Stuff That Works

One of the major frustrations for us as full-time cruisers is that so much of the gear available for yachts is second-rate. Either it doesn’t work the way it is advertised to or it works for a short time and then disintegrates under the demands of full-time use in a salt water environment.

However, we don’t want to just harp on the negative so on this page we present the positive angle: Articles on equipment and services that we have found work reliably and/or that have made a significant contribution to our voyages.

Note that we are not being compensated in any way for commending these companies or individuals. If we have received any sponsorship or support we’ll let you know in our discussion of that company or individual.

Northern Lights Generator, Model M643 (5KW)

by John May 18, 2007

Our Northern Lights Generator is a piece of equipment that just keeps on working. We are religious with maintenance and oil changes but are rewarded with reliable service.

Shurflo Pumps

by Phyllis May 18, 2007

Finally, a pump that can actually work for three years without a rebuild! After years of 6-month rebuild schedules on our other pumps, we were ready for Shurflo!

Milton Cat, SOS Services Laboratory

by John May 18, 2007

The SOS Services Laboratory provides a great service. Once you have set up an account with them, they will forward special oil sample containers to you that you then fill with a sample of oil taken each time you change the engine, transmission or generator oil. SOS Laboratory will then analyze it. They keep a [...]

Simrad Autopilot

by John May 19, 2007

For a short handed crew, a reliable autopilot is one of the most important pieces of gear on the boat. After some initial teething problems our Simrad autopilot has steered us some 45,000 miles with no problems. Great gear!

Tops In Quality

by Phyllis November 1, 2007

Over the years that we have owned Morgan’s Cloud, there have been many custom stainless steel items that we have had fabricated by Tops in Quality: cabintop handrails, liferaft cradle, lifeline stanchions, etc.

Loctite

by Phyllis January 1, 2008

Vibration and movement are always present on a boat at sea and can easily loosen screws. To avert the substantial problems that even a single backed-out screw can cause, we use Loctite thread lock fluid. Use Blue if you want to undo it easily, Red if you want to work at it and Green if [...]

UUPlus—E-mail Server

by John January 1, 2008

The UUPlus software and server substantially reduce the time it takes to send and receive e-mail via cell or satellite phone. At $35/month it’s not cheap but it saves a fortune in download time and makes good sense if you have a fairly high volume of e-mails.

Steiner Binoculars

by Phyllis January 1, 2008
The latest electronic gizmos (not that ours are the latest) may be way cool but a good pair of binoculars are at least as important to safety on a voyaging sail boat.

Steiner is one of the few companies left (it seems) that is still building good quality equipment and then standing behind it. We have had the same pair of Steiner Commander RS2000 binoculars for over 20 years.

Treadmaster Deck Covering

by Phyllis January 1, 2008

We are finally nailed to the deck, thanks to Treadmaster! Though we had the most aggressive non-skid paint we could get, we still used to slide around whenever there was snow on the deck. It was a huge job to template, cut out and glue down all the pieces of Treadmaster it took to cover [...]

Plexus

by John February 1, 2008
The manufacturer provides several automatic mixing dispensers.

It used to be that when we wanted to attach something to our aluminum hull we had it welded. This requires special equipment and a skilled operator, not to speak of all the attendant mess and paint damage. Not anymore, we now use Plexus.

Tef-Gel

by Phyllis March 1, 2008

Maintaining an aluminum boat has made us especially paranoid about making sure we use an anti-corrosive agent whenever we screw anything to anything else. We have found that Tef-Gel, a teflon product, does the best job. Stainless steel screws back easily out of aluminum even after several years if they’ve been applied with a liberal [...]

PVC Pipe

by John May 18, 2008
A PVC pipe installation in the bilge of aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

We’re amazed that more boats are not plumbed with ordinary PVC pipe, but then again we never thought of using it either until we bought Morgan’s Cloud 16 years ago and found that her builder had used PVC pipe for almost all of her plumbing.

Commander’s Weather

by John May 19, 2008

When we have a tough passage to make, particularly early or late in the season, and we need expert advice on picking a weather window, we call Commander’s Weather. They provide excellent individualized forecasts and routing advice, based on information we give them on boat speed, preferences, etc. We still make the final decision on [...]

WeatherFax 2000

by John May 19, 2008
A weather fax surface forecast map of the North Atlantic.

We are long time users of WeatherFax 2000, from Xaxero Marine Software Engineering Ltd in New Zealand, for the reception of weather faxes on a Windows PC.

SPADE Anchor

by John January 1, 2009

We think this anchor is the next best thing to sliced bread! We like the SPADE so much, we have a 120lb as our bower anchor and a 66lb as our secondary anchor. The SPADE has replaced the Luke as our primary high latitude anchor because it is the only stockless anchor I know that [...]

Badger Sunscreen

by Phyllis January 1, 2009
Badger Sunscreen 30 SPF

So, after years of slathering on sunscreen in order to avoid getting skin cancer, we’re now being told that a number of the chemicals used in these very sunscreens are themselves carcinogens. It just makes me crazy!

Headhunter Three Way Universal Valves

by Phyllis May 18, 2009
Headhunter Three Way Universal Valves for the black water system on aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

If there’s one place that you really don’t want a valve to bust while in use, it’s in the black water system.

Jenifer Clark’s Gulfstream

by John May 19, 2009

Sailing to Bermuda this fall? Get your weather information wherever you like; there is a huge amount available for free on the Internet.

Bock Marine Soothes Boatyard Hell

by John June 18, 2009
I was at the top of the mast because we decided that before transiting under the charted 86-foot clearance high voltage cable with our 74-foot mast, it might be a really good idea to remove the 3-foot lightning conductor.

“Boat Yard Hell” is our term of endearment for Morgan’s Cloud’s annual date with a boat lift. There just isn’t much fun to it: living at the top of a 15’ ladder, peeing in a bucket, the morning dash to the toilet building, and of course day after day of boat chores as we try [...]

Force10 Stove (Cooker)

by John November 13, 2009
The Force10 marine stove (cooker) in the galley of aluminum expedition sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

This post will undoubtedly floor those of you who have read about our problems, some of them dangerous, with the Force10 stove. And I won’t kid you, we deeply and personally resent the time, effort and money expended over nearly two years that getting this stove working safely and properly has taken—it is simply not [...]

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