Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a boat

[Privilege]

What's your favorite boat hack? I just found one which I had to share...

Most landlubbers wouldn't understand the problem of having their bathroom mirror steam up, but for those of us who have a mirror next to their shower, a steamy mirror is a curse. Having tried all of the various random cleaning products that sit just outside my head, I finally stumbled upon this one...

One clean of the mirror with this and its completely cured the problem. Even if the mirror does mist up, a wipe of the hand leaves the mirror perfect. Not exactly life changing but it's changed my life so i felt obliged to share.

[hellosailor]

Most purple grease destroyers are lye based and can do a lot of damage.
There are sprays sold to prevent fogging on glass and mirrors, many products because the chemistry is fairly simple and effective, without the risk of eating any finishes or coatings. Usually sold in tile and bathroom fixture stores.

[Bill Seal]

My wife used "Purple Stuff" to clean the cabin top from the crud in the air in the L A harbor. Worked great, but the over spray ruined the vinyl windows in the dodger.

[Stu Jackson]

My favorite "hacks" I learned from singlehanding. Since there is no one else to do anything from leaving the dock to doing the meals and pots&pans (!), I learned to do things once. Of course, most folks will say, when you're singlehanding, you have to "plan ahead" but I think that's true of sailing with crew or without. Simplest case is going forward, for anything, be it the jib or the anchor or the dock line(s). Remembering everything you need to avoid going back and then forward again is my "hack."


Now the "Where'd I put it?" thing? I'm still workin' on that!

[Ida_Lewis]

Premade iced coffee in the summer. All you have to do is pour. Excellent for first thing in the morning.

[Shoalbay]

Re "Now the "Where'd I put it?" thing? I'm still workin' on that! ":
Me, too. When I get to the point while working with tools where I am thinking, "Now where's that uhhhh", and the "uhhh" lasts for 3 seconds, I immediately start cleaning up. Sweeping, putting tools and clutter away. It transforms wasted search time into useful cleanup time. And the misplaced item is soon found.

[sailm8]

Not a big deal but this works for me. I used nail polish to color code the socket I need to change the impeller. This came in handy when we overheated approaching a bridge on the ICW when there was a current.

[somanyboats]

we replaced all our overhead lights with red/white LED light. Used nail polish to mark the red and white sides. helped alot

[sailingchiro]

I have learned so much on this forum and treasure all the advise.

Probably one of the best thing that saves so much time is running a dehumidifier while away. It sits on the counter in the galley and the hose runs into the sink.

It keeps the bilges dry and absolutely no mildew in the boat. Plus the normal smells from a locked up boat are non existent.

I have played with only running the battery charger and dehumidifier on the shore line instead of hooking boat to shore power. This isolated the shore power from the boat because at the time, we were eating zincs. The zinc issue was the inverter charger. It has a buss installed to hook ground to neutral. Who knew?

[furisgrampa]

Hang a cheap umbrella on your prop shaft when working under the boat, you're gonna drop something! And its not lost on the bottom

Remove your dinghy motor cover, and inscribe your boat info, and MMSI number on the inside of the cover, even better useva Dremel

Cut the bottom off of a big plastic wine glass, and notice how nicely the stem fits into the hole on the winches in the cockpit, makes a great beer can/ bottle holder, and you wont spill!

[gamayun]

When on an offshore passage, wash/rinse dishes in salt water and then spritz with freshwater from a spray bottle to save water from the tanks.

Use plastic food containers or label plastic baggies with all the parts you're working on during a project.

[Captain Anthony]

My hack is so simple, we sometimes forget, but 2 summers ago it SAVED MY LIFE.


I ALWAYS ware my inflatable PFD, ALWAYS. One evening 2 summers ago I was out for a sail, alone. The weather was perfect, the breeze a calm 10 knots, the weather was perfect, As predictable, when the sun dropped below the horizon the wind quit. I went to the transom to start my outboard for a short ride home. Somehow, a puff hit as I was pulling the starter cord. The motor started, the tiller swung around and caught me at the knees just as I had put the motor in forward. The next thing I knew, I was in the water, with my boat, motoring away. What a shock. My PFD inflated and about an hour later a fisherman say my waiving hat and rescued me. I know for sure that had I not been waring my PFD, I would not be here to give you this story. So, please be warned, ALWAYS WARE YOUR PFD, you just never know when you will wind up in the water as I did.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Captain Anthony

My hack is so simple, we sometimes forget, but 2 summers ago it SAVED MY LIFE.


I ALWAYS ware my inflatable PFD, ALWAYS. One evening 2 summers ago I was out for a sail, alone. The weather was perfect, the breeze a calm 10 knots, the weather was perfect, As predictable, when the sun dropped below the horizon the wind quit. I went to the transom to start my outboard for a short ride home. Somehow, a puff hit as I was pulling the starter cord. The motor started, the tiller swung around and caught me at the knees just as I had put the motor in forward. The next thing I knew, I was in the water, with my boat, motoring away. What a shock. My PFD inflated and about an hour later a fisherman say my waiving hat and rescued me. I know for sure that had I not been waring my PFD, I would not be here to give you this story. So, please be warned, ALWAYS WARE YOUR PFD, you just never know when you will wind up in the water as I did.

What happened to the boat?


And maybe the lesson there is to use a tether for single-handing...

[Captain Anthony]

The fisherman who rescued me ran it down and I returned to her and motored home

[deblen]

Originally Posted by somanyboats

we replaced all our overhead lights with red/white LED light. Used nail polish to mark the red and white sides. helped alot

Dollar Stores sell nail polish(quick dry lacquer) in a variety of solid colors-Black,red,green.orange,etc. Very handy for color coding anything. Dries almost instantly.
Makes a decent thread locker also.
All my metric tools are marked with hot pink. Not many guys will steal? hot pink
I get some kidding when I open my toolbox & several bottles of nail polish are visible but....
Len