Practical Things on Board: BOAT & SAILING.

A list of practical things onboard for the boat & sailing 

Flashlight – our favorite, waterproof, rechargeable 12 volt flashlight.  link here

Floating Handheld VHF with internal GPS – we take it everywhere… Must Have! link here

Deck Brush – very fine and good for boat washing, holds up longer than expected (2 years and counting), handle can also hold a fishing net… link here

Deck Wood Oil – we sanded the varnish off the bright work and use Semco Sealer Oil instead. Comes in different color stains, needs cleaning/oiling every 6 months rather than re-varnishing. link here . Because we left the boat in the boatyard longer than 6 months and didn’t re-apply the oil often enough the bright work dried out too much and had gotten brittle. We needed another solution to protect the wood. We found a new varnish from AwlGrip called AwlWood, which goes on like varnish but supposed to last way longer and we only have to sand and apply another layer of gloss once a year. We even heard that people working on boats don’t like the product because it last too well… We’ll see! The first layer is a primer and the following 6 layers of gloss need to applied on a sticky previous layer or sanded. We noticed that there were less bubbles when it was not applied in direkt sun or heat. We also used their reducer and their brush cleaner. All not cheap but very pretty!  link

Butyl Tape – patches leaks, seals portholes to deck plates. Must have!  link here

Prop – clean with very small grit sand paper and apply Lanocote (an animal fat) for corrosion protection either out of the water or in the water, will protect the prop for several months link here

Plugs for emergencies – to plug holes in the hull out of wood link here and out of foam link here

Stainless Steel Leatherman Multitool – the name says it all. Only thing it can’t do is swim! Must have! link here

Handheld Depth Meter – sometimes our depth sounder doesn’t work because of growth on the hull or it’s handy if we want to check out the depth of a bay in a dinghy. link here

Handheld Wind Meter – a seasoned sailor advised us to measure the wind near the boom, where the sails are the widest not on top of the mast. link here

Folding Seat – works well if you don’t have backrests in the cockpit, mechanism rusts easily monthly oiling necessary. link here

Canvas Bucket – heavy duty, folds small. link here

Siphon – for easy transfer of liquids, we have one for diesel, one for gas, one for water. Must have! link here

DISCLAIMER

This list of practical things onboard is of things we found that work for us. We researched, listened to hot tips from other cruisers and tried them out the last two years while cruising in Southern California and Pacific Mexico.

We have not received sponsoring by these companies, nor do we suggest these particular items. We don’t suggest buying them from the links, they are meant solely as a reference.

We will be updating this list as we go along.

Written May 2017/ Latest update November 2017