Top Ten Suggestions for Tropical Sailing

[smacksman]

1. Sunshade with rollup sides. I bought an old 65ft. luff, 3000sq.ft. spinnaker for £150 which I cut to fit. Nice and quiet in the wind. Rolls up small for stowage. I used the twizzle rig poles athwartship over the boom to spread the canopy and sunshade outboard.
2. Brazil is the place for hammocks. They really know how to make them.
3. Bilge is good to cool beer and wine. Also canvas water bags that weep and evaporate off to chill contents.
4. Black water bladder on the foredeck filled with rain water. Good to wash off salt and wash hair. Part shade to get the right temperature.
5. Through hull evaporator coils for refrigeration. Puts the extracted heat from the fridge/freezer into the sea and not into a locker. Vetus stock them.
6. Matresses for sleeping on deck under the awning. Mozzie nets if required. I was amazed to find it almost impossible to buy mozzie nets in the US! Everything air-con so not needed I suppose.
7. Gas barbie on the stern rail. Plenty of adaptors to get gas worldwide. Denatured alcohol burners are also good and odourless and safer.
8. Netting bags for keeping fruit and vegetables hung in the shade
9. Solar garden lights are cheap and fun to drink and eat by and make good anchor lights. Keep a stock of re-chargable AA batteries to use in cameras, etc. You won't miss your boat in a crowded anchorage on a dark night.
10. If you sail into the tropics your body has time to adjust to temperature and humidity. The clothes come off and your skin darkens and it is easier to cope. We had no air-con and a tiny fridge and managed ok.
A lot of the other points mentioned in the above posts I go along with.
Fair winds.

[isphh]

Thanks for the suggestions.
Solbian Flex – High Power Flexible Solar Panels - Bruce Schwab Energy Systems

[k7cej]

Concur with all of the above suggestions (except maybe the hammock). Lee canvases for the offshore berths should be made of netting for offshore comfort. A little home-made tent over the big deck hatch will allow you to catch the breeze at night and give you time to dog the hatch when the tropical downpour arrives. Re the fishing, we had good success dragging jigs on passage to catch tuna, mahi-mahi, wahoo, etc. We have a freezer and used a vacuum sealer to package and freeze 90% of any catch. We never ate reef fish and avoided ciguatera poisoning. My fishing bible is "The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing" by Scott and Wendy Bannerot. Tons of info, more than you will use, but covers all types of tropical fishing. Get a heavy offshore rod and reel with 85 lb. test Spectra line, or make a hand line from 300 lb. test tuna line and shock cord. There are many types of commercial jigs, but in a pinch you can make them from a weight, two big hooks, and some strips cut from a silvery potato chip bag, surgical gloves, cloth, just about anything. Pictures of our travels at Sail Sequoia. Craig

[southseasailor]

Fridge and a freezer, insect screens for all hatches including companion way that you want left open at night. rain catcher to water tanks/and or water maker, electric fans, scuba and snorkeling, 40 ft air hose from scuba tank to mouth reg so you can go over the side easily to check/clean hull/prop without weights or tank on back, all chain anchor rode at least 100m, some anchorages are deep. We have 100m chain connected to 50m anchor rope on our main anchor.
Danny
Amel SM 299

[Cacique]

Originally Posted by southseasailor

scuba and snorkeling, 40 ft air hose from scuba tank to mouth reg so you can go over the side easily to check/clean hull/prop without weights or tank on back.Amel SM 299

40ft air hose, what a brilliant idea, I lost my sunglasses and a drop nose pin on my mooring last week, but doing the whole scuba thing was too much of a chore but a 40ft hose would have done it and as you say if I need to free the prop of check the hull it will be much easier, thanks for the idea

[makjeng]

I can confirm that this is a very good list. I am presently up in Cairns North Queensland and after some 'routine' repairs and maintenance we will be sailing around the area for an extended period. All I can add is some refinement so here goes;

That BBQ is a must have! Put wrist straps on your BBQ tools and don't let it drip onto you dinghy.

Sun and rain protection for sure; suggest a second set of very light wet weather gear and a long sleeved 'rashi' and light full length trousers for snorkeling and general sun and stinger protection. Water resistant high SPF creams, SPF lip stick. Bushmans DEET spray for midges etc.
Light washable shoes for landing on rough coral beaches.
Keep your sunscreen off perspex windows as it accelerates crazing.

Consider getting a reef pick with 5 metres of chain as 'lunchtime' anchor.
The GBRMPA mooring buoys are heavy duty very slimy things; I don't have deck fittings sized to accommodate them so I use looped strong lines to form a bridle.

Add a good ice box if main capacity is too limited. Some fresh fruit and vegetables, even baked items like cake and bread may need refriferation depending on your time away.

A few strong, well sealed (smell proof) garbage bags to cart trash back to shore bins.

Grey polarized sun glasses are better than greenish coloured ones; add retention straps.

Make a conscious effort to keep up your fluids.

Electric fans are useful but they have to be quiet ones.
Hatch and portlight bug screens may be useful.

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Here's my list in no particular order...

1. Bimini for cockpit sun and rain protection
2. Dinghy other than inflatable PVC. Or a good cover for a PVC dinghy.
3. Solar Panels for charging batteries
4. Refrigeration for cold drinks and keeping food fresh.
5. Cabin ventilation maybe including wind chutes for hatches
6. Sail covers to prevent UV damage to sails
7. All chain rode for anchoring adjacent to coral and reef areas
8. Personal sun protection including sunscreens, protective clothing, decent boat shoes (especially if you have teak decks) and lots of hats of the clipon variety.
9. Polarised sunglasses for eye protection and bommie spotting
10. Snorkeling and fishing gear

Almost forgot another important thing. A stern rail BBQ. No one likes cooking inside the cabin when it's steenkin' hot.

[Bulawayo]

Reefmagnet has covered what I would suggest. We cruised for nearly ten years in the tropics aboard our cat. The manufacturer supplied refrigeration ate our batteries. Eventually we purchased a well insulated portable (if a 95 litre dual compartment very heavy unit can be termed so) National Luna fridge/freezer. The compartments can be used as fridge/fridge, fridge/freezer or freezer/freezer. We found that with extra solar panels we could we could run this very effectively. Now we are ashore (a temporary necessity to get the kids thru' university) we are still using it for our regular camping trips. Never had an issue and the temperatures are very easy to set. A friend had a similar (albeit smaller) on his half-a-boat; he used an Engel with similar success. We generally ran our at -15 deg C for the freezer and +4 for the fridge. As food reduced we would then use just side, saving amps.
Dinghy - our PVC semi-rigid literally came apart at the seams despite having a Sunbrella cover fitted. Our hypalon Avon roll-up, which we had from the outset is still serving the new owner - it simply will not give up. Our next dinghy shall be an aluminium hulled semi-rigid (for dragging up beaches and in shallow reef area's) with hypalon tubes and with covers fitted. The covers not only protect the tubes but allow you to soak them with water to stop the tubes burning your butt when you first sit down.

[JPA Cate]

Little chay,

If you or your partner are sewing folks, taking a 1/2 bolt (or if necessary a whole bolt) of su
nbrella with you gives you al kinds of options, including making *stuff* for people who didn't think of "it" before they got there. Shade and ventilation are paramount. You can learn to live without refrigeration in the tropics, but life's better, IMO, with it.

Cheers, I hope you like the tropics when you get there. Lots of cool climate folks don't.

Ann

[BBViper]

# 11 - pretty girl in a small bikini.

[geade]

Hello,

Top ten suggestions from an English cruiser of 16 years.

1.00 A very tolerant crew.
2.00 A big watermaker.
3.00 Some very strong fishing gear. Especially the line and wire. loads of big hooks you can always use foil as a lure.
4.00 A freezer with very good insulation. (For meat when you get sick of Tuna)
5.00 Some good new solar panels.
6.00 Plenty of means of airiating the boat.
7.00 Plenty of shade in the cockpit
8.00 A Kindle with lots of books (two if you don't want to fight with the crew)
9.00 Couple of Terabytes of British movies. I guess from the Falklands you share our humour.
10.00 Ear defenders (the crew wont always be tolerant)

Good luck and fair sailing. You will get your share of 35 plus don't worry but if planned it will be on the tail!

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by BBViper

# 11 - pretty girl in a small bikini.

I wouldn't be allowed another one!

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Cheers, I hope you like the tropics when you get there. Lots of cool climate folks don't.

Ann

Thanks we'll be taking sunbrella to make stuff as we go, we make almost everything on the boat.

I'm quite a tropical person at heart, the heat doesn't bother me, my other half hasn't much tropical experience. Anyway if we don't like it we'll just push north to Alaska,

I'm off to Rio at the weekend to pick up a boat - not going to be fun as there is something happening there involving lots of people fighting over a ball!

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by geade

8.00 A Kindle with lots of books (two if you don't want to fight with the crew)
9.00 Couple of Terabytes of British movies. I guess from the Falklands you share our humour.

Good luck and fair sailing. You will get your share of 35 plus don't worry but if planned it will be on the tail!

Hmm yes We need to work on the movie stock. I tend to watch more series' on passage rather than movies as they are shorter so easier to fit in a full one between doing things.

35 downwind would be great! Oh that mythical wind from astern!

[sfoot]

Think about the colour of your yacht. Our (Dark Blue) yacht is probably 10 degrees hotter immediately inside the hull than an equivalent white GRP yacht.
We have a Keel Cooler fridge - means that all heat from the fridge goes straight over the side and is not recycled into the cabin. Means we use a fraction of the electricity and also we dont heat the interior of the boat at same time as cooling the beer

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by k7cej

My fishing bible is "The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing" by Scott and Wendy Bannerot. Tons of info, more than you will use, but covers all types of tropical fishing. Get a heavy offshore rod and reel with 85 lb. test Spectra line, or make a hand line from 300 lb. test tuna line and shock cord.

Thanks Craig. Do you think it's worth investing in a rod, long term?

I have rod fished tuna and wahoo around Ascension Island, best wahoo was 96kg, and tolling a lure behind the boat for many thousands of miles I have caught and hand-lined tuna up to about 15kg.

I use the same book, it's the only decent one that I have found.

Chris