header photo

Melissa & Dave - Adventures at Sea

Useful things

Since not much happened today, I thought I would write about a couple of super useful things we have happened across along the way.  The first are these gidgets called Gear Tie’s made by Nite Ize. Ran into them in the hardware store on an end cap display and bought them in every size – from a few inches long – perfect for tying up a computer cable, to 3 feet long which works for lashing equipment down to the deck.  They are flexible like wire – wrapped in a tough outer plastic layer.  Think of them like a modern improved version of a bungee cord.  We liked them so well that we went back and bought more.  You can buy them on Amazon too.

  

We use them things like hanging up the life jackets in the cabin, the boat hook on deck, securing the fishing rod, and lashing the kayak paddles to the deck.

  

   

The other thing we found we couldn’t live without was a folding cart.  Typically the way you load supplies onto the boat is to grab a marina supplied dock cart (looks like a giant wheel barrel) at the parking lot, load it up, and wheel it down the dock to your boat.  This was fine when we were in Seattle and had cars.  Problem is that when you are walking down the street to the grocery store and back – lugging supplies long distances is a pain.  Literally.  So we bought this folding cart.  You can get them from West Marine in their signature blue, or cheaper at an office supply store.  It folds to the size of briefcase which is super handy as storage on the boat is limited.

 

Melissa has wheeled this thing to downtown Ketchikan twice in search of a spare dingy prop (wanted to be prepared to visit the icebergs!), fishing lures, wine, etc.  And she wheeled it around Prince Rupert, as well as Port McNeil in search of groceries.  She has put near to 10 miles on it and its no worse for wear.  Though she does get some odd looks as she cruises around the Safeway with her own cart, as in “what’s with the bag lady?”.  She was stopped by a clerk in the TruValue in Ketchikan that is right next to the dock.  She asked excitedly how Melissa liked it.   Melissa told her it was great.  The clerk said that she has been telling management they should sell them in the summer as she was sure they would “go like hotcakes”.  We are betting she is right.

We have been traveling with only one winch handle.  And before any of you sailors have a conniption and tell us that we could easily have lost the one winch handle overboard, we have an electric winch which can be rigged to pull any line as needed, so we figured that was an acceptable backup.  None the less, we’ve been scouring every marine store since we left Seattle for one.  We had no idea they were so rare!  No one carries them.  So we finally gave up and ordered one.  And if we are going to order one, might as well be the exact one we want.  So Melissa starts researching them, and Lewmar has a new one that indeed turned out to be as cool as it looked in the catalog.  A bit spendy at $100, but it allows single handed operation because the release mechanism runs the whole length of the handle.  We highly recommend it if you need a new one.

 

Of course, a few days after purchasing it, we found the spare winch handle in a locker in the back of the boat.  We take back all the criticizing of the prior boat owner for not having one!  :-)

Go Back

Comment