What are essential foods to bring?

[Hank Kivett]

Yes that exactly what i intend to do...short cruises 3-5-7 days..going over my plan as if i was headed south using the sound around here as the test bed.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

Hi Ribbit.....Beware. Weaco/Dometic units below 35 litres are very adequate but the bigger units use the Danfoss compressor which is a tried and tested unit that really does work. Add your extra insulation and you shall be happy. Spend a little more and you'll benefit enormously from increased capacity and better energy efficiency. To run the >35 litre unit is not too difficult via solar. My own preference would be to buy the 40 or 50 litre unit. . . . . . . . . . .

Have you thought about buying a boat in UK waters? There are a heap of good buys there - perhaps not so many long keels but with Sadlers, Contessa's, Nicholsons etc literally at give away prices............
You could save an awful lot of cash on airfares etc by starting your new life this way.

Good point on the bigger Dometic unit. Quality of life, as you also mentioned, is very important.

I have spent ages and ages looking/wading through available boats this side of the Pond, and haven't come across anything tempting enough yet (one I was initially interested in turned out to be advertised with photo's of several other boats, others, the boats did look nice when the photo's were taken, but they were generally photo's taken years ago).

In general, given American $ prices are instantly converted into the same number but in £'s, or even higher, here, whatever I save in getting a boat 'ship shape' over there, makes the price of a plane ticket from over here, relatively small beer (there are again some very good deals on flights to NY, and with the price of fuel coming down substantially, deals should get better).

On top of which, are the savings available to a yacht in transit, which are substantial in their own right. In the few weeks I have been looking, I have already seen a very high number of very tempting boats, at good prices before I even start putting offers in. Bayfield, Morgan, Cape Dory, Bristol, and several others, are ticking a very high percentage of the boxes for me. Of course there will be additional expenses, such as a survey, making sure no water gets in from below or above, checking and replacing any through hulls and ports, checking and replacing (beefing up if changing) standing rigging, etc., but then again I'd have to do that over here too, with much more expensive material costs.

Things I will be picking up for the galley include powdered egg, powdered butter, powdered milk, dried veg, dried onions, garlic powder, dried mushrooms, good sauces (e.g. West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce), curry powder, coconut oil, dried yeast, stock cubes, herbs and spices, and a pile of fresh butter I can use as a thermostat, so I know I am far enough South when the butter melts. With rice, pasta, rolled oats, flour, and powdered potato, add in fresh produce, meat and fish, and there's a large range of tasty things that can be made.

1 cup of rolled oats to 2 cups of flour (1 white, 1 wholemeal, or whatever) with the other ingredients, makes a nice loaf of bread.

A honey and egg loaf (3 cups white flour, a fresh egg which counts towards liquid volume, honey + other basic ingredients) makes the best tasting bread for toast I have ever had. Which reminds me.

Marmalade. Lots and lots of marmalade.

Must remember to put my Delia Smith recipe book in.