What is the best gear ya put on the boat, considering price?

[CSY Man]

After covering tens of thousands of miles our SSB is extremely valuable and we can't imagine cruising without one.

Yeah, that is the diiference, you do passage making and can appreciate the SSB.

I had planned the same when I bought the boat and installed the SSB, but ended up doing island hopping instead.
I sure have used the SSB to get weather when out of VHF range, but not after I installed a NavTex.

(Another gizzmo I forgot to mention above)



In the meantime the SSB does not eat anything nor drink my beer, so it will have a permanent place onboard: One of these days I will get going and start pulling up weaterfaxes, putting the thing to good use.

[rebel heart]

I'm a big believer that you should leave money in your accounts as long as possible before you give it to someone else. So there are some things that I wont put on the boat until we're close to leaving. It's not that I don't want a wind vane, as an example, but the $1K - $3K that it will cost me, if I leave it in my accounts right now, if put into a Roth, can really see large gains in the three years that it would otherwise be sitting on the boat losing worth.

That being said, tools would be my number one. Tools and books actually. Not only do they get a tremendous amont of use, but they allow me to save incredible amounts of money by keeping my boat out of the yards.

[CSY Man]

Yeah, that is a consideration: Leave the money in the bank.

On the other hand, stuff usually don't get any cheaper.

I put stuff on the boat because I liver here in the Yachting Capitol of the country and occasionally run across deals that is impossible to pass up.

Say my Cool Blue fridge system, it retailed for about $2.200 6 years ago..I had been lusting for one, but money was tight.
Got a call from a buddy that said he saw one brand new in the box for $1,300.00.
I jump in the truck, run over to the store and put my credit card down. Snapped up the last one.
They had gotten 4 units in that morning and they all sold out the same day.

This is todays prices:

FREEZER & REFRIGERATION PRICES

COOLBLUE

High efficiency 12-volt DC compressor with 1" thick holding plate for one box

$2,650

Would have cost me more to wait.....

[colemj]

A good battery monitor. These are worth far more than they cost.

Mark

[dana-tenacity]

My opinion of raven has gone up another 5 notches, anyone who can quote Antoine de saint Exupery can't be all bad. Wasn't there a reading list on this forum somewhere, put him on the list.

[Wahoo Sails]

Dag,
Before I took off in Tim's boat, I added a new (and visible compass) a DSC equipped VHF radio & the same chart plotter that you have. Coming back to Ft Ladedah soon, have added 2, 160 watt 24V solar panels w/ Outback 60 charge controller, an Adler Barbor "Cold machine" fridge ... and all new wiring. The boat had a watermaker onboard when I bought her. The ability to make fresh water from sea water ... then freeze it into ice is ... awesome ... to do it all powered by sunlight is just too cool Really interested in AIS ... have ya used it? What do ya think? worth the money?
Bob

[CSY Man]

Really interested in AIS ... have ya used it? What do ya think? worth the money?

Yes, have used it on a couple of trips:

Hooked this gizzmo up to my 180i plotter and a rail mounted VHF antenna, getting as much as a 26 NM range.

Very happy with the combo and the price.

[ssullivan]

Wow... you all have a lot of great stuff.

I had to set up for charters, so I had to put a lot of time and money into fancy-pants pretty stuff. Not such a great use of money.

I have begun to replace running rigging and other essentials and think along the lines of Raven when it comes to equipment. That said, some of our comfort improvements have been worth it:

wood stove
refrigeration with freezer
cockpit full enclosure
computer/chartplotter
gps at the helm instead of below at nav station

We are no where near the level many of you are with fantastic items such as SSBs and proper safety gear (though we do have our harnesses, etc..)

Looking forward to someday getting to that point.

BTW: I have been looking at those Cool Blue machines. VERY nice systems.

[delmarrey]

Hydraulic steering system!............................_/)

[rleslie]

Most used and appreciated = Furuno Autopilot & Chartplotter & Radar

Least used = Inverter (we have a Honda 2000 that we use when 110v is needed)

Other great product = 240watt solar panels w/MPPT.

Roger

[CSY Man]

We are no where near the level many of you are with fantastic items such as SSBs and proper safety gear (though we do have our harnesses, etc..)

Safety gear is important of course.

That being said, I don't have EPIRB, Life Raft, man-over-board-pole, parachute, etc.

In my humble opinion, not needed for coastal stuff:
Weather forecasts are pretty accurate for 2 or 3 days.
Coastal communication is pretty easy with VHF, and a rubber dink will serve as a raft in Florida for a day or two..

Crossing oceans however, a different wish list would be written.

(Have the very basics: Harness, safety lines from bow to stern, flares, rockets, handheld VHF, etc, etc.)

[sundown]

For my coastal cruising here in British Columbia the best money I have spent have been on a good sounder, a GPS and a 'Windows' based chart system that lets me double duty my computer as a chart plotter/entertainment system.

I have had a couple of heart attacks and my wife worries when I wander off up the coast in the 'off season' so I too spent money on a SSB system for my previous boat. I don't think I will buy a side band for my present boat though: instead I will probably go with a SAT phone - in the long run I think it will be cheaper and of more utility.

What is really high on my "Wish List" is an efficient way to produce electricity. Comming from a power boat back ground I seem to have a 'super-size it' taste for electronic toys. I am going to have to skulk in the weeds for a couple of years and watch how other folk have solved the problem. With that in mind one of the best moves I have made is to subscribe/watch this forum - it is an education in its' own right.

[Celestialsailor]

Great post with good information...For myself, I am a man of meager means. It was important to have a well designed proven cruiser, hence the Ingrid 38. This I bought as a fixer and made sure that the expensive stuff on a boat was in good to great shape. The sails had 90% left in them, so that probably saved me $6,000. I'm a ham and use a MFJ manual tuner. The ham I bought of ARRL classified ads for $500 and tuner from e-bay for $25. I can talk to stations in OZ and so on with no prioblem. I sprung big time for new rigging which included new backstay insulators and a pro-furl unit...$10,000! To me new rigging was a priority. Next was ground tackle...used CQR 45. The boat came with 2 other anchors. I have 2 hand-held GPS for back-ups and will buy a new Furuno mounted GPS ($350) as a primary. So you can see, I have gone semi-low tech just to get out there this year. As time goes on and I move on, I will go to my priority list and keep adding. After I am in Mexico and before the Marquesas, I will want a Asy. Spinniker. Maybe radar after that. I learned (the hard way) to just leave as soon as you can. I will admit, I am trying my best to afford refrigeration. I may buy an RPARTS unit for around $850. So thats my story and I'm sticking to it. Total so far with the cost of my little ship and upgrades...$55,000. Not bad for a Scallywag.

[defjef]

This is a hard one. I find my Alpha 3000 autopilot has been used heavily for 18 years. It does almost all the steering except when I anchor, pick up a mooring, come alongside a dock, or motor a narrow channel or through moored and anchored boats. That means that this device has worked for thousands of hours with only a minor repair over 12 yrs ago.

My main instrument swuite is a B&G Hornet and that too has been reporting reliably for 21 years with only the need to change out one or two displays. The stuff is old technology, but reliable. It came with the boat too.

I've been through a series of position fixer upgrades over the years starting with loran and now with a Raymarine C80 MFD. It seems that this technology is advancing so fast that you don't get the kind of value you do from the basic nav instruments of the auto pilot. Having said that, I love the electronic position fixers and now digital charting.

Radar has been very handy, but it is not used alot and certainly not the value of the gear noted above. My Grunnert Caribbean engine drive refer has been a very reliable product, used a lot and therefor has provided real value. It was the hardest DIY project I ever attempted... and everything onboard was a DIY project... except the recept engine valve job.

There ya have it.

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[Benny]

Did the whole shibang when I bought her last year:

Raymarine C80, GPS, depth, speed, wind, radar, autohelm. Mermaid reverse cycle air conditioning. Electric windlass. 2nd DSC VHF. Loudhailer.

All together about $12,000 for those and about another $5,000 on other hardware and equipment.

This year will be small stern platform and new cockpit enclosure - about another $5000.

Next year - new sails - $5000

Fun eh?