ZThomas
Junior Nomad
Posts: 62
Registered: 4-9-2008
Location: Reno
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5 Things to Pack for a Trailer-boat Trip
While researching the book, I learned to pack a number of unusual, Baja-specific things you might not think of on a first trailer-boat trip. Here's a
few of them. Anybody else have neat little things that make a DIY fishing trip easier?
1. A 25- or 50-foot garden hose. For whatever reason, Mexicans love to cut the male ends off their garden hoses. My mother, who gets all peeed off
every time she discovers that the guy who waters the plants at their place south of Mulege has cut the end off another one of her hoses, says it's
like circumcision: in Baja, it's customary to circumcise a new garden hose just like you'd circumcise a new baby boy.
At any rate, it's true that the majority of garden hoses in Baja are "circumcised," which means you can't screw them into the flushing port
on your outboard -- or screw a flushing muff onto them. So take your own hose to flush your engine. Alternatively -- or in addition -- you can take a
clamp-on male hose end. They cost like $1 at the hardware store, and they clamp down onto a cut hose end with a couple of screws.
2. A long extension cord and a battery charger. A battery charger is a no-brainer, but it's easy to forget the extension cord. If you kill your boat
(or truck) batteries -- and it does happen, with bait pumps or interior lights accidentally left on, shorts, malfunctioning alternators, etc. -- you
can just run an extension cord from a motel-room outlet out to your rig in the parking lot and recharge it overnight.
3. Spare tie-downs. Whether you use a single strap over the whole stern or a pair of transom tie-downs, you're not going to find a replacement in Baja
-- and it's near impossible to jerry-rig a suitable replacement. Even if you have strong enough rope or webbing, you can't get it tight enough without
a camming buckle. I've had mine stolen once, and I've also lost one transom tie down that just loosened up after too many miles of washboard and fell
off. So take an extra or two. They're relatively cheap, and towing your boat in Baja -- especially on dirt -- without good tie-downs just isn't an
option.
4. Work clothes and gloves. Shorts and flip-flops just aren't suitable for changing a trailer tire beside Highway 1. Hopefully, you won't use them the
whole trip, but throw in a pair of jeans or Carhartts, real shoes and socks, and leather work gloves right beside your tool kit and jack. Changing a
tire or replacing a hub sucks regardless, but it's a lot more pleasant when you're not scuffling around in the thorns and broken glass and
frying-pan-hot dirt bare-handed in shorts.
5. A pocket tape recorder. I kept a tape recorder beside me on the seat the whole time I was researching the book, but I found I was using for much
more than just book-related information. Tape recorders are great for remembering all those things you think of while you're driving but can't write
down -- stuff you want to pack next trip, where that good taco stand is San Quintin that you never see until you're past it, how many stop signs you
go through in Ensenada before you turn left at the strip joint to get back to Highway 1, what the name is of the new hotel in Guerrero Negro you want
to ask about when you get home, etc., etc.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Bajajudy compiled this list a couple of years ago. It might be helpful.
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=9392
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Without going through the long post that Joe linked, I've always felt that something comfortable/insulative to lie on while you work on your back
under a vehicle and a basic means of creating shade were right up there in importance. We carry one of those basic Costco 7 foot umbrellas and a
moving blanket.
For the trailer, nothing is more important than spare bearing assemblies and the means to replace them. Tires are a given.
For the boat, spare bait, bilge pumps can sometimes be hard to find. Bring an extra each............nothing worse than not being able to fish live
bait when that's all they want.
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vacaenbaja
Senior Nomad
Posts: 640
Registered: 4-4-2006
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I carry one complete hub assembly. If you ever loose a bearing, no messy repacking required. Just slip off the messy old hub and slide in the new
one,and deal with the fragged assembly later in a safer location. It is all about staying off the middle/ side of Mex one. Very dangerous. Just like
when you get a flat. Never change it from the street side of the road. If possible pull over ACROSS to the other side of the road so that the side
with the flat is on the inside away from traffic. Of course this applies only on narrow shoulder situations.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Duct Tape
As Karl Malden used to say "Never leave home without it".
I just patched my waders in alaska with it and it held for a month.
It's many uses are legendary.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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Duct tape.... my five year old amiga recently made a wallet out of it.
nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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ZThomas
Junior Nomad
Posts: 62
Registered: 4-9-2008
Location: Reno
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Good thinkin' on the pad to lie on and some kind of portable shade for changing tires, etc. Both of those are going in before my next trip.
I lost a bait pump once before I started carrying a spare and managed to finish out the trip by taking the spray nozzle off my washdown hose, and
tying an 8-oz. torpedo sinker to the end of the hose to hold down on the bottom of the tank. Worked fine for macks and caballitos--probably wouldn't
for sardinas.
ZT
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Power pack. Best $60 I ever spent.
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Three things you do not mention, but I am sure you had with you.
1. A sense of humor
2. Lots of patience
3. A willingness to accept repairs and solutions that are ourside the proverbial box.
Our friend is still driving in San Diego with an oil pan repaired with epoxy in Bahia Asuncion.
Love the tape recorder idea to go along with a camera
Diane
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baitcast
Super Nomad
Posts: 1785
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: kingman AZ.
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Mood: good
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I lost track of the number of trailers with a nice rig just setting there along the road with a obvious bearing failure,those things cannot be treated
to kindly,number one on my list.
Rob
And of course duct tape and WD 40 
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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9009
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
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Mood: Inquisitive
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WD-40 really only has one good use..........displacing moisture, especially in electric applications. For freeing rusted parts or light surface
lubrication, there are many better options. I carry LPS or Boe-shield for lubrication and usually Kroil as a penetrating oil.
I really like Boe-shield as a preventative spray on exterior bolts. Goes on as a liquid and dries like a waxy substance that waterproofs. LPS seems to
stay liquid and can be rinsed off, but is a better penetrant than Boe. Kroil is the king of the penetrants, by most accounts.
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