Those really convenient things you did.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by swordds

~$80 for 6 little lights? Seems costly.

If you think so just don't get them. Meanwhile I've gotten some and am going to get some more so I don't feel they are costly at all.

[Nicholson58]

Solar rechargeable flashlight. We keep these in the port windows and they are always ready. I’ve never run one dead. Never buy or recharge batteries again.

https://www.amazon.com/Solarlight-Fl...%2C161&sr=8-18

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by swordds

I use an Aere Inflatable Beach Roller for a fender when tying along a quay especially one with pilings. The beach roller is very heavy duty and tough (made for rolling across gravel beaches) and is long enough to hang horizontally so no heavy and hard to store fender boards are required. It is easy to inflate and deflate for very compact storage.

also use fenders to roll your dinghy up the beach.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

also use fenders to roll your dinghy up the beach.

^^^^^

We've been doing this for years, just one fender though.


However, it won't work with the flat ones.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by wackerb

I have two Chinese 4 channel remotes $15 off Amazon. One handles both electric winches (high/low speed) another for the windlass. Most important is a spray can of clear lacquer. Open up the cheap electronics and spray to prevent salt air corrosion.

Two rimmed double galley sinks were a pain with water always running in between them and hard to wipe the counter over the rims. Couldn't find a replacement that fit, so mounted them under the counter and epoxy filled. Now rimless sinks and the counter wipes directly into the sinks.

Just set up a fridge regulator that has low cutoff and higher restart for automatically shutting it off when batteries are low.

Learned to make soft shackles and keep an assortment handy. Many uses.

Our boat came with fresh and sea water foot pumps and a broken water heater. We have hot water after motoring. Foot pumps save more fresh water than anything I can imagine.

[swordds]

Sorry, I did not mean to sound so rude, my apologies and thank you for the lighting recommendation. I have bought a number of what have turned out to be “ disposable” lights (probably because I am so cheap) so I will give these a try.

[Cheechako]

The list from posts.....Tried to not double similar ideas:
Stern shower
Davits
Pan lid storage: We put leather straps on the inside of cabinet doors.
Tip out or swing out garbage container.
Shut off valves with a length of hose on the bottom of the Racor filters to make
draining them easier
Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries used exclusively.
Small 10w LED floodlights around the outside of the boat and in the engine room.
Remote control for the anchor winch.
Integrated wifi with Internet and NEMA data.
Luci lights - great little inflatable solar-charged led lanterns.
Exhaust temperature alarm
AIS –
Garmin inReach - family and friends love tracking our trips on this.
Automatic lights in the lockers
Modified my preventer lines so that they could be attached at the mid-ship as opposed to the aft.
Stack Pack
Chain Stopper
Electric (220v) winch for hauling dinghy aboard
Steel hook plate welded into armpit of Bruce anchor.
Omnia stove top oven has really earned its keep for us!
Dedicated flopper-stopper outrigger pole and lines set-up (don't use the boom)
also gets regular use
Mounted the salon table on a Lagun swiveling table mount.
Large but thin-gauge stainless hook mounted on the back of the stem fitting, at
the peak of the anchor locker. An easy place to hang full garbage bags and
recycling
Full powered davit so we don’t have to pull a 1000lb tender uphill against the
lean of the boat.
High on the convenience list is my 2,000W inverter.
LED garden lights as deck lights
4 foot garden cane for dipping the fuel tank.
Sterling battery monitor, completely changed the way we look after the batteries.
Good quality stainless steel copper bottomed pans with lids
Arch on the boat for solar panels and hanging the dinghy
I put a remote oil change system on the engine so you're not taking the filter off
horizontally
Cockpit enclosure and screens
Engle 40 on rails under the chart table as a dedicated freezer.
Dutchman boom brake
Raspberry Pi running openplotter/signalk. With a hifiberry hifi amp.
Dorades that REALLY work!
Milwaukee 02170-20 1/2" cordless right-angle drill with an adapter to fit
winches. Runs the main up in a jiffy and lifts the dinghy onto the deck.
Bimini built of solar panels No fabric.
Fully enclosed double "rocking" anchor rollers on a short bowsprit
Both spinnaker and spare halyards tied into continuous loop.
Hardtop for my dodger with totally removable Makrolon windows
Watermaker.
Engel Fridge/Freezer.
PVC rack in starboard lazarett that nestles three 5 gallon buckets. Bucket
holds folding chairs and other occasional use stuff. Two typically hold
garbage, with tight fitting lids.
Icemaker.
Mosquito nets that drop over the open hatches.
Heavy weight stainless jack chain on oar locks, drops right through the holder. Used the same chain to weight the mosquito nets.
Stack pack sail cover.
LED lighting
Lewmar folding wheel makes space in the cockpit
Self tailing winch on the main halyard
Engle fridge built into cockpit locker , cold drinks at hand
Polystyrene floatation noodle (childrens' floatation pool toy) cord through the noodle and suspend horizontally below the
rubbing strip on the outside of the hull.
LED mastlight with photocell
Shallow trays in most lockers. No digging.
Steps on cockpit. Old knees.
Transom extensions. Much better dinghy boarding.
Valves for winterizing.
Full batten main
Sensor lights in dark cupboards & lockers
2 windlass remotes.
Stainless Steel lifting system on the Stern for lifting the 9.8 outboard.
Main downhaul, fastened to the headboard slide and reaching to the third reef
tack cringle. There I spliced in a length of bungee cord to keep it taught
….allows one to assist the last few meters of sail on its way down.
Dewalt wet-dry 12v vacuum
Infrared thermometer
Flexible socket wrench extensions
Mid-ship cleats on the Genoa Track
Replaced the rubber rubrail with an aluminium section used on dinghy gunwales,
no more black streaks down the hull and also leak-free.
Electric lift pump so much easier to bleed
A remote coolant overflow bottle/expansion tank connected to the pressure cap,
helps knowing your Heat exchanger ACTUALLY has coolant in it.
Cheap led strip lighting for the engine room,
LANOCOTE spray for spraying things you dont want to corrode
Foot pumps. The most serious water saver I can imagine.
Separate spigot for seawater,
Each cabin ventilation system
A ‘hook-lock’ on the cockpit door
Cutout of transom to make it so much easier to get in and out of dingy
Replaced reefing hook with a snap shackle.
Sailmaker put a strong strop through the reefing cringles with a round SS ring on
either end. Easier to get on the reefing hook than the cringle.
For cabin lighting hung small flashlights with soft shackles in convenient locations
(eg over the chart table, over the stove) LED flashlights with red or white
light. Work well, cheap and have a flashlight handy to grab.
Aere Inflatable Beach Roller for a fender when tying along a quay especially one
with pilings.
Hockey puck light on Amazon, Has a bright flashlight, all around light and low
power red light and you can clip it to hang anywhere. Rechargeable
Silicone sheet to cut some circles to put over the canisters of alcohol stove when
not in use to cut down on alcohol
evaporation.
Telltales cut from a black plastic garbage bag, they are better and lighter than
other materials, you can cut them as broad or as narrow and as long as you
like. Black shows thru sail.

[Nicholson58]

I added a one micron fuel polishing loop to feed super clean fuel to the engine and generator at all times. I haven’t changed a Racor in four years.

I installed all external Balmar charge controllers on all alternators.

I added Bogart battery monitors on both banks.

We added broadband radar and Watchmate AIS class B

Replaced the CQR with Rocna.

[Slovak]

Originally Posted by swordds

I use an Aere Inflatable Beach Roller for a fender when tying along a quay especially one with pilings. The beach roller is very heavy duty and tough (made for rolling across gravel beaches) and is long enough to hang horizontally so no heavy and hard to store fender boards are required. It is easy to inflate and deflate for very compact storage.

Based on the product picture there doesn't appear to be any attachment points. How do you attach a fender line to hang it horizontally?

[SpringHollow]

I am really hoping someone will answer the above question since I had it also.

Ken

[swordds]

The Aere roller does have a tab for connecting a line on one end. Duckworks boat supply sells the Aere roller and they also sell a stick on (or glue on?) line attachment accessory for the other end. I just make a noose in a line with a buntline hitch and tighten the noose around the inflated tube and that works fine. I will try to post a picture of the uninflated roller here.

[SY Kelpie]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Bimini built of solar panels (500W). No fabric.

I'd be very interested in hearing more about this.

[SVRocinante]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

If you have those little 3" diameter interior lights with the stupid little tiny switches on them, replace them with these LED touch lights. They are crazy bright, easy to turn on/off, and hardly use any power. I just attached with double sided tape.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...IB0X303E&psc=1

Thank you Sailorboy1!
I’ve been looking for replacements lights, with individual on/off switches for a while now. Just installed the first two (ordered 12) and they are awesome!