Cruising gadgets, knowledge, and ideas for the cruising sailor
Essential boat items like a siphon hose, a bucket, screen material, and so forth.
About half the outboard motors you see in the Bahamas or Caribbean are 15 HP two stroke Yamahas. This is a popular choice because it weighs less than a 4 stroke 9.9 HP, and you have the horsepower to plane a RIB with 4 adults. This tip won’t help you if you have a 4 stroke engine, but if you
» Read moreThis is the shower head we use on our boat. Yes, that’s right; it’s a kitchen sink dish sprayer! We’ve been using it for years now without a problem. What I like about it is that it forces the shower taker to take a “Navy” shower. You cannot leave the water running without depressing the handle. It is also an
» Read moreAfter several years your canvas may lose some or all of its ability to repel water. There are several good products out there to refurbish the water repellency. Starbrite makes a good one, and the makers of Sunbrella lend their name to one called “303 Fabric Guard”. You can find these at your favorite marine supply store. They work. What
» Read moreI want my wife come back and sail with me time after time. Therefore I do things to make it nice for her. A nice head, a nice shower, shade for her Irish skin. As the saying goes, when she is happy, the skipper is happy. One of the things she has trouble with is getting back out of the
» Read moreI’m just back from sailing adventure for a few months in the eastern Caribbean and it was suggested that I post something about a “Fishing Gadget” of sorts. My inspiration for this is a young man named Cayden Wittrock. He is a very good fisherman and I learned things from this 13 year old. He is sailing with his parents,
» Read moreIf you plan to sail offshore please consider doing this one. I’ve been on several trips on my boat and others where the toilet seat hinges either break or the hinge screws pull out of the seat. The seat becomes unusable. If it’s a long trip, this will be a real pain in the ass, literally. The way that this
» Read moreThe correct name for this is “The Breathing Mobile Washer”. You may have seen one of these around the docks. My friend Becky De told me about this. It is an improvement over the plumbers toilet plunger. It is designed to really move the water around and agitate as well as a real washing machine. It really works well, for
» Read moreSpray bottle – Want to save water when rinsing the dishes? We go this tip from another cruiser. We use a spray bottle to spray off our clean dishes instead of running them under the tap. It really works well and uses just a fraction of the water to rinse the dishes.
» Read moreIf you are cruising long term, you know that finding paper towels can be difficult in the smaller villages. When you do find them, they are usually very expensive compared to back home. Plus, paper towel rolls take up a lot of storage space, and create a lot of trash. The alternative is a good chamois. There are many options
» Read moreWhen we are at a floating dock, our deck is sometimes four feet higher than the dock. I can climb up, but my wife needs a step up. I made this little single step to hang off the shrouds where she can also get a good hand hold. It’s all we need to climb aboard when the deck is way
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