new boat owners-any advice?

[boughtabouy]

My husband and I just bought a '07 290 Sundancer and plan to spend all of our vaction time on it. As you can imagine, we are very excited about this! We are both very new to "living" on a boat. Does anyone have advice for us just starting out including any advice you feel is important to newbies as well as how to enjoy the boat with our dogs (Min Pin and Pomeranian)? I am so new to this that I don't even really know what I need to buy to keep stocked on the boat to make our weekend excursions stress free! We will be docked at a marina in San Diego which I am really looking forward to as it is going to be 110 degrees here in AZ today! Thank you in advance for any advice you may have for us!

 

[Bridog]

Pick up some memory foam. More than a night on the SR pad will kill your back.

 

[mmcguire2002]

Let us know if you decide to cruise up the coast. My wife and I keep our boat in Marina Del Rey, but often cruise to both Catalina and Newport Beach. We bring our small dog with us about 50% of the time. He loves the water, but insists on going to shore to use the facilities, unless he has an absolute emergency.

 

[mmcguire2002]

PS - You may want to add yourself to the members map:

http://www.frappr.com/clubsearay

 

[water rat]

Wow... Where to start? First, Congratulations on buying your boat!
1. Take some boating safety classes, if you haven't already.
2. As for cruising with dogs. Get dog life jackets. Get dog sunscreen for their nose.
3. Keep it simple. When we cruised (last boat), we used paper plates most of the time. We planned out our meals in advance. Avoid chocolate - it melts. Keep stuff stowed neatly. It makes life easier. Put some rice in your salt shaker so it doesn't turn into a big glob.
4. magma grills are great.
5. Get a dustbuster. It helps.

Have you owned a boat before?

Welcome to our club!

 

[boughtabouy]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! Yes, we did own a '95 Searay 175 and used it a great deal in MN. When we moved to AZ, I was in graduate school and we just did not have the time to take the boat out. We really have missed the water as both my husband and I grew up boating in MN on the Mississippi River. I have never actually slept on a boat before so this will be very different! Michael, we have vacationed in the Marina Del Ray area and thought it was beautiful!! We are also going to figure out how to post on the members map. Thank you for the link!

 

[boughtabouy]

Any ideas regarding bedding? I was wondering if it would be a problem to use a down comforter due to the humidity. Also, I am not sure what size lines to purchase. I did not seen the bed size on the searay website and was hoping to not have to buy custom sets. Any ideas where to find this info? Thanks!

 

[everthing's irie]

Sea Ray sells the sheets but they are a low thread count and very expensive. We just bought some comfortable sheets and tuck them. Memory foam is a must if you like soft mattresses. I can sleep on concrete but my wife can't. We bought an eggcrate with memory foam on the back and cut it to fit.

I also had to level the bed for my wife. She felt like she was sliding down hill. The bed was 1 1/2" out of level. Had to be a little creative so we could maintain the use of the sofa when we weren't sleeping. Laminated some ply at various thickness moving towards the bow in sections. It woked great and is not visible and still functional.

 

[Drama Queen]

Congrats on your new boat!!! Essentials that I keep on the boat....hmm crackers and cheese
clothes pins to make sure the crackers and chips don't get mushy
extra towels
shampoo and conditioner (I don't like to bring it every time)
A Razor (you will surely regret this if you don't have one on the boat and forget one)
extra sunglasses (just in case you jump in and lose yours)
really I could go on and on and that's why my husband just dies when I pack for a weekend.

As for sheets they are right I went with a queen sheet and just tucked it, definate on the memory foam or egg crate.

take some pictures of your new baby so we can gawk

 

[Turtlesboat]

if your dog likes to swim, bring lots of towels.

Grille, most used item on our boat.

Nice big flashlight to scare away the boogie man at night.

some floaty toys

wine bottle holder of some kind.

bug spray of some kind if you have biters

jellyfish sting kit, if you have jellyfish in your area.

make a card with all the phone numbers for police, fire, seatow, coast guard etc...

Movies to watch on the boat at night.

cell phone chargers.

after the first few nights out, you'll quickly learn what you need on the boat.

 

[fc3]

Some knowledge of marine mechanical systems. There are always little things that go wrong. If you know how to fix things, you can avoid having your entire weekend or vacation ruined. Once you know what to do, a compact set of high quality tools to put that knowledge to work. They don't have to be Snap-on, but avoid the cheap chinese junk.

Best regards,
Frank C

Oh! One more thing, a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a high speed cellular network connect so you can get on-line with CSR while on the boat!

-FC3