Some small-boat cruising commandments

[Jackdaw]

While a perfectly decent (hell maybe ideal) small cruiser, we mostly race, daysail, and overnight on BlueJ, a trailerable 24.5 foot, lifting keel Beneteau First 260. Most of our cruising now takes place on 30 and 40 footers. But over the last 3 days, Jodi has been away at her sisters. So with the weather looking perfect, I moved to the boat, and spent 3 days and 2 night in pure cruise mode, spending the entire time on the boat unless to dock to buy more food or booze. The only exception was working in the morning from 5:30 to 11:30, which only requires my cell phone, personal hotspot, and laptop. Beyond reminding me how fun small boat cruising can be, it reinforces some commandments that I noted as to not ever forget. Have a look, comment, add your own!

- While a grill is nice for grilling, you need a way to cook and make hot water in the galley.
- Have a separate cooler for drink ice, away from the icebox or fridge
- Have a coffee solution. Think what you want, Medaglia d’Oro instant coffee is pretty damn good in the morning on the boat. Really.
-If you like ‘stuff’ in your coffee, that ‘stuff’ must make it to the boat.
- Unpack and/or repack foods to save extra packaging that you have to store until land.
- EVERYONE will eat Ramen if hungry enough. Squirrel some away. Thank me later.
- IDIOTS run wild just after sunset. You have been warned.
- Even for smallish boats, Lazy Jacks are the best investment for the boat I’ve made in years.
- There is 100% correlation between the comfort of all-day sailing and the quality of your head situation
- If your boat has a freshwater tank and at least one sink, for gods sake use it. There’s nothing more civilized than being able to wash your hands or brush your teeth with fresh running water over a sink.
- 'Campsoap' is non-foaming, bio-degradable, and can used to wash everything from face&hands to dishes to hair to clothes. OK maybe not ladies hair.
- All lights need to be LED
- The better your anchor, the better you sleep
- Anchor in 25-35 feet of water; unless sandy NEVER less unless you want to pull up 100 lbs of smelly dirty weeds
- The farther you are away from shore, the less bugs there are.
- I have 3 words for you. Memory. Foam. Mattress.
- Even in July, it gets cold at night!
- Big trash bags. Have them, use them.
- You need a great/easy way back on the boat from the water. Always available
- You cannot have too many USB chargers on the boat. But they are useless without cables.
- The more opening hatches you have, the happier you will be. Screens too.
- If you like quality music while sailing, have a quality music solution. While I love BT mini-speakers, that is NOT the solution for a sailboat.
- Fly your US Flag when cruising. Take down your race flag!
- While a GPS/chart will do, nothing can take the place of a true depth sounder.
- Fix anything broken. Something which is a minor thing for you when daysailing with bros can become a much bigger issue for your weekend ‘crew’ if it’s broken.

- Here’s a big one, and I learned this from Jodi. The more the boat is like home, the more your female companion will want to be on it. No matter how much they like to sail, that’s a truth. Have the conveniences. Have it clean. Have it work. Think about it. Ever wonder why we have throw pillows and a blender on BlueJ?

 

[agprice22]

Amen!
Mine for enjoying time aboard with my wife:
Let your partner nest.
Let your partner rest.
Let your partner have input on how long and how far and how fast to sail.
Pack home-made, ready to eat food.
Prepare at least half of the meals to be eaten. Try to do most of the prep and housekeeping.
Be a little indulgent. Surprise your partner with a treat. Sailing is the good life.
Lounge on deck / use all the space.
Let your partner do it her way. She is not wrong, just different.

 

[Michael Davis]

Nice list @Jackdaw . I find that a stiff breeze seems to keep the bugs away as well. We have noticed in the last two years the large percentage of US boats not flying their ensigns up here ( no curtesy flag either ) , something I’ve not seen before in more than 60 years of cruising. We still get Bull Kelp sometimes in more than 60 feet of water ( thank goodness for electric windlasses )

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

pretty good list, except maybe the anchoring in 25 feet VERY hard to find on the Texas coast

And here's my cooker for heating the coffee water for the french press. Runs on Kero

 

[jviss]

- Anchor in 25-35 feet of water; unless sandy NEVER less unless you want to pull up 100 lbs of smelly dirty weeds

Yikes! I never anchor in more than 21', mostly due to scope. 30' of water would require nearly 170' of chain (I carry about 90) or 200+ of rope. We just don't carry that much rode. We try to anchor in 15' or less. Sometimes sand, sometimes eel grass and mud, whatever. Never smelly, often muddy.

 

[Michael Davis]

Yikes! I never anchor in more than 21', mostly due to scope. 30' of water would require nearly 170' of chain (I carry about 90) or 200+ of rope. We just don't carry that much rode. We try to anchor in 15' or less. Sometimes sand, sometimes eel grass and mud, whatever. Never smelly, often muddy.

Lucky you! On this coast 350 feet of rode is considered minimum. We often anchor in 60 to 70 feet. I can only remember once being lucky enough to find anchorage in 20 feet or less.

 

[JRT]

Cool, picking up tons of tips, tell me more about the blender, I know you always have well thought out solutions.

 

[jviss]

Lucky you! On this coast 350 feet of rode is considered minimum. We often anchor in 60 to 70 feet. I can only remember once being lucky enough to find anchorage in 20 feet or less.

A couple of weeks ago I was anchored in the Great Salt Pond, New Harbor, Block Island, in scarcely more than my draft at low tide. I think we even bumped once. Sandy bottom. Deepest I ever go is Newport, RI. Very tight, rocky bottom, 21+ feet in spots available to anchor. Sometimes that deep in Edgartown, but rarely.

 

[Michael Davis]

Anchored here a couple of weeks ago. 75 feet deep and our stern was swinging within a boat length of a drying estuary.

 

[tjar]

@Jackdaw, tt sounds like several of your lessons were learned the hard way. Although my current boat already has many of the items you mentioned, I did learn a few tricks on my last one.
Heating water and cooking - a butane stove can be found for around $30 and is safe for indoor use.
A french press is is very easy to rinse out on the water. A Melita coffee cone also makes an excellent cup of coffee.
Farther away from shore also means fewer idiots.
A sit on kayak makes a dandy dinghy for one.
There's always something that's broken.

 

[agprice22]

My wife found these cool tea pots: https://www.amazon.com/Collapsible-Camping-Kettle-Outdoors-Capacity/dp/B07F4DSGPD

They are very compact and work well. I use a cone filter for coffee, and my wife drinks tea.
And there is very little anchoring around here! The lake drops off too quickly.

 

[Alan Gomes]

My wife found these cool tea pots: https://www.amazon.com/Collapsible-Camping-Kettle-Outdoors-Capacity/dp/B07F4DSGPD

They are very compact and work well. I use a cone filter for coffee, and my wife drinks tea.
And there is very little anchoring around here! The lake drops off too quickly.

Yes, I use one of those collapsible kettles also. They are excellent and take up remarkably little room. But I pair it with a collapsible cone filter holder. Personally, I have found the pour over method to be the best on a boat because there is no cleanup; you just toss the used filter in the trash, give the filter holder a quick rinse, and then you are done.

 

[Alan Gomes]

I do many trips to Catalina Island on my Ericson 26 (similar size to your boat). For showering I use a modified 1 gallon garden sprayer. I lengthened the hose and added a shower type of nozzle on the end. I can easily shower and shampoo with water to spare. I simply fill the sprayer about half full with ambient temperature water and then mix that with a kettle or so of boiling water to get the temperature just nice. I keep a pair of swim trunks on board and shower in the cockpit. Works very well.

 

[Alan Gomes]

@Jackdaw, Heating water and cooking - a butane stove can be found for around $30 and is safe for indoor use.

I currently use a Cookmate (Origo-style) non-pressurized alcohol stove, which I like a great deal. But I've use one of those one burner butane stoves on a previous boat and they perform very well. There is a large Korean grocery store by me that sells the butane canisters quite inexpensively; you might check for such a store in your area. (These stoves are popular in wok cooking.) The one thing to keep in mind is that butane, like propane, is heavier than air and carries the same risks. That said, I found those little hairspray-sized canisters to be very reliable, unlike the small green propane cylinders with the sometimes sticky valves. Still, I stored the butane canisters in a rail-mounted bag in the cockpit rather than down below.

 

[Ward H]

@Jackdaw
What is your music solution? I've been using BT speakers but always open to better music.

 

[jviss]

- Sailor Soap - lathers in salt water. Smells and feels great.

 

[rgranger]

- Have a coffee solution.

- Unpack and/or repack foods to save extra packaging that you have to store until land.

Pre-freeze anything that can be pre-frozen including bottled water.

- EVERYONE will eat Ramen if hungry enough. Squirrel some away. Thank me later.

Also true of Chef boyardee

- IDIOTS run wild just after sunset. You have been warned.

In addition to my mast head anchor light. I hang a lantern from my boom.

- The farther you are away from shore, the less bugs there are.

- Even in July, it gets cold at night!

Not always true in Alabama.

• If you have unlimited data on your phone.... a Netflix movie at anchor in a cove is much more enjoyable than TV on your couch. If you don't have unlimited data, download a movie to your phone before you head out.
• Trailmix!
• Good closed-toe water shoes
• Quick drying clothes
• Baby wipes or other types of cleaning wipes for sticky fingers etc... these are good for you body but also are good for spills etc.
• Quaility first-aid kit that includes sunburn cream, benadryl, neproxin, and sting stix.
• Quality hat
• Spare hat

 

[Ward H]

Spare hat

Ditto Very important to some of us.

 

[Ward H]

In addition to my mast head anchor light. I hang a lantern from my boom.

I've been leaving my deck light on to supplement my anchor light.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

I like my coffee and instant doesn’t do it. I grind before I go, and use a French press. To aid in cleanup I use filters shaped like a horse condom. Much easier cleanup later. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PX6U35I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1