10 Most Useful Household Appliances to Have Cruising - Item #1

I got to thinking about all the things I wish I had known before we set out cruising. There is a ton of information on safety gear and equipment, there is massive information regarding provisioning for food, and there is a plethora of facts out there concerning what documents you should have on board. But what about household appliances? What should a cruiser bring aboard from home? What is important and what isn’t? What will sit in a locker unused and what will you be kicking yourself for because you didn't think you would need it... or what will you be kicking your husband for because he said you couldn't bring it?

We’re currently taking a poll aboard HOTSPUR to determine what our crew feels about "the 10 most important" household items. We’ll post our opinions and some information regarding each every day for the next 10 days... barring we have internet. This is simply to give aspiring cruisers an idea of what works for our family. And by the way, this is not in order of most importance... this is just in the order of what we can agree on.

#1 MINI Wet/Dry SHOP VAC... a must have! And I’m not talking about a little dustbuster or hand vac. You need a powerful sucking device, with a long cord. Do I really need to say the word? Okay... SAND! There is nothing like the pleasant feeling of walking on sand, the pleasure of feeling sand beneath your bare feet... unless it’s on the soles... or in layman’s terms: your boat floor!! And believe me, it gets everywhere! Especially if you have a Carolyne... or a Bailey. Not to mention spilled sugar, animal hair, beads, swept piles, kitty litter, dirt in the cockpit, is that  a 1/2" layer of lint from the  towels on the sole in the head?... and this is just the dry stuff!

Our mini shop vac was purchased in the states for roughly $20 at Big Lots. It came with a handy hanging back panel so that you could store the shop vac on a wall and out of the way. We chose to store our mini vac behind the companionway. It was brilliant!

We realized how much we depended on our Shop Vac when our son took it up on deck to empty out the contents in the canister, and while the boat was rolling a bit the motor section decided to go for a swim. We couldn’t be mad at him... it was a mistake. Besides, he dove after it to no avail (not that it would have worked after being dunked anyway). And we’ve all done it... lost items overboard. But losing the Shop Vac was a huge loss... HUGE!

As soon as we got to a large sized town (in our case, Mazatlan), I went and bought the smallest Wet/Dry Vac I could find. I could not find my favorite brand in Mexico, so I got what I could. I paid roughly $45. It is not as small as the one we lost and it doesn’t store as nicely. However, it gets the job done! We use the inverter and yes, it sucks up power. However, we are only using it a few minutes at a time.

Mini Wet/Dry Shop Vac... get one for your boat because you won’t be sorry.