One of the biggest problems with sailing is that a lot of the time, you spend life at 20-30 degrees askew. We have a big strap in the galley to keep our cook in one place, but nothing like that to keep our laptop from sliding off the table. I have been pondering some kind of velcro or strap. My laptop tends to get damaged much easier than my cook when they hit the floor.
Tag: review
Microfiber Pack Towels for Sailing
Cruising with three young children, a staple of everyday, often several times a day, is swimming. Where there is swimming on a sail boat, there are wet towels hanging from the lifelines.
Tiring the boys with swimming is an important part of our daily sanity, but it sure does suck to have big wet beach towels hanging like it’s laundry day. Worse still if its raining and we have to bring them inside, worse that a wet dog.
Gear Review: Mantus Chain Hook
Cruising is a strange word when applied to living aboard a sailboat. From my limited experience, most of the time (especially with kids) is spent in the same place. Perhaps a better name would be “anchoring”.
If you are using a chain rode, a critical part of a successful anchoring is to use a snubber. This is some kind of line that stretches that can take brief shock loads as your boat twists around at anchor. A couple of interesting articles in Practical Sailor gave some insight into the shock loads that a snubber system must absorb. Most cruisers anchor-ers opt for three strand nylon as a snubber. It’s affordable and effective.
But how to attach it.
Gear Review: Vaavud Wind Meter
Let’s face it, if you are sailing, there is a critical piece of information you need to know.
How windy is it?
Many boats, mine included, have an onboard wind meter, or wind vane, that will give us this information. These are expensive though, from $500-$1000. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an affordable and easy alternative that could be used as a standalone or a backup to your main system?
There is – the Vaavud Wind Meter.
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Gear Review: GPK Car Charger for Apple Macbook
If you have a Mac laptop (or any other laptop come to that), it can be frustrating trying to charge it from a 12V plug, like that in a car or boat. The draw on a Mac power source can be high, as much as 85 watts for a MacBook Pro.
The initial solution is to buy a small “converter” that will change the voltage and power to something usable. This works well enough, but it’s horribly inefficient. The voltage has to be converted twice before it gets to the laptop, and the converter will often get pretty hot.
Fortunately, there is an easy solution, get a 12V GPK Car Charger from GPK Systems.
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Sailing With Kids 