What Has and Has Not Worked For Us So Far

. . . 5 GOOD AND 3 NOT-SO-GOOD ADDITIONS

Our cruising friends may be more interested in this list than our land friends. Stan and Annie, who have done the Loop twice, asked us: what has worked and what hasn't on Carina? We're slow to answer, but here goes:

What Has Worked 

Carina with most of the things that have worked -- the
stainless steel lifting davits holding the dinghy up, the
bimini and back curtains, and the (hard to see)
solar panels.

Bimini, wind/sun/rain panels, dodger -- Every day we are grateful for the bimini over the entire top of the cockpit, the panels that attach to the side and back to block much wind, sun and rain, and our dodger that stretches across the front of the cockpit. That's no joke, every day. At some time, we'd like a total clear enclosure like many cruisers, but are very happy with what we have. 



Solar panels -- When we were on the mooring ball at Marathon, the solar panels provided the power we needed. Now that we're underway, our energy cup runneth over. 

Lifting davits for the dinghy -- From the time we installed them, they have worked great to lift the dinghy out of the water, keeping the bottom clean of barnacles and reducing the drag on Carina as we're underway. Enough said. 

The Makita vac is easy to store. The attachments separate from the body, and everything can be stored in a small bag.

Makita cordless vacuum -- Practical Sailor recommended the Makita BCL 180W 18-volt Lithium-Ion cordless vacuum, and we do, too. It's battery operated, rechargeable, small, dependable and has all the power needed to keep our sailboat clean. The few power tools on board are Makita, too, so we can use one charger. 


Microfiber fabrics -- Longtime cruising friends Phillip and Sharon told us they do not carry cotton on their sailboat. After experimenting on "shake-down" cruises, we saw the value of their ways. Our microfiber towels and settee cushion covers are easy to wash and quick to dry, something that can't be said for cotton. Before our trip started, we slowly replaced cotton shorts and T-shirts with performance fabrics. They are made of man-made synthetics that pack smaller than natural fabrics. Walmart, Target and TJMaxx carry them, so they don't have to cost a fortune. 

Our microfiber boat towels are from Target (the automotive and sporting goods areas) and the wash cloths from Dollar Tree. You don't have to spend a lot of money.

What Hasn't Worked

Thanks to several shake-down trips, we haven't had many flaming failures on this one. The disappointments we had are:

 GREAT CART! Get this if you have  
space. It holds items without 
having to strap them on.

Movies on an External Hard Drive -- To save space, our DVDs were copied onto an external hard drive to carry with us. The external hard drive seemed like a great solution because it's more compact than 100+ DVDs. It played the downloads well at home. Once on the boat, it didn't work. This one can probably be chalked up to user error and may work well for others. On the flip side, the external hard drive stores all of our photos with ease.


Carina's microwave oven -- Carina came to us with a tiny 10-year-old microwave that fit perfectly in a slot above the stove. It could only be used when we were hooked up to shore power at a dock, limiting how often we were able to cook with it. Within two months after the trip started, it stopped working. And that size microwave oven is no longer manufactured. It's now a peanut butter and jelly storage unit. 

Folding hand dolly -- It's a heavy-duty plastic dolly that many marine stores sell. However, groceries or laundry are hard to strap on it. They fall off. A personal rolling grocery cart like ours from Kmart makes it easy to carry clothes, groceries, gas canisters or other things to and from the boat. It also can be tied with bungies onto the back of our folding bikes and acts as a bike trailer. The cart folds, generally fitting the same space as the hand dolly.  


We hope this list helps somebody else planning a long cruise. At the least, we hope it answers Stan and Annie's question.