Nautical Scout Collapsible Gear (and giveaway!)

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs

 Storage space seems to be a limiting factor on many cruising sailboats. Because of this, many of us are forced to make tradeoffs. Should we leave both side decks open or cram one full with a SUP lashed to the stanchions? Do we want to bring along the spinnaker and play musical sail bags when it’s not in use, or should we leave it at home and curse the light air?

On our particular boat, a Catalina 34, storage tradeoffs often occur in the galley since lockers are limited there. So naturally I was eager to get my hands on some of the collapsible cookware from Nautical Scout. I tried the tea kettle over the weekend and came away impressed with the quality and how little the collapsibility effects overall function as cookware. It simply extends up from the 2.4” collapsed position in a second or two and is ready for duty as a 5-cup kettle (5.5” tall, 6” wide). I boiled a full kettle of water on our stove and didn’t have any issues pouring into a coffee cup, though the food-grade silicone does get slightly more flexible when filled with hot water. The kettle’s bottom (as with the other collapsible cookware available from Nautical Scout) is made of stainless steel. This little kettle will become part of our morning coffee routine while anchored out and make pouring through a filter screen into a coffee cup much safer than pouring directly from the sauce pan we’ve been using.

The other collapsible product I tried out was a 1.85 gallon bucket, also from Nautical Scout. This is a product that will get some serious use on our boat. We use a bucket to wash our decks, take showers in the cockpit, rinse laundry on the hook, collect beach treasures when ashore, and bail the dinghy after a hard rain. The 2” collapsed height will make it a welcome addition to the cockpit lazarette. When fully expanded, the bucket measures 7.75” high and has a maximum width of 11.5” at the top.
The best space-saving bucket I’ve used before this collapsible one was a bucket made of canvas. However, the canvas buckets don’t hold their form as well and tend to accumulate the dirt, oil and soap they are exposed to. The 100% food grade silicone from the collapsible bucket seems completely impervious to soap and dirt, something I hope proves to be true with time.




And I’m not the only one who likes these new collapsible products. My kids are oddly entertained by collapsing and then expanding the bucket and kettle repeatedly as if they were magicians. I'm not quite sure they care about the space-saving benefits of the design, but they're certainly impressed by the collapsing action.
Want a chance to win a free collapsible kettle from Nautical Scout? Simply share the link to this review on your blog, Facebook page or Twitter account and send us an email with your name.  We'll choose one winner at random in 2 weeks to receive a free collapsible tea kettle. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Favorite Affordable Bluewater Sailboats

Image
I've always said that my favorite boat is whichever one I currently own. Being able to call it "mine" makes it my favorite by default. My first boat was a $400 derelict that I loved (still love) deeply. And she loved me back. However, that doesn't mean there aren't other boats I love that I'd like to call "mine" someday. The following is my personal ranking of my favorite affordable (available for ~$50k) sailboats. I've rather arbitrarily set the price limit around $50k and called it "affordable" in hopes that one day one of these boats might fit my budget and help my family and I to sail far and live free. Also note that other than the top 3, these rankings change in my head almost daily and I really struggled to narrow the list down to just 10.   As you peruse my list, you'll notice that they're all bluewater cruisers . You won't find any modern designs, fin keels, spade rudders, sugar scoop transoms, carbo...
Read more

Go Small and Go Now! 5 Pocket Cruisers to Take you Anywhere

Image
"Go small, go simple, go now!" -Lin & Larry Pardey Iconic cruisers Lin and Larry Pardey are well-known among cruising enthusiasts for the above statement. Can it really be that easy? Grab yourself a small boat, outfit it properly but simply for offshore work, and get going while your dream and your body is still alive! Lin and Larry not only made the statement, they lived it. If you're looking to do the same, maybe some of the micro- or pocket-cruisers I've listed below can serve as your "go small" portion of the equation. Going small and choosing one of these or several other pocket cruisers will lead to trade-offs. Of course first and foremost you'll be giving up length, both on deck and at the waterline. This often leads to less storage space, less weight capacity, and slower sailing. But the upside is presumably less maintenance (less paint, less wood, fewer systems) and more affordable expenses. For example, replacing the s...
Read more

Escape to the Sea: How to get from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean

Image
Let's say winter's chill was something you could no longer take as a Great Lakes sailor. Or perhaps you just want to extend your sailing season beyond the boundaries of summer. What options do you have?  You could just opt for a bareboat charter somewhere in the Caribbean and consider the itch scratched. But then you'd miss out on all the adventure of moving a boat between the Great Lakes and the Caribbean. And you wouldn't be sailing  your  boat. I'm here to convince you that the best option is to sail your own boat south. What follows is an overview of the route you could take to get you and your boat to warmer water and weather from the Great Lakes. Route 1: St. Lawrence Seaway (including Lake Champlain shortcut) You're adventurous if you choose this route. From most starting locations in the Great Lakes, you'll also be seeing the most scenery and passing the ...
Read more