Boat rides can be fun, relaxing, exciting, and a great way to spend the day. They can also be scary and dangerous.
Over the past few centuries, there have been hundreds of thousands of ship wrecks and boat wrecks, of which a large number have gone unrecovered due to the vast size of the oceans.
With the many dangers on the water, what should be a day of fun can quickly turn into your worst nightmare and leave you stranded in open water, on a deserted island, or even end in fatalities.
In this post, we will provide you a list of items that we believe are must-have items to bring with you on your next boat trip to ensure you have the best chance of surviving should any mishaps happen.
While many boaters believe they are prepared, they commonly miss a few steps in preparation that can be the very thing that saves them. For example, many boaters keep the required safety gear such as life vests on board, however, most life vests are stored away in a storage container or below deck making it difficult to get to in the event of a crash. Moving those life vest to a location on deck and readily accessible such as strapped to the inner wall of the boat on a break-away strap, may be the single move that saves a life.
If you are an avid boater, you may already have the standard gear on your water craft including oars, life vests, marine radio, spare gas, and flares. In this list, we will offer suggestions of some items you may not have thought of that could come in handy.
In most cases, a tragic event can happen within seconds, leaving you only moments to react. Because of this, we recommend keeping a prepared survival bag on board and handy. While we highly recommend using a waterproof bag, you can use any bag such as an old backpack, fanny pack, or drawstring bag, however, we recommend whatever bag you use, that it has a way to close completely and prevent any items from falling out.
1. Food & Water
Food and water should always be the number one item packed in a survival pack, especially when going out onto open water. The lack of shade, direct sunlight, and salt in the air (if on the ocean) will dehydrate the body faster than on land.
Packing bottles of clean, drinkable water and high protein snacks can keep you hydrated and provide the nutrition needed to keep your energy up for long distance swimming if needed.
When packing food and water, be sure to pack them in air-tight bags or containers within your pack to prevent them from getting soaked and ruined.
Foods should be high in protein and low in carbs. Water should be kept in a sealed non-plastic bottle.
If you are boating on a body of fresh water, we recommend also considering packing a water filtration device such as a LifeStraw. LifeStraw is a small device used to filter bacteria, particles, and other contaminants from fresh water to make it drinkable.
2. Waterproof Flashing Strobe Light
Whenever a person is reported missing and was last seen or known to have been on the water, one of the first responses from authorities is to send a search party over the water. Using a waterproof flashing strobe light will tremendously increase your chances of being seen from far away by a search party to be rescued.
Personal waterproof strobe lights can be purchased online fairly cheap and come with pins or clips making it easy to attach to your clothing or to a backpack or life vest.
Strobe lights should be as white and be as bright as you can find allowing the light to travel farther.
3. High-Pitched Emergency Whistle
While strobe lights are a great way of making sure you can be seen, they can be difficult to see during the day and their flashes of light can be easily mistaken for sunlight reflecting off of the water’s surface.
With a high-pitch emergency whistle, you can send piercing signals through the air to be carried far away across the surface of the water and reach any possible vessel passing nearby.
4. Medicine, First Aid, and Health Products
If you have any prescriptions, especially life-saving prescriptions such as insulin, you should bring a supply sealed in an air-tight bag should you be stranded for a long period of time.
Aside from prescribed medicines, you should also pack other health products such as sunblock, gauze, bandage tape, and other first aid supplies.
5. Knife
A knife is a multipurpose must-have tool for many occasions. When I comes to boating, a knife can be uses in many ways. In the event you become tangled with netting, rope, etc. a knife is the perfect tool to cut you free.
You can also use it to cut pieces of rope or string to tie together any floating debris to act as a raft.
If you become stranded on an island, a knife can also help you cut and sharpen wood, clean fish, and more.
While most boaters prefer a diver’s knife due to its sheath, leg straps, and strong full-tang blade, any knife will be sufficient.
6. Rope or Paracord
Keeping a hankA hank is a coil or skein of yarn, hair, rope, or other material. More of rope or paracord will prove useful in many situations including tying pieces together into a makeshift raft, strapping supplies to your body to free up your hands and legs, and even using them to secure your next meal.
When it comes to choosing which type of rope to use, we recommend going with a rope that is strong and does not stretch. Our favorite choice is paracord.
Paracord is a very strong and durable yet lightweight rope made from several strands of strong durable string encased in a durable casing. Paracord has become very popular among many survivalists due to how lightweight and compact it is compared to how strong and durable it is. Paracord is often used to make survival bracelets, knife handles, knife straps, and many other items that would keep long lengths of paracord readily available, for example, a standard paracord bracelet may contain up to 6 feet of paracord.
By stripping the paracord, the inner strands can easily be used as fishing line, used to erect a small shelter, or tied together to form a net.
7. Emergency Fishing Supplies
Although it is not necessary, we added this one because it is a very small item you can add that can help you tremendously should you become stranded on an island.
Keeping a small supply of fishing supplies such as hooks, bobbers, and string, will come in handy should you need to catch fish to eat.
You can easily pack a small container such as a portable bar soap container with a small bag of hooks, a couple of bobbers, and a roll of fishing line.
As mentioned above, you can also use the strands of string found inside your paracord as fishing line if needed.
In the event you are stranded on an island, a nearby stick, palm leave stem, or other item can be used to attach the string and hook to.
Other Tips
Although we highly recommend bringing the items listed above with you in a prep bag, there are many other items you can bring as well as items on this list that you may not need to bring depending on your trip.
In order to determine what supplies you will need, be sure you know who is going, how many people there will be, any medical conditions or allergies each person may have, where you will be going, and how long you plan to be there.
You can also stay safe by following some of these other tips listed below:
- Always try to travel with a companion when traveling on open water
- Keep your prep bag ready and stocked at all times and in an easily accessible location on deck.
- Check and restock or resupply your pack every couple of months. Be sure to check expiration dates on all items.
- Always let someone else know where you are going.
