Winter ops

 With January here, the weather has been seasonably cold. Whether it's age, the mild fall, my living in Florida now, or the ridiculous amount of daily wind we've gotten, the cold bothers me a lot more than I remember it doing in the past.

       It's seasonably cold too. Not unreasonably so.  

          Like you might expect, winter ops require us to account for the cold.  We have electrical heating elements in our hydraulic tank, in the oil sumps of the engine blocks on our cargo pumps, even in our drinking water tank, which is slung under the house on the HQ. There is heat trace tape on the water drains from the house thst run to the gray and black water tanks underdeck, which also have heater elements in them to prevent freezing.

       They mostly work. Mostly. 

      Our potable water tank and the piping is insulated with a layer of rockwool with a waterproof cover... but the HQ is now 20 years old, and just 2 months away from an extensive shipyard period. We will soon take her out of service for about 10 weeks to see her into her 3rd and final decade of service. 

 But I digress... the 20-year old waterproofing of the water tank insulation has been phoning it in for the past 3 years. The insulation is very absorbant and VERY saturated, so our clean water is pretty much surrounded by ice, and there's a section on either side of the bulkhead connection for the water intake going to the house that can't be accessed and isn't insulated. Long story short, our water freezes up on really cold days.  A week and a half ago we went 2 1/2 days without running water. No washing dishes, no showering...   the inside of the house smelled like old hot dog water on the last day. It was unpleasant.  

      Now, the heating element in the water tank works well. Really, reallly well. Too well. It takes about 48 hours but once it's at temp, there is no cold water. Only scalding hot water that would cook a lobster. In fact, the water is warmer than the water in our water heater, which has an anti-scald thing. 

 Feast or famine.  The hot 'cold' water has allowed us to keep the taps on until it gets under 24 degrees or so for 12+ hours. In addition to this we point an electric heater at the bulkhead fitting where the water pipe enters the house, and let the taps drip to keep water moving, which is why we've only lost water twice this winter so far.

      On the upside, as we're not fans of poor hygeine, we live each day as though we won't have water the next, so it's always tidy inside and there's no temptation to go to bed without showering.  

       Using baby wipes for the morning ablutions isn't awesome, but neither is crapping in a 5-gallon bucket in the generator room. Peeing over the side is what it is, a pleasant experience except for the cold and the risk of a blowback or updraft from the wind. 

    Yesterday was halfway day. I go home in 2 weeks for 2 weeks.  By the time I come back it will be mid-February and the last tour of the true deep winter.