what is the best gadget on your boat?

[jason -and the arguenauts]

And I dont mean standard items like plotters or autohelms.

So what gadget (particularly home made) do you find most useful on your boat?
I promise I wont pich your idea and set up in business with it.

 

[tillergirl]

How long have you got:

There's the pole for reaching down 5ft into the bilge to turn the engine sea cock on and off. There's forecabin outboard bracket. There's the slide bracket to retain the teak (made from the old laid deck) cockpit table in the fore cabin under the deck head out of the way. There's the bespoke teak nav instruments rack (ain't got no plotter). There's the teak tillerpilot rack. It's basically about stowage. Oh and there's this:

 

[doug748]

1) I made teak holder for a standard liquid soap dispenser in the heads. Much less mess than a bar of soap.

2) Simple canvas to go over the boom for keeping off the sun (or more usually) rain.

3) Wooden seat to fit washboard slides. My favourite perch in poor weather.

 

[tomframe]

my wife

 

[FullCircle]

The square folding frying pan, and the flexible silicon bakeware.

I also love our Silver plated Mappin & webb wine goblets - unbreakable, so much better than plastic wine glasses.

 

[SimbaDog]

I also love our Silver plated Mappin & webb wine goblets - unbreakable, so much better than plastic wine glasses.

Now, there's a good idea
I'm fed up of drinking wine from crappy plastic glasses

 

[FullCircle]

Now, there's a good idea
I'm fed up of drinking wine from crappy plastic glasses

8 quid for 6 off ebay, in immaculate unused condition.......

 

[shmoo]

I haven't got one, but what I want is a thing to cover one of the sinks in the galley to give more worktop space.

 

[Maree]

I haven't got one, but what I want is a thing to cover one of the sinks in the galley to give more worktop space.

I've got one of them. It's called a chopping board and it was a fiver from tescos. I've got a narrow but long (front to back) sink and the board fits over the part of the sink nearest to me, but leaves about 4 inches clear at the back, just enough to rinse anything off.

If your sink configuration means the board will slip, just cut some wood offcuts and screw them to the underside to give the board something to butt up against.

 

[snooks]

I know you said gadgets, and not plotters, but the 5000 series touch screen chartplotter is the easiest plotter I've ever used, and if you don't think it isn't a gadget, wait until you've set a EBL/VRM just by moving your finger across a screen

The other thing I'm happy about is a "gadget". Well kind of, it's a squeezy drinks bottle that you can hold upside down without the contents coming out, it has a big wide top, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, and a cap to cover the top.

It's filled with oil and can be used to top up my bukh without a funnel or top up the oil in my halyard shaft seal when at sea!

I don't spill a drop, I just let my engine turn the oil black and let it spit slowly it out over the engine!

 

[TamarMike]

Empty 2 pint plastic milk bottle - saves waking the rest of the family up in the middle of the night after a couple of pints at the pub

 

[Refueler]

1. LED Guitar lights that clip on anywhere you need. I have one for each fwd bunk space clipped to curtain rail. Saves using main domestic battery. LED's - so lasts ages !!

2. LED downlights ... 3 for a fiver jobs .... stick em up so they light specific areas such as steps into cabin, bog doorway, over cooker / drinks box.

3. Garden solar lights with short spike ... fits winch socket or socket of windlass ... nice small amount of light just enough to light your way ...

4. Pump flask for those long nights in cockpit ... fill with favourite brew and have hot drinks all night.

5. 12V relay to switch on cool-box when engine starts, saves having to remember to switch on / off to save batterys.

6. Decent large snap-hook for clipping onto buoys, rings etc. to quickly set a line ...

7. Technical Drawing Table clips to hold chart down onto a board or Cockpit table ...

8. Office desk plastic clear folder ... large enough to have folded chart in ... ally with #7 and it's a winner !

Loads more if I really think about it !!

 

[BrianH]

A stainless steel, 2-LED, solar cell, garden light that cost peanuts and makes the perfect anchor light.

 

[Salty John]

Battery top-up jug. You fill it with distilled water, place the special spout in the battery opening and press. The water flows out until the right level is reached and then it stops. You can buy them in most auto shops in the USA; I've never found one here. Ideal for difficult battery locations.

 

[Poignard]

Captive sail tiers, eye-nuts on the mast step etc

1) A piece of 3-strand rope with webbing sail tiers pushed through every couple of feet and a few inches of shock cord at one end. Both ends have clip hooks and the whole thing is a bit shorter than the boom.

Clip it on under the boom and all the sail tiers are hanging just below the boom ready to hand.
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2) The six eye-nuts I fitted in place of the hex nuts that secure the mast step to the coach roof.

Poke the halyards through and tie a stopper knot. Prevents accidently unreeving a halyard.

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3) Loops of shock cord attached to rail each side of cockpit into which the tiller can be slipped to keep it hard over when coming alongside using a midship line.

Get the midship line on a pontoon cleat, tiller in the shockcord loop, engine slow ahead and the boat will sit there quietly whilst you take your time getting the other lines ashore.

 

[NPMR]

Large sheet of the material that they use for 'windows' in spary hoods. Cut to the shape of the companionway with strips of wood running athwartships to support it. Left in place when sailing.

Keeps the rain out when sailing downwind. keeps the heat in when sitting in the saloon. Lets the light in all the time.

And just flips out of the way and back into place when you want to go from out to in, or in to out!. Rolls up out of the way if your'e parked or don't need it.

 

[jason -and the arguenauts]

Empty 2 pint plastic milk bottle - saves waking the rest of the family up in the middle of the night after a couple of pints at the pub

Now that I dont believe. My experience has always been that it's one pint in and 2 pints out.

 

[tt65]

Plastic milk crate with garden decking.

My Beautiful Milk Crate.

My milk crate lives in cockpit all the time fits snugly on my Fulmar at after end under the tiller arc. It has a bit of B and Q decking. Quite fetching really.
Gets used as a step from almost anywhere to anywhere. Pontoon to deck, cockpit onto bridge deck etc, helps reach a bit higher almost anywhere. Ah! and when engine cover removed I can still get to and from cockpit from cabin.
Gets used as a cockpit table or work bench or a seat or a foot rest even a kind of cocktail cabinet. Used as a kneeler but not yet for prayer!
Extra seating in the Inflatable and has been used to keep feet dry when boarding dinghy from a beach, kind of stepping stone thingy.

The decking is a refinement added by my friend Mark who died a couple of years ago. If you are out there Mark, thanks for this.

I have become so attached to it that I now actually tie it in to be sure it stays with the boat but I have a spare one at home, just in case. This is in red so should match boats burgandy trim.

 

[jenku]

Large sheet of the material that they use for 'windows' in spary hoods. Cut to the shape of the companionway with strips of wood running athwartships to support it. Left in place when sailing.

Keeps the rain out when sailing downwind. keeps the heat in when sitting in the saloon. Lets the light in all the time.

And just flips out of the way and back into place when you want to go from out to in, or in to out!. Rolls up out of the way if your'e parked or don't need it.

This was a very good idea indeed! I will have to make myself one of those!

 

[Refueler]

...2) The six eye-nuts I fitted in place of the hex nuts that secure the mast step to the coach roof.

Poke the halyards through and tie a stopper knot. Prevents accidently unreeving a halyard.

Why not just thread end through mast cleat and stopper knot there ? That's what I do.