Some people will find this page totally useless- maybe you are thinking- WHY BOTHER writing this page!! But in a other hand maybe you are planning to do a long distance sailing and are interested what kind of gears and equipment we choose to put on our boat. So here it is- the equipment list.
Navigation / Communication
- Plotter: Garmin 4010 (inside)
- Plotter: Garmin 4008 (outside)
- Radar: Garmin HD
- AIS: Garmin 600
- PC navigation: 2 old laptops loaded with MaxSea 10.2 with all the carts needed
- Satphone: Iridium Extreme with a prepaid simcard
- VHF- Radio: Garmin
- Autopilot: Raymarine with hydraulic motor
- Transponder – Yellow brick
The reason that we put a new Garmin navigation system even though we already had a pretty good Raymarine plotter onboard is because I had the opportunity to get maps for the whole world for a really good price- also I consider Garmin ALOT better than raymarine- but that just me.
The satphone is for safety but we will mostly use it to download the weather forecast. To download the forecast we are using a program called Ugrib or Zygrib. This cost a bit more than if you are using a SSB radio and a modem- but to be honest I don’t have the skills to work that system.
Safety
- 2 x McMurdo S10 Personal AIS transponder
- EPRIRB McMurdo Smartfind – emergency transponder
- Liferaft for 8 people
- Searchlight – super strong flashlight from Olight
feels more like a weapon than a flashlight, 2000 lumen and a range of 1000 meters ( a real NERD-light)
We choose to invest in AIS transponders as our personal “ON THE WEST” transponders instead of a PLB (Personal Location Beacon), the reason for this decision is that if you fall overboard when you are alone on deck you need to be rescued pretty fast to have a chance so survive and the closest boat will probably be your own if you are out on a ocean, so if you activate your transponder you want the person back on the boat to be able to find you and rescue you. If you activate a PLB there is no real way to get you position back to the boat- the only one that will get your SOS signal is a search and rescue center closest to your position- that will not really help you if you are in the middle of the atlantic.
When you activate the AIS system the person back on the boat will see your exact position on the plotter screen and it will be pretty easy to find you- the only downside with this system is the range of the signal.
Electricity
- Solarpanels: 4 x 100 watt
- Solarpanel regulator – Victron MPPT x 2 (200 watt each)
- “Alternator charger unit” from Sterling Power, a device that make the alternator on the engines to load it full capacity
- External generator – Honda 2 KW
- Inverter 2000 watt – Victron
This part is the part that creates most headache for me and probably other sailors. If you make the decision to NOT do a hippie adventure without lights, autopilot and other luxury stuff such as gps, plotter etc, electricity is a good thing to have. On my last long distance cruise onboard on a 63 feet Wharram catamaran the only thing we had problems with was the electricity. This time I will go all in on solar panels instead of wind generators that I only have bad experiences with. When it´s bad weather I will start my engines to top up our battery bank, this box from Sterling Power that a mentioned above in the text is suppose to fool the alternator that the battery bank is empty and make the alternator to deliver it´s full capacity instead of stop loading after a few minutes- it basically works as an advanced 4 stage charger.
Medical equipment
- 4 litres of IV fluid
- Antibiotics- both pills and for injections
- Adrenalin- injections
- Cortison – both pills and for injections
- Full trauma kit
Some people call me extremist, but the thing is that I know from own experience that there is nothing more scary than not to be able to handle a trauma when you are isolated. It´s hard to know what to bring with you on a trip like this- I mean anything can happen or nothing can happen- hard to know- better to be prepared than not to be prepared. The problem is that you are very limited with knowledge about the subject (if you are not a doctor) I have some paramedic training from earlier jobs in bad areas around the world but it´s very basic. The tactic will be to get in touch with a doctor over the phone and he or she can give me advice what medicine to administrate in case of an emergency.
Comfort
- Watermaker- Spectra Ventura 150
- 220 voltage in every room (even on the sea)
- Fans (In every room)
We decided to install a water maker from Spectra onboard the boat after 7 months on the sea without. The water maker is a fully automated machine that takes care of it self. The freedom we have got after investing in the machine is unbeatable and the only thing we regret is that we did not go for a machine with bigger capasity. Our inverter is also connected so that all the rooms onboard has a 220 socket- so that you can charge your computer, phone or camera. When we were in Greece we also installed a fan in every room so that it is more comfortable when it is warm outside.
Diving
- 2 sets of dive equipment including dive computer
- 4 Dive bottles (Steel 200 bar)
- Compressor from Coltri
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