A few months ago we received a press release from McMurdo on a revolutionary product, the Fast-Find 210 PLB, a portable version of an EPIRB, The revolutionary part was not a change in the way distress signals are sent from the device but rather the size (very small) and price point ($299 list) of the device. Subscribing to the theory of Too Good To Be True, we have held off on writing about the product until we had confirmation on the quality of the unit from a trusted source. Today that verification came, via Panbo, from friend of gCaptain and survival expert Doug Ritter. Doug writes: [Continue Reading →]
The folks from “Rite in the Rain” were at the Pacific Marine Expo, and I picked up a brochure, an all-weather pen, and another pocket-sized spiral notebook…thanks guys!
See, I use these products every day. Into my pockets each morning go my keys, wallet, coin purse, cell phone, and my little Weems & Plath-branded Rite in the Rain 3″ x 5″ all-weather spiral notebook.
I have been using these products for many years in fairly harsh environments aboard ship and highly recommend them for use on deck.
I carry three things with me every time I go on deck. A Pelican Flashlight, Channel Locks and my knife. I have tried many and my absolute favorite knife is the Spyderco Assist!
What makes this the best knife?
Thanks to the sheepsfoot blade I know I’m not going to acciently stab myself in bad weather
It has a built in (really loud) whistle in case I go overboard.
It’s designed to open with one hand
Sypderco are simply the best quality knifes.
The combotip allows you to have the benefits of both a straight and serrated edge.
See the ridges on the back of the blade and again on the front of the handle? If you open the blade just enough to get a line in then squeeze the blade against the handle you’ll very safely cut the line.
How sharp does the knife have to be for the last “trick”? Very sharp but spyderco has Free Sharpening for life and a broken blade will never cost you more than $25 to replace. If you are looking for a simpler/thinner knife be sure to check out the Leatherman Rescue.
If I don’t have my spyderco on me it means I’m carrying my second favorite knife; the Leatherman Wave. A great multipurpose knife since leatherman has an excellent warranty, each knife has both a straight edge and serrated blade. These blades are located on the outside of the knife so they are easily accessible with one hand.
With the Spyderco Assist being sold at Amazon for $59 and the Leatherman Wave on sale for $65 you can probably afford both and thank us the next time a storm rolls through during lines.
Have an Iridium, VHF or SSB handheld radio aboard? What about a portable GPS? Create an Abandon ship electronics grab bag that is waterproof, floats and will survive a fire.
After my last Fire Team meeting the 2nd Mate said: “you must own stock in the Halligan Tool Company”. Well I don’t (such a company doesn’t even exist) but I am a big fan of the Halligan and insist that it’s carried on each vessel I work on.
Invented by Deputy Chief Hugh Halligan of the FDNY, it is the multipurpose tool of choice for firefighters around the globe and is used for tasks ranging from forced entry to overhaul. It also has some ISPS uses not disclosed by any manufacturer.
To give you a better idea about how it’s used watch the video below then view our pdf slideshow for the shipboard uses of the tool. [Continue Reading →]
WIRED magazine ran an article that was a real surprise to me: It was about a sextant, and a very good looking sextant at that! This old school navigational device has some sexy styling that any nautical buff would be proud to get their hands on. Take a look at the story and the picture of this excellent piece of retro nautical tech. Read More
You pull into anchorage, plug your EVDO Card into your laptop and immediately begin to map out the stores you need to visit once the ship is docked.
We know the routine and know how precious port time is and we have an answer; Amazon Prime!
What is prime?
For a modest annual charge of $79 you get Two day and Standard shipping for free on selected Amazon.com items and One Day shipping for $3.99 an item.
It’s really that simple. Sign up for the service and get any of the items sold by Amazon (doesn’t apply to all 3rd party items on Amazon) shipped 2nd day for free. If the ship is on a really tight schedule then overnight the package for only $3.99 per item… regardless of size or weight! The best part is you can ship items to any address, perfect for doing Christmas Shopping on watch (not a practice we officially condone .
Where does it work?
Sorry guys but it only works in the United States… for now.
We are glad you asked! For Christmas Gifts check out our Holiday Gift Guide. For work related items visit our Gear Shop (details). All items in the shop have been approved by gCaptain editors and readers so you know it’s quality gear tested aboard ship.
gCaptain made an unscheduled stop this week at the Maritime Security Expo in Long Beach. The event showcases new technology and ideas that improve the security of ports and vessels. The following is a sampling of the best new technology we tested at the event:
Incident Commanders’ Radio Interface
The Incident Commander’s Radio Interface is a system developed by C-AT to allow ‘bridges’ any two incompatible radio, cell, satellite, and landline phones, providing interoperability across frequencies. Developed to allow firefighters, police and other first responders to communicate together this device also has many uses aboard ship.
Having worked aboard a offshore drillship there were times, like during well testing, when half a dozen or more third party companies were working on deck. Each company operated a different type of radio broadcasting on a separate channel. This worked well during normal operations but during emergencies communication with these teams of workers became difficult.
Note: This is not our gear or our ship. <-click for photographer details.
This is an article that was originally posted in July, but with the holiday season coming up I figured it was a good time to re-post.
Working “day jobs” aboard ship gCaptain’s crew has three separate offices; home, work and mobile. As chief blogger I get to carry the most stuff so I wanted to show you what it takes to blog when I’m away from gCaptain HQ. Here’s the gear I use at home and thousands of miles from the nearest shore:
While gCaptain has a very nice office in downtown San Luis Obispo, maritime news breaks at all hours of the day and night. So while I’m at home my office consists of a Mac Pro connected to both my 23inch Cinema Display and my 42″ Plasma Television. Since I don’t work and watch TV at the same time the setup works well. I use it with a Logitech Sidewinder mouse and an ultra sleek Apple Slim Keyboard. The Mac Pro is probably overkill but it was inherited from a failed start-up and I had no takers on Craigslist. I also have an inexpensive dell monitor I rotate 90degrees for dual monitor goodness (a trick I learned from Jason Calcanis at Mahalo -image-).
While traveling to destinations around the world my setup is a black macbook (however, due to an unfortunate incident involving wine it is now the new macbook) and my iPhone. I tend towards lengthy email replies when using the Macbook so I much prefer the iPhone to make them short and quick.
On the ship my primary computer is a windows box which I need for my day job. Because of restricted permissions I rely heavily on a Portable Application Suite I launch from my waterproof USB drive and VNC to access my office computer. Outside my office the environment is unfriendly to electronics. I rely on my Pelican Flashlight at night, Rite in the Rain notepad and Fisher Space Pen. If I need a camera I put my Waterproof Xacti Digital Camcorder in a Micro Pelican Case. If I am outside on the ship’s deck for extended periods of time I catch up on the days news with a custom RSS reader; printed paper. To keep from killing too many trees I use a duplex enabled printer set at 2-pages per side.
I work a schedule of 3 weeks at work and 3 weeks home so I get 6 months vacation per year. To facilitate this each position on the ship is filled by two people, the person on and the person off. This is nice because while at home my relief answers all emails, phone calls, ect., leaving me 100% disconnected from work. But regardless of where in the world my ship is located on the globe I must fly to it every 3 weeks. Staying connected on the road is important. To accomplish this I have set-up a custom SSH tunnel solution that I use with Apple Remote Desktop to connect back to my office network. I also have setup automatic back-ups with the Amazon S3 based app JungleDisk and use Transmit to retrieve my files. Storage is important while traveling so I cloned my MacBook‚ hard drive using SuperDuper and replaced it with a 250gb laptop hard drive.
We recently brought you an indestructible USB drive but with a price tag of $99 and up, we imagine few of you actually bought one. This video from our friends at Systm will show you how to make your USB thumb drive waterproof.
If you want something truly indestructible just bring your drive (plus an extra for the A/E) back to the ship’s machine shop and have the engineers work their magic. If your at home try THIS or THIS.
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and my knife. I have tried many and my absolute favorite knife is the 
After my last Fire Team meeting the 2nd Mate said: “you must own stock in the Halligan Tool Company”. Well I don’t (such a company doesn’t even exist) but I am a big fan of the Halligan and insist that it’s carried on each vessel I work on.
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I rely on my 
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