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Power on the Go: Jackery Explorer 300 Portable Power Station Review

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Having backup electrical power is a necessity for my peace of mind while on the water.  A large housebank of batteries, solar panels, and wind generators are all potential solutions, but perhaps the easiest and one of the most cost effective alternatives are lithium ion portable power stations such as the Jackery Explorer 300 .  Charging phones, powering fans, and even running my onboard hardwired battery charger are all common uses for our little Jackery. The thing that makes the Jackery Explorer more than just a large capacity (293Wh) lithium ion battery pack and really useful away from shorepower is the built-in sine wave inverter with two 300W (500W peak/surge) AC outlets. Running a fan at night or just topping off the housebank without starting the gasoline powered generator are nice options.  There's also a 60W USB-C input/output port, 2 USB-A output ports, and a 12V car outlet.  I've found that charging the Jackery 300 with a wall outlet is fairly quick and i...
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Andrew Bedwell and the Big C Atlantic Challenge

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"From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow." - Aeschylus Have you seen the seed of a redwood tree?  The Aeschylus quote above embodies what many of us know in our minds but still sometimes find hard to believe with our eyes.  It was that way when I first heard about Andrew Bedwell's next big adventure and laid eyes upon his tiny sailboat.  There are plenty of sailors who have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a wide variety of vessels, but none who have done so aboard a sailing vessel so diminutive as Bedwell's ironically named "Big C".  Ready for the specs?  Big C is just 39 inches long!  This is a boat that even my 10-year old daughter would find cramped, and yet Andrew Bedwell intends on sailing it from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Cornwall, England in May of 2023, and by so doing breaking the world record for the smallest vessel to sail across the Atlantic.   The ~1,900 mile record is currently held by American sailor Hugo Vihlen who completed the A...
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No Need to Hurry - An Interview with A Cruising Sailor

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“You don’t need to hurry. Take your time!  We are all used to planning our lives days, weeks, or even months in advance. But it doesn’t work that way on a sailboat." - Brandon Keepers I've never meet Brandon Keepers in person, but I feel like we've got a connection and share a fair amount in common.  We've both lived in West Michigan.  We both learned to sail and cruise on Lake Michigan.  We both have a passion for cruising sailboats and helping others connect with their cruising dreams by sharing information online. Brandon and his wife Dustyn are full-time cruisers who are currently exploring the Bahamas.  Brandon, along with his friend Andrew, also started a really useful website ( Sailboat.Guide ) for cruising sailors looking for a boat and those who are hoping to become cruising sailors.  I find both of those activities of interest since I have my own cruising plans tucked away somewhere in the recesses of my brain and I've been working for over a...
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Boaters and Floafers - Do They Pair Well Together?

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"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci I like simple, clean design.  Cluttering something up with impractical features, trendy style elements, or technology for technology's sake usually isn't my way. So when I first saw a pair of Floafers show up in my Instagram feed ( @sailfarlivefree ), I thought to myself "Now there's a simple shoe that might just be perfect onboard the boat."  I also have to admit "Floafer" has a certain ring to it and is fun to say.  A floating loafer seems like a natural fit for a boating shoe. Floafers says their brand brings fashion full circle by reincarnating functional footwear combined with modern day classic designs like the driving loafer. Created for the fashion savvy, outdoor loving, recreational consumer it was designed to fill a void created by the lack of enthusiasm for the outdated EVA market.  So basically, they seem to be aiming for a more stylish alternative to the orig...
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Keel Types and What They Say about Sailors

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"Let's talk about keels.  That is always a sure way to get someone's knickers in a twist."  - Bob Perry, Sailboat Designer A discussion about keel types is always fun among a group of cruising sailors, particularly in a cockpit while sharing sundowners.  Everyone has a preference and most keel types have a unique forte. I'm not going to dig too deep into design and technical aspects of keels since Bob Perry already covered that thoroughly in the guest post he did for me awhile back ( Keel Design According to Perry ).  What I am going to do here is briefly talk about each of the keel types I'm aware of for cruising sailboats and hit on some pluses and minuses as well as provide an example or two of specific boats for each keel type. But first, what does your keel say about you? The full keel calmly and confidently says "I like the journey more than the destination and am in no hurry to get there". "I feel the need for speed!" rem...
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A Closer Look at a Nautical Rivalry: Powerboat vs. Sailboat

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"What you choose also chooses you." -Kamand Kojouri I've lived on both sides of this fence.  I was raised a powerboater and relished my time on the water with my family in everything from bowriders to express cruisers and flybridge motoryachts.  I always knew I'd own boats and spend a lot of my time aboard them, so when I became an adult with practically no budget, I had to improvise to get on the water.  Paying for fuel and maintenance on a powerboat wasn't in the cards or my meager budget.  Instead, I put an ad on Craigslist asking for a "free or nearly free" sailboat.  To my surprise, I had someone fairly closely contact me almost immediately. There's nothing more expensive than a cheap boat, but I took my chances anyway and ended up with a 1972 Helms 25 swingkeel sloop that we named "Hannabel" after our first two daughters (Hannah and Isabel). She wasn't free, but the $400 asking price wasn't enough to keep me away.  I s...
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A Peek at Two Small-ish Deck Saloons

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"The brain size of people who see big dreams is the same as yours." -Vineet Raj Kapoor It's not the size of your brain, but rather how you choose to use it.  To put that quote in simple boat terms, not all boats of the same length are created the same.  Length on deck is one thing, but interior volume and clever design are another altogether. It wasn't so long ago that deck saloon designs were almost exclusively reserved for large cruising boats and even when they weren't, the proportions often looked off on anything smaller than 45 feet in length.  But what's the appeal of a deck saloon anyway?  Probably the most obvious is a flood of natural light to the cabin because of the raised saloon wrapped in windows that provides 360 degrees of viewing pleasure. There's also a nice single level flow from the cockpit into the cabin (Moody calls this "living on one level") like you'd find on most cruising catamarans. The deck saloon structure i...
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Why Didn't I Think of That? Gee Whiz Sailboat Innovations

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"If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong." -Charles Kettering When I dig down deep, I'm a crusty old salt and I like my boats that way too.  Some that are nearest and dearest to me are full keel double-enders that are slow and porky.  In fact, here's a list of some of my all-time favorites.  Still, I have to admit there's also something appealing about new innovative designs and features, which is what this post is all about.  But before we get to the real topic, indulge in a little nostalgia from the good ole days of bluewater cruising; Remember when "Westsail the World" was a slogan that stirred the soul and beckoned you to go beyond the horizon in search of coconut palms, blue lagoons, and a simple life at sea?  Neither do I, but only because I was born in 1975 and Westsail had already been building and marketing their 32-footer for several years prior.  Production cruising sailboats were on the rise and simple, salty ...
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