Dockage in the Keys

[Angela]

No, every marina I've been at here in Miami is all inclusive. That's why I'm asking - I have no idea what my electric bill would be if I had to pay one. No one around here is metered. I'm not asking about price per kwh, but rather what my boat uses on a month basis.

 

[gbharrington]

Well, let's see. I will lay this out as best as I can and hopefully I won't insult your intelligence (or anyone else's). I believe that all of your units are new and you probably have all the specs. Energy consumption will be rated in amps or better yet, watts. A guess at how many hours per day each unit runs x the consumption (watts) per hour divided by 1,000 (to get kilowatts) x cost per kwh will give you a ball park number per day. I would also calculate in a fudge factor of 10-20% just to be on the safe side.

To convert amps to watts: Amps x Volts=Watts
1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (KW)

 

[Angela]

Well, let's see. I will lay this out as best as I can and hopefully I won't insult your intelligence (or anyone else's). I believe that all of your units are new and you probably have all the specs. Energy consumption will be rated in amps or better yet, watts. A guess at how many hours per day each unit runs x the consumption (watts) per hour divided by 1,000 (to get kilowatts) x cost per kwh will give you a ball park number per day. I would also calculate in a fudge factor of 10-20% just to be on the safe side.

To convert amps to watts: Amps x Volts=Watts
1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (KW)

You’re kidding, right? I don’t need to know bad enough to spend a day or two or three crawling all over the boat identifying every electric-drawing item (it’s a big boat with lots and lots of electric-consuming items), scouring through oodles of manuals to find specs, and determine what each draws in order to calculate what the total draw would be at any given point in time. I’m not about to start pulling out galley appliances and the like just to read the label on the back.

Rather, I am hoping that someone with a 58-footer would just say something like, “My 58' averages $xxxx per month in the summer in Florida.” It’s a curiosity thing for me; I have no idea whether it’s $150/month or $550/month. I’ve never had to pay for electric or water separate from my dockage. If I ever do, it would be nice to have a clue going into that arrangement.

 

[Boatsb]

OK here is a basis for a swag

4 x 3 day weekends in 1 month
Hot summer weather
Cooling round the clock for all 12 days
cooking and hot water for showers for approx 4 people each weekend
41 convertable with one 16 K and one 8K unit in hot florida heat

My electric was over $250 for that month.

My neighbor with a 58 YF did not use their AC often but fans all the time.
Cooked often on the grill on the aft deck
Only had AC on in the 2 staterooms being used at night.
3 people living aboard


Their electric was slightly lower than mine.


In the Miami heat your looking at $3-500 easy.

Also just to make it easier on your brainpan for the calculations

Ac systems should run 75% of the time during the day. 85% on real hot days if sized right.
Hot water heaters run on demand so they can be calculated to run during use periods only.
Stoves ovens and the like are pretty much the same,

figure your AC systems draw and that is probably 70% of the electrical use.

YMMV but remember cooking and showers will be your next big use items.

 

[rsmith]

It sucks it big time, My bill at the house goes up about $350/ mo if someone's living on the boat. And that's with being very conservative. Think about this, you probably have a 15kw genny that is nearly fully loaded with everything on. Lets be generous and say at the dock you are only using 8KW that's 8x24 hrs/day= 192 kw/day x7 days x 4.3 weeks/ mo = 5780. Kw/ mo. At .13c / kw hour = $750 roughly /mo.

Flat rate is good!

 

[LUV'N LIFE]

Yesterday, 08:22 PMGJH
Re: Dockage in the Keys

"Fanfare, Lovinlife, care to tell us which municipal treatment plants in the Keys are pumping treated sewage right into the surrounding waters?"

George, my reference was directed at the multiple "inspections I have endured in recent years, three in one day from different agency's.
In reference to treated municipal waste, it is pumped underground by both deep and shallow well injection. Deep is now mandated due to waste in shallow wells finding its way to sea water.

 

[Fanfare]

Much of my information comes from reading the local newspapers when I am in the Florida Keys. There is always a lot of discussion found therein about how to handle the wastewater problem because there is no easy place to put it. Since I am currently in Nova Scotia I had to Google the subject for your answer. It appears that most of the advanced treatment plants are still in the discussion stages, largely due to the high costs of building and retrofitting. An excellent discussion is found at www.apwa.net, Protecting the Florida Keys with Advanced Wastewater Treatment. This gives a good overview of the difficulty.

As to dumping in the water, they all do. Even the current approved sewage injection wells are only 90 ft. deep and result in ocean contamination due to the unsatisfactory underground limestone structure. One of the worst examples I found: "The City of Key West collects and treats wastewater at a central treatment plant [my note: this is secondary sewage treatment only]...Discharge is through a submerged ocean outfall located about 1000 m (328 ft. [sic]) from the southern tip of Key West." This article was dated June 20, 2009.

Since it has been several years since my last Keys visit I was also particularly struck by the fact that the great majority of sewage pump out stations were either broken or locked and unattended.

 

[thoward]

A little South Florida outflow....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNNmXw8wVo

 

[pizzazsdaddy]

On my 58, The average electric bill was running $250-$350 in Summer. Running 3 of 5 AC units around the clock, plus daily laundry, and I enjoy cooking too. Winter Electric is about half that amount. All inclusive for under $1000 a month is still a pretty fair value for South Florida.

 

[Angela]

On my 58, The average electric bill was running $250-$350 in Summer. Running 3 of 5 AC units around the clock, plus daily laundry, and I enjoy cooking too. Winter Electric is about half that amount. All inclusive for under $1000 a month is still a pretty fair value for South Florida.

All inclusive for under $1,000/month would be an awesome (and unheard of!) deal in South Florida. I'm at a place that is about as cheap as it gets around here, without being up the river by the noisy airport in a dangerous part of town, and I pay $1,428/month. I have 6 AC units, so Scott's estimate of about $500/month is probably about right for me, I think. I cook a lot, shower a lot, and do laundry on board. All inclusive is the way to go!

I've poked around at looking for dockage in the keys and can't find much that I can get into with a draft of about 5', and what I did find was a lot more than I pay in Miami. So, I just get to go visit Key Largo from time to time until I run out of water.

 

[Pascal]

Angela, i may be confusing marinas or but dont we have meters on each pedestal at DKM? If so, take a reading over a few days