Margaret and I are always amazed by how many people post on CruisersForum, Liveaboard Cruisers, and other online venues asking how people keep from getting bored while at anchor or on a long passage. When aboard, we are always hunting for more time, not more things to fill our time with. So, we decided to put together a list of one hundred things to do while on a boat. For the most part, we avoided anything that involved the internet or leaving the vessel, attempting to stay true to the original queries that spawned this list. At first, we thought a list of a hundred things might be a little ambitious, but we brainstormed it quickly enough that we are sure you could add another hundred easily. Please add your favorite activities in the comments below!
- clean out refrigerator
- polish stainless steel
- clean cabin sole
- organize food cupboard
- go fishing
- clean the bilge
- practice paper chart navigation
- design a new tattoo
- put waypoints into the chartplotter
- read a book
- write a letter
- draw a picture
- practice splicing
Doing some splicing
- play cards
- write a story
- oil interior wood
- varnish exterior wood
- inspect sails
- give your partner a massage
- clean the headliner
- inventory spares
- inventory food stores
-
do an oil change
Margaret doing an oil change
- check your alternator belt
- do yoga
- clean out the raw water filter
- inspect anchor rode
- go through your clothes and donate what you don’t need
- play an instrument
-
seize the end of your lines
Seizing the dock lines
- listen to the weather report
- bake bread
- listen to music
- try a new recipe
- play a board game
- write a blog post (or start a blog)
- watch a movie
- whittle something
- scrub the deck
- invent a new cocktail
- listen to a foreign broadcast on the SSB
- organize the navigation station
- wash the port light windows
- exercise your thru-hulls
In the lazarette, exercising the thru-hulls
- grease/rehab a winch
- write a postcard
- practice celestial navigation
- dehydrate food
- study for your captain’s license
- knit
- have sex
- darn your clothes
- clean the bottom of the dinghy
- scrub the waterline
- go swimming
- learn the stars
- take a sponge bath
- cut your partner’s hair
- paint your toenails
- clean and inflate fenders
- remark your anchor chain
- bake a cake
- clean and repaint your engine
- take a nap
-
have a rum tasting
Tasting some rum, Mount Gay Extra Old
- page through World Cruising Routes and dream up new voyages
- work on your tan
- learn a new game
- make up a new game
- take photographs
- call home
- download grib files
- birdwatch
- make a grocery list
- check your fire extinguishers, smoke detector batteries, and flares
- sew something useful: covers for your winches or a new courtesy flag
- infuse rum
- make homemade yogurt
- clean out the anchor locker
- memorize the semaphore flags
- learn a new language
- refresh your navigation light knowledge
- exercise
- daydream
- check your partner for irregular skin marks
- read a book out loud together
- check your lines for chafe
- practice knots
- thumb wrestle
- inspect your rigging
- recharge all your electronics
-
have a drink
Our friends, Shawn and Brian, having a drink with a Naval Academy cadet
- make a wish list of boat improvements
- create hand signals for anchoring
- add up your sea miles
- rewrap your steering wheel
- check over your first aid kit
- listen to the cruisers’ net
- study for your ham radio license
- design boat cards
I began counting how many items on this list were about boat maintenance but then I got scared! We can help you pick the right artist when you are done with that tattoo design though :-). Great list. N&Y.
A long time ago, I got a tattoo from Liquid Swordz in Ypsi. I think they are still in business, but my trip there was nearly twenty years ago now.
Maintenance is ever-present, as you know. We always have a list going, which we are not always attentive to. Sometimes you just need to sip on some rum and relax!
Our favorite thing to add to this list is
snorkeling, scuba diving, conch diving, Facebooking, and jewelry making.
It was very fun to read your list. Thanks for the post!
Our favorite thing to add to this list is
snorkeling, scuba diving, conch diving, Facebooking, and jewelry making.
It was very fun to read your list. Thanks for the post!
s/v New Girl…on the dock
I’m amazed at how few overlaps we have with your list! I’d say about 1/2 of the things we never even tried. I mean, cleaning the ports? Ha! That’s a good one 😉
Reading this list has depressed me … I’m due to sail south with the other half in July … thinking of excuses to delay until he gets fed up and goes solo