Ideas and help for everyone to share!

[CaptainScott]

Sharing ideas:
How about a post loaded with ideas and tips that help you enjoy your boat more! Whether it saves money, saves work, or is simply a cool idea!
We can all get books on HOW to sail, what I'd like to hear is what you've learned on your boat

I'll start with three ideas that come to my mind:

1) Lighting your boat at night. One of the simplest and coolest ideas we have implemented is solar lights on the boat.
You know, the yard lamps that hang on a stick in your front yard? They look extremely yard like for the first few months.
Then, after hanging on the aft of Destiny for a few months they suddenly look very salty! Yep! We have one hanging
off the stern that is not terribly bright but most certainly lights up Destiny's entire stern on a dark night! This does not replace a proper anchor light but definitely gives us better visibility to other boats that the normal simple white light!! People have stopped us and asked where in the world did we get such a cool, unique solar lamp for boats!!

Yea right! 20 bucks at Lowes or Home Depot unless you catch a great sale! LOL!



2) Spending weeks at a time on our boat comes with an interesting need. FOOD.Who in the world wants to cook while on vacation? Not me!
Eating out every night is not only cost prohibitive but also impossible since there are no stores or restaurants around. So what do we do to feed ourselves while away?
Can you say "Food Saver"? Yup! For the last couple of weeks at home when we make a meal we double our normal needs. We take the extra and vacuum pack and freeze them solid for eating aboard!
Simple things like pre cooking chicken breasts! Once aboard, warm up and dice them for a salad, with Teriyaki sauce, or whatever you like! Lasagna freezes very well as does chili, white (chicken) chili,
home made spaghetti sauce, rice casseroles, uncooked pasta, etc etc etc!! We literally have two weeks of pre cooked and ready to eat meals once they are warmed up! How do you warm them up you might ask?
Simple! Drop the Food Saver vacuum packed meal right into hot water! Near boiling water works best. If it is hard boiling it will melt the seal of the bag causing the dinner to be flooded with water.
I do not work for advertise for, own any stock in, or am affiliated with food saver in any way, however, we LOVE using ours. When we take off for our vacations the food saver and freezer allows us to have great meals
at a minimal cost and even less effort while aboard!!!!!



3) The ice box. How in the world can we keep food VERY cold and not use a freezer? Well a little planning ahead will provide a week of frozen food in an ice box without restocking the ice!
First thing we do is buy several single gallon jugs of water, drain a little off the top and freeze them solid!
Three days before leaving we take as many frozen jugs of water as will fill the ice box and put them there to "pre cool" the ice box!
Now when we go down to load the boat, take out the now water jugs and store aboard for drinking water. Replace them with more frozen jugs and put your food, ice or whatever into the ice box.
If you limit your access to the icebox, preplan and pack the ice box such that when you open it up you close it as quickly as possible, you can go many days without the need for fresh ice!
Works EXCELLENT! You might wonder why this is an issue for us since Destiny has a freezer on board. Well, Same concept! The more efficiently you used the ice box/freezer, the less power is needed to keep it cold! Thus less generator run time and quieter evenings on the hook!



OK, Spill your ideas here for all to share! Remember, what came to you as a simple solution to an odd situation just might be someone else's nightmarish problem
So PLEASE, post your thoughts on cruising and the easy life no matter how small they may seem!!

Scott

[hp18carr]

Scott

Some nice ted-bits to get the ball rolling, I'm sure more will be coming. Sorry but having such little experience myself... I'll leave the brainstorming up to others on this forum for the time being.

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

[Capt. Bondo]

Scott, I like it!
I'll add a little to yours.

1. I was wondering what I needed to do to modify a solar landscape light to fit into the removable stern light socket on the C22. Thought it would be nice mood lighting in the cockpit while at anchor or in the marina. Project low on the list.

2. Frozen seal a meals also help keep your beverages cooler longer

3. We have been using old milk jugs filled with tap water and then frozen. The more expensive milk brands have better jugs and won't destort so bad when frozen, and will last longer with the ware and tear of refrezing cycles.

[NYCSAILOR]

Lay a silver ( mylar sided) insulated blanket ( cut for a nice snug fit) inside the ice box to lay on top of the food and also to make insulated "sections" in the ice box.... this way you only cool the food , not the dead space above it and also, when you DO open the lid and stare mindlessly down into it... so what... the blanket still keeps the ice box "closed" and the cold in.


also, drain the melted water out of the bottom of the cooler --- YUK! it will just make a mess.

OK, now any HEAD tips to deal with this dreaded nessecity

[CaptainScott]

[mga1951]

Good post Scott
Heres a few. That I have learned.
1. Loop a rope/cable through your outboard and attach to the transom eyes or stern cleats. Keeps your outboard from going to the bottom.

2. Attach your fenders with eye-bolts to the dock. I attach mine
horizontally. Saves time, you dont have to mess w/ them

3. Hook the looped end of your dock lines to the cleats on your boat. Leave the line tied to the dock cleats when you leave. Line will always be in the right position when you dock. Caveat. Always check your clearance before you head home, The lines do stretch.

4. Doubly Secure the rudder when traveling on the trailer. It will work loose and end up scraping the pavement.

[LeatherneckPA]

1. Loop a rope/cable through your outboard and attach to the transom eyes or stern cleats. Keeps your outboard from going to the bottom.

Probably showing my new here, but I LIKE THIS ONE!!

[EmergencyExit]

1. Loop a rope/cable through your outboard and attach to the transom eyes or stern cleats. Keeps your outboard from going to the bottom.

Probably showing my new here, but I LIKE THIS ONE!!

Considering that I have a hardly used 55# thrust trolling motor siting at the bottom of our lake, I concur.

[skyking]

I second the tag line on the outboard, In the Navy we were never permitted to leave the dock without it.

We also like the solar lights that Capt Scott has mentioned..I use plastic zip ties to secure them to the uprights on my stern rail.

And I took the solar lights one step further...Our marina isnt lighted to well at night, so I placed a solar light at the end of my dock to assist me in finding my dock in the dark...

It seems to be catching on...I may have to find a colored one real soon.....

[NYCSAILOR]

This is a good thread...

Not to go off topic, but ....

curious, how about a contest for the best use of the "coffin" rear qutr berth's on the C-26.

[Alanhod]

[EmergencyExit]

curious, how about a contest for the best use of the "coffin" rear qutr berth's on the C-26.

I use it for my feet, since I sleep crosswise back there !

[sauerleigh]

Hope no one ever needs to use one, but they don't flow as long as you might think. I had an outboard fire once on my last boat. The extinguisher was just inside the companionway. I emptied the thing, one of those small 3lb types, fire was still going. Luckily we were still at the boat ramp, tied to the dock and power boater in the next slip through me his, I put the fire out. They only last about 10 seconds, even the next larger size up only lasts about the same amount of time, but it has a greater volume of output.
I plan to carry three on my boat, one inside each lazerette and a larger one in the cabin. I plan to do some fire training in the backyard for the first mate and myself. The $50 or so that this might cost will be well worth the experience.

[Alanhod]

[Jmckamey]

(1. Loop a rope/cable through your outboard and attach to the transom eyes or stern cleats. Keeps your outboard from going to the bottom)

I use a cable and a lock. Keeps the outboard from walking at the gas station or rest stop for us trailer types.

[Dave]

On the topic of electrical connections,

I work with low voltage wiring in south Florida, when wiring electronic gates or card readers "usually close to salt water" I like to solder then coat with liquid electrical tape. Two or three coats will seal it water tight and one quick wrap with black tape for protection and done. I do like shrink tubing and at time have used both liquid tape and shrink tubing just to make sure its water tight. I use this on all my boat 12 vdc connections. you can get it anywhere lowes or Hd even wally-world.

Dave