In this video, 28 Things We Cannot Live Without While Liveaboard Cruising in the Tropics, we cover our most valued and necessary items we carry on board Bala...

Closed Captions (CC):
in this episode we talk about

all of the things we carry here on

balachandra that we simply just can't

live without

last time on sailing bella chandra we

visited

castries st lucia then we shared with

you how we are able to earn an income

while we cruise full time here in the

caribbean

if you're new to the channel hi i'm

noelle and i'm dan and we're sailing

bella chandra

we sail from nova scotia canada all the

way to the caribbean and have been

cruising now for a year

that's right and if you haven't

subscribed to our channel yet just go

below this video look for the big red

subscribe button

press that button the idea this week's

video came to me

after a few days of just consistent

blowing

and our batteries just being charged up

and i was just like

you know what i don't know what i do

without my wind generator right now i

was so thankful i was just like turning

on

the inverter every day pretty much all

day keeping laptops charged

didn't even have to leave the boat to go

to a cafe or anything to get work done

which was

awesome so yeah i was like dan we should

just do a video

on what we can't live without

it's a really good idea we make a lot of

videos for you guys about things

that are related to cruising that might

help you if you go cruising one day

and we definitely have never covered the

things that we literally

cannot do this without like the most

important items

to our cruising life and these items

like can be

very small like inexpensive things

to like very expensive things

we just listed off what we couldn't live

without so hopefully we can make you

guys a little better prepared if you

plan on cruising in the caribbean with

some of the things that we can't live

without and you may find that they're

important to you as well

i love my pressure cooker it saves me so

much time in the kitchen

and also saves us on propane i prefer to

cook

dried beans and lentils and chickpeas

from dried

rather than using can only because i

find that the texture of the bean

is way more satisfactory also i noticed

that

i'm not going through as many cans and

there's not so many cans filling up my

garbage bin

which is great when you can't always get

to shore to offload that garbage

i definitely would not leave port

without a can of wd-40

in a bottle of all-in-one oil on board

wd-40 can be used for a lot of things

from greasing your sail track

to protecting metal from rust to keeping

your locks

working smoothly and most importantly to

lubricate turnbuckles

and other sailing equipment which can

seize or corrode in a saltwater

environment

sometimes i use all-in-one after using

wd-40

as an oil to protect the metal parts i'm

working with

which in a saltwater environment helps

to extend their longevity

and keeps them working well out here at

sea it's essential to keep metal

components oiled

especially with outboard motors standing

rigging and other metal items on board

that need metal lubrication on a

constant basis it almost goes without

saying

that oils like wd-40 and all-in-one are

essential and should be kept on board

just about any vessel at sea

a turkey baster has many many uses but

on a boat i have several uses for a

turkey baster

for one when you're cleaning the bilge

it lets you get the last few drips all

the way down to the bottom

anytime you have a small pool of water

show up and you don't have enough power

to run a shop vac

a turkey baster will help you get some

of that water out it was very handy in

the winter when we had condensation

issues

and i also use it anytime i clean out

the sea strainer to lower the amount of

water in the sea strainer compartment

before taking out the filter i highly

recommend keeping one or two turkey

basters on board

you will find them useful i love my bed

if you had asked me if i loved my bed

two years ago when i first started

sleeping on board

i would have said otherwise the mattress

was so

thin and now that we've replaced it with

a memory foam

mattress my life is so much better dan's

really happy i talked him into this

now when we bought this memory foam

mattress it didn't quite

fit our bed but it was very easy to cut

off what we needed to cut off in order

to make it fit

we're definitely happier to be doing

this trip with our cell phone plan

and sprint has an international coverage

on all of these caribbean islands

and so far at each island we've stopped

at we've had unlimited data on our

sprint plan

mind you it's not that fast however we

don't need to purchase

any sim cards or local cell phone plans

and use our american sprint phone

to hotspot our internet throughout the

boat using our data plan

we're very happy to have our phone in

our international data plan

which is a hassle-free way to use

internet here in the caribbean

one item we definitely cannot live

without is our collapsible trolley cart

we've talked about this one before on

the channel

but it's definitely worth adding to this

list a lot of the essentials you'll be

looking for

anything you need to collect ashore or

bring with you whether it be parts

jerry cans water or groceries is much

easier to transport on a trolley cart

versus carrying the dead weight we use

our trolley cart pretty much

any time we stop at a new port and we

find it very convenient

we would not be doing this trip without

our trolley car oh my

this one's a good one walkie talkies i

remember when dan

and i first started communicating with

one another

when it came to docking and leaving the

dock and even dropping the anchor or

grabbing a mooring ball

these walkie-talkies have saved us so

much

in anger and frustration before we had

them we would just constantly

scream at each other and by the end of

it our moods would have

changed dramatically these

walkie-talkies are great

they're waterproof i've actually dropped

one in the drink once and it floated it

was really easy for me to retrieve it

i love that they have flashlights on

them as well

sometimes when dan and i separate and we

go to different

shops or different markets they actually

have a wide range

so dan could be on the boat and i could

be on shore

and i could just radio him from shore

and let him know hey i'm ready for you

to pick me up in the dinghy and he'd

just come right over

originally we carried these four 5

gallon or 20 liter

diesel jugs on deck for the long passage

we had planned

from nova scotia all the way to bermuda

thinking we would have to add the fuel

as we go

in order to make good time motor sailing

during a particular weather window

but now that we're in the caribbean we

keep them full as a reserve

but more importantly we use them to fill

our boat with diesel when we go to

marina

sometimes it's easier to take these jugs

in your dinghy and fill them with fuel

than it is to bring the entire boat into

the marina and tie up at a fuel dock

some fuel docks are tricky to get into

we've developed a habit

when buying fuel to simply fill these

jugs and bring them in the dinghy back

and forth to the fuel dock

we also find that the local gas stations

down here typically will charge a lot

less

for diesel fuel than they do at the

marina if you plan to fill up your

diesel at a gas station

you'll have no choice but to bring

diesel jerry cans like this with you

and fill them using these diesel jerry

cans to fill

our boat with diesel from a gas station

has probably saved us a fair bit of

money

while traveling here in the caribbean

it's always a good idea

to check the price of fuel before

purchasing and see if it's cheaper at

the gas station

it might be we wouldn't think about

leaving port without taking our water

jugs with us we do have a rainwater

collection

system but most of the time we have to

go and purchase or find water ashore

if you're doing this you're going to

need some of these 20 liter or 5 gallon

water jugs

we keep them strapped here on deck and

they're usually full

here in the caribbean we filled them at

the marinas which cost money but there

were several places in the bahamas

where water was free either at a public

water tap somewhere in the community

or someplace on shore that other

cruisers may refer you to

we find the 20 liter or 5 gallon size

jug when full of water

is just heavy enough that we can carry

or put on our trolley cart

put them in the dinghy and lift them

aboard anything larger than 5 gallons or

20 liters would probably be too

heavy to deal with we have two jugs on

deck a third jug down below

a collapsible water jug and some other

water containers that we fill when we go

to collect water

bella chandra has about 160 liters of

water storage

on board 160 liters or 40 gallons

so using jugs like this may take several

trips to completely fill your boat

so the more containers you have the less

trips you'll have to make

we've shown this in previous videos but

because we consider this to be an

essential item for us

here we go again this is our water

collecting system it's just a tarp with

a pvc fitting

a hose and a couple of pipe clamps the

hose runs into our water tanks and the

tarp collects the water it's very simple

we just got through the rainy season

here in the caribbean

and using this water collection device

we've been able to keep our tanks topped

up

most of the time limiting the amount of

time we've had to visit the marina

to purchase water if you decide to build

one of these make sure you buy

decent tarps a low quality tarp will

flap in the wind quite a bit

and take a lot of damage from the sun

when this happens

particles from the tarp might end up in

your water tanks and also

it wears out very quickly this is the

second tarp we've had since leaving nova

scotia

i purchased this one in the usvi's and

it's very strong

getting water at a marina costs money

here in the caribbean

so having a rainwater collection system

might save you a few dollars

the water is fairly cheap but still it

helps

and it's one less trip to a marina

especially if you're in an anchorage

where there's no marinas around

having these two spare buckets on board

has been

very beneficial for us as well we use it

for many things

when we're out fishing we'll fill it up

with whatever we catch

that day whether it be conch or lobster

or even

fish they're great to have in the dinghy

also

after really heavy rain the dinghy will

fill up with rain water and we like to

pump that water into these buckets and

use them to clean things around the boat

it's great having that extra fresh water

kicking around

when i first brought this mini lighter

plug inverter on board i wasn't sure how

much i would use it but once we were

offshore power and cruising full-time

we used this little unit constantly this

mini lighter plug inverter is from

xantex

the same company who makes our inverter

an inverter controller

this little box is fantastic we can use

it day or night and it doesn't have a

large drain on our batteries

during the day it's powerful enough to

charge a laptop but light enough that

you can charge just about anything else

like an electric razor or the battery

for our nikon dslr camera

on one end it's simply just a lighter

plug and on the other

a typical 115 household receptacle what

we love about this mini

inverter is that we're able to charge a

single item anytime

without running our main inverter which

would draw down the batteries

significantly

we love our fanny pack and it's just

great to have this small

compact bay that we can just easily

throw around

our shoulder and just walk around with

we use it for keys and

wallets and lately face masks and

it's nice not to have to have a big bag

or backpack with us at all times

when it's not necessary one of the last

things i added to the boat before

leaving nova scotia

was this usb charging port at our nav

station

we're constantly using this charging

port to charge our phones

to charge our tablet or anything else

that charges by a usb

and there's a lot of things that charge

with a usb these days

there's always something plugged into

our usb charge station

and we love having it if you don't

already have a usb charge station on

your boat

i recommend you get one if you're

planning to cruise full time

we love our little handheld water pump

we use this mainly to pump the water out

of our dinghy when it rains

but sometimes we pump the water out of

our dinghy into a bucket and keep it on

deck

that water becomes spare fresh water we

can use when washing things

watering plants scrubbing the deck

rinsing our feet

and lots of other uses and it means we

don't have to use up the precious water

in our drinking water tanks sometimes we

throw the handheld water pump in the

dinghy with us in case it rains

it's a lot faster to pump out our dinghy

using this handheld water pump

we definitely would not be traveling

without our handheld water pump

don't go cruising full time on a yacht

without taking a good multimeter along

with you

i use this multimeter a lot probably

once a week

maybe more whenever anything goes wrong

with something electrical on your boat

or if you're installing any new

equipment or testing an instrument

having a decent multimeter that can

check dc voltage

current and ohms readings is going to be

your best friend

i think i would be lost without my

multimeter and if something happened to

this one i would have to replace it

immediately

we have quite a few hanging nets here on

bella chandra

we really enjoy having the extra storage

to hang

our fruits and vegetables and i like

that they're constantly there

in our face so that we don't forget what

needs to be eaten

and we can keep an eye on them and

monitor them and ensure that they're not

starting to go off

i've also noticed that depending on the

vegetable and fruit that

usually their shelf life has expanded

because they are getting the proper air

flow that they need

we've mentioned our android tablet

several times in other videos

our android tablet is an essential item

for us for sure

not only is it our chart plotter in the

evening when your laptop dies and it's

too dark outside for the solar panels to

run your inverter

we can use our android tablet to watch

movies which charges

on very low power i am very happy

to have lazy jax when dan and i had

first started sailing

every time it came to bringing down the

main it was just a pure headache

i complained enough that dan finally

suggested that we'd install some lazy

jacks and

ever since then life has been so much

easier

we don't have to deal with having to

figure out

all the folds and you know compacting it

just right

the lazy jacks do most of the work for

you i strongly suggest if you do not

have those lazy jacks

get them installed our wind generator is

definitely an essential item our solar

panels are our main source of power here

on the boat they charge our batteries

each day unless it's cloudy but we find

the wind generator is an excellent

supplement on a breezy day it can keep

the batteries

charged and sometimes on very windy days

it can actually charge the batteries

full

just like the solar panels normally do

on sunny days we try to look after our

wind generator

and turn it off when it's a little bit

too windy when we see gusts above 25

knots i always turn off the wind

generator

each night when the sun goes down the

wind generator usually takes over

and keeps our batteries topped up

through the night so that in the morning

our power hasn't taken too much of a hit

and is ready to go even before the sun

comes up there's no way we could go

cruising without solar panels

solar panels are the one key item that

keep our batteries charged

every day our wind generator helps but

it does not have enough capacity to

charge

all of our batteries on good solar days

our solar panels will charge our

batteries

just like being plugged into shore power

it will top them right off

and allow us to turn down the fridge

temperature or run our inverter

to charge our laptops use power tools

run a toaster

or even heat water there's no way we

could cruise and live aboard

full time without our solar panels we

have

tons of face cloths here on board this

is only half the amount that we usually

have in the cover

the other half are dirty right now we

use them to

just wash ourselves down it helps us

save in water when it comes to bath time

they exfoliate our skin and help clean

off all those dead skin cells

so i suggest that you go out and just

buy a little extra they don't take up

that much space in the cover

the number one most important essential

item we have on board this boat

is our head torch the head torch is a

must-have

item really do not go cruising without a

head torch

we use our head torch literally every

single day

whether it's going on deck to check when

you hear a noise or hoisting your dinghy

at night

driving your dinghy at night fixing

something on board

when you're sailing at night and you

need hands-free action on deck

but also be able to see a head torch is

the only way to get this done

make sure if you're buying a head torch

that you get one that has the option to

show a red light for night vision

and also if you can find one that is

rechargeable it'll save on batteries and

be a lot more convenient our head torch

is rechargeable

and we keep it charged up all the time

we also have a second head torch that we

keep on board as a backup because we

know how important a head torch really

is

oh i just remembered one a mosquito net

i forgot to tell you guys about the

mosquito net yeah well

we don't use it all the time mind you

but when we are anchored close to shore

and it is a calm night the mosquitoes

will find their way into your boat and

this mosquito net is awesome

no that's right we have nets that cover

all of our port lights that came with

the boat

and we also have this mosquito net that

noel ordered

that the kind that you put over your bed

and now we have one we throw it over the

dodger and it keeps

any bugs from coming down the gangways

we leave the gangway open

yeah i just got it on ebay it was

probably 10 bucks

yeah we've been in some anchorages where

the mosquitoes are insane

it's needed no bug repellent yeah bug

repellent

the mosquitoes here are relentless it's

true and some of them

carry like dengue fever and malaria

and all the serious diseases that are

mosquito-borne so you want to make sure

that you have bug spray

and tiger bomb tiger bomb as after bite

will save you

so much it helps instantly tiger bomb

yeah pack tiger bomb but it's a real

threat so prepare for mosquitoes

so that's the end of this week's video

about the items that we carry on board

that we consider to be essential for our

cruising here in the caribbean hope you

found this helpful

for your future cruising plans we hope

you enjoyed it and we'll see you next

time

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