Power Budget

Guess what? When there's no web access for 2 or 3 days ya start not to miss it, and logging on seems like a chore ... :-)

I anchored Calypso out the other night to try the new inverter [more later]. Watched one DVD that night and another one the next day, before the mighty inverter sucked its 350-pound battery bank dry.

WHAT?! How's that possible ... I got enough battery power to jump-start the starship Enterprise ... and shoulda had at least another 2 days or so of juice still in reserve.

So I sat down with a pencil, a calculator and an Energy Budget worksheet to tally-up my actual energy spending ... rather than trusting my own "good sense." Aha, guess what I found?

I'd been real good about taking it easy with the obvious power-hogs, like the microwave, toaster oven and stereo receiver, but it was the little stuff I'd overlooked: stuff that seemed too insignificant to take into account that drained me dry.

Carelessness like leaving the laptop on overnight, not turning off its external hard drive, and letting a desk fan whir away all night that added up to nickel-and-dime wasting of 2/3 of my battery capacity.

Uh, this closely parallels what happens to folks who try to manage their personal finances without first building a budget. Even spending a buck for a Diet Coke, when there's no allowance for a Diet Coke, puts the budget into deficit even if you make $200,000 a year.

The big difference is that boat batteries get fully recharged and ready to go again in two painless hours.