We have gotten a lot of emails since we left to go cruising six months ago, people asking if we really needed this piece of equipment or that. So after some thinking I decided to write my opinions of what equipment I’m glad we didn’t bring along or the equipment we purchased but found out we really didn’t need.  Though these are primarily our thoughts many of the cruisers I spoke with here share very similar perspectives. Something to keep in mind is that everyone will have different priorities and cruising grounds can make a difference as well.

Water Maker
Generators
Cruising Guides

Water Maker - We have a small water maker, a Pur 40E that produces about 1.5 gallons per hour. The reasoning behind getting a water maker was to give us independence from lugging water, collecting rain water and so on. Though the unit works very well and the water quality is excellent it is definately a piece of equipment that we could have done without. Based on our experiences and after speaking with those here in the cruising community water makers are not used often in the Western Caribbean. Good potable drinking water as well as bulk purified water is easily available in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Most of the water is free but in some places you might pay five cents per gallon or 40 cents per gallon for purified water. Considering the purchase and maintenance costs of a water maker and any future repair costs it is not something I would purchase again if I were to remain in this area. If going to areas where water is more expensive or difficult to come by then our needs would be different and a water maker might become more desirable. As for now we do continue to use it but in order to do so we have to remain on the boat about three hours every three days while it is running. There are mixed groups out here, those that would not have one or don’t use theirs and those that wouldn’t dare cruise with out it. It’s another one of those things that comes down to personal preference, but you can definately cruise this area without one.

Generators - One of the things we struggled with before we left to go cruising was whether or not we needed a generator. The reason we wanted a generator was so  we could run the air conditioner, charge the batteries and feel independent. In the end we decided against it because of it’s high purchase price, maintenance and running costs and the storage space lost. It was the right decision. Most of the cruisers we met that have a generator fall into two categories. The first category are those that are constantly doing repairs or maintenance and the second category are those that just don’t use it. We’ve seen a lot of cruisers in this short amount of time spend many days working to keep their generator running and hauling fuel by jerry cans to feed it’s hungry appetite. Sometimes they spend more time in the bilge than they do enjoying paradise. The others just don’t seem to use it and it seems that there really is no reason to. Our decision not to install one worked out well. We don’t need air conditioning at anchor with the constant wind, the wind generator and solar panels do a great job keeping the batteries charged, and we feel more independent not having a generator because we’re not spending time hauling fuel and doing maintenance or repairs.

Cruising Guides - This falls into the category of what we took too much of. Many of the cruising guides we brought along with us have been invaluable, but not all. Actually, we took more cruising guides than we needed and the space they took up would have been better used for other things. For example we had four cruising guides for the Yucatan area, after reading all of them one would have been enough as most of the information is very similar. Along the gulf coast of the United States we had five cruising guides, most of which we didn’t use. Next time around we’ll spend more time looking at the cruising guides before we buy them. We have now sold most of the cruising guides keeping only the ones we found the most useful. The storage space gained has helped.

Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 S/V Bruadair. No reproduction without written consent.