Dan
Stewart asks:
Are you using the downriggers on a daily basis? If so how
much of a fuel/speed penalty are they? (I have used them on
a troller in SE Alaska and they were in the water as soon
as we cleared the anchorage.) At higher speeds in rough conditions
they tended to come out of the water every now and then so
they were pulled in those conditions.
We did use the paravanes for little bit on the Dana Point, CA to Hawaii leg when it really got rough. We also have the active stabilizers which are on most all the time. We do lose a small amount of performance.
In the event of a problem w/H2O maker, is there a chance
it could contaminate your entire water supply?
I
have never heard of a water maker at a moment's notice start
producing bad water. This usually happens over a long period
of time with the water getting salty. There is a simple little
hand held instrument that is battery powered which you put
into a sample of the watermaker water and it will show the
salt content. If this reading is high, it's time to back
wash the system or do a chemical cleaning. Some of the newer
systems like the
Spectra unit we have do manual back flushing on a set schedule.