In 20+ years of sailing I've never anchored in more than 20 feet of water... in fact... I carry 150' nylon rode with 30 feet of chain at the end, so 25' would be my absolute MAX with a 7:1 scope... mostly I anchor in 8-12' of water. Technically, I carry a spare/second rode as well, so I suppose in an emergency I could anchor deeper than 25' by stringing them end-to-end, but have no plans to ever do that. The 100' marker on my rode looks shiny and new and may have never actually gotten wet. I'll be anchoring in around 9 feet of water this weekend (plus 4 feet of freeboard for a total of 13 feet from deck to mud) lets me sleep well at night with 30 feet of chain and around 50-60' of nylon. I can't even fathom (no pun intended) how tricky it must be for boats to leave swing room in 50+ feet of water!
Some small-boat cruising commandments
- Thread starter Jackdaw
- Start date
LOL It’s funny when you’re freeboard actually plays into being a significant part of your scope calculation!
I based my scope requirements based on plan for staying and the bottom. Maybe waiting out the hurricane I would go 7 to 1, but I’m usually much less than that, usually based on stay duration and forecast
Last edited:
How about rechargeable garden lights? I’ve seen several boats with those.[/QUOTE]
LED camping lantern. Cheap. It does double duty in a pinch.
Ken
When you cruise away from your home waters you have to take into consideration tidal range too. On the north coast here we have a 25 foot range. The Bay of Fundy on your coast is over 30 feet. Not something you worry about on lakes or most places you would charter( warm places) but it adds to the amount of rode we carry.
Not at all. When you press the plunger, the coffee grounds are pressed into what looks like a hockey Puck. You then remove the bottom and push the Puck into the trash. No mess.
As to pouring hot water into it, yes, you do need to be careful. But, it's not that hard. And the coffee is so much better than instant or tea bags style that it's well worth it and you don't have the messy grounds like a French press.
I like the little coffee grinder to fit in the top! Need to order that and give it a try.
I had to find it!!! We were in Japan this spring. The first hotel that we stayed at had an in room coffee solution that was basically a mini pour over single serve pouch. It was flat out fabulous! I'd forgotten about it until the posts about coffee on the boat. I've been using Starbuck's Via instant, on the boat, just because everything has to be a balance of effort and reward (and, because I HATE coffee grounds on the floor). These were much better than the Via instant, but I don't think I'd be willing to shell out the $2/cup. https://www.amazon.com/TRIBO-Single...i=B07B8P7247&refRID=BY7NM6QXAD1CKN67N2B6&th=1
Lots of great stuff here. Here are my +1’s on many, and a couple contributions:
-- +1 on frozen water jugs as ice blocks - we use 1/2-gallon apple juice jugs - they’re a little sturdier than milk jugs, and fit nicely in our coolers. Especially nice for our main cooler, as they don’t get everything wet (bagged ice is OK in the drink cooler, since we don’t care about getting cans and bottles wet).
-- Speaking of coolers, buy high-quality ones - We have a couple Coleman Xtreme coolers, and the extra insulation really seems to help - our main one is rated for 5 days, and we probably come pretty close to that.
-- Habitent (https://www.habitent.com/). We don’t use it often, but on a rainy day, it rocks to have another dry room.
-- Jetboil - Seems like the fastest and most fuel-efficient way to make hot water for drinks, oatmeal, or that Ramen @Jackdaw recommended
-- +1 on baby wipes - They clean everything from faces to feet (hopefully in that order, but not always if one is 7…). Tables, dishes, even the cabin sole (somewhere I have pictures of what happens when the parents are sailing and let the kids loose in the cabin with vegetables and goat cheese. Add a few degrees of heel…)
-- Shelf-stable milk - even with good a good cooler, milk seems to sour faster than I like. The little cartons of shelf-stable milk store anywhere in the boat, and they’re small enough that once opened, we go through them before they sour.
-- Kayaks - these $89 Wal-mart specials were the kids’ Christmas presents a couple years ago. They’re a huge hit. It seems hackish to tow them in the dinghy, and I’m sure we lose some more speed, but it’s worth it for the hours of entertainment they provide.
One more:
-- Pillows - We all sleep better with our own pillows, so we drag them from home every time. We leave a couple of the boat's regular backrest cushions out; they just seem to get in the way, and if you need a backrest, there are always all those pillows stashed in the V-berth.
-- +1 on frozen water jugs as ice blocks - we use 1/2-gallon apple juice jugs - they’re a little sturdier than milk jugs, and fit nicely in our coolers. Especially nice for our main cooler, as they don’t get everything wet (bagged ice is OK in the drink cooler, since we don’t care about getting cans and bottles wet).
-- Speaking of coolers, buy high-quality ones - We have a couple Coleman Xtreme coolers, and the extra insulation really seems to help - our main one is rated for 5 days, and we probably come pretty close to that.
-- Habitent (https://www.habitent.com/). We don’t use it often, but on a rainy day, it rocks to have another dry room.
-- Jetboil - Seems like the fastest and most fuel-efficient way to make hot water for drinks, oatmeal, or that Ramen @Jackdaw recommended
-- +1 on baby wipes - They clean everything from faces to feet (hopefully in that order, but not always if one is 7…). Tables, dishes, even the cabin sole (somewhere I have pictures of what happens when the parents are sailing and let the kids loose in the cabin with vegetables and goat cheese. Add a few degrees of heel…)
-- Shelf-stable milk - even with good a good cooler, milk seems to sour faster than I like. The little cartons of shelf-stable milk store anywhere in the boat, and they’re small enough that once opened, we go through them before they sour.
-- Kayaks - these $89 Wal-mart specials were the kids’ Christmas presents a couple years ago. They’re a huge hit. It seems hackish to tow them in the dinghy, and I’m sure we lose some more speed, but it’s worth it for the hours of entertainment they provide.
One more:
-- Pillows - We all sleep better with our own pillows, so we drag them from home every time. We leave a couple of the boat's regular backrest cushions out; they just seem to get in the way, and if you need a backrest, there are always all those pillows stashed in the V-berth.
Last edited:
This is an awesome thread!
There's nothing much I can add that hasn't already been mentioned. Perhaps on the milk, I've also always found that milk products went sour really fast especially in salt water environments. I used to use tubes of milk, in like toothpaste tubes. But I can't find them anymore. I don't care for sweetened condensed milk which seems to be in all the tube milks I can now find. So now I use small individually packaged containers of powdered milk. (I make the small packages). It's not as good as real milk, but it's not bad and is lightweight and takes up very little room with no need for refrigeration. I really prefer milk in my coffee... So that's my compromise. Way better than creamer... in my opinion...
dj
There's nothing much I can add that hasn't already been mentioned. Perhaps on the milk, I've also always found that milk products went sour really fast especially in salt water environments. I used to use tubes of milk, in like toothpaste tubes. But I can't find them anymore. I don't care for sweetened condensed milk which seems to be in all the tube milks I can now find. So now I use small individually packaged containers of powdered milk. (I make the small packages). It's not as good as real milk, but it's not bad and is lightweight and takes up very little room with no need for refrigeration. I really prefer milk in my coffee... So that's my compromise. Way better than creamer... in my opinion...
dj
Indeed, that’s the way the majority of Europeans buy milk.I buy individual 8 oz serving sized milk in tetra packs. It will keep for several months without refrigeration. It’s shelf stable. I buy it in my local supermarket. It’s great for camping boating, and kids’ school lunches.
I'm going to have to look for these. When I lived in the midwest, I seemed to find them easier than out here in the New York area. But I bet I'll just have to look harder for them. And as Jackdaw said, in Europe this is pretty much all the milk I'd get. Fresh milk was not common. Great pointers! Thanks.I buy individual 8 oz serving sized milk in tetra packs. It will keep for several months without refrigeration. It’s shelf stable. I buy it in my local supermarket. It’s great for camping boating, and kids’ school lunches.
dj
How about rechargeable garden lights? I’ve seen several boats with those.[/QUOTE]
I like these Luci Lights.
https://mpowerd.com/collections/shop-luci
Adjustable brightness, solar charge works well, they are light so easy to hang places and they deflate for compact storage.
Some have adjustable colors to help find your boat in a crowded anchorage or mooring field.
Available through Amazon and the usual internet suppliers.
Certainly not "coast guard approved" but they are visible.
We have a couple of their lamps on the boat. We hang one in the cockpit at night.
https://luminaid.com/
https://luminaid.com/
This is a bit of a can of worms. As far as I can tell, lights only need to be certified to be sold on a boat as new. Any light on the boat past this point only needs to meet the spec.
But that opens you to potential liability if very bad things happen, or at the very least you proving they indeed met the spec.
Having just returned from a couple weeks with four of us on a C-22, I'll add another note: We really appreciate good foul-weather gear. My wife and I each have jacket, bibs, and seaboots. A mix of HH, Musto, Gill, etc. - we watched closeouts, eBay, etc. for a winter, and probably spent around $1k for the two sets. Definitely overkill for the waters we sail, and if we had a bigger boat with a dodger, we probably wouldn't need them. But on a little boat, we spend a lot of time out in the open. And on rainy days without a cabin heater, there's really nowhere to dry out. So staying warm and dry is a huge help for the attitude (and probably for my decision making - I don't think all that well when cold and wet).
For us, spending a little more on gear is a cheap alternative to equipping, mooring, and maintaining a bigger boat.
For us, spending a little more on gear is a cheap alternative to equipping, mooring, and maintaining a bigger boat.
It was great to meet Aaron, Irene and their two lovely children. Turns out they had a bigger fleet than we did: a
C22, a dinghy and two kayaks!!!
Hope to see you all again next season.
Hope to see you all again next season.
Try a Fender Step or Quick-Step deployed from the stb or port gate, or similar (See @ WM.) From a RIB, it’s easy for the Admiral to stand at the bow, reach the step, then push up to land the deck with the other foot. Or, turn facing the deck to step down into the dink from the step. Stable, easy to hold the dink at the yacht. No bending over to crawl up the stern, etc.
PS. Oops. I just noticed that you’re asking how to board the RIB from the WATER! “Standard” approach lacking strong upper body or other agility would be to board from the stern using the outboard as a step up if you could get a foot up that high. But you could also drop that same Quick-Step from the dinghy transom. Of course, the RIB would likely need to be a bit on the large size, say 9 to 11 ft for that to work. The trick is to have something sturdy for your foot to push against to raise yourself up; something that doesn’t allow your legs under the boat at 45 deg angle, etc.
Addressing that question of how to board an inflatable, RIB or otherwise, from the water might make a good thread topic in itself.
Last edited: