Time to Brag on Your #liveaboard hacks

[Blaine]

Lots of good liveaboard hacks here, many directed toward organization and written by a liveaboard cruiser. Subscribing is free. https://theboatgalley.com/

[akprb]

A new pair of socks comes on, an old pair of socks goes off.

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by akprb

A new pair of socks comes on, an old pair of socks goes off.

What socks

[Cadence]

Just steam crustaceans and shell fish, not long or eating inner tubes is easier . I prefer the shell fish on the half shell but many don't..

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by mvmojo

Here's a few of our hacks that come to mind after 24 years of live-aboard cruising:

Clothes storage hack: Store your neatly folded clothing in vacuum bags like those found a WalMart, etc. Stuff half of a dryer sheet in each one. Your clothes will stay dry and mildew free and will smell like they just came out of the dryer when you take them out of the bag. You don't necessarily need to vacuum the bag down, just smash it down or roll it up to get as much air out as possible to reduce storage space.

Watering hack: Buy a water bladder that will fit in the bottom of your dinghy - ours holds 60 gallons. Rig up a 12v or 120v pump and hose to transfer water from the bag to the boat's deck fill. This lets you take the dinghy into the dock for water rather than taking the big boat in. Here's the bladder we use: https://www.bayteccontainers.com/waterbags.html When not in use, it folds up into a very small, flat package. Some marinas resent boats wanting to come in just to water up without buying fuel, etc., but we've never had a problem pulling up in a dinghy and asking, "Do you mind if we get a few gallons of water in our bladder?"

Hatches hack: It's rare to find a hatch that doesn't leak when the boat is slamming to windward for hours at a time. When offshore, seal all hatches with 2" vinyl tape all the way around - totally stops all the drips. We learned this from the big racing boats in Antigua that were getting ready to take the boats to the med for the season.

Roller Furling hack: A lot of people scoff at this racing tactic until they try it. When you want to roll up the headsail on the furler, turn downwind and sheet out rather than turning upwind and allowing the sail to flog. Even though the sail is full, there's not much pressure on it and it will easily roll in, staying nice and tight on the furler. Since this is somewhat counter-intuitive, you've got to try it to become a convert.

Ice Hack: If you have a freezer and want to make ice, buy the ice cube trays that have a sealing lid. We have 6 of them (ours are made by Rubbermaid) that we've been using for 18 years. No spills and ice for your drinks!

Battery Water filling Hack: To add water to your batteries without spilling it, buy a 2 gal garden sprayer. Remove the spray tip from the wand and slip on a short piece of vinyl tubing. Fill the sprayer with distilled water, pump up the pressure and you can use the on/off lever from the wand to add water directly to each cell without spilling any.

Deck Shower Hack: You can dual purpose your battery water garden sprayer with the spray wand for a deck shower. Let it sit in the sun for a few hours and you've got a warm pressurized shower with an easy to control on/off valve.

Dinghy Patch Hack: Inflatable dinghies invariably end up with puncture holes. Conventional wisdom says you have to deflate the dinghy, rough up the surface, apply a patch and wait 24 hours for the glue to cure. Who wants to be without a dinghy for 24 hours?? So, if you have a puncture, cut a patch about the size of a quarter. With the dinghy fully inflated, put a dab of super glue on the patch and press it over the hole. Hold it in place for a couple of minutes with thumb pressure (where a glove or you thumb might stick to the patch). Once the super glue sets, the leak will be fixed. However, super glue will crack over time and the leak will come back. So, over the top of the super glue patch, apply a larger conventional patch. I use "Goop" brand marine adhesive rather than the expensive special dinghy adhesives, but to each his own. The patch over the super glue patch has no pressure on it since the super glue patch totally stopped the leak so the large patch can cure without the dinghy needing to be deflated. If/when the super glue fails, the top patch will still prevent the leak from reoccurring. Can't tell you how many holes I've patched in my and other's dinghies using this method and have never had a patch failure.

Docking Hack: Lots of folks already know this one, but it's amazing how many either don't know it or don't use it. When coming alongside a dock (especially with a single engine boat), the first line on should be an aft leading midships spring line, i.e., from a midship cleat running aft to the dock. Once secure to a cleat or piling, you can slowly ease forward with your wheel slightly put over to steer away from the dock. The spring line will pull you in alongside the dock and by leaving the engine in gear at idle, you'll be held against the dock until you can get bow and stern lines secured. We employed this method on our sailboat and now use it with great success on our 80,000 lb steel trawler (just make sure the cleat and line can take the strain of the boat going ahead at idle).

These are just a few that come to mind. Maybe more later as I think of 'em...

These are great! Thanks!

[mvmojo]

Originally Posted by akprb

A new pair of socks comes on, an old pair of socks goes off.

I'm assuming what you mean is, "don't let old, unused stuff accumulate on-board". Absolutely!! On our 42' sailboat, we accumulated a ton of stuff. When I'd come back with something new my wife would ask, "Where are you going to store that??" Apparently, "On your side of the bunk" wasn't a good answer. So, she came up with a rule that said, "If it won't fit in one hand, don't bring it aboard." Ultimately that turned into the rule, "For everything that comes aboard, something has to be taken off the boat!" When we moved off the sailboat, the waterline dropped over 2 inches...

[MamaKube]

We have been liveaboards for three years now so I can add two thoughts:

Storage- except for spare parts,think critically about iits value every time you pick something up. If you don’t need or cherish it, let it go. For the things that remain, I have become a huge fan of labeled, stackable storage containers to maximize the pantry and closet space.

Routines- are great for health and shift watches, but the cruising life also thrives on taking opportunities!

[rbk]

Originally Posted by scallowayuk

hi i cook a lot in a pressure cooker ,would it work for crab lobster ect. never tried seafood, but it saves a lot of gas and water.

Only issue I have with cooking seafood in pressure cookers is that almost all seafood takes next to no time to cook. By the time youve locked your meal in, gor it to pressure, and cooled enough to unlock it, it’s very well done. Shrimp for instance take less than 2 min in a hot pan, fish (depending on thickness) 5-7 min, crab etc steamed under 10. Can you can hit those times with a pressure cooker without going over?

[1Sunseeker]

One way to save water when cooking the crabs is don't cook the entire crab. I first puncture the bottom caprice with a knife. That kills the crab. Then break off the legs and parts you wish to cook. Saves time and space. I even use sea water to cook in if I am in a place where the water gets changed by tides. Same for clams cook in sea water.

[RickG]

Silicone mat for drying dishes and a non-slip trivet - OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat. So, if you make a plate of sandwiches on a Corelle plat underway and put it on the cockpit table it won't slip off.

Cheers, RickG

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by ProteusRising

Our anchoring out was pretty easy, but we may need a new way to cook crab because such an operation KILLS the cooking gas. And that's not keeping with what we're trying to do. But having today's catch drive what's for dinner is pretty simple living. However, our lives have been so complicated for so long, that it sometimes seems like a default setting and we're in complete reboot mode. But the upgrade is going to be worth it.

I note your gas comment. After much mucking around filling camping gas and filling US bottles etc we have simplified the process. What ever country we are in we buy the local large domestic bottle of gas. Get the needed gas fittings from the same shop and never have a problem.. cheap and easy to fill. Hand the bottle to a fellow yachties when you no longer get need it. I was sick of hunting around trying to fillMY bottles. Just buy THEIRS.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by redhead

This seems to be a cooking thread now - that's cool, but I have an organization tip. I have many spray bottles and little "floor space" in the cabinets they should be in.

I wonder what's in all those spray bottles? I have one for diluted dish soap. Oother than that, I could imagine one with a vinegar solution to clean and prevent mold, but what else?

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by akprb

A new pair of socks comes on, an old pair of socks goes off.

In that order? Hmm.

[philiosophy]

A decent vice you can mount somewhere handy to use it.
A couple pieces of stainless steel sheet different guage for fabricating things you will need. Mounts etc.
A Honda or Yamaha 2.0 portable generator for those times your solar and wind generators aren’t happening. Also to bring up your Battery Bank for a couple days a month so that 1200.00 bunch of batteries lasts 5 plus years.
Don’t but Battery powered tools. Just get a good Electric Drill, Jig saw small grinder etc. The batteries have only so many charge cycles and by the time you add up the space and weight the batteries and chargers take up you will be money ahead and probably better tools. A Jap saw for cutting wood and plastic is hard to beat.
F

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

In that order? Hmm.

Around here, "goes off" would mean "gets stinky." But point taken.

Ann