Back from the BVI – here are post-trip comments on items from my equipment list. (Trip report, “Christmas in March”, later.) (Search on "Cunningham" to find the original post, if you wish.)

Dinghy ladder – a rigid three-rung ladder built of ¾” plastic pipe, with some old nylon laid line run through it with a snap hook to attach it to whatever. Because of the wild weather, we never dinghied to any snorkel or other site where we needed to leave the dinghy, then climb back in. We did try it out briefly, seemed as if it might be helpful, but not as “easy up” as I had hoped. For “Mark III” version I’ll add extension pipe lengths above where the line goes over the gunwale, so your hands have something to grab as you climb up, still trying to keep the ladder flat.

Cunningham hook, to be used as an anchor chain snubber hook in case the boat doesn’t have a snubber already assembled. No snubber on board, and almost no 3/8” line – just a 30” piece - to attach through the eye on my hook, which wouldn’t accept anything larger. A figure-8 knot held the line through the Cunningham hook eye, and I tied one of the boat’s dock lines to the 3/8” (with a sheet bend) to make the snubber long enough to cleat. The hook and the line held well, even in 25-knot winds, but the eye, with the figure-8 knot pressing on it, opened up to a “U” shape. That’s a lot of force! It took me about 15 minutes squeezing as hard as I could with a good-quality 8” vise-grip (from the boat’s tool kit) to force the eye closed enough so that it wouldn’t fall off the 3/8” line when tension was released. I couldn’t actually force the eye back into its original closed form.

Leather palm work gloves, for handling the anchor chain. Well-used. The windlass fed the chain into a sloped-floor chain locker, where the chain would pile up and jam the windlass if it wasn’t cleared away every foot or so. (Is Beneteau supposed to know how to design boats?)

Small tarp to supplement the bimini for sunset shade. We usually didn’t stop sailing or snorkeling early enough to spend enough “cocktail hour” time in the cockpit to make it worthwhile to deploy the tarp there, but we did stretch it across the salon, just forward of the salon table, to give the pitifully small V-berth some extra room. (Is Beneteau supposed to know how to design boats?)

Five-fathom line (line with sewn-in twine markers every fathom), to check the depth gauge offset and to use, if needed, for measuring the anchor chain for markings to determine scope. Used this to calibrate the boat’s lead line, which I used to check the depth gauge offset. Who would have thought the boat would have a lead line? My line wouldn’t work as a lead line, even with some spare shackles attached, because the current at the anchorage swept the line back at an angle. Didn’t use it to measure the anchor chain, because I couldn’t figure out how to mark the chain.

Blue masking tape and marker for temporary labels on the boat. Didn’t need this except when we were back at Sunsail at the end of the charter and I found an absent-minded crewmember using the head after I had emptied and flushed the holding tank at sea on our way into the base and told everyone that from now on we would be using the facilities on land. Tape marked “Do not use” and actually holding the lid down worked. (Sunsail tip: the toilets closest to “B” dock are up by the swimming pool – may not stay open all night, though.)

Duct tape (“transparent”, actually whiteish, so it won’t look as if we’re holding things together with duct tape). Used for fixing a cracked snorkel tube and covering over the screw holes where the anchor chain locker forward hinge pulled loose.

Two collapsible 5-gallon water jugs, to supplement the meager 50 gallons on board. We actually had 60 gallons, in 2 tanks, our boat checkout person said. I thought this meant that that we had 2 tanks of about equal size, so it was a big surprise when the 2nd tank gave out very quickly after we had switched to it. We used the water jugs then, to carry us over until we could get to a water dock. Turns out the boat’s 2nd tank was only10 gallons, added to supplement the original 50 gallon tank. Seems logical, but it escaped me at first. Later, one jug developed a leak and the other wrenched loose and disappeared overboard in heavy weather, so we never used them again, but we were okay. The weather wasn’t warm enough for salt water baths off the stern, but even with everyone showering mostly on board (quickly and not very often), we were careful with our water use and filled up only twice after leaving Sunsail. At Marina Cay, 14¢/gal, and at Leverick Bay, water and ice free with mooring.

Stretch cargo net, to be rigged overhead in cabin for storage of veggies, other lightweight supplies. Didn’t need this.

12V DC to 115V AC inverter to run handheld VHF battery charger. Didn’t run down the VHF, but used this to recharge our electric toothbrush (which we could have lived without, but why should we?).

12V “Y”, so inverter doesn’t use up boat’s 12V receptacle. Used this so charger and GPS could run simultaneously. Only one 12V receptacle on boat, at nav table.

DC extension cord, so handheld GPS can be used in cockpit. This worked beautifully, after I figured how to string the extension so it didn’t decapitate galley users.

Handheld GPS (Meridian Marine, don’t like it, but it’s what I got), programmed with Walker Mangum, CYC, other waypoints. (Sunsail GPS as backup). Somehow the programmed waypoints, which I had double-checked after loading them, disappeared from the Meridian Marine, so I had to reload by hand on the boat from the list in the Cruising Guide and from my paper printout of Walker’s info. Belt and suspenders wins again! Was surprised to find that the most valuable function of the GPS was “ETA”. By predicting when we would arrive at the selected waypoint, this saved us from stupidly pressing on with our fingers crossed to destinations where we would arrive after sunset. And it told us this early enough that we could bail out to nearer backup anchorages. Yes, you could do this by dead reckoning, if you had better DR skills than I have, but the GPS automatically takes into account speed, heading, and the effects of current and wind, the last two factors you can only guess about when under way.

Handheld waterproof marine VHF radio. Used this only for talking to Sunsail base for docking instructions on our return, but was glad I could talk from the cockpit instead of from the nav table below.

FRS/GMRS radios (2), each running on 3xAA cells. (Motorola T5720.) Didn’t use these, because they require thoughtful, enthusiastic, cooperative users who are willing to learn how to operate them. Unfortunately, our crew didn’t fit this description.

Waterproof marine 7x50 binoculars with internal bearing compass. (Bushnell, very bright, very clunky and heavy.) Very useful for picking out nav aids, mooring buoys, landmarks at a distance, even in fading light. Binocs on board were poor quality, as predicted.

“100 meter” waterproof spotlight beam led flashlight, 4xAA batteries, “50+ hours burn time”. (Princeton Tec Impact XL –flashlight head O-ring and threads smeared with silicone grease to assure watertightness, as suggested by Princeton Tec.) This one did the job, survived snorkeling, other underwater use well. Good in the Caves. We didn’t do night snorkeling, though.

“Waterproof” floodlight beam led flashlight, 4xAA batteries, “up to 155 hours run time”. (Streamlight 4AA – head O-ring and threads also greased with silicone) Failed underwater, as someone else had predicted. I shall have harsh words with Streamlight.

Tent light (for hanging from bimini for cockpit table lighting), 2 white or 1 red led, 2xAA batteries, “burn time: white led 20 peak hours, red led 72 peak hours”. (CMG Bonfire Blaze). This was great! I ran a loop of line around the bimini and hung this one up “for the duration”. Used the white light for cockpit dining at night (no dangling wires and not excessively bright), the red light for finding the boat after shore excursions at night. Even if we left early in the day, we could be sure that the red light would still be bobbing there – the bobbing red was quite distinctive – whenever we returned. One battery change for the 11-day trip.

Utility led night-light, hang-it-in-the-rigging-so-we-can-find-the-boat-light, 3xAAA batteries. (Brunton Lamplight) This one ended up living on a hook in the head as a night light, not too bright and we could leave it on all night. Again, one battery change needed during our whole trip.

Lots of AA plus 6 AAA batteries. Didn’t use many of these, since we didn’t use the FRS radios.

Rigger’s knife (serrated blade, marlinspike, shackle wrench, screwdriver) BoatUS tent sale $5 special. Lifesaver (or boat saver) when we wrapped the dinghy painter (oh, no!) around the prop. In home waters I usually wear this on a lanyard. In the BVI I kept it in my bag of spare bits of line. I insisted that this bag stay at the forward end of the starboard cockpit seat, against the wishes of the (not to be named) “straighten uppers”. When I needed it, it was right there where I could find it quickly.

Lumberman multitool. Used, for this and that, of course – including opening beer bottles and juice cans, since the boat had no “church key”.

Paring and small chef’s sharp kitchen knives. The boat’s knives were very dull, as predicted.

Waterproof fanny pack for wallet, etc., while snorkeling. Didn’t need this while snorkeling, but it was useful for keeping a wallet dry in the dinghy for shore expeditions. When we locked up the boat, I tied the padlock key to the fanny pack with a lanyard.

Small collection of bits of line, bungee cords, telltales in mesh zip case. Used frequently; the boat had no “small stuff”.

Collection of multi-colored small cable ties. I carried these in a shirt pocket, for “locking” baggage zipper pull-tabs. TSA did cut one off to search a duffle bag and replaced it with one of theirs, with an explanatory note left inside. I put a fingernail clipper in an unlocked outside pocket of a duffle, so I could cut the ties off at each destination.

Twenty-quart cooler to carry frozen foods to BVI. On the trip down to the BVI, the cooler was inside a cardboard carton held closed with a webbing luggage strap, and arrived okay, with the dinners still frozen. We discarded the carton on arrival at Sunsail, to keep roaches out of the boat. On the trip back north, I put the luggage strap tightly around the cooler itself, now packed with dirty laundry. This didn’t work too well – in San Juan and again in Boston, the cooler appeared on the luggage carousel without strap and with the lid open and leaking dirty socks. I found all my socks each time, I hope, and the strap.

David