outfitting a Cruising boat help

[Little Otter]

Hey y'all sorry for the long absence, some things turned turtle for me but have since been righted and I am now in a position that I have started saving for my cruiser boat!! I have about six years (due to the current obligations of my First Mate but I'm not complaining) to save money, find a boat, and prepare for our adventure. While I'm very excited about this I also would like to hear peoples opinions on what I will need and what is a waste of space, as most of my experience is based on trips of one week or less. I hope to keep this a running thread so that we can refer to it for gear answers, and plan on asking about everything from dinghies to clothing. For my first few questions I would like to know what brand of foul weather gear the women like as I already have mine but Kristine(my First Mate) doesn't have anything since she is new to sailing, secondly I have a really hard time find boat shoes that are affordable and stay together for very long any recommendations are appreciated, thirdly what kind of dinghies do y'all use as I want an inflatable but I'm not sure what kind, as well as what size boat is needed for davits to become practical, and lastly (and please don't hate me for asking this ) what stove fuel is the best and most readily available both inside and outside the U.S. and what galley layout do you long-term live-aboard cruisers prefer. Thanks and more questions to come as I come across them and get answers.

[valhalla360]

Define your idea of cruising and what type of boat you are looking at?

For example: We mostly coastal hop in good weather and our helm is well protected. We don't even have foul weather gear.

As far as boat shoes, we finaly gave up and bought better quality. The cheap shoes were lasting only 2-4months before falling apart. The better quality we are getting a year or so out of it. Now we keep an eye on internet sites and when stopping into west marine, we check out the close outs. This spring found two pair for thier brand for $30 which are pretty much equivilent to the sebago.

[Little Otter]

Thanks for the heads up I don't mind spending a little more to save in the long run 👍 as for what type of boat I'm looking at 40'ish Islanders and the like because we plan on cruising for a couple of years in the Caribbean and hopefully out to Hawaii maybe farther 😀


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Eleuthera 2014]

Consider centre cockpit configuration. Hard dodger is also very nice to have; avoids dragging out foul weather gear. We have an ALU AB 9.5 with double hull and 15 HP 2T Yammy. Don't go cheap on this one = it becomes the equiv of your daily driver. Davits require a 45 footer plus IMO. Get good quality shoes you are comfortable in and WEAR them. Too many broken toes if you don't! ENJOY!

[Little Otter]

Thanks for the input especially on the davits I'd rather not have a lot of wasted space or excess weight that's not going to be useful.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[skipmac]

You will get conflicting opinions on this one but for stove fuel, propane. Cooks like home, cheap, a couple of tanks will last months of daily cooking, available world wide (with some tinkering with weird threads and adapters overseas).

The regular marine alcohol stoves are horrible. Fuel is expensive, they don't cook hot, and contrary to the publicity I consider them dangerous.

There are a couple of alcohol stoves, Origo is one, that are supposed to be better but I still like propane.

[Little Otter]

Thanks I'd heard about the propane adapters being tricky and I agree that I don't like the alcohol stoves I feel like having to pressurize the stove before lighting it


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Stu Jackson]

from a simple search on "boat shoes"

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...es-118770.html

There are many others that pop up on a search, everyone's feet are different, even those on one person!

[Little Otter]

Thanks I have always used sperrys but I usually don't go out for more than a week or so at a time so I'm glad that you told me cause I was thinking about using them but is rather not slip off the deck


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[FamilyVan]

I work full time so cruising for me means week ends +7 weeks of annual paid vacation, so individual trips are maxed out at about 2 weeks. Although I was a full time live aboard (great lakes) for a couple of years.

For shoes I'm partial to crocs. My wife wears crocs and my son wears little baby crocs. If the temperature drops below 10 or so degrees, I throw on some socks with my crocs. For really cruddy weather (like snow and what not), or clambering up rocky or scrubby shoreline I wear Vasque hiking boots.

For foul weather gear I keep 3 sets on board plus spares for guests. For slightly cruddy conditions or if I need to be mobile I wear a 2 peace gore tex suit, my jacket is MEC and my pants are North Face, but all the manufacturers of gore tex are close to on par- just stay away from the cheap spray coated stuff.

For very wet conditions I wear a Helly Hansen 2 piece slicker style rainsuit.

For terrible conditions (5 Celsius or lower with rain, spray or snow) I wear a two piece mustang floater suit. The mobility in a suit like this is terrible- but if you're sitting in your cockpit on autopilot for 10 hours- it's fantastic.

My Dinghy is a Westmarine, inflatable floor with aluminum slats and fibreglass transom about 9' long. This dinghy is a mid 90's dinghy and is still in fantastic condition. Although I have davits, I generally keep it inverted on my foredeck.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Little Otter]

Awesome thanks for the info you said that your two piece suit is a mustang what brand have you found to be the best for the money for your other foul weather gear I have Gill gear but am open to suggestions and being in the Great Lakes I'm sure you use it more than most but how often do you use your Mustang suit?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Little Otter]

Also how well does your dinghy handle being beached and has anyone ever punctured the bottom on an inflatable floor dinghy and if so how did it happen?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[robert.]

Hello and congratulations on getting aboard. My family and I are setting off in a week, bound for key Largo until Dec. We will be in the Caribbean after that. Take a look at our blog and you will see a ton of product reviews and research I did prior to making decisions. It has become a PT job outfitting our boat, storage, remodels, supplies, etc. I took the time to share it with others who are in the same spot. I have a power boat so some things might not apply.

We just got a great dinghy and outboard. I found it on Craigslist and I looked at several. I searched in several areas and found there to be a great selection most places for a lot less money. I got a RIB inflatable because I can put it on the back of my boat with a DinghyRamp. It required 28' of clearance on our platform so I'm not sure if that would work for you. The Achilles Dingy (10.5') and Honda 9.9 outboard set us back $2500 but they were in great shape and fairly new (2010). The ramp cost $1000 but they can be had for $800. There are lots of options out there but most seem to cost around $1k.

I have the lace up, canvas Sperry's. I got them at a sporting goods store for $45. They work just fine on our deck and hopefully they wear well.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by Little Otter

Awesome thanks for the info you said that your two piece suit is a mustang what brand have you found to be the best for the money for your other foul weather gear I have Gill gear but am open to suggestions and being in the Great Lakes I'm sure you use it more than most but how often do you use your Mustang suit?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

I think you will find lots of manufacturers of foul weather gear are coming in close to one another on price depending on the features you select, rubberized, breathable, built in harnesses etc. I like my Helly Hansen, although I'm sure Gill is on par.

My mustang suit I use quite a bit. If it's cold and I'm doing offshore style sailing, it really does the job. The other tines I use it is in my small boats (canoe and dinghy) since survival times are so poor in the great lakes for unprotected PIWs.

My dinghy beaches fine. Around here it's generally large flat limestone shelves that you make landfall on. Step out of the boat and drag it up on the rocks. Boat seems to handle it fine.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Little Otter

Hey y'all sorry for the long absence, some things turned turtle for me but have since been righted and I am now in a position that I have started saving for my cruiser boat!! I have about six years (due to the current obligations of my First Mate but I'm not complaining) to save money, find a boat, and prepare for our adventure. While I'm very excited about this I also would like to hear peoples opinions on what I will need and what is a waste of space, as most of my experience is based on trips of one week or less. I hope to keep this a running thread so that we can refer to it for gear answers, and plan on asking about everything from dinghies to clothing. For my first few questions I would like to know what brand of foul weather gear the women like as I already have mine but Kristine(my First Mate) doesn't have anything since she is new to sailing, secondly I have a really hard time find boat shoes that are affordable and stay together for very long any recommendations are appreciated, thirdly what kind of dinghies do y'all use as I want an inflatable but I'm not sure what kind, as well as what size boat is needed for davits to become practical, and lastly (and please don't hate me for asking this ) what stove fuel is the best and most readily available both inside and outside the U.S. and what galley layout do you long-term live-aboard cruisers prefer. Thanks and more questions to come as I come across them and get answers.

We bought our boat, a Liberty 458, because it was well equipped and in great condition.

The library the previous owner left had key equipment choices underlined. The texts were the usual top twenty of cruiser bibles.

Trying to navigate the myriad of reviews and testimonials online is a daunting task.

Buy a well equipped boat in good working order and many of the choices will be made for you.

To your specific questions:

Shoes - Ecco and Dubarry good. Sperry junk
Wet Weather Gear - Gill OS2 good price. Musto and Helly Hansen way more expensive for negligible quality improvement
Cooking Fuel - Propane. The only choice
Dinghy - we have an older AB rib and Yamaha Enduro 2 stroke 15hp. Both are great but I've heard mixed reviews about newer AB Ribs.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app