained a

lot while we've been here and it's as

dry as a bone inside so we're very

fortunate in that regard. Obviously we

don't take them up on deck when we're

sailing because you know you can get

water splashing over but we do sometimes

work with them on deck but again it

doesn't seem to have been an issue so

yeah fingers crossed on that one. Henrik

Thystrup has another question. "How do

you plan which islands to visit and for

how long?

There must be zillions of islands to

visit and explore but finding the right

ones must be difficult. Secondly on what

do you base your decision on when to

start your winter stay over

and when to continue the journey? Is it

the weather?" I think the weather answers

all of those questions. Yeah. When we

began the journey from Turkey earlier

this year and we crossed ... we went as far

up the north of the Turkish coast as we

could and then crossed over to Samos

to enter Greece, our plan was to go as far

west and north as we could before the

Meltemi wind really kicked in which

blows from north and then zigzag down

through the islands using the Meltemi

wind as power. However our plan fell

apart when we had 30 knots of wind and

we were going from Samos to ... I'll put the

name of the island on the screen at the

bottom. We were going to this island, we had

a plan of four different anchorages

that we thought we could stop in. When we

got there they were all busy or

impossible to anchor in because of the

wind situation, so we had to ditch that

island and as the day was getting late

and the wind was blowing 30 knots from

the north the only option we had was to

go south. So that first decision to go

south at that point really laid out the

plans for the rest of the summer sailing season. Yeah it did. Other decisions about choosing

an island, obviously we look at anchorage

and you know which way the wind is

going to be blowing while we're there so

is there a safe protected anchorage that we can

stay at? Does it have provisions? Because

obviously you know it might be a

beautiful island but we can't spend too

much time

where there isn't a place to shop.

Internet connection is important.

Yeah internet connection is important.

Very important to us yeah, so yes. Now as

regards to what made us decide to haul

out. We actually planned to haul out at the

end of November because there was a few

little places we wanted to see up here

in the Evia - north Evia area, but the

exhaust elbow engine situation forced

our hand a month earlier and we really

just wanted to get her out as soon as

possible because the exhaust elbow was

not only blowing soot into the engine

compartment, it was also blowing in the

exhaust fumes

so technically A B Sea's engine was choking

on her own exhaust emissions so that

wasn't good and we didn't want to push

it too far

2Moza also asks "Will you be doing the

work on the boat or farm it out to the

shipyard where you are on the hard?" We expect

to be doing 95% of the work ourselves

simply because it's saving - cost savings

but I'm leaning towards getting the guy

at the boatyard who just sands hulls. I'm

thinking about getting him to do the

hull sanding because it is dirty work,

it is toxic work and you need the proper

equipment to be able to do that and he

has that because I've seen him do it on

the other hulls. Yep, and he'll do it probably

far better and far quicker than we could

do, so yeah. Yeah we could ...

I mean we could use our time better

doing something else probably. Yeah. And

he's the expert at that, Low Light Guy

asks "I'm curious if you guys are

planning to do an Atlantic crossing to

the Caribbean for 2020? For 2019 what has

been your best sail yet, to which city or

country?" Yes we do plant across the

Atlantic. When that happens is still an

undecided, simply because to exit

Gibraltar and get

the Canary Islands at the right time of

year has to be done I think in the autumn

Now whether we can make it there for the

autumn of 2020 is unknown because we're

still in Greece, or whether we have to

wait another year and get down there in

the autumn of 2021, not sure yet. Yeah you

know cuz you have to take into

consideration we might want to get some

extra equipment before we leave the

Mediterranean and things like that

as well so yeah it's big undecided right

now. So best sails this year... Sailing to

Levitha, that was a great one wasn't

it? Yeah that was quite a quite a good

one until at the end it got a bit, bit

too bumpy and yeah confused seas at the

end but yeah the majority of that sail was

very good. Yeah we had about 25 sometimes

30 knots and we flew along yeah actually

yeah it was great. Ooh, do you know what, I'd have to look at the ship's log to recall!

We have had some - we have had

some great sails yeah but I think for us you

know, the sail is a learning curve

every time we sail because the wind's always

different, the sail set is always

different, yeah we're still learning to

trim the sails, yeah, so yeah each time

it's a learning curve. It is yeah, so we

should get better with it in 2020

because we're gonna have some longer

passages as well probably. Sailing Etanche - very nice French pronunciation there

hopefully, asks "How is it living on the

hard until Christmas?" Well I think you're

probably best answering that one. It's

great! I'm not I, look like, yes I'm a

landlubber, but yes I love being on sea

when I'm on the sea. For me though just

actually being surrounded by trees and

being able to walk on land especially

now that I can now I've got

both feet working - and having a view of

the sea lapping against the shore as

opposed to being in the middle of it, I

love all of those things and the people

here at the boatyard are very very

helpful and very nice. I'm enjoying the

availability of as much water as we want

to use and nice hot showers but every

time I look out the balcony at the sea I

think I just so want to be out there.

It's funny isn't it how we're slightly

different in that regard. Yeah yeah

Noone Anybody Knows has asked "Are you

approached by strangers selling illegal

substances? Is the use of these

substances open and obvious or are they

somewhat hidden from the authorities? Do

you encounter openly aggressive

individuals that make you feel

uncomfortable or threatened i.e. verbally

abusive, unsolicited sexual offers male

and female? I haven't had any of those!

I'd say no to all of those!

No there isn't any open and obvious

use of drugs, we've certainly

never been approached by anyone offering

those drugs. They have very strict

penalties in Greece, oh especially yes in

Greece and of course Turkey you know I should

imagine it would be the same. Yeah. So it's

just not not worth messing around with

that sort of stuff. Even if you wanted to.

But I think the only time I ever felt

slightly guarded was when we were in

Istanbul. Mainly - not just because it's

Istanbul - it's just because it's such a

big city and there's a lot of people you

know. Well that's where predators live! In

big cities yeah. The rest the time

everyone we've met has been absolutely fantastic. Having said that even Istanbul really the worst

that we had apart from being you know

conned by the hotel people, which you

can watch, the worst was really being

bothered by people trying to sell us

carpets and - Touts - Yeah yeah but other than that no, not at all.

Steen Kigerrider, sorry if that's the

wrong pronunciation, can we call you Steen for short? "How long did it take you before in your own minds

feeling more or less confident yacht

skippers after running aground in Spain?"

I think because we had very little true

sailing while we were in the western

part of the Med in the region of

Spain and then when Mike and Elaine were

on board helping us get across to Turkey

we probably motored 80% of the way

because there was no wind and we had a

date deadline, I think we didn't really

become competent and confident until

probably when we finally left Turkey and

entered into the Greek territorial

waters. Yeah I think what we have

certainly learned is to trust our eyes and our ears you know, as well as our

instruments. Yeah I'd say that this

season has been more of a learning curve

Samantha Kerridge asks "What heating have

you got? I'm wondering about economy and

how well it works." We ... the only heating

we've got will only work when were

attached to shore power it's just a

little electric heater blower. Yeah. There

is no other heating on A B Sea. Yeah. We have

no plans to go too far north so

hopefully we won't be needing heating

Yeah. Hot water bottles! Hot water bottles

work and a few extra layers of clothes. Yeah

anders Jakobsen asks "Is there any reason

to haul out rather than for the

maintenance?" Yes here in Greece, yes

Sailing tax. There is a Greek cruising

tax yeah which you have to pay if you're

in the water. When we're out of the water

we don't have to pay that. Now our Greek

cruising tax comes to around about a

hundred and twenty eight euros a month

whereas out on the hard here is only a

hundred euros a month, so it's a win

financially from that aspect but also

we don't want to be at anchor during the

winter months when the Mediterranean

storms can just pop up and they blow

real hard. I was looking at Windy a

couple of days ago and looking at a

storm in the middle of the Mediterranean

Sea in between the Spanish Balearic

islands and Corsica and it had peak

gusts of 60 knots so you can imagine how

much wave action would be built up by

that kind of wind and even yesterday

just looking at out of the balcony we

had 35 knots, yeah maybe 40 knots from the

South and the bay is exposed to

the south so you know so at anchor or on

a mooring with that sort of wave action

it's just not going to happen and our

budget doesn't allow us to stay

long-term in marinas because they're

just so expensive

Sail Ho asks do you need any extra

insurance to stay in Greece for the

winter?" No our boat insurance which we

pay annually that covers us whether

we're in Greece or pretty much anywhere

within the given

latitude/longitude zones of the

insurance clauses so no extra insurance

to stay in Greece for the winter. Henrik

S Pedersen asks "Do you have a bucket

list of dream destinations and will your

son visit you?" Our son visiting us is my

bucket dream ... Luke ...

A bucket list of dream destinations. That's kind of

difficult to put into an easy answer. My

dream destination would be somewhere where I

could scuba-dive every single day. The

Mediterranean you can scuba dive every

single day, the water is beautiful

crystal-clear but there ain't nothing to

see. It's been overfished unfortunately. For a long long time. So dream destinations. Do

you know, what I'm actually looking

forward to getting to the Caribbean and

I know the Caribbeans been overdone by

every YouTube channel out there but I

just like the the look of the place

really, I want to check that place out

Yeah I mean I'm really looking forward

to continuing our sail through the

Mediterranean because we are looking at

seeing more of the Ionian which is on

the other side of Greece, Peloponnese

which you know is not somewhere that's

relatively well visited by sailing

channels I don't think, and yeah Malta

we're going to Malta, I'm looking forward

to that. Scuba diving there. Yeah, more

more parts of the coast of Spain and

some of the Balearic Islands hopefully

maybe France cuz that's where we

originally did our very first journey

when we were young so we were thinking

we'd like to go back there

so yeah I'm actually looking forward to

to seeing more of the Med because there's so

much, the countries are so different as

well, the cultures are different in such

a small area really. As to our son

visiting, we hope he's going to visit

May of next year yeah depending on his

work and savings. I think to us the

biggest thing, yeah yeah yeah can't wait

to see him

Daryl Graimes asks "What size is the

engine and seeing as the boat is nearly

25 years old how many hours are on the

engine?" Okay

hours on the engine is 2 4 7 4, 2474. Now

the engine, I'm gonna read this engine is

a Yanmar 4JH2TE diesel 59

horse power so yeah she is an older boat

the hours are very low and I think the

engine has been overhauled at some time

time in its life I mean properly hauled

out and put back in. We hope you enjoyed

this Q&A for 2019 and we hope it wasn't

too long and boring for you. Yeah it's

been very thought-provoking for us so I

really like to answer these questions

because it gives us a chance to review

the sailing season. Yeah thanks. So thank

you to everyone who popped a question

into the comments section and of course

if you're watching this and you've got

any more questions pop them into the

comment section below and we will do our

best to answer them for you yeah

till then Cheers