Gear / Off-grid.

Our ICOM handheld VHF lives mostly on the deck of our cabin, which is situated on an island on the north coast of BC just west of the middle of nowhere. We are about 100 nautical miles south of the Alaska border, and 65 NM from the nearest road to anywhere. Cell coverage out here will likely never happen. But even if you’re not this far out, there are still many places your boat can take you where you find yourself out of cell coverage. So often it’s back to the good old VHF

I bought my Garmin inReach Mini about 4 years ago, specifically for emergency use and communications when traveling in the remote, offline and off-grid world of the north coast of BC, Canada. My experience with this device therefore is in a primarily marine environment, and although the region is heavily forested, I have not personally used the inReach for land-based activities such as hiking or navigating in wilderness environments. The main features of the inReach which ma

We added a Starlink system three years ago at our off-grid cabin, and in short, it has been an absolute game changer. But there are of course, pros and cons. Here’s a look at how the Starlink has been for us, and some of the considerations which may apply to your situation too. Our cabin is located on and island in a very remote corner on the NW coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is about 110 nautical miles south of the Alaska border, about 60 miles away from the nearest r

Xtratuf Ankle Deck Boot In a normal year, I spend about 200 days on my boats. And in a normal year, whether I’m on the water or not, I use two types of footwear 99% of the time. Specifically, I am either in Xtratuf boots, or flip-flops (see review here). True story - ask my wife. And while I am not a woman, in  “Xtratuf season” which for me is from about mid October to mid June, I primarily wear the Women’s Legacy Clog. They are perfect for my charter days where I am on the b

Bluetti EB3A in the wild. The Bluetti EB3A  is a compact and portable power station that powers our off-grid cabin, which is located on the remote north coast of British Columbia. It is paired with a portable Honda EU2200iTC generator , which has turned out to be a terrific combination. The main uses for this “power couple” are to keep phones and radios charged, and to power a Starlink Mini internet system. With a 268Wh battery capacity and 600W of power (with a 1,200W surge)

The Honda EU2200iTC  is a compact, highly portable and reliable generator, which was a perfect fit to power our off-grid cabin. Basically, we use it to run tools and re-charge batteries, which represents the bulk of our power needs. With a 2200 watt output, this small generator will run corded skill saws and chop saws flawlessly, as well as charging batteries for cordless tools. On occasion, it has also run a small chest freezer with no issues at all! The inverter technology