Date: 16 December 2013. Boat Presents.

© janice142
 

During this time of the year often friends ask what a boater needs. The most important thing of course is time. We all want and need more time. What we do not need is more Stuff. Goodness knows we have plenty of useless stuff. Dirt-dwellers seldom understand the lack of space for the extraneous, and though their heart is in the right place, well, sometimes their mind is simply missing in action. Storage considerations usually trump desire though any woman worth her sea-salt can of course find a storage spot for something she wants. And do not think the boys cannot bring in another tool and disappear it into the bilges -- we are not alone girls!
 

Aboard our 40'er a relative once gave us a set of glasses with gold trim. Beautiful if you want short fat breakable gold-trim glasses with maple leaves on them, and please bear in mind we were in the tropics at the time of receipt. Of course they did not stack. Because our friends were cruisers too we would not foist them off on other boaters.
 

So you are wondering what a boater might want and be able to use, eh? That is a tough one. You are right to avoid Stuff. Goodness knows few of us need more "stuff" and yet there are always those things we would like to have but cannot yet afford, or do not feel like expending the cash when another big ticket item is coming up.
 

I use the USB outlet adapters plugged into my cigarette lighter outlets. They are handy for charging my cell phone. Given unlimited $$ I would buy the first one. I actually have the third!   Affiliate links→

Hard-wired USB outlets w 12v Display and On/Off button

USB outlets Hardwire in Cigarette Hole

Cigarette Plug-In with 2 USB outlets

Along these lines:

• 12-volt to USB cigarette lighter plug adapter (I have two and they are great)

• 12-volt light (I doubt if any of us have enough lights; or we can find a place to add another light)

• Gift certificates (Amazon, Walmart, Defender's, etc.)

• For those in southern locals, a 12-volt fan
   

For the dinghy: A bilge pump, or a light, or a Gimbaled Mounted Cup Holder (for those with hard dinks, there's nothing like a place to stow the beverage) or maybe a square seat cushion that doubles as a flotation device.

• For those with $$, lines are nice for the boat and dinghy

• A new flag for the transom (no matter how nice yours is now, if you fly it regularly it will fade)

• A collection of Ancor electrical fittings (terminal rings, butt connectors, etc.)

• One (or more) of those new collapsible hoses that I have heard about.
   

What is absolutely not needed nor wanted is another cute nautical motif anything! Honestly, not every boat is decorated in red, white and blue. Boat-show yachts go with that color scheme because it is expected by land-lubbers. Plus, out here we can usually find something far more meaningful than your mass-produced China bric-a-brac so please spare us.
 

Now if you run across a lovely old brass oil lantern, we should talk. I have a thing for oil lanterns as you might have guessed from pictures of the interior of Seaweed!
 

Good luck -- I hope Santa is good to you.  Happy Christmas!
 

What do you wish for Christmas?
Is there a particularly great boat gift you've received/given? What was it?
 

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Categories: Gear, Vignettes

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