I have a fishing boat with outboards so I have no idea about how cruisers operate when cruising away from home. Every time I put Bird Dog away she gets a thorough fresh water wash down with soap and I flush the outboards with fresh water as well. When you are cruising around and only staying at anchor how often do you wash your trawler? How often do you flush your dinghy outboard with fresh water? Does one simply crank up the genset and water maker and have at it like you are back at the dock? What are your typical maintenance schedules for just keeping the salt down or off of your vessels? How much maintenance and what type are you doing daily at anchor?
My 2d Q is how confident are you in your anchoring system from the standpoint of going ashore in your dinghy to explore, dine, dive, fish, etc? Do you set an anchor alarm that is linked to your cell phone and just take off for hours without anyone aboard? Are the modern designed anchors such that if you employ decent techniques there is no need to have someone aboard while you are ashore having fun?
Final Q - my wife is a serious triathlete and works out for hours daily. She's on board to cruise but we will have different schedules as I must accommodate her training. I believe we will be well served with multiple dinghies. Does anyone cruise with multiple dinghies and if so what types? From my reading on this site my original thoughts were to get the largest and most comfortable dinghy we can carry but given our divergent schedules multiple dinghies might be better.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
My 2d Q is how confident are you in your anchoring system from the standpoint of going ashore in your dinghy to explore, dine, dive, fish, etc? Do you set an anchor alarm that is linked to your cell phone and just take off for hours without anyone aboard? Are the modern designed anchors such that if you employ decent techniques there is no need to have someone aboard while you are ashore having fun?
Final Q - my wife is a serious triathlete and works out for hours daily. She's on board to cruise but we will have different schedules as I must accommodate her training. I believe we will be well served with multiple dinghies. Does anyone cruise with multiple dinghies and if so what types? From my reading on this site my original thoughts were to get the largest and most comfortable dinghy we can carry but given our divergent schedules multiple dinghies might be better.
Thanks in advance for your answers.