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I bought a vacuum oil pump to change the oil in the boat. First time I used it, pulled out the dip stick stuck it in, dunk dunk on the bottom of the sump pan and sucked away. In 10 minutes all the oil was out, no mess, no hot sump plug, no oil spills.

So it got me thinking, what is the best gadget you've got for your boat? Mike will probably say the sail bag/cover.

So what is the best device you've bought, what is the "Ducks Guts"?

You're right Greg, the lazy bag is the best, closely followed by the electric galley pump!

I need to change the oil on the outboard, but because I have to do the gearbox as well, I might have to take it off and do it at home. Otherwise I'd get the vacuum pump.

Mike, I had a Chrylser 150 on a Cole 23, It had a fill and drain hole on the gearbox. To change the oil I lowered the leg into the dinghy, bucket under the leg, openend the drain plug and controlled the oil flow with the top plug.
TO fill, the oil came in a BBQ sauce type squeeze bottle. Insert the nozzle in the DRAIN HOLE and squeeze. You fill it up from the bottom, no air locks. That was the ducks guts.

BTW the Chrysler 150 was a 9HP, not 15Hp, the 150 was the thrust in lbs, ie 150lbs thrust. Ahh, salesmanship !

The best one I can think of now (its been a while since ive been sailing ) is a head torch, I think mine is a "Dolphin" brand with a few bright white LED's & a red LED.
The LED Lenser small hand torch is pretty good too.

cheers

Hello Hatters
The duck's guts has to be my 900mm hand held claw ? Great for getting my dropped nuts out of the bilge! I think I paid $2.00 for it 18 years ago, at one of those bargain shops . It can also pick- up sockets ,bolts screwdrivers ,spring washers ,engine push rods spanners and mobile phones .

Cheers Bear

Don't forget the humble bottle opener

would have to be the Flemming wind vane it killed me financially when i first bought it but to think it works on nothing but wind no electronics, never argues, when the weather gets bad it doesn't get scared, nor does it mind getting wet, we are best friends smile

The item which has made my life easier is this NASA BM1 Compact battery monitor.

From the website:-
'The unit continuously monitors voltage, current (charge or discharge), number of amp/hours (charge or discharge), the batteries state of charge and the time to charge or discharge.'


No more guessing and worrying if the battery will last when using the auto helm, nav lights, cabin lights etc.

The time to charge is really handy too.

Cheers,

Tom

Hi Tom,

Looks good. A few questions.

Was the battery monitor easy to install? Did you set it up to run 24/7 or does it switch off when you isolate the battery. Who did you buy it from and what do they cost?

Cheers,
mark

Hi Mark,

It cost me $160 (including $30 freight from UK) in July 2011.

Got it from Yachtbits and it arrived in a week.

http://www.yachtbits.com/nasa/_bm_1_com ... c_grey.php

It was easy to install and it runs all the time but only uses 1.5 mA.

The light only comes on when you press a button and goes off after a minute or so.

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks Tom. I only use one battery (100 AH) so a battery monitor would be handy. When I coastal cruise, I bring along a rechargeable marine starter pack battery (19AH) I use as a house battery. With LED nav and internal lights I find this works fine, but it would be good to have a better handle on the starter battery. At a pinch, I could crank my diesel but I would prefer to know I can bring it life with the turn of a key.

Cheers,
Mark