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Waterborn · 21-06-2009, 21:27

I want to buy a vacuum for my boat. I am wondering if anyone can advise me on ones that work well or ones that were disappointing.
I would like a rechargable compact one, but if a plug in one for the shore power works a lot better I would be willing to sacrifice that.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers.
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Ocean Girl · 21-06-2009, 22:48

Howdy,
I use a 1.5 gallon wet/dry vac by black and decker, Its a/c and is loud, but works great

dkall · 22-06-2009, 04:42

We just bought a Ricca vacuum from a local dealer. Isn't made to suck up water though, but small and has good suction. We run it off the inverter knowing that none of the 12v models we could find would give us any satisfaction.

bottleinamessage · 22-06-2009, 04:51

we have 3. dust buster type, cheap wet/dry from home depot and small Oreck w/bags i bought on ebay. All require ac power to run or recharge.

Catamount · 22-06-2009, 04:56

Dewalt DC500, 12- to 18-volt cordless, or 120V AC corded, two-gallon wet-dry vac.

It is loud, but most vacs are.

bottleinamessage · 22-06-2009, 05:23

i started with the same dewalt, but it didn't last long. hope you have better luck with yours

corkscrew · 22-06-2009, 06:19

Just found a 12volt cig adaptor wet dry vac at Marshalls/TJX for $12.99! Works great. As a FYI - they sell tons of 12 volts car adaptor type items....still not sure why...but good place to check for stuff.

Sailabel · 22-06-2009, 08:05

We went through several vacs. Tried the dustbusters, 12-volt royals, and others. Ended up with the B&D small shop-vac, same as Ocean Girl.

A vacuum can seem trivial on a boat. But ours sees lots of use, from cleaning up after my 'projects', to sucking air out of 'space bags'. As we cruised with a dog (black lab) aboard, keeping dog hair out of the bilge was a priority. The shop vac was the only unit (so far) that has worked well for us, and it stores easily.

Steve

**David M** · 22-06-2009, 08:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Howdy,
I use a 1.5 gallon wet/dry vac by black and decker, Its a/c and is loud, but works great

Same here....works great for a lot of different cleanup jobs. Smaller ones and 12 volt vacuums just don't seem to have the power.

Caribsailors · 22-06-2009, 08:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Howdy,
I use a 1.5 gallon wet/dry vac by black and decker, Its a/c and is loud, but works great

Tried the 12V ones with no satisfaction. B&D has worked the best.

I am considering building one in as a central vacuum system.

Cheer

Bash · 22-06-2009, 08:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catamount

Dewalt DC500, 12- to 18-volt cordless, or 120V AC corded, two-gallon wet-dry vac.

We use the Dewalt DC515K. Advantage here is that it uses the same 18-volt batteries that we use for a drill and other tools.

Has seemed reliable to date.

donradcliffe · 22-06-2009, 10:19

+1 for the small shop vac, but I hate it when the admiral spends half an hour using 60 amps from the batteries/inverter--she is usually restricted to vacuuming when we are motoring.

We are on our third shop vac in 15 years, as the impellor plate fatigues and cracks. Easy to replace the whole unit in the US for $25, but shipping one in to another country about triples the cost.

tao · 22-06-2009, 12:34

I haven't tried it yet but I'm planning on trying a hand held Dirt Devil run off an inverter. It's vacuum is pretty strong and has a hose attachment. As a bonus it can also be used to inflate and deflate an inflatable dinghy. I've used it at home to inflate an air mattress.

**Hud3** · 22-06-2009, 16:58

The little ShopVac vacuum cleans up the dust bunnies, sucks the remaining water out of your freshwater tank when you're laying up the boat, blows up the dinghy when you're launching it, and sucks the air out of the dinghy when you're storing it. We had a "dust buster" type vac, used it twice and trashed it.