Cruising Equipment
Review
What works and what doesn’t ! What we learned ... sometimes the hard way !
Forewords:
Any equipment on a sailboat voyaging around the world will face very harsh conditions .. from salt air, high
humidity, shocks during pounding seas... Boats are all different as are the sailors so sharing information
often produce varied reviews and opinions! So take any testimonial with a grain of salt and get facts more
than opinions so you can judge what’s make more sense! But ttake advantages of lessons learned the hard
way by others before you ... Forewarned is forearmed!
Section 1 : Communication Equipment
The vast majority of cruisers are now using all kinds of communication gear to stay
in touch with each other and family & friends ashore. Nice to stay in touch instantly
instead of waiting for weeks each way for letters to arrive ... as we had to do in the
80’s when we started our voyage! Very practical to get all these wx bulletins daily ...
even if too often they mislead us!
Cruising worldwide, for long distance communications, you basically have 2 options:
Email via SSB radio or Satellite phone system.
Since 1992, we’ve used Email via radio communication because it offers the best
value-for-services vs cost.
Equipment comprises a SSB radio: we use ICOM amateur radios, bought in the US, with entire satisfaction.
We had a ICOM 706 MKIIG for many years. We liked it as it was very small, you could locate the front of the
radio in a different location than the radio itself and it did HF/VHF on Ham bands. A simple manipulation let
you use it also on marine bands. Ham radio are much more flexible for what you can do with them and also
cost about 50% of so-called marine radios. The Achilles of that radio was it’s compactness .. corrosion crept
between close components and eventually the radio failed. To repair it would have cost more than the new
model we decide to get: ICOM 718 HF Transceiver. A classic size radio at a budget price of around 600 US$
at the time! Check web specials from US reputable ham radio dealers.
Then you need an antenna and a tuner. We use 2 types of antennas.
The classical long wire but instead of isolating the back stay with a big expensive insulator (that could
possibly break and cause the mast to come down! ) we just installed a single electrical wire with a plastic
insulator and an Icom AH2 Automatic Tuner.
Our backup antenna is a triple vertical - a Hustler triple band vertical (40m/20m/15m).
Then you need a modem to interface between the SSB and your computer. We use a SCS Multimode
PACTOR- Controller (PTCIII- pro) to be able to use the faster Pactor 2 and then Pactor 3 mode. SCS
modems are German precision made and nearly indestructible ... they pretty much have 100% of the
modems used on boats! Pactor 4 Dragon is now the best choice!
The last element you need is a computer with the software used for pactor. After years of using laptops like
most cruisers do, I decided to have 12 vdc Computers made by a great fellow cruiser, Bob from IslandTime
PC. Since 2003, I use computers custom-made by him following my specs. You have to decide if low power
consumption is important versus speed and other attributes. The main advantage to such system is that
when (NOT IF) something fails, you can just order the replacement part and have it shipped one way at low
cost and do the repair yourself. We have 1 backup laptop if we can only connect when ashore but we know
that is rarely can be repaired locally and thus too expensive to send it back to the store or even the
manufacturer!!!
As far as email software, we use Airmail, made benevolently by the talented Jim Corenman. It’s free for
cruisers and works well with the Winlink network (free usage by licensed ham radio operators) and Sailmail
(moderate annual fee for members). There are many other options now too.
This being said, most sailing along coastal areas are now covered by inexpensive local cellular operators
and you can get inexpensive internet access with fast speed to email, get wx bulletins, search the web and
more. Best way is to by the inexpensive pre-paid plans and use your smart phone as hotspot for all your
PC’s and tablets on board.
For short distance communication between ships, you will use a fixed marine VHF radiowith a big antenna,
preferably on top of your mast as it is line of sight. One or two portable VHF radios could also be useful. with
waterproof pouches for our hand held and we attach these on our harness during passages too (see safety
chapter). But it is best now for crew ashore to text each other via mobile.
We carry a special hi-gain WiFi antenna to let us access Internet directly from the boat when local coverage
is available. More and more you will find free or low costs Internet connections access around the world.
Internet access will be invaluable to search for parts to order equipment. You can also find the ‘real’ news
you won’t get in mainstream media. Cruising around the world should not mean you can’t be aware of what
goes on around the globe, as much of it can & will affect you!
Section 2 : Navigation Equipment
The tendency by novice cruisers is to over equip themselves with electronics ... Far
from being purists wanting to sail as Capt Cook did, we lean towards a more pragmatic
approach. A fact to keep in mind is that the question is NOT IF electronic equipment will
fail BUT WHEN it will fail! That means you have to either be able to cruise without a
particular piece of equipment or you better have some back ups, as the last thing you
want is to be stuck in some deserted area waiting for parts to arrive ... slowly and/or at
high expenses! So this being said, lets take a look first at the most necessary or useful electronic navigation
apparatus and then we’ll look at some useful ones that you could live without easily.
Knowing where you are is probably the most important aspect of navigation. Luckily for us now, GPS has
been invented and works so accurately! I can only guess at what earlier discoverers would have thought if
some time traveler had show them a small GPS! Same thing for electronic charts where your boat position is
plotted automatically! Never before could a navigator plan his cruise in such details with so much advanced
and instant information! When we started cruising in 92’, GPS had just been just launched and we got a
small hand held Garmin GPS. We plotted the position manually on paper charts (acquired over 500 of them
... lots of weight and space!). We now use electronic charts & satellite overlay charts in OpenCpn on our PC.
I connected 2 GPS so we can follow our progress in real time on the chart. I quickly realized that charts
accuracy was no better with electronic charts than with paper ones ... meaning sometimes the chart is off by
more than a mile! With that in mind, I plan routes never to close charted obstruction and if good light, we can
eyeball navigate to shorten legs. Old raster charts are still useful as they gave way more depth details that
most electronic charts ... Open Cpn let you use charts groups so you can switch between CMAP, Navionics,
raster charts and satellite overlays. Do never rely on just one computer (have backup navigation instaaled on
tablet, smart phone too.
Knowing how much water you have under your keel is also very useful! The best & cheapest solution is to
get a fish finder so you not only know the depth but you also see the depth contour & composition.
Hummingbird does very good and inexpensive ones. A pair of polaroid sunglasses make it much easier to
read the depth of the water as it cuts the surface glare.
The time proven compass will be needed to manually steer ... something we only do occasionally on
passage (if autopilot cannot cope).
Time to speak about one of the most important pieces of equipment on long passage: the autopilot or
windvane. Having plenty of electricity as well as easy hydraulic steering, we opted for a small Evolution EV-1
Raymarine autopilot with hydraulic pump connected to the manual steering cylinder. We have a spare control
module as sailors with broken autopilots will tell you how they regretted not having one.
During a night approach or to track squalls, we use our radar. Note: we almost never enter unknown passes
or anchorages at night. We recently added a AIS transmitter as not only provide extra safety in congested
shipping lanes but become more mandatory in visited countries.
On top of the mast we have a NASA wind direction & speed indicator. We are lucky to have a very
conservative sail area so we don’t have to take any reef before the wind reaches over 25 kts. Telltales on
some of the stays help also to see the apparent wind.
Some of these electronics are connected in network but we trust more independant & redondant systems.
Section 3 : Electric systems
From the beginning of cruising we were attracted by renewable energy and we did not
want to be forced to use any engine/generator daily to keep our battery bank charged!
We added numerous solar panels over the years as our energy needs increased and cost
pf panels went down. With virtually no maintenance and no break downs, noiseless, they
perform day in and day out if you have sun on them. Since we always wanted to cruise in
tropical paradises where sun would be often present, this is a no-brainer choice.
Sometimes the sun may be too discreet so having a wind generator is an excellent
complement. We are using 2 Air Breeze units now. They are small and light (nice when
you have to take them down to work on them!), they are fairly quiet, and produce well at
low winds ... and the price is reasonable, But wind does not provide the same value
(cost/energy produced) than solar.
When using our main engine, our 105 A hi-amp alternator give our batteries a boost.
We hate having to run the engine just to charge batteries (and we rarely have to) but may
as well get a max of power if we have to run the engine anyway!
Our engine gearbox is one that can run freely while under sail so we have a shaft
alternator connected on a large pulley around our prop shaft. At about 5kt of boat speed,
we get about 5 amps ... at 7 kts, we get 10 amps ....
Our last way to charge our batteries is to use our big 100A-2000W Magnum
inverter/charger on our 2000W Honda gas generator.
Our battery bank now consists of 6x 170A AGM batteries. So far they work much better than our Trojan 6v
batteries and even the 2v ones... someone will soon come up with revolutionary battery storage!
The key to battery life is never let your bank drop below 75% capacity before topping them back up again.
Section 4 : Water systems
We made up a pretty original system of 3 independent water systems, each having it’s own water tank(s),
water pump and faucet(s).
System 1 consists of 2x 5-gal translucent plastic tanks, easily cleaned and placed under the
galley sink so you can see the level of water at a glimpse. The only water fed into that
system comes from our watermaker and that water is used only for drinking & cooking.
Quality is thus top.
For the 2 of us, we found out that it takes us about 4-6 days to run these tanks almost dry so
we never have to biocide our watermaker as we always run it weekly! No need to keep track
when we last used the watermaker or having to biocide it often! When that tank is full, it
overfills into system 2.
System 2 consists of 2x 40-gal fiberglass tanks, used for cleaning and the inside shower.
Each sink (we have 5!) is fed by that system. We can fill these tanks from the cockpit intake
hoses with shore water as well as overfill from system 1 and also overfill from system 3. The interior shower
has a propane gas heater connected via a solenoid valve on one of our 20 Lbs propane tanks stored in a
aired locker in a cockpit.
System 3 consists of 2x 40-gal fiberglass tanks used exclusively for both showers, washing machine and
deck washdown. It can be filled by rain collected on most of our foredeck with just the turn (after we let the
deck be washed, the rainwater goes through a paper filter before ending up in the tank). That tank also acts
as a sedimenter to protect the quality of the water overfilling into system 2.
Section 5 : Food related equipment
Eating well is not only a great pleasure in life, it is also a sure way to stay healthy! Therefore, we try to carry
as many practical galley tools as possible, not only to prepare meals but also to prepare the raw ingredients.
Here below are some things that make the cook’s life much easier!
Bamix: This compact electric ‘European’ mixer will make mayonnaise in 30sec, right in the jar and can be
cleaned up in a minute! I use it to mix pastry dough. I use it also as a blender, chopper to make daiquiri and
blended drinks. Made in Switzerland, you can also find it in 110vac in the US.
Matstone low speed 6 in 1 single auger Juicer: Excellent to juice fresh leafy vegetables like spinach,
cabbage, celery, wheat grass, ... We also used it to make pandanus juice! You can use to juice
some fruits.
Sprouting trays: we use a commercially-made stackable plastic sprouter as well as garden trays
with coconut fiber to grow all kinds of sprouts & mini-greens.
Solar dehydrator: we built a 8 tray dehydrator as per model in the excellent book “Sailing the
Farm”. It allows us to easily dry bananas that keep fresh & sweet non-refrigerated for more than
a year. You can use it to dry fish and plenty other things.
Easi-yo yogurt maker: Easiest and simplest way to make no-fail yogurt.
Food Saver vacuum sealer: One of the most valuable items for keeping provisions for long term
storage. Also good to pack spare parts, clothing, ... Helps against freezer burns ... we keep lobsters for
months so we always had some at Xmas, New Year in the Caribbean & the Pacific :)
Pressure cookers: Cut your cooking time by 1/2 to 2/3 (also cut down the heating of the boat!). Makes a
fantastic rice cooker (5-min to perfect rice). We use them to can fish and make food preserves. Splurge to
get a SS Kuhn Rikon.
L’Acquadiqui and Sodastream soda machines: great to make your own carbonated water! We mix it with our
own fruit concentrates and soda mixes. Save a ton of weight and money! We carry a big refillable CO2 tank
to refill ourselves the small gas cartridge of the soda machine. That big CO2 tank is also a back up fire
extinguisher! Learned also recently how to refill small CO2 tanks with dry ice.
Sink sprayer: Jackie thanks Luc every time she uses this! Connect the nozzle of a small insecticide sprayer
(like you find in all hardware stores) to your fresh water system with a long hose. It blasts food off plates &
pots, rinses hard to reach areas, spritzes sprouts, and used with a shop-vac, cleans up spills or dog accident
on the carpet. Very economical with water!
Section 6 : Comfort
Since cruising is really our lifestyle and not just a short vacation, we decided early to make our floating home
as comfortable as possible! And it is fairly easy to have the same comfort afloat as living on dry land ... as
easy as a good size mobile-home.
Comfort was already one of the prime reason for choosing a multi-hull versus a mono-hull. Living on a
slanted floor during any sailing was not too appealing to us!
Since we spend about a 1/3 of our life in bed, we decided to get as good a sleep as we could. We choose
close-cell foam mattress because it supports your back really well, even in a 2-person bed. We have 3
bedrooms with standard full size mattress. Under on own mattress we added a magnetic pad. We studied
the subject and found the Magnetico Pad from Dr Bonlie the best quality. The increased magnetism helps
your health and the increased weight (140Lbs).
Our boat came with nice coach seating that comfortably seats 5 people around our salon
table. We also have a wide cockpit table with a couple patio chairs that accommodates
up to 6 people.
Our helm station can all be closed (and locked) so we can be on passage and be
completely out of the weather, being rain, cold, crashing seas, excess sun. All the
navigation electronics and autopilot are thus inside and last much longer too. We have 2
cockpits (one on each side of the helm station, the port one with the outside dinning
table, the starboard side with all the sailing line controls.
Ventilation is also very important when cruising in warm & humid climates. So we added
some hatches and designed a ventilation system that works on our 11 portholes. Our
portholes always stay open at anchor without any rain or insects coming in and we very
easily put foam plugs for heavy wx passages. We also built our wind-scoops to fit on
some of our hatches when there is little wind.
An added benefit of all these hatches and portholes is the good amount of natural light in
our boat. For nighttime, I replaced most of our lights with LED lights. The advantages of
LED are amazing: using only about 20% of the electricity of conventional lights, last
much longer (if the quality of the included electronics is good), and they do not get hot to
the touch or warm your boat interior!
Entertainment: we use a CD/MP3 car stereo with an auxiliary cable coming from our
ship’s computer. We have a 12vdc computer that runs our navigation, emails and
entertainment with 3 monitors, one in front of computer station, one at helm station and
the other one in the salon so we can watch occasional documentaries & movies from our
computer. We can play our extensive MP3 music collection from the computer as well on
the common stereo system. Stereo system has 4 salon interior speakers direct on car
stereo and we have 4 wheelhouse/cockpit outside speakers on an amplifier (with
individual controls).
Section 7 : Safety
Traveling for many years around the world in a safe manner should be a great concern to any cruiser. Here
are a few things we do for safety gear we carry aboard. It pays to think of what could happen when cruising
in order to take habits and measures to prevent such accidents to happen. Also, whenever a sad story
happens to another cruiser, it is good to wonder what would have happened to you in the same situation and
learn from any such sad experiences!
One of the most horrible accidents to happen is to be lost overboard! So how can we prevent it and what can
we do to have the most chances to be recovered if we do fall overboard?
Prevention dictates to wear a harness and secure yourself whenever you are venturing on deck in conditions
that could well result in you going overboard. It depends of the width of your deck, on the sea conditions and
on why you are venturing on deck. We try to always wear our harness at night or when sea conditions are
bad. Prevention also is that any other crew is aware right away when one falls overboard and to that effect
we always inform each other when going out on deck (always at night when the sleeping crew may not hear
any yell!).
Now if the worse happens and somebody falls overboard, how can we insure a successful recovery?
What can the man overboard do? We have a Laser Rescue Flare and a whistle on our harness, we also
wear a small portable VHF in a waterproof pouch so we can communicate with the crew on board and direct
the boat towards where we’re located (we always have our VHF on channel 16 when traveling!). It is much
easier for a small swimmer to see a big boat and mast. The Rescue Laser Flare can be seen miles away and
is waterproof to 60ft We also activate the personal AIS beacon when our inflatable life-vest inflates
automatically and PLB (small portable EPIRB attached to his harness) if recovery does not happen rapidly!
We do have auto-infating life-vest for our dogs too:)
What can the crew on the boat do? Throw the MOB pole overboard, punch the MOB button on the GPS or in
the electronic navigation software, stop any forward motion by dropping the sails, put the engine in neutral.
Then as fast as possible he has to return to the estimated overboard position looking at AIS position & the
MOB pole, listening for VHF instructions, follow any directions if an extra crew went on watch high up on the
mast. Easier to calmly think about it than acting in the real situation! The sudden stress makes us loose our
head very easily. But practicing in our mind or even in calm water may make a difference if the situation ever
occurs!
Another hazard, especially during navigation is banging yourself against something solid because of the boat
motion so use the hand rails you have judiciously placed and when moving always grab something solid for
support. On a multihull, we are lucky as we have minimum motion compared to monohulls. You have to be
careful also not to get moving objects banging into you. So secure any loose items before you go on a
passage and be careful not to have the boom cross your path ... your head won’t resist the impact of any
spars ... watch your hands for chaffing with sailing lines ... don’t get your fingers smashed on winches
(especially careful if you have hydraulic/electrical winches!)
Keep up a good first aid kit on board for any emergency as well as everyday possible aches & pains. No
need to carry with you a huge box as you will mostly find ashore whatever you need. Medicine has short
expiry dates so it may cost you a fortune if you go overboard getting a medical kit together. Lots of articles
and books give you ideas on what to carry. Educate yourself in what you can do to prevent most sicknesses
and to cure them rapidly and gently. You can often avoid the side effects of allopathic medicine by using
natural remedies like ginger, magnetic bracelets, ... And remember to keep as fit as possible as it will help
you a lot with your safety when voyaging!
Think about what you could do if taking on water following a collision or a thru-hull failure ... or leak around
the shaft ... Do you have electrical and manual pumps quickly accessible? Do you have any watertight
bulkheads? Has your boat a lot of internal flotation if the bilges are filling up with seawater? We have lots of
insulation to make us almost unsinkable ... insulation in ceiling and side panels, plenty of objects that will
float ... If your boat was sinking ... how would you stay afloat until rescue arrives? Do you have a good life-
raft or is your dinghy well equipped to serve as a life-raft? Do you have any EPIRB you can use to signal
your location? (do not forget to register your beacon and keep current!)
At night always have some lights on. If you navigate do not try to save a few watts by not turning your
masthead nav lights. If you are anchored, always turn on an anchor light - perhaps a deck all-around light. It
avoids collisions! If some other boat runs unto you when you are unlit, guess who would lose in court!! If your
lights are using too much electricity, replace them with LED. Having a visible anchor light will sometimes help
some sailor coming into the anchorage at night. If you are traveling by dinghy at night (especially in crowded
anchorages), think about some dinghy nav lights. We installed some colored LED on our outboard and use a
tiny battery (that we remove when not using).
Are you ready to extinguish any fire that might occur in the galley or engine room? Make sure your fire
extinguishers are in working condition - if you have dry powder one, do turn them upside down yearly and
tap them with a rubber mallet just to keep the powder unclumped!
After much research & thought, we decided on a Jordan Serie Drogue for storm-at-sea conditions. It seems
to make the most sense for our boat and our capabilities. We hope never to have to use it, but it’s ready to
go in our lazarette.
A great source of information about boat equipment is the running survey published by the SSCA.