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Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2016 8:03 pm
by Shagbark
Talbot,

Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning? All on a dsII or is there another boat in your repertoire that I'm not aware of? If on the dsII, I've got to find out how you do it. Sternos, propane camping stove?

GL, we need another site under the index for overnighting/cruising!

Re: Sleeping in the cabin?

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2016 10:51 pm
by talbot
I think it would be useful to try a "cruising" forum. There are some issues that are unique to the activity. For instance, Small Craft Advisor recently had an article on firebuilding. We assume everyone has basic Boy Scout camping skills, but apparently that's not so.

Regarding sleeping aboard, there is a whole thread on setting up the cockpit as a tent platform for extended trips. My focus has instead been on emergencies and ad hoc cruises where it's a nice night, and you just don't want to come in. It took me a while to figure out, but basically it goes like this:
1. Ventilation is a problem in the cabin, so add portholes and sleep with your head by the door.
2. Bugs are a problem, so make screens for the door and ports.
3. The cuddy floor slopes aft, so make a shingled sleeping pad that gets thicker as it goes aft.
4. The door isn't vertical, so bring a tarp to throw over the boom to keep rain from dripping in.
5. The size of the cabin is similar to the size of a superlight backpacking tent. So if you're a backpacker, you know the drill. For the record, my wife is -not- a backpacker.

As a couple, we typically camp on shore in a ginormous tent with camp chairs, double-burner Coleman, cooler, and everything including a kitchen sink. The point of my solo anchor-out system is, once you've done steps 1-4 and accepted situation 5, you don't need much to overnight in summer: Light polyester sleeping bag, alcohol stove, a pot, a cup, a water bottle, a snack, instant coffee for the morning. It all fits in a bookbag day pack, including the boom tent and port screens, and the pack stores on top of the hatch screen on the cuddy floor forward of the mast. The only thing I might add is a small flask of Maker's Mark, if I could trust my marina neighbors to not raid the bar. The kit lives aboard all summer. The process of turning a day sail into a cruise consists of notifying my wife on the cell phone that she is free to watch the chick flick tonight instead of the Batman rerun.

Re: Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 2:25 pm
by GreenLake
I split these two from the discussion about starting this forum.

Now, for coffee, my recommendation is to get a camping french press. No filters and stows easily. A variant is a commuter french press mug where you can drink directly from the press. No need to bring a separate mug in that case.

These are usually lined in neoprene or some other semi-insulating sleeve material that keeps your coffee hot for a bit longer, but for colder weather you probably want a thermos. For daysailing when it's cooler (or night sailing) I usually hit a coffee place along the way to the dock.

I have a white gas cooker that's more powerful than the usual single burner camping gas ones, but I would not be comfortable using any of them anyplace other than on the beach. There are some innovative designs for kettles where the flame/hot air is surrounded, donut like, by the kettle; don't know whether they can be set up to be safer on a small boat.

Re: Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 2:59 pm
by powpowhunter
I've never spent a night on my boat, so I'm talking out of turn here. But, why not hang the stove from the boom? Even if the sail was still bent on, as long as the stove was a few feet below it the heat should dissipate:
http://www.climbing.com/skills/tech-tip ... our-stove/
I know you can do similar with JetBoil and other small stoves too.
Just an idea...

Re: Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2016 11:15 pm
by ChrisB
I spent four nights aboard my DS Ii during this year's Florida 120. Didn't sleep in the cuddy though; too wet and too tight for my tastes. Slept in the cockpit under a boom tarp. Coffee compliments of a single burner Coleman Sportster stove on the cockpit floor, hot water, and a 1 cup coffee brewer funnel from REI.

Re: Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2016 7:44 pm
by Solarwinds
For me, nothing beats the $20.- butane single burners that you can get at the Asian supermarkets. I think they're intended for tabletop heating but I've used one
on my Catalina when the curtain burner went and I didn't feel like shelling out $ 300 for the Origo replacement. I have one for my Daysailer and it is SWEET.
These butane stoves use butane replacement canisters that are inexpensive and last. They make an intense blue flame that heats water pronto. If you buy one that comes in a plastic case you can cook, make coffee, whatever, and put it back in its case to be stowed, a no-brainer really.

Re: Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning?

PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:01 am
by druidae1492
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Snapshot 2 (7-2-2017 8-58 PM).png (129.54 KiB) Viewed 8891 times
Shagbark wrote:Talbot,

Sleeping in the cabin? Coffee in the morning? All on a dsII or is there another boat in your repertoire that I'm not aware of? If on the dsII, I've got to find out how you do it. Sternos, propane camping stove?

GL, we need another site under the index for overnighting/cruising!


For cooking, I use a cheap plastic tote with a thin piece of plywood. (very thin). I cut a large enough hole for Coleman propane tank to fit through, but small enough that the burner rests on the "stovetop". It works great. The plywood fits inside the tote when stowed.