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Dinghy Essentials – Everything You Need to Keep In Your Dinghy

After living aboard our 34-foot trawler for two years, anchoring most of the time, and using our dinghy daily to take our dog to shore multiple times a day, we learned what crucial items to keep in our dinghy. In this guide, we go over the must-have dinghy essentials to keep in your dinghy!

Note: We use affiliate links which provide us a little kickback each time you use one of our links and make a purchase, without any additional cost to you. We do not recommend products that we don’t already love or have heard great things about, so you can trust we’re only suggesting great products to you.

Table of Contents

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  • Short on Time?
  • Dinghy Essentials Checklist
  • Dinghy Box
  • Dinghy Registration
  • Oars
  • Manual Bilge Pump
  • Life Jackets
  • Throwable Life Preservers
  • Air Horn, Bell, or Whistle
  • Navigation Lights
  • First Aid Kit
  • Stainless Steel Combination Lock and Cord
  • Portable VHF Radio
  • Patch kit (if you have an inflatable dinghy)
  • Air pump (if you have an inflatable dinghy)
  • Dinghy Anchor
  • Reef Safe, Waterproof Sunscreen
  • Apple Air Tag (and holder)
  • Dog Bags (if you have a dog)
  • Boat Cards (extra)
  • Save for Later

Short on Time?

Check out our Amazon Storefront with all of our dinghy essentials.

Dinghy Essentials Checklist

We created a free dinghy essentials checklist that you can download and print. Click this link to download it!

Jen and Ollie on boar our dinghy with all of our dinghy essentials.

Dinghy Box

We kept a plastic orange box in our dinghy filled with most of the dinghy essentials on this list. Keeping the items organized in a box meant it was easy for us to stay organized and easy to prep the dinghy when we put it in the water. Although our dinghy box came with our boat, here are a few very similar to ours:

Our Dinghy box, where we store most of our dinghy essentials
Buy on Amazon

Dinghy Registration

Most states require you to register your dinghy like any other boat. We kept a photocopy of our dinghy registration in a plastic bag in our dinghy box and kept the original document in a safe, dry place on our boat. It’s important to have your registration in case you get stopped by the Coast Guard.

Elliott on the dinghy with all of the dinghy essentials

Oars

Many boaters choose a motor or engine for their dinghy, however, it’s important to be prepared for when things don’t go according to plan. We’ve had to row our dinghy several times when our old propane gas engine stopped working. Oars are one of those items you hope to never use but are glad to have when the time comes you need them. You can find brands of oars specific to your dinghy, but any oars will do the job:

Buy on Amazon

Manual Bilge Pump

Regardless of how water gets into our dinghy, we always kept a manual bilge pump handy to remove the water. Even if your dinghy has an electric bilge pump, it’s important to keep a manual pump as a spare and we consider this one of the dinghy essentials. Another option is to use a cut-off plastic bleach or gallon water bottle with the lid screwed on. This option has a built-in handle and is an easy, inexpensive option to keep in your dinghy. Our manual bilge pump was from West Marine, but here are some similar options:

Buy on Amazon
Elliott using the Manual Bilge Pump, one of the dinghy essentials

Life Jackets

As required by the US Coast Guard, we kept 4 Type II or Type III life jackets in our dinghy. These met our USCG requirement to have a throwable, so if you prefer to carry Type V life jackets, you’ll need to also carry a Type IV Throwable Device. This is definitely a must for our dinghy essentials, and it’s required! Our life jackets came with our boat, but here are some highly recommended life jackets:

Buy on Amazon
Buy on Boat Gear USA

Throwable Life Preservers

As required by the US Coast Guard, a throwable life preserver is also handy to keep in your dinghy in case anyone goes overboard. We like this brightly colored throwable life preserver so it’s easy to see in the water.

Buy on Amazon

Air Horn, Bell, or Whistle

As per the US Coast Guard rules and regulations, it’s important to keep an air horn, whistle, or bell aboard your vessel as a safety measure. We kept our air horn in our dinghy box.

Buy on Amazon

Navigation Lights

The US Coast Guard requires your boat to have navigation lights during sunrise, sunset, and at night. While on the Great Loop, we often cruised early in the morning, which meant we took our dog to shore in the dark or at dawn or dusk. Having navigation lights kept us safe so other boats could see us. We love the Mantus Nav Lights because they’re rechargeable with USB-C and solar. They’re also easy to clip onto our boat!

Buy on Mantus Marine
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Boat Gear USA

First Aid Kit

A first aid kit is a must have dinghy essentials! Having the tools needed to bandage a wound is critical when you’re out and away from your boat. A first aid kit is like most items on this list, you hope to never need them but are glad when you do! While we were in the Benjamin Islands in the North Channel, Jen cut her knee while getting out of the dinghy onto some slippery rock. Having the tools needed to bandage the cut would have made for a lot less of a hassle.

Buy on Amazon
Buy on Boat Gear USA

Stainless Steel Combination Lock and Cord

Having the ability to lock your dinghy when going to shore at a public boat ramp or dock is important to deter theft. Most places we visited by boat were safe and although we didn’t feel that anyone would take our dinghy, we consistently used our lock just in case. We threaded the steel cord through a handle, our motor and battery, and locked it to the metal pieces at the aft of the dinghy. Although we used a combination lock and vinyl-coated steel cord, this combination lock is similar and means you can’t drop the combination lock into the water as we risked at times:

Lock and cord for our dinghy, one of the most important dinghy essentials to keep it safe!
Buy on Amazon

Portable VHF Radio

Every time Elliot took our dog Ollie to shore, he carried a portable VHF Radio with him in case of emergency. Some areas of the loop had limited cell service, so having a portable VHF radio meant we could always communicate in case of an emergency.

Buy on Amazon
Buy on Boat Gear USA

Patch kit (if you have an inflatable dinghy)

If you have an inflatable dinghy, having a patch kit is essential. Like most items on this dinghy essentials list, we hope we’ll never need to use the patch kit, but are glad we have it when needed. We kept this kit in our dinghy box.

Buy on Amazon

Air pump (if you have an inflatable dinghy)

Throughout the past two years on our boat, we used our air pump at least once a month. The air pump was a crucial piece of gear to keep in our dinghy. Make sure your air pump has an HR adapter for the dinghy air valve.

Buy on Amazon

Dinghy Anchor

We are loyal customers to Mantus Marine after having waited out several storms on anchor with our 65lb M1 Anchor. It only makes sense to have another M1 Mantus for our dinghy. We used our dinghy anchor during beach landings. It’s important to throw our anchor onto land to prepare for changing tides. We highly recommend the Mantus Dinghy Anchor!

Buy on Mantus Marine

Reef Safe, Waterproof Sunscreen

Being on the water means we’re getting twice as much UV exposure as it reflects off the water. Applying sunscreen was part of our daily routine while living aboard. We made sure to use mineral sunscreen with zinc oxide (instead of chemical-based sunscreen) and reef-safe sunscreen.

Buy on Amazon

Apple Air Tag (and holder)

Attaching an Apple air tag with a waterproof adhesive air tag holder to your dinghy is a helpful way to keep an eye out for your dinghy. We’ve known a few boaters who have had dinghies go loose. They’ve had to search for their runaway dinghies downstream. To know where your dinghy is at all times, attach an Apple air tag to a secure, out-of-sight spot on your dinghy!

Buy on Amazon

Dog Bags (if you have a dog)

One of the worst things when taking our dog to shore was getting to shore only to realize we didn’t have any dog bags. One of us would stay with Ollie on shore while the other person has to go back to the boat to get dog bags. This quickly lead to keeping a stash of dog bags in our dinghy box.

Buy on Amazon

Boat Cards (extra)

Often times we might run into boaters as we were taking our dinghy to shore. A common practice amongst boaters is to share boat cards. We kept some boat cards in our dinghy box to share our contact information with boaters we met in case we ever meet again.

Our boat cards, one of the dinghy essentials
Buy on Moo
Buy on Vista Print

What are Boat Cards?

Read our blog post answering all your boat card questions, including why you should have a boat card, where to buy boat cards, what to include on boat cards, what to not put on boat cards, and where to store boat cards once you receive them.

Jenn pulling the dinghy, with all of the dinghy essentials onboard

We hope this post provided some insightful information on dinghy essentials and the must-have items we kept in our dinghy. Any of these items would be a great gift for boaters if you’re looking for ideas. Share this post with a friend if you think someone else might find this information useful. The ups, downs, and everything in between, we share it all. If you like what you see, there are many ways to show your support and say thanks!

Save for Later

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Dinghy Essentials | Everything you need to keep on your dinghy | Boat life tips | living on a boat | Full time cruisers | America's Great Loop
Dinghy Essentials | Everything you need to keep on your dinghy | Boat life tips | living on a boat | Full time cruisers | America's Great Loop
Dinghy Essentials | Everything you need to keep on your dinghy | Boat life tips | living on a boat | Full time cruisers | America's Great Loop
Dinghy Essentials | Everything you need to keep on your dinghy | Boat life tips | living on a boat | Full time cruisers | America's Great Loop

The ups, downs, and everything in between, we share it all. If you like what you see, there are lots of ways to show your support and say thanks! The easiest way to support our work is by commenting on this post, liking and sharing our content on Facebook, and pinning our content on Pinterest. It’s a small way to say thank you that goes a long way!


Posted

November 7, 2023

in

America’s Great Loop, Boat Life

by

Jennifer Johnson

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Comments

One response to “Dinghy Essentials – Everything You Need to Keep In Your Dinghy”

  1. Tom Surles Avatar
    Tom Surles
    November 13, 2023

    This comment is unrelated to your dinghy list but I can’t figure out where else to write to you. We love your vlogs – in particular the music you play. Can you put together some downloadable playlists of the cruising tunes (perhaps create CDs that you can sell in your shop)? We play music a lot while cruising and sometimes we find ourselves dancing like you guys do on Pivot. But we are needing some new tunes and yours are perfect!

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About Us

We’re Jen and Elliot, aka Scho & Jo, a couple of high school sweethearts who fell in love with travel and decided to live life now. From international travel to boating around America’s Great Loop to converting a Sprinter Van into a campervan and now traveling to all 50 States and US National Parks, we’re here to help you plan for your dream trip! We share detailed guides and expense reports to help turn your dream trip into a reality! Read more about us here.

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  • Top 5 Short & Easy Hikes in Zion National Park
  • 1 Day in White Sands National Park: Itinerary & Ultimate Guide
  • How much does Van Life Cost? A Breakdown of Expenses
  • South Rim Trail at Big Bend National Park Hiking Guide
  • 1 Day in Carlsbad Caverns: Itinerary and Ultimate Guide

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Sign up for our weekly newsletter where we update you with our plans for the week, recap our previous week with stories that don’t make it into our videos, ask for recommendations, and send you other resources straight into your inbox!

Sometimes it’s not the bucket list but random mo Sometimes it’s not the bucket list but random moments that you’ll remember forever 🐶

After filming our YouTube series on Carlsbad Caverns NP and White Sands NP we had to spend one day in the park and just catch up on work. 

It was a little warm, but randomly running up the sand hills throughout the day was so worth it. 

It’s l moments like these that were so grateful to live and work out of our van. 

Follow @schoandjo for more slices of life as we explore North America. 

#travelcouple 
#van
#vanlife 
#diyvanbuild 
#nationalparks
#whitesands
And 2 seconds later, Summit was dirty again 😅 And 2 seconds later, Summit was dirty again 😅

As two East Coasters, deserts are so strange and wonderful. Both barren and full of life. 

We stayed on our first BLM outside of Carlsbad, NM, and we were greeted with something entirely new for us… a dust storm! 

We hadn’t washed Summit since being on the road, but that was the trigger for a deep clean. Coming from boat life, we’d just wash Pivot at various marinas. 

Now we go to car washes! I have to admit, that I was not really looking forward to the chore of washing Summit, but the feeling of a clean home was super worth it. With some good tunes, it was actually pretty fun! 

Follow @schoandjo for more, as we learn more about life on the road on our exploration around North America! 

#vanlife
#travelcouple
#sprintervan
#carwash
#newmexico
#duststorm
#rvlife
We were racing against the clock ⏰ When we firs We were racing against the clock ⏰

When we first stepped into White Sands National Park, we knew we had to get sunset photos, but while almost everywhere in the park is perfect for it, there is a cut-off time. 

You must be out of the park no later than 30 minutes after sunset. 

BUT, since the sun goes over the Mountains earlier than sunset, you have more gorgeous golden light.

Follow @schoandjo as we visit all 63 National Parks. This is park 7/63.

#whitesands
#nationalparks
#newmexico
#hiking
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Don’t Miss this Ranger-Led Tour ‼️ When we Don’t Miss this Ranger-Led Tour ‼️

When we went to Carlsbad Caverns this April, we were shocked to learn they restarted ONE tour. 

If you didn’t know, Carlsbad Caverns lost roughly half its front-facing staff with the NPS cuts. Due to this, they were forced to cancel all their ranger-led tours and just focus on keeping the park running. 

The park service desperately wanted to open a tour to help educate small groups about the park’s history, challenges, and wonders, hoping those people would then share why our parks are so important to keep open. They’ve found a way to stabilize and open one tour.

The King’s Palace tour visits scenic rooms closed to the public, so you’ll visit places very few people can see.

With this being said, every day is different, and as of now, they don’t know in advance if they will be offering the tour, so you’ll have to show up early regardless.

The visitors center opens at 9:00 am, so we sat outside since 8:00 am, ensuring we could get a spot. 

The other people who had heard of the tour started arriving at 8:15, and by 8:30, there was a decent line outside. If you want tickets, arrive by 8:30 am at the latest! 

You don’t need a timed entry as the tour will count for your entry. The tour is $10 USD per person, on top of standard park entry fees. 

The King’s Palace tour starts at 10:30 am, so you’ll need to take the elevator down, and then you’ll have a few minutes to wander before the tour. 

The tour lasts about 1:30 to 2 hours, so come fed and with plenty of time to learn about the Caverns! 

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or have seen anything different in recent days. Huge kudos to the NPS for navigating these challenging times. 

Follow @schoandjo as we visit all 63 US National Parks, this is park number 7!

#carlsbadcaverns
#nationalparks
#newmexico
#hiking
#caves
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