In a marvel of modern motivational merchandising a doctor and some chimerical cronies publish a book called Younger Next Year: Live long, Fit, Sexy and Smart that advocates changing behavior and lifestyle to “turn back your biological clock.”
One of Jupiter’s crew reads the script, the other does not, but both agree that taking some advice might help their boat age gracefully. This quickly proves impossible, and thus starts a two-year refit of machinery and materiele.
Now, in early May of 2025, many new and replacement things work and make Jupiter feel younger, and the crew feel poorer this year.
Having abandoned the quest for younger, the crew opts for smarter and installs a labyrinthine remote monitoring system aboard Jupiter. Still nettled from a frozen pipe flooding the engine room three years ago this seems indicated.
Like the current push for bio-observability, the process of monitoring and understanding the internal processes in our own bodies through collection and analysis of data, knowing the secret workings of Jupiter might be favorable for future healthspan and lifespan. But, you need to know how to read the tea leaves.
Our new system promises “Always in Perfect Control: Monitor complete energy systems, tanks and temperatures remotely. Control systems with ease, deep dive into the data to maximise performance, catch issues early with push notifications and change any setting remotely.” It does not promise a simpler existence.
We are buoyed and drowning in data. Overhead displays report the state of the batteries and whether we’re inverting or flirting with shore power or generator. We know all about amps and alternators and the solar array feeding the batteries, and what the AC and DC loads are eating. We know what Jupiter has for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and how she spends the energy derived from the feeds, and when to up the supplements.
When she wants fuel, water, a good purge, or to have her diapers changed alarms sound. Its alimentary dear watt-sun. We check her temperature in too many places – engines, engine spaces, compartments and cabins, in the fridge and on the flybridge.
Concerned, as always at the start of a long voyage, with sustenance for the rumbustious crew, we spend days hauling loads of well-found food aboard, eager to fuel bodies and brains in the delusive hope of becoming smarter… maybe next year.
Lest we become overly obsessed with the boat’s minutiae our friend Chic takes us aloft in his cleverly modified Cessna 172 for a glocal perspective of Jupiter docked at Roche Harbor.
