18 months later: our most useful pieces of gear. Yet

“Do we need that?”

We had just sold the house and there was no turning back: we would really buy a boat and go out there. We would actually do it! The “Do we need that” question started popping in every conversation.

First when downsizing from a 2 story, 2200 square feet cottage to a mere 25 boxes. “Do we really need 2 sets of bedsheets? What about that garlic press. I mean, will we even find garlic?” We knew we needed to pay shipping for every one of those boxes. So their content needed to be worthwhile! Moreover; we would need to fit all of that on Pablo! For weeks, we would bring things in the basement in the “to sell/giveaway pile”. If one of us were not coming to pick it up 2 days after because we couldn’t live without, it was staying there. If not, the one needing it would argue to the other why it needed to be promoted to the “to bring” pile. Some items created some heated debates (who doesn’t remember the great citrus extractor debate!?). But if no argument was convincing enough, it would stay behind.. Things we could’t bring ourselves to put a price on could be promoted to the “in storage” pile. Mind you, we aren’t paying for storage and use corners of families’ basements. And the last thing we want is impose our project on others, so not a lot managed to make it to the storage pile…

Once everything was packed away, “Do we need that?” started creeping back in the discussions. Every blog post read or discussion with another sailor would highlight so little we had, and so much it seems we needed. “Everybody has a SUP! And what about a drone? Surely we’ll need these 1000$ foul weather pants? Wow; the raincoat is even more expensive!”. Thankfully, we waited. And aboard we moved with our 25 boxes.

Over the months, we obviously bought some gear. But surprisingly, very little. Here are some of our favorites that are seeing use every week, if not every day.

Headlamp

Fein oscillating tool

Icebox

Klein DC clamp meter

.We carry a lot of tools on Pablo. And unfortunately, all of them are proving themselves useful. But without doubt, that meter is the one that seems to be glued to my hands. Tracing down wires, chasing stray current, figuring out power draws, troubleshooting failed motors or faulty switches and breakers… Or just to validate the voltage polarity before hooking a brand new 3000$ autopilot that would melt down if you get the wiring wrong… For so many reason, it seems I never have the time to put it back at its place before I need it out again. So much that it unofficially earned its home on the chart table. Ours allows to record min/max voltage; which is useful when troubleshooting random low voltage alarms on your brand new vhf (faulty in-line fuse). It also has a built it LED light to see what your doing (because you’ll be using your headlamp so much that sometimes, you need to recharge the batteries) and has all the bell and whistles you could wish. They seem just that, bells and whistles but turns out I’ve used them all. Even the small adaptor to read temperature when troubleshooting our freezer. It’s not cheap, but it’s good quality and most of all, dependable. Enough so that other cruisers will start asking you to come validate the reading of their cheap meters… (yup, it happened more than once!)

Sewing Machine

Sewing machine. 8 years ago, we decided to invest in a better winter cover for Sputnik, our previous sailboat. We wanted something that would better protect and would be faster to install than having every year to build a cover made with cheap tarps that would end up teared up and trashed the next spring. After getting some quotes, the cheapest being +2500$, I decided to buy a Sailrite sewing machine. A few weeks worth of work and 1500$ later, we had a shiny new winter cover. Mpost importantly, it was a speed course to gain a WHOLE lot of experience in designing, patterning and sewing. A Sailrite isn’t cheap and I’m not sure I would recommend purchasing one. After all, big projects that require an industrial machine are so much more of a challenge when working from the boat. But ours earned it’s place, allowing us to make in the last 18 months:

• Exterior cushions
• Shading panels all around the cockpit
• Storage bags and cockpit organizers
• Lego playing mats
• Dinghy chaps
• Kids plush (homemade birthday gifts when you’re far from shops!)
• Halloween disguises
• Deck awnings for friends’ boats
• Tethers for the kids when on passage, helping them to stay cool and INSIDE the cockpit, no matter what happen
• Get a few more months out of so many courtesy flags!

Up next; re-upholster all the interior cushions. We got rid of the old heavily stained covers when we bought the boat, creating an “all piece of fabric” on deck situation! So we’ve been living with a collection of fitter sheets, table naps, towels and blankets ever since. We could have done without all of these. But it sure made our environment nicer and better organized. Best of all, most of these have been made with scrap material, the total costs being ridiculously low.

Low friction rings

Food processor

Lego

And what’s the most expensive purchase we made that has never even been used one? Our liferaft. But weirdly enough, I’m ok with that! 🙂