Thursday, December 8, 2011

made it with one tank (and two jerry cans)

Today Twister and I putted over to the fuel dock to fill up in preparation for some cruising around NZ (I've also read that it's a good idea to keep the tank full to minimize condensation). Expecting to fill many gallons I was surprised when it overflowed after only 2.2. Back in the slip I sat down to calculate my fuel consumption for the Pacific crossing (I had topped off the fuel tank in American Samoa). Turns out I used almost exactly 36 gallons from San Diego to Auckland which is the amount of diesel I left San Diego with (25 gallons in the fuel tank and 11 gallons in two jerry cans).

Yesterday I gave the deck and the shrouds (steel wires that support the sides of the mast) a quick scrub with concentrated hydrochloric acid (aka muriatic acid). Sounds like a bad idea, right? Well it's great at removing rust and rust stains. Now Twister has white decks and sparkling shrouds. Anybody have any thoughts on the use of HCl on boats?

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