Those really convenient things you did.

[swordds]

Replaced reefing hook with a snap shackle.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by swordds

Replaced reefing hook with a snap shackle.

Yeah that's a good one. I had forgot about this: Once my sailmaker put a strong strop through the reefing cringles with a round SS ring on either end. That worked far easier on the reefing hook than trying to get the cringle on it.

[swordds]

For cabin lighting on my Alberg 30 I have hung some small flashlights with soft shackles in convenient locations (eg over the chart table, over the stove). I like the LED flashlights with either a red or white light selection. They work well, are cheap and now I always have a flashlight handy to grab if needed.

[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.

[Don C L]

If this little hockey puck light comes back up on Amazon, I recommend it. I used mine a lot this summer and I'd like to get another. Has a bright flashlight, pretty bright all around light and a good low power red light that I used quite a bit and you can clip it to hang anywhere. Rechargeable and it'll give your phone a boost if needed too.

I also got this silicone sheet to cut some circles to put over the canisters of my Origo stove when not in use to cut down on alcohol evaporation. The left over I used for putting under hot pans on the table and it worked great for insulating the heat AND it is really grippy so the pan stays put even when the boat is rolling.

[swordds]

Telltales cut from a black plastic garbage bag. Not because they are cheap but because they are better. They are lighter than other materials, you can cut them as broad or as narrow and as long as you like and if cut from a black plastic bag they are highly visible against and through a light colored sail and they do not fray and last for a very long time. For nighttime visibility on my jib I place a strip of 3” wide Ourmers green high visibility luminous tape. By far the most amazing glow-in-the-dark tape I have found.

[swordds]

Reading/implementing the book “Self-Steering for Sailing Craft” by John S Letcher, Jr. (especially Chapter 3). I am self-steering right nowI as I compose this post in gusty F-4 wind conditions on my Alberg 30. The book is out of print and sometimes hard to find, but for me it is the Bible on self-steering, ie, using the same sails that drive the boat to also steer it.
Ignore the YouTube videos that say lashing the tiller is the same thing. Yes, lashing the tiller may work for some relatively brief time when fairly close hauled in very consistent wind conditions. But a lashed tiller will generally not work sailing off the wind or on a broad reach and has no ability to correct the apparent wind course when the boat falls off the wind and the sails stall (ultimately resulting in a jibe if not manually corrected).
Learning to balance the sails as opposed to just overriding an imbalance with the rudder, and to set-up the jib or main sheet-to-tiller line and opposing elastics is a little challenging; but the great reward is less strain on sails, rigging and rudder and the ability to move freely about the boat for hours without being a slave to the tiller and without the cost and complexities of an auto pilot or the expense of a wind vane.

[Training Wheels]

Married a woman who loves to sail!

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Married a woman who loves to sail!

Probably the single best statement out of all these great suggestions!

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by swordds

Replaced reefing hook with a snap shackle.

Better than snap shackles are these, welded to a bracket in place of the standard reefing hook. Easy to put the reefing eye that is on a strap through one handed and not having to close it afterwards. I used the four inch version.

https://marine.wichard.com/rubrique-...000000-ME.html

[Nicholson58]

Dinghy Davits YES

Added 4 X USB charging port from 12 VDC, fuse and switch. No more wall warts.

Added Samlex 300 Watt full sine inverter for small users of 110 so we don’t use the 3.5 kw inverter for cell phones.

Made up a winch drive using a Milwaukee 28 volt, 1/2” drive right angle drill and winch bit.

[senormechanico]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...igicharge%20D4


Great charger !!


One more thing. If you have a cheapo LED flashlight which uses 3 AAA cells in a holder, dump the holder and the cells and use a 4 volt Li Ion cell wrapped with a turn or two of duct tape. It's a perfect fit, gives long times between charges and the light is better. It's also rechargeable from the above charger.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Added 4 X USB charging port from 12 VDC, fuse and switch. No more wall warts.

Added Samlex 300 Watt full sine inverter for small users of 110 so we don’t use the 3.5 kw inverter for cell phones.

I will second these. I've done them and they are among the best low cost modern little upgrades on the boat.

Hint- when that cooling fan in the inverter starts making too much noise don't replace the inverter with one that is going to do it again. Get a good replacement fan and replace it as it's a standard size and just plugs into a port int the unit.

[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

[swordds]

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

~$80 for 6 little lights? Seems costly.