More Cruising Gear

Still tethered to the dock here in Marsh Harbor anticipating another trip by Mike to the U.S.A. as his mother`s health deteriorates.I have been thinking of more items that make our boat life easier.
1. a sailrite sewing machine that we used to ensure a full cockpit enclosure which protects my redheaded husband from too much sun and acts as a protected porch area adding space to our small boat.Mike has used the machine to restitch stress areas on our canvas and several sails from people who had rough crossings.
2. Spot  allows us to update position of the boat for our concerned family and has a panic button to give G.P.S. position to authorities in an emergency
3. St. Brendan`s Isle is our mail forwarding service,they scan our mail and we can print,delete or save mail and they will forward a package anywhere
4. Solar garden lights, we have several on the deck to allow safe night climbing on and off the boat.We use cheap ones from Harbor Freight and Home depot rather than pricy marine versions
5. Divers Alert Network,includes a policy for medical advice and medivac transfer if needed for a small yearly fee.The safety updates and beautiful diving magazine alone are worth the price
6. Step stool that folds,being short it allows me to get off the dock with all the tide changes as well as reach down into the bottom of the refrig
7. Lightweight clothing,we have switched to mostly very thin fabrics as laundry everywhere is 4 dollars to wash and 4 dollars to dry,I am too lazy to bucket wash all clothes,we really only need one pair of long pants and the light weight fleece jacket for cold fronts early in the season so most cold weather clothes were off loaded last summer
8. Travasack bedding,this is a sleeping bag concept with the sheets top and bottom that velcro in,have had ours 4 years with one extra set of sheets to rotate and love it,makes bed making a breeze.We also bought hypervent fabric as bottom layer to help wth condensation as well as Froli system that works as an innerspring followed by boat cushions topped with 6 inches of memory foam,we bought a king size memory foam topper from Walmart and cut it to size allowing doubling in the vberth
9. Sodastream machine, have had ours 5 years and love it,we make diet cola,root beer,cran raspberry sodas and never have to haul cans or bottles or dispose of the trash
10. A.T.M. card,the best local restaurants have cash only,Marsh Harbor has atms for Royal Bank of Canada and Scotia Bank that are safe and reliable.You also need cash for entry fee into the Bahamas