I’ve Lived on a Sailboat Since 2016. These Are the 25 Gifts Sailors Actually Use (and the Ones That Just Take Up Space).

Everything we own fits on a 41-foot boat, which is the problem with buying a sailor a gift: the wrong one becomes a locker we did not have. Tom and I have lived aboard our 1972 ketch since 2016, from San Francisco Bay to the Sea of Cortez, and the gifts I still use are the ones that are small, dry fast, charge off the sun or make the galley easier.

Here are the 25 gifts sailors actually use, from a liveaboard who has opened a lot of well-meant boxes, grouped by what they do on the boat, with an honest line on each about whether I own it or have only heard the fleet rave about it. The prices in the boxes update themselves. At the end, the short list of things never to give a sailor, which is its own article.

Gifts for the galley

1. The Boat Galley Cookbook. I bought the Kindle edition for my iPad and it is the one I open when I actually feel like cooking. Carolyn Shearlock and Jan Irons have been cruising for years, and it is as much a book of galley techniques as recipes. It is also where I learned to wrap cabbage in newspaper.

2. A pressure cooker. The most-used thing aboard our boat, and not in the original version of this list because I had not discovered it yet. It uses less fuel, it cannot spill when it is latched, and it turns dried beans into dinner on one burner. Any 4 to 6 quart stovetop model with a locking lid works; the brand matters less than the latch. If you give a sailor one thing from this list, give this.

3. Magma nesting pots and pans. I do not own this set, and other cruisers keep telling me I should: five pieces that store in less than half a cubic foot, which in a galley the size of a phone booth is the whole argument.

4. A solar oven. I swear by ours. It bakes bread, heats a meal or slow-cooks a curry at anchor on sunlight alone, with no propane, no power draw and no heat in the galley, which on a hot day in the Sea of Cortez is the difference between dinner and a sandwich.

5. Mason jar sprouting lids. A friend gave me these, and they are the only salad that grows on a boat. On a long passage, when the fresh food has run out, a jar of sprouts on the counter is a small miracle.

6. Non-slip shelf and drawer mats. The cheapest fix in the galley: line the shelves and the fridge so jars stay put on a tack. This is the roll we use.
7. Collapsible silicone bowls and a strainer. They save locker space and stay silent underway, which matters more than it sounds at two in the morning. Any flat-folding set works.
8. Reusable gel ice packs. Pre-frozen before a passage, they keep the fridge cold with the compressor off longer. The ones in our freezer.
9. Good instant coffee. When the boat is heeled and the pour-over is a choreography, a decent instant packet is not a compromise. Alpine Start is the one friends recommend; I keep a stash for rough mornings.

Gifts for sleeping and staying dry

10. Turkish towels. Seriously one of the best things I have discovered for the boat: thin, enormous, softer than quick-dry towels and faster to dry than any of them. A towel that dries is a towel that does not smell.

11. A mattress topper. Boat mattresses are foam cut to a strange shape, and a high-density foam or latex topper is the single biggest comfort upgrade aboard. Measure the bunk first.
12. Hanging moisture absorbers. Mold is the enemy on a boat in winter. DampRid hanging bags in the hanging lockers are the cheapest defense.
13. A small 12-volt dehumidifier. For the boats with the power to run one, a compact electric dehumidifier keeps the forward cabin from sweating.
14. Rechargeable USB fans. Airflow is sleep in the tropics. Small clip-on USB fans by the bunk are the first thing we turn on at anchor.
15. A hammock for the foredeck. A packable hammock strung between the mast and the forestay is the best seat on the boat, and it stows in a locker the size of a shoe.

Gifts for light, power and safety

16. Garmin inReach Mini. I bought ours before we sailed from San Francisco to Oxnard, and the family followed our track the whole way. It is the gift that lets someone worried about a sailor stop worrying.

17. A solar lantern that charges a phone. People in my sailing groups rave about these on deck at night, and I understand why: fifty hours on low, recharged by the sun, and a phone charger in a pinch.

18. A floating key chain. A floating key float has saved more than one set of dinghy keys on this boat. Under ten dollars of insurance against a very bad afternoon.
19. Motion-sensor LED lights for the lockers. Stick-on rechargeable LEDs inside the dark lockers and the head mean nobody hunts for a switch at night.
20. A rechargeable headlamp. One lives by our companionway. Hands free for the anchor, the engine and the midnight dinghy. Any rechargeable model with a red-light setting.

Gifts for the long hours

21. A Kindle Paperwhite. I have owned every Kindle since the first one, and the current one is waterproof, which on a boat is not a feature, it is the point. Library books download for free.

22. An iPad. One of the best things I ever bought for myself. Downloaded shows for anchorages with no signal, cookbooks, workout programs, language lessons. It is the boat’s television, library and gym.

23. An Audible subscription. A book read aloud on a night watch is easier than a book held in the hand, and the hours are long.

24. The Boat Galley 5-in-1 ship’s log. Five logbooks in one: the ship’s log, the cruising log, the inventory, the fluid changes and fills, the maintenance and upgrades. The maintenance pages alone are worth it on a 1972 boat.

25. A soft-sided cooler for the cockpit. We used to shove snacks and drinks for a day sail into a grocery bag. A high-density soft cooler in the cockpit is the upgrade.

Two gifts I use every week that have no box

The Scrubba wash bag, which is a washing machine the size of a dry bag; I use it all the time, and it is the reason we can go weeks between laundromats. And a bag of adhesive hooks, the Command kind, because a boat can never have enough places to hang a wet thing. Neither is glamorous. Both get used more than anything else on this list.

What never to give a sailor

Hard luggage, because there is nowhere to put the suitcase once it is empty. An umbrella, which lasts one gust. A hair dryer, which the boat’s batteries will not run and the boat’s water will not justify. Plush toilet paper, which a marine head cannot pass. Anything in cardboard for a boat in a hot climate, because the cockroaches come in with the box. And bananas, which sailors have refused to carry for a couple of centuries; the nine things you should never bring on a sailboat explains all of it. When in doubt, give something that dries fast, folds flat or runs on the sun.

Sailors: what is the gift you actually use most? And what is still in its box?

Gift questions, answered

Every item here is one the author uses aboard or names as recommended by other cruisers, as stated beside each. Product boxes show current prices; availability checked October 2026. Some links are affiliate links.