Top 12 Essentials You Want on Your Sailboat
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On most cruising sailboats today, we have all sorts of instruments, equipment, and gadgets to make our lives as comfortable and safe as possible. There are, however, some things we love more than others, and I have listed 12 sailboat essentials you probably want onboard.
A boat with a combined transmitter/receiver will broadcast its location, course over ground, speed, and in most cases, information about the type of boat and size. It will also receive this information from other boats transmitting within the antenna range.
If the system is well set up, the unit will overlay the AIS targets on your chart plotter and calculate the Closest Point of Approach (CPA) and Time to the Closest Point of Approach. You can also set an AIS alarm and program it to go off if another boat comes within a specific range of you. This is helpful if you are sailing in conditions with reduced visibility or single-handed at night when you want to take a nap.
The most important use of the AIS is to spot other boats early and see if their course will interact with yours, but also to know that other boats around you can see the same information about your boat.
I mostly use the Navionics Boating app for navigation, but I always have my old plotter turned on as a hardwired backup. With the addition of a Wi-Fi plotter or interface, you can also make Navionics use the boat’s own GPS antenna for increased accuracy, and it can show AIS targets and info directly on the chart in the app.
I previously used a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 and now a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, and they have both been great. You want to ensure you get a device with a bright screen usable in sunlight, but even the cheaper tablets will run Navionics without any problem.
Let’s take one scenario: You’re sailing into an unknown anchorage at night, it is raining, and the visibility is poor. Your plotter may have a split-screen containing the radar and depth sounding. You’ll see unlit objects or boats as you sail in, and the sounder tells the depth and shows if the seabed is flat or full of seaweed or rocks.
Then, you can have the tablet with Navionics’ sonar charts on top of those. It is a very nice setup. Before you sail in, you can check out the user information about obstacles in the anchorage, if the marker buoys are reliable, or if there are any navigational hazards. There is also information about where to check in, find the closest laundry or grocery store, and, of course, the closest bar… You can read my review of Navionics here, by the way.
Get a tablet unless you haven’t already got one.
Here are 3 good tablets in different price ranges on Amazon:
Before crossing the Atlantic, I bought the Iridium GO! marine package, which has been great. The crew and I could stay in touch with family and friends in the middle of the ocean. We celebrated Christmas between Gibraltar and Las Palmas and could call our families just as easily as we would if we were ashore.
We downloaded updated weather forecasts two times a day. Also, we uploaded our GPS position to an interactive chart so that everyone could follow our exact location and the forecast in our area and also read the daily status updates we made.
In many cases, the Satellite unit will be your only way to communicate with the outside world when you are offshore. If you have an accident on board and need medical advice or tell your mum that all is OK, the Iridium GO! gives you this possibility.
If you plan on getting the Iridium GO!, buy the Marine Package from PredictWind with an external antenna and cable. You also need a SIM card and a subscription, which PredictWind will provide you. The unit works seamlessly with the PredictWind weather app, which is full of valuable and simple tools. You connect your phones and tablets to the Iridium GO!’s wifi and control everything from your device. Sending an SMS is as simple as sending a message on WhatsApp, as the unit works similarly to your regular Wi-Fi router.
Internet speed will not allow you to surf or read the news. That’s where Starlink comes in. But you won’t be able to bring the Starlink with you if you have to enter the liferaft in an emergency. The Iridium Go! has a built-in battery and may, in an extremely unlucky event, save your life.
Get the Iridium GO! and PredictWind package here.
A popular alternative to the Iridium Go! is the more expensive Iridium Go! exec or the slightly cheaper Garmin InReach Mini 2.
Having the InReach Mini is also a good idea if you intend on crewing on someone else boat. If something happens outside of VHF and cell range, you can contact the outside world for help or advice, and it also packs a ton of other useful functions.
There are stories about people finding themselves in difficult situations on board, and having your own personal device would greatly benefit your own security. I will not go too deep into that specific topic, but many of you reading this will understand what I am talking about.
Amazon Link: Garmin InReach Mini 2
Starlink has been discussed widely in social media and newspapers lately, and more and more sailors install the system on their sailboats these days with good reason. After all the chatter and recommendations, I installed one on Ellidah, and I must say that it is a game-changer worth every dollar.
Not only can you stay connected at anchor, but you can activate Ocean Data and keep the connection while underway in the middle of the ocean. Imagine watching Netflix while crossing the Atlantic! This wasn’t possible a few years ago, but it is a reality at a very reasonable price right now.
If you’re not convinced, join this group on Facebook to see others’ installations and get inspiration and tips.
Starlink Roam is the one to get, and you can check prices in your local area at this link.
You could go ahead and install permanent fans in the cabins, the salon, and the toilet (trust me, a fan in the toilet is a life upgrade), or you could go the easy and cheap route like me and get portable rechargeable fans!
The great thing about these babies is that they last a long time per charge, are easy to put everywhere and move around, don’t make a lot of noise, and are CHEAP. I started with two but eventually bought a third one as we are often 3 people on board.
A while back, when I was sailing in Malta, there was a heat wave lasting for about a week with day temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius and not dropping lower than 35 at night. I had two fans hanging over my head everywhere I went on the boat, even outside in the cockpit. They also help keep the mosquitos away!
This is probably the cheapest and best addition you can give your boat, and I actually have one cooling me down as I write this article here in Carriacou.
Amazon Link: Portable Fans
Adding 570W of solar panels and 380Ah of lithium batteries made a huge difference to life onboard. With lithium batteries, the resting voltage is higher than on AGM and lead-acid batteries. Mine usually rest at 13.3V when not charging, whereas my old ones usually went down to just above 12V pretty quickly.
The benefit of the higher resting voltage is that all your appliances onboard will be more energy-efficient and use fewer amps. Another benefit is that they charge extremely efficiently, which is a huge advantage when relying on solar power.
Having a good amount of power certainly makes life onboard a lot more comfortable. Raymond, the autopilot, is also a huge fan of these batteries as he can steer the boat 24/7 just from the free solar energy, and I rarely have to use the engine to charge the batteries.
I only ran the engine for a total of 6 hours during our 16-day Atlantic crossing to charge the batteries after a few cloudy days. Who doesn’t love to be self-sufficient with power?
I wrote an article about how to get electricity on a sailboat and compared 5 great energy sources to charge the batteries that you may like to read.
Robin Iversen
Skipper, Electrician and ROV Pilot
Robin is the founder and owner of Sailing Ellidah and has been living on his sailboat since 2019. He is currently on a journey to sail around the world and is passionate about writing his story and helpful content to inspire others who share his interest in sailing.