Top Ten Suggestions for Tropical Sailing

[RuskinDiver]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

Is Skin-so-soft available anywhere outside of the US (and Europe?) I've never seen it.

Chris

You can order online at Avon.com

[Cheechako]

Not sure SSS is sold in stores. Usually an Avon agent.....??

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by RuskinDiver

You can order online at Avon.com

LOL and get it through international post in one piece... hmmmm

[Dr. Sea]

[QUOTE=southseasailor;1556102] 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]

I carry a Spare Air for things like this. It's a small pressurized air tank with a built-in mouthpiece. Just stick it in your mouth and jump in the water. It doesn't last long at depth, but for checking the prop or making a quick dive to retrieve something lost overboard it's great.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Urban myths are so hard to dispel, or kill, just like Mosquitos, you kill one and another appears.

People just want to believe. And limited anecdotes or limited experience or lack of blind controlled testing lead to erroneous conclusions.

If you want to use bug repellant that is most effective, read this.

snopes.com: Mosquito Repel Lore

[Dr. Sea]

Thanks, Steady Hand, for sound advice about mosquito repellant. Sailors in the Caribbean have a new mosquito issue to worry about--chikungunya. All the Caribbean islands now have it, some worse than others, and it also occurs in Africa, Asia, and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific. The aegypti mosquito that carries it bites in the daytime as well as at night. It has symptoms similar to dengue fever and it can trigger rheumatoid arthritis. The effects can last only a week or so, but can also last for months or years. The Center for Disease Control offers some suggestions for repelling these mosquitos such as wearing permethrin-treated clothing but the simplest is to spray with an insect repellent that contains at least 15% DEET.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sea

Thanks, Steady Hand, for sound advice about mosquito repellant. Sailors in the Caribbean have a new mosquito issue to worry about--chikungunya. All the Caribbean islands now have it, some worse than others, and it also occurs in Africa, Asia, and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific. The aegypti mosquito that carries it bites in the daytime as well as at night. It has symptoms similar to dengue fever and it can trigger rheumatoid arthritis. The effects can last only a week or so, but can also last for months or years. The Center for Disease Control offers some suggestions for repelling these mosquitos such as wearing permethrin-treated clothing but the simplest is to spray with an insect repellent that contains at least 15% DEET.

You are welcome, Doc. And thanks for adding that additional info too. The issue used to be simple "mosquito bites" which were a nuisance and itchy for most people in the USA. But, the influx of West Nile virus (which caused deaths in Dallas Texas the last few years, and a big scare last year) and most recently the Chickungunya (also reported last year in Dallas area because a tourist came back from Caribe with it) have much more serious possible effects, both long term and possibly deadly.

Last year I bought some very comfortable (nicely designed and fitting) very lightweight fabric "travel pants" (multiple pockets and zip off legs I will never zip off) that are Permethrin treated by the factory and said to be good for many washings before losing their insect repellent effectiveness. In case anyone wants to find them they are brand KOPPEN and I think very well made and comfortable, even in very high heat we have in Dallas Texas in the summer. I also bought Permethrin spray for shirts and other fabric items (cloth hats, socks).

I suppose we all have to believe in something. I rather put my trust in good application of scientifically tested and proven effective chemicals and barriers (long clothing), so "DEET" and Permethrin and dense fabrics that cover skin.

I have been almost "eaten alive" by marsh mosquitos on the Gulf Coast (Bilouxi MS, Alabama, Lousiana, Florida) and when living on Hilton Head Island SC (my back door and deck were just a few feet from the water/marsh). I have also been a non-volunteer blood donor to the largest Mosquitos I have ever seen (Mosquityranus Rex) that swarmed around me in Alaska woods when I was backpacking there. So, I do want to avoid losing weight due to blood loss, or gaining a new "blood bug" due to a bite.

[mackrobertson]

Some things not covered so far:
1. Screens - use plastic screen material with Velcro on hatches: no wood screen frames to store. Screens for opening ports.
2. Hose extension for your shower sprayer. Wash with saltwater, rinse with fresh
3. Boom tent with water catcher pipes & hose connection for rain collection
4. Cockpit cushions for sleeping outside at night
5. Inverter and 2 x 20" box fans for push/pull ventilation (foredeck hatch and companionway)
6. Lightweight breathable rain jacket and rain hat
7. Swim ladder
8. Adler Barbour (air-cooled) refrigeration system
9. Water filter - combination sediment and carbon with replaceable cartridges
10. Daiquiri blender
11. Igloo ICE102 countertop portable ice maker (e-bay ~$80) You will be very popular in the anchorage!


My list is a little different. But I have been there and done that.


...The road less traveled by . . .

[zeehag]

i am IN tropical waters and i have none of the bs you guys seem to need. reality dictates items to keep and what to ditch. spares are important. ye can buy screen material in home depot. yes they have em here.
as our ocean is generally more than 28-30 centigrade, air movement inside boat is most important.
you can make what you need when you arrive.
carrying stuff n stuff makes your boat look lilke a hoarder owns it.
hard dodger and bimini for solar panel mounts and rain deflection. canvas leaks and water comes down in walls, not buckets.
in many tropical areas the wind is more than 35 kts in anchorages. good luck with your seeking of no wind.
you will be crying for a breeze when ypou get closer to equator, as it swelters
you will want and can buy an air conditioner down here. isnt bad and pricing is much same as usa, and without the extra duty.
you can find ceramic filters for water filling here in tropics go figger.
might not be able to find em in so pacific, but they are here.

seems folks think it is barren of people and development here. you are dead wrong.
another common misconception is that here at latitude 19-17, it is actually hotter than north latitudes. wrong again. we have humidity here.. 85 percent when temp is constantly 85 f. but i am hundreds of miles south of the desert areas, where the sun scorches everything.
big difference.
we have less heat and more humidity. rain here is rather warm and comfy.
there are many tropical areas and each one is different.
where do you wish to travel , in which tropical area???
right now we expect winds in excess of 140 mph to slide by our position. kinda happens in our region. this wind has name of blanca.

[Hudson Force]

Zee, I thought you were in Mazatlan, but that's not quite in the tropics. So, you're between 17* and 19* latitude,- I was going to ask where you are, but nobody needs to know that exactly,- Just Be Safe! 'careful with those potential big winds!

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by zeehag

where do you wish to travel , in which tropical area???
right now we expect winds in excess of 140 mph to slide by our position. kinda happens in our region. this wind has name of blanca.

Love it when a Yank doesn't read a thread and wades in with a reply assuming that everybody on the planet sails out of Florida .......

You are way up there; we are coming to the tropics from the south - yea it happens you know.

Definitely no home depots for us till we hit some other continent.

Since this thread started I've done a few miles from Rio de Janeiro, down around the bottom and now heading up the other side of South America. Currently in Valdiva, Chile, where the boat will stay for the winter (the Austral winter) while I go off and earn some pennies and my other half does some boat sitting and some painting.

Anyway to answer your question on destinations (it's further up the thread too) we are heading from Chile to Polynesia then somewhere else. Maybe we'll leave directly from Chile or go north to Equador and the Galapogos depending on when we get a haul-out when I get back in spring/early summer. Well next summer Polynesia somewhere.

Good luck with Blanca; hopefully it doesn't give you too much grief.\

Chris

[zeehag]

"Love it when a Yank doesn't read a thread and wades in with a reply assuming that everybody on the planet sails out of Florida ....... "

gotta love it when a head walker from down under thinks all northern cruisers are from florida..rodlmffao.
is too bad the southerner doesnt have good grasp of geography and weather, as if he did, he would realize i aint in florida...npor do i PRESUME to think anyone ever sailed out of florida.. rodl what a loudly bleated presumption. i love it when folks cannot read enough to know anything.


"Hudson Force:
Re: Top Ten Suggestions for Tropical Sailing
Zee, I thought you were in Mazatlan, but that's not quite in the tropics. So, you're between 17* and 19* latitude,- I was going to ask where you are, but nobody needs to know that exactly,- Just Be Safe! 'careful with those potential big winds!"
ty chris--we should be fine--this place is a good cane hole, surprisingly.

nope am still in barra de navidad--lat 19.1 north and long 104.5 west, awaiting the slide by of major cane blanca, which, according to our southern amigo is in florida .. most humorous, but sadly, geography seems not to be the best subject the southerner studied.
had he put 2 and 2 together , and paid attention to weather of the tropical world--NO!! NOT FREEKING BLUDI FLORIDA"S!!!!!
seems he doesnt realize usa has 2 oceanic coastlines, and pacific ocean is where i am, not the southerners obsession location, florida. this is most humorous and wquite entertaining.

our two major canes out of two formations so far this busy year should have given the southerner a clue as to my locale.

altho i know some cruisers who cruise out of florida, i am not that soul.
it is a shame when someone cannot place geography in an attempt to figger out where the person being bashed by his words is sailing.

this is quite entertaining.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by zeehag

"Love it when a Yank doesn't read a thread and wades in with a reply assuming that everybody on the planet sails out of Florida ....... "

gotta love it when a head walker from down under thinks all northern cruisers are from florida..rodlmffao.
is too bad the southerner doesnt have good grasp of geography and weather, as if he did, he would realize i aint in florida...npor do i PRESUME to think anyone ever sailed out of florida.. rodl what a loudly bleated presumption. i love it when folks cannot read enough to know anything.

Never said you were from Florida -- guess you having trouble reading English.

I know exactly, give or take a couple of degrees, where you are and just cause there is gentle breeze out in the Pacific your full of ****, get over it it's probably going to cruise on by.

Love it when a yank assumes all people from the southern hemisphere are from "down under" LOL

[Steadman Uhlich]

To put a little more regionalism into this talk of Northeners and Southerners, there are many in the Southern states of the USA who would take offense at being called a "Yank" except when done so with affection by someone from even further south, such as Australia, NZ, or the Falklands.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

To put a little more regionalism into this talk of Northeners and Southerners, there are many in the Southern states of the USA who would take offense at being called a "Yank" except when done so with affection by someone from even further south, such as Australia, NZ, or the Falklands.

Quite so