The Essential Boater

Stuff we can't do without on a boat. Field tested & approved for actual use.

This month: Multi purpose cleaner and the best  life jackets

We like stuff that serves multi purposes, and we like stuff that lasts. Over the years we have found products that continually live up to our standards and which have become essentials on our boat. We decided to dedicate a column to help others who have the same criteria, because there are a lot of products out there, and sometimes its tough to make wise decisions. So we present to you our new monthly column, The Essential Sailor. We won't recommend a product unless we have actually used it and have been impressed by it.

     Because we have children, we need to pay special attention to quality and safety. When our daughter Sunny was 3 months old, we moved onto our catamaran, Fellowship. We went to West Marine and purchased the smallest life jacket they had, which was an Extrasport infant size jacket, which accommodates a baby/toddler up to 25 lbs. It has a collar which turns the wearer face up in the water,  and has very safe colors: yellow and orange. It has a handle on top of the collar to hoist the wearer up, and very well placed crotch straps which have an easy release buckle on the back of the jacket. All of the seams and straps are durably sewn and reinforced.

          When our daughter fell overboard for the first time, she had her jacket on. It turned her over immediately and kept her face up the entire time, enabling her to breathe and to scream as loudly as possible. Because we anchor out, we used this jacket at least twice daily coming and going in the dinghy to shore. The hot Florida sun, combined with the salt air and continual use, to this day has not deteriorated the canvas or the straps. After two years of use, only the color has faded slightly. Now this same jacket is being used by our 5 month old baby, after we bought the same model Extrasport jacket for our older daughter in the next size up. We recommend Extrasport jackets for their durability and attention to detail, which make them an excellent buy and an asset to have on a boat.     
     Everyone knows that boats get dirty and its tough to clean them without killing all the fish and birds in a 500 ft. radius with all the nasty cleaners on the market today. We found a great product that we now swear by. It's called TKO Orange and it is concentrated orange peel. 

     For one thing, its non toxic so I can use it around the kids and the fish don't die from the run off. Secondly, it smells wonderful! It takes out odors (especially in the bilge & head) and freshens the air. Those are the simple things that it does. Why concentrated orange peel is excellent as a cleaner is because  it emulsifies oils & grease (breaks them up), as well as mildew, mold and dirt.  We cleaned all the mildew off our headliners, the black streaks off the deck, the sticky stuff that gets on the varnish and on our bimini top. It amazingly takes stains out of carpets and laundry. 

     It also acts as an insect & pest repellent. First of all, spray it on cockroaches and mosquitoes, and they die physically because it breaks down the oils on their skins and they can't breathe. It repels pests like rodents, snakes, and even cats who can't stand the smell. My husband found an ant hill in our shed and sprayed some TKO Orange on the hill. All the ants died and never came back.

     We first saw this product at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show in October 2001. We took a 20 oz bottle home with us and started to clean the inside of the boat. My husband killed the ants. We were so impressed with the way it cleaned and left the boat smelling wonderful, that we went back to the show and traded up for a gallon jug.

     You can only get it at boat shows, pet shows and other shows, or you can click on www.tkoorange.com to see how you can mail order it.

 

     That's all for this month, but if you have specific questions about good products to use for different boat situations, just drop us an email at theboss@sailmiami.com . We'd be glad to answer them all!