Cruising gadgets, knowledge, and ideas for the cruising sailor
Mosquito Net at Companionway and Hatches – OK guys, it’s time to learn a new word. “Tulle”, it pronounced like tool. This is a light weight mesh material that women use in sewing things like veils. Have you ever looked at a wedding bride and though, “gee, that would make a great mosquito netting.” Well it does. There are a
» Read moreSoda Stream – We make our own diet coke and tonic water with our Soda Stream. The cost of buying coke in some places will certainly make you hesitate, and to bring enough sodas for a cruise to the islands is a real burden. However, we find the biggest benefit is that we don’t generate trash from cans and cartons.
» Read moreLooky Bucket – This is near the top of my list ! < This is sometimes also called a viewing bucket. It’s essentially a glass bottom bucket that allows you to see the bottom from sitting in your dinghy. What cruisers use this for is to take a look at their anchor set. If you want to check your set,
» Read moreSecurity Alarm for $10 This is a “pull pin” personal alarm. When the pin is pulled, a 90 dB alarm sounds. It’s loud. I have found these at Lowe’s and Home Depot for about $6. As you can see, there is a key ring attached to the main part, and a small ring with a cord on it attached to
» Read moreWi-Fi Booster- We use a small, inexpensive 1 watt booster to better our wi-fi reception in anchorages. The one we use is made by Alfa, and cost less than $30. It works well, and frees us of trips to shore to the local “hot spot” to do email. Often we can tune into a free hot spot at a nearby
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Making ice is easy- We’ve tried ice cube trays, both the one’s with the lids by Tupperware, and the vertical ones that come with some freezers. But these take up a lot of space, and you then have to have a place for the extra cubes that you store. Try this. Fill a quart size Ziploc bag about 1/2 full
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Oven Stove– This is another heat diffuser. We find that when baking in the oven, some things get scorched or burned on the bottom. Biscuits and pizza are good examples. The stone protects your food from getting too much heat on the bottom. And spreads the heat out more evenly of better baking. My daughter was about to toss out
» Read moreDinghy Lock-up Cable – I find that most lock up cables and chains are too short. On a Caribbean island, you may pull your dinghy up on a beach and the nearest tree or objects to lock it to are 15 feet away or more. I have also been annoyed by the dinghy banging the stern of the boat at
» Read moreLuggage Scale – Ok, this is not for weighing that huge fish you caught. It’s for weighing your propane tank. We weigh our propane tanks to see how empty they are. This really helps us as the tanks get below half. We “know” instead of “guessing” how much propane is left. Our luggage scale is a handheld digital one, with
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Jiggler Siphon Hose – This ranks near the top of my list of boat gadgets. It is truly a must have. I keep one for fuels, and one for water. I use one to transfer gas or diesel and the other to transfer water. Because there is no balancing act involved, I can even transfer fuel while underway. The
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