A few stocking stuffers...

On the subject of wearing masks, some very good advice, and in the "Americans are so caught up with the idea that this can’t be happening to them that they’re missing the very obvious fact that it is." department...

So, it's Thanksgiving week already which, I guess, proves that time sure flies when you're in the middle of a global pandemic. Anyway,  it's also a good time to check out the sales and see what would make sensible gifts for the cruising inclined folks on your list.

For starters, I noticed that West Marine has the Orion Floating Locator Electronic SOS Beacon kit on sale for just $59.99 which is a heck of a deal when you realize it is all the signalling gear required to be street legal by the powers-that-be. More importantly, the electronic flare has a lot of advantages over pyrotechnic flares which have safety, pollution, and disposal issues. At the current sale pricing I'm tempted to get another one (we already have two) to use as a dedicated dinghy flare kit.

As just about everyone these days uses epoxy on boats and a too-large percentage of folks I know tend to use it incorrectly you might want to check out "Epoxy Basics: Working with Epoxy Cleanly & Efficiently" by Russel Brown which really should be on everyone's shelf or Kindle. While you're at it you should really have a look at his other books "Scarfing Basics" and "Rolling Perfection"as they'd make great stocking stuffers as well. The three combined are some of my most used reference books and get a lot of use.

Harbor Freight has a really excellent canvas rigging bag for $9.99 which you may recognize since quite a few purveyors of marine bric-a-brac sell the same bag for a whole lot more.

As it happens, I have two of them that I use as actual rigging bags and all of my rigging tools and needfuls (with the exception of my cast iron bench vise) fit in with room to spare. Better yet, the various pockets are actually done in such a way that you can really get serious about organization with a place for everything and everything in its place.

I keep meaning to get Harbor Freight's canvas bucket for use while rigging aloft next time it's on sale but it would also make a great stocking-stuffer.

Listening to Molly Tuttle

So it goes...