Frugal Cruising

Laminating made cheap and easy

2012-02-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

This great tip comes from PacificSailors

It's always nice to keep things dry on a boat, so if you don't want to buy a bulky (and expensive) laminating machine and the pricey pouches that go with it, go get some clear contact paper. Then simply put the paper you want to protect between two sheets of the sticky stuff. Trim it to leave a quarter to half an inch of contact paper around the edges.

I use it for our marina emergency card that used to always stick to the window and make the ink run. Also great for those pre-departure checklists. You can even write on it with a dry-erase marker!

Best of all it takes up a lot less space and doesn't use any electricity!

Cooking with the Sun

2011-03-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Save money on fuel and be kind to the environment by cooking with the sun. They are also great for keeping the heat on the outside of the boat on hot days.

Cooking with a solar oven can be a lot of fun but they cost anywhere from $20 to over $300! Build your own solar oven with these simple plans available in many languages. Many of these solar cookers fold flat to save space and all you need is some cardboard, aluminum foil, and glue.

For more information about solar cooking take a look at these books.

Solar Cooking

Cooking with Sunshine

Make your own soda and save space and money

2011-02-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

Not enough room on board to carry a large variety of sodas? Don't feel like carrying hundreds of cans of soda to your boat during provisioning? Save money, space and your back, and get huge variety by making it yourself with this handy gadget!

Just fill the included reusable carbonating bottle with water, add the flavoring of your choice, screw it into the machine and press the large button on top to add fizz. When the bottle is empty simply rinse it and use it again - no trash to store. Oh, and if that wasn't enough... it doesn't use any electricity!
Via galleyswap.com

What your broker probably didn't tell you

2011-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

We've been shopping for a larger cruising/live-aboard boat for a couple of years now and just last weekend we were told about soldboats.com. This website is a part of yachtworld.com that is only accessible to brokers and contains the prices of all boats listed on yachtworld and what they SOLD for! A broker can also look at the ads of the sold boats and get some idea of the condition of the boat and the options that it sold with.

So, the next time you are looking at a boat for sale ask your broker to print you out the sales history of that particular model. It will help you a lot when making an offer. Below you can see the Pacific Seacraft 34's that sold between January 2008 and now.

			Listed Price		Sold Price
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1996	139,000	(10/06)	125,000	(02/08)	CA, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1996	139,000	(02/08)	129,000	(03/08)	CA, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1995	129,000	(09/07)	119,000	(05/09)	MD, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	119,500	(09/08)	95,000	(10/09)	MA, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	99,000	(06/10)	90,000	(12/10)	MD, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	139,900	(07/07)	128,000	(12/09)	ME, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	149,000	(11/08)	140,000	(03/09)	MD, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	109,500	(06/05)	99,000	(09/10)	ME, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1994	142,000	(06/08)	133,500	(04/10)	WI, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1993	129,900	(08/07)	107,000	(04/08)	NC, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1993	99,000	(10/08)	90,000	(12/08)	WI, USA
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1993	151,879	(09/07)	134,756	(03/08)	BC, Can
34'	Pacific Seacraft	1993	129,900	(08/07)	125,000	(03/08)	CT, USA

Via pacificsailors.com

Free Stainless Steel Water Bottle

2011-02-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

GalleySwap is giving away a stainless steel water bottle! Just post two recipes in the month of March and get a (very good) chance to win!

Save on shipping by price matching

2011-02-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I went to WM and bought two C-Strobes at a significant savings thanks to a great deal at Defender. The clerk at WM was even nice enough to look up the Defender price for me because I had forgotten my print-out. So while I have never actually bought anything from Defender... I think it's a great site!

Frugal Bahamas

2011-02-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

Matt and Christie aboard s/v Kaleo have a great post on how to save in Nassau while still having a great time!

Low Price Guarantee

2011-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

While West Marine may have changed their formerly awesome return policy they have not changed their Low Price Guarantee. I recently came across the PFD I've been pining after for nearly one hundred dollars less at Defender! Now I'm going to walk into WM with a print out of the Defender deal and will get the Defender price! And I save the shipping cost!