Seven oddball doo-dads we’ve installed or made use of aboard Fayaway. Are we crazy for being unusual? We love visiting other boats, strange new places, read countless obscure journals and associate with many experienced boaters. They’re a resource for all uncommon ideas, while we learn continuously. We normally don’t make this stuff up, so we’re not truly unique. But I wonder why most buyers follow all that fancy marketing from glossy magazines, when often the result is higher cost and less comfort.

120v water heater – We have plenty of electricity aboard, so instead of a common (and very expensive) marine-version water heater that uses engine coolant, we installed a simple “point of use”  domestic electric water heater. Our Bosch 2.5 gallon version heats to 120F in about 10 minutes, and stays hot all day. There’s no additional clutter of engine coolant hoses or expansion tank. For about 10% of the cost of the marine version, it comes in larger sizes and includes a wall mounting bracket and wall plug.

Prusik knots for spare halyards –

Dual mainsheets – An idea that first sprouted from a Practical Sailor magazine article focusing on smaller boats, I then started noticing them on larger circumnavigating vessels. An arrangement that’s so simple, it reduces line clutter and maintains boom adjustability. I had been stewing on this one for a couple years, to replace our traditional Harken “big boat” traveler, traversing the companionway cover. Its heavy massive track arching across the deck not only reduced visibility, but required four working lines: one mainsheet, two traveler-adjustment lines (penetrating the dodger window!), and one for securing the boom when not underway. Now we have only two mainsheet lines routed under the dodger via deck-organizers back to the cockpit. Simple! (Maybe I’ll do a separate post on this topic?)

Frame TV with Raspberry Pi – (Reminder: We aren’t camping onboard.) Our salon aka “living room” is adorned with a lightweight wall-hung Samsung 32” television. Only one inch thick, it blends seamlessly. 90% of its bulky electronics are extended via a thin flat cable to be easily hidden in an adjacent locker. Starlink provides smart-TV streaming, for catching up on YouTube favorites. A $50 Raspberry Pi provides terabytes of recorded media for movie night, and also acts as a wireless PC terminal for sharing live webcasts and more. While the TV has built-in speakers, we enjoy that deeply throated theatre-esque sound the narrow Bose speaker provides.

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Blink Cameras – Who’s out there!? Three wireless Blink wireless cameras provide peace of mind, fore and aft, when we’re not around.

Hydronic diesel heater – A recently-added low-cost diesel hydronic heater allows a warming cozy cabin on those damp downeast mornings without bulky ductwork. (See recent blog post).

24 volt power – (I’m working on a more comprehensive blog post for this recent mod, so I’m keeping details brief here). In a nutshell, higher voltage provides more reliability and efficiency. It’s the same reason that larger power transmission lines incorporate higher voltages when traveling over long distances.

Call us crazy for not going with the proverbial flow? Sometimes despite going against the masses, things make more sense going your own way.

“I live in the open mindedness
of not knowing enough
about anything.”
— Mary Oliver, Luna

Fayaway is currently visiting with cruising friends in the Deltaville, Virginia area. We’ll continue south in the coming weeks.

Hug your kids!