Essential gear for circumnavigation

[Paul L]

There's nothing wrong with a windvane on boat that it works well on. This tends to exclude cats, performance monos and large monos. There are exceptions, but not that many. I had a Sailomat windvane on my J37 when cruising. It just didn't handle the high speeds downwind in seas. I see many cruising boats, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, who have relegated their windvane to back up position. That's not to say there aren't many cruisers actually using their windvane. It takes more skill and work to sail a windvane well.
As far as sailing performance a modern autopilot will outsail a windvane over a wide range of conditions. Windvanes have only the detected apparent wind to sail by. On a rolling boat, with dodges, biminis, solar panels and sails, the wind at the stern paddle is often not exact. An AP can sail to masthead wind or as is often done to a consistent compass course.

For a smaller long distance cruising boat, a wind vane makes a lot of sense. For a large one an autopilot with a backup, either an AP or a windvane.

[Yihang]

Good thing about windvane is the tech is mature and its not gonna get any better so what you buy today will still be as good 15 years from now.

If I was going to be on a 30 foot monohull it would have a windvane, I would probably try to find a secondhand hydrovane or windpilot.

Performance multihull it would be a state of the art auto pilot no questions.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by sailor4life7777

Thanks for all the replies I really appreciate it!!

What do you guys think of a pressure canner/cooker? Seems like a good way to store food for long voyages without the need for refrigeration. Are there any downsides to it other than cost and weight? I know there is risk of botulism but it can be mitigated with careful preparation.

I would be lost without my pressure cooker.... used for knocking up fast curries and stews... saves lots of gas/propane..

They come in assorted sizes so doesn't have to be unwieldy.

Canning/bottling meat? Be aware that quarantine will take that off you upon arrival in many countries...
Better by far ... buy vacuum packed meat before you sail.... hard freeze it before taking it aboard.
You don't even need a freezer... I just have a standard 'fridge.... bottom packed with frozen water bottles and meat on departure.... that way I have had it last a solid two months ie until it has all been consumed...... avoid vacuum packed chicken and meat that is 'bone-in' such as leg of lamb.

[sailor4life7777]

Thanks for the awesome reply goboatingnow!

Are drogues really useless?? How often do you guys use the drogue and sea anchors? How hard is it to learn to use?

Thanks for the great discussion guys, I really appreciate all the advice!!

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I think for a modern circumnavigation ( which presumably isn’t a fast pitch around the world but a multi year cruise around typical sailing areas that happens to be a typical cruising route )

The actual boat is less important as long as you are comfortable and confident with it.

The big thing is repairs , everything breaks and unless you have a big cheque book ( and in some places that’s useless ) you’ll need to be able to fix things so that means tools. ( lots of tools )

Then spares lots of spares , having spares means everything you have a spare for will never break down , all the other stuff will

An emergency rudder ( not a tiller arm) , rig up a fitting and assembly to allow you to steer the boat if you Loose the main rudder

Decent fuel filtering , even a small fuel Polisher system is useful, bad diesel ruins your day.

Tankage for diesel , tankage for water

Good electrical generation, this isn’t the days of Chichester Clark, yes you need your nespresso machine.

Learn to fix everything on the boat Or find workarounds or do without.

Be able to get weather info at sea is useful , but often there is little you can do about it. , I used to crew for a delivery skipper who threw all weather Info overboard , the upside was I got stacks of heavy weather experience ( F11)

Fanciful stuff like drogues are largely useless unless you have Extensive experience of using them in the real conditions that they are needed in.

Active sailing in storms in modern boats is the way. ( hard on the crew )

[kmcshane]

Did I miss the OP description of boat, crew and destination?
If so, ignore this post. If not, some of the decisions and sticking points might be more to the point should we know if we're talking monohull vs. cat, high latitudes vs. tradewinds, 30 vs. 50 foot, limited budget or not.

Enjoyable enough post though, and vane vs. AP never misses.

Again, the OP has specified the boat, crew and destination, I missed it.

[Yihang]

My guess is that's all TBD.....

[sailor4life7777]

Originally Posted by kmcshane

Did I miss the OP description of boat, crew and destination?
If so, ignore this post. If not, some of the decisions and sticking points might be more to the point should we know if we're talking monohull vs. cat, high latitudes vs. tradewinds, 30 vs. 50 foot, limited budget or not.

Enjoyable enough post though, and vane vs. AP never misses.

Again, the OP has specified the boat, crew and destination, I missed it.

Thanks for the reply!

Woods flica 34', 3 person crew, and destination: south pacific (from north america)

[mvweebles]

Best quote of the thread was from tarian: "Too much money and low risk aversion and reading forums will set you years back"

You need a philosophy and an approach first before you need a list.

You can start with a vision of the most perfectly equipped boat with every imaginable gizmo, complete with redundancy and spares and tools to maintain. From there, scale back to accommodate budget and storage constraints. Do you really need a dedicated freezer? Generator? A/C? Issue is it becomes a rabbit hole - one decision begets a bunch more. Autopilot vs wind vane choice is really more about power generation and storage than reliability - an A/P can easily consume 75 AH per day.

The other paradigm is starting at bare bones end of spectrum and adding stuff you can't/won't live without. Below is a YouTube documentary of the Hiscocks circumnavigation in the 1950s. It's the bare minimum needed because that's all there was available. No engine. No electricity. Wind vane had not been invented yet so they hand steered or set balanced sails. The collected rain water, navigated by celestial navigation, and rowed their dinghy to shore when needed. If guess their supply of tools and spares was pretty manageable as a result. I'm not advocating a spartan existence - that's a personal decision that is often the result of financial austerity but doesn't have to be.

Theoretically, either approach should arrive in the same place. But practically, you will find your boat with more "wants" vs "needs" if you start with top-down vs the Hiscock approach. You need a capable boat, a means of propulsion, self steering, navigation capabilities, ability to store provisions, and that's about it. How robust and complicated you get for each of those will dictate equipment, soares, tools, and skills. At one end you've got canned food and dried beans and rice. At the other end you've got refrigeration, dedicated freezer, plus generator and batteries and all the stuff to support. It's a choice, not a requirement. Tradeoff is you could spend a lot of time doing maintenance and repairs. That certainly seems to be the universal experience of cruisers.

https://youtu.be/g_RHHIV4u1k

[Leatherman]

Originally Posted by sailor4life7777

Hi guys, what are the most essential gear you would need to circumnavigate (not high latitudes)? My list would be good sails including light wind and storm sails, good anchors, sea anchor, vhf, autopilot, diesel engine, chart plotter and GPS, satellite phone or ssb, outboard for dinghy, epoxy for repairs, gale rider, life raft, depth meter, and tools to make any repairs.

Could you get away with having a windvane autopilot as opposed to an electronic autopilot?

I plan to have a laptop and tablet, would a dedicated marine chartplotter and GPS navigation system be advisable as well?

Also what tools would you bring? Would you bring a jigsaw, circular saw, router?

Thank you for your time I truly appreciate all the wonderful members on this forum!

I would have windvane self steering gear INSTEAD OF an electrconic autopilot. Far less less likely to break down and does not need consume valuable power.

[captainbri]

An axe

[jalmberg]

I think people today put far too much stress on electronics. It’s amazing to me how many boats have the latest electronics, but blown out sails. A good thought experiment is to ask yourself if you can keep cruising if you have no electricity on the boat, which could happen. For example, some people would die of thirst. Some people would be doing a whole lot of hand-steering. It’s worth a thought if you are planning a long passage.

[nofacey]

Weather weather weather!
- you really want the best possible up to date weather info enroute....especially on longer passages. Yes you can do it with an SSB receiver......but reception in some areas sucks. I had both SSB & IridiumGO and can vouch for Go ALWAYS being faster & far more reliable.

Windvanes wear too.....but zero power draw is great

[Fi2010]

Pam Wall has helped cruisers outfit their boats for decades. Pam is the kindest, sweetest person you will ever meet. Pam is too nice to ask for any money. Even when Pam spends weeks helping outfit a boat for a circumnavigation! Consider tipping Pam if she helps out. Especially, since you'll likely save a ton of money because of her suggestions.

https://www.pamwall.com/

[montyp]

To each his own, but AP and a sheet-to-tiller backup for some boats strikes a good balance between cost/reliability.

[Happ]

To answer your specific question could a Windvane auto replace a powered autopilot? Yes and no. The beauty of a Wind Vane system is it steers to the wind angle. You trim your sails and the boat steers using the wind. The bad news is what happens if the wind shuts down? That’s when the electric system is great. Both is best. Watch YouTube of people doing long trips almost all have both.