Two more comments before I crash.
Firstly, I think that working or living on a boat such as this for any length of time will cause permanent hearing loss. There is noise everywhere, from the bass rumble of the engines to the vibration and clatter of equipment and furniture. The horror movies where some creature is lurking on a boat and the hapless victim-to-be is startled by a clinks or clunks around a corner are ridiculous. No boat is ever that quiet. Even if the crew were devoured by a giant man-eating sea turnip and the engines forcibly removed, there would still be constant clanging and rattling from things shifting around and various systems and pumps turning on and off.
Second, it is weird being in a place where energy conservation doesn't matter. The boat is actually electrically powered; the engines being diesel generators which power everything including the electric motors that drive the propellers. This is good because it simplifies things (you don't need a generator engine and a propulsion engine) and for ice breaking you can vary the speed of the propellers widely without having to have gears or worry about straining tons of moving parts. What it means though is that there is just a ton of electricity being generated on the boat and leaving things turned on has a negligible effect on how much fuel is used. It's hard to get used to leaving TVs and lights turned on but it's how things work around here, so time to adjust.
Alright, night again.
-seren
[this is good] Send more pictures and up-dates.
Posted by: Shannon's Mom | 10/23/2007 at 09:48 PM