I shared a couple of ice cream bars with my younger daughter last month, when we were staying overnight at Cornet Bay.

Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company ice cream bars, in fact. We had one creamy orange, and one peanut butter. Yummm!

It’s worth tracking one down if you happen to be in the area. The Cornet Bay Marina store has ‘em. That’s all I’m saying.

Even if you’re comfortable refilling disposable propane cylinders, eventually the valves will fail, or they’ll get so rusty they have to be retired. So what do you do with them?

Coleman has launched a new recycling program for disposable 16-oz. propane cylinders.

“Green Key: Your Key To Being Green”.

Whuh-huh?

It’s a tool that “durably marks the propane cylinder as empty for steel recyclers.”

Again, whuh-huh?

Here’s Coleman’s video demonstration, and here’s my own attempt to explain how it works:

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While tied up in Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, we met a fellow named James Life; he works over at CSR Marine, one of the big boatyards in these parts. He spotted my AIS antenna right off the bat, which was noteworthy in and of itself.

Anyway, his family had some crab, which they were willing to share. Even better, they had enough Zyliss Seafood Crackers to go around.

This is a VERY handy tool for cracking crab, friendlier on the fingers than any other crab cracking tool I know.

Of course, a pair of rusty pliers from the tool box will do in a pinch, but the Zyliss Seafood Crackers are less than $7 each. Anybody who catches crab or lobster regularly should have at least a couple on hand.

By the way, James & family: Thanks for the crab!

Apparently, I’m the last one on my block to learn about the terrific Tervis Tumbler. They’ve even got some with maritime-inspired designs, or you could have them personalized with a name or initials, or those of a boat.

It’s an insulated tumbler, so it keeps your drink cold. It’s plastic (sorry, “polycarbonate”), so it’ll stand up to the mishandling typical aboard most boats. It’s dishwasher safe.

And the “no sweating” thing might seem like a minor feature, except that as I type this, I’m also playing Go Fish with my younger daughter aboard the boat, and cards keep ending up in the condensation coming off our drink glasses. I could REALLY use a set of Tervis Tumblers, obviously!

I learned about them from a fellow cruiser one lazy evening last week on Stuart Island in the San Juans…a favorite destination from my childhood, and still a wonderful place to visit.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and, on a more personal note, to my own dad, John C. Flanagan. He taught me a lot about boating aboard our 20′ Fiberform cabin cruiser, Psyche II. Thanks, dad!

I don’t know how you celebrate Father’s Day, but at our house I’ve just finished a delicious breakfast of bacon, waffles, maple syrup, and a nice Chinese black Yunnan tea. Now I’m watching one of my favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, Horror of Party Beach.

And now it’s time to taste-test the agave-intensive margarita recipe I wrote about last month.

Mmmmm, that IS good, certainly among the best margaritas I’ve ever tasted. I’m really not at all sure how well the quick-n-dirty beer margarita recipe is going to stand up to it.

However you celebrate it…Happy Father’s Day!

So claims Navagear informant Carl.

We’ve written about margarita recipes before, here and here.

Those are all wrong, according to Carl. Instead, here’s what you combine:

2 parts 100% Agave Tequila.
1 part Agave Nectar
1 part lime juice (from freshly squeezed limes
1 part water (pure spring water would be best)

Mix. Poor over ice. Garnish with a slice of lime. Salt the glass…or not…as you prefer.

Right off the bat, I was a little bit confused. What the heck is 100% Agave Tequila?! And along comes Wikipedia to my rescue…

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I don’t know if it’s “gear” or “gadgets”, but I do know one thing: Bacon is delicious!

I also know that it’s a mess to prepare and to clean up after. It’s fine at home, but on the boat, I don’t really want the splattered grease and the messy pans. Let’s face it: as delicious as bacon is, preparing it on a small boat can be a major hassle.

Until now…

After an absence of over a year, Costco has finally brought back my beloved Ready Crisp bacon. Just in time for the summer cruising season!

I’m completely serious about this. I love Ready Crisp bacon. Here’s why:

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It’s my new manifesto, sort of. See, these 16-ounce "disposable" propane cylinders are such a convenient size for camping and cruising on smaller boats, sometimes there isn’t any other alternative. In the lazarette aboard Two Lucky Fish, A C-Dory 22, this is really the only propane storage solution that doesn’t involve a costly custom propane installation.

So go ahead and use the 16-oz cylinders if you can’t fit one of the DOT-approved refillable cylinders. It’s a shame that even major suppliers such as Coleman have no recycling recommendations for them.

But I’ve learned that they CAN be refilled. The reason you don’t hear much about it, though, is that these cylinders aren’t DOT-approved for refilling. This means that you can’t take your cylinders to the local propane-equipped service station and have them refilled. That’s against the law. And refilled cylinders can’t be sold commercially. And commercial operators can’t transport refilled cylinders across state lines. There are all sorts of limitations and potential liabilities associated with refilling these cylinders.

It’s perfectly legal to refill them for personal use, however.

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So I’ve been thinking: wouldn’t it be great to run the Magma Kettle 2 grill off something refillable, rather than those disposable 16-oz. cylinders discussed last time? Not only are they an expensive way to purchase propane, but there’s no recycling program for them. That’s wasteful times two!

Instead, I want something I can refill with bulk propane, like the big 20-pound tanks used for backyard gas grills. Except I don’t want to carry one of those enormous tanks on my little C-Dory. I want something smaller, about one-quarter that size. Lo and behold…

Here are two such tanks. The shorter, fatter one on the left is available at REI, and the taller one on the right, made by Manchester, is available at Fisheries Supply. My mission: find one that fits into the little port-side lazarette on my C-Dory 22. My understanding is that this locker is suitable for propane storage because it vents overboard, not into the cockpit.

Everything was proceeding according to plan, until I got the tanks down to the boat.

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Sorry for the down-time recently. This kitchen remodel is really taking its toll, I tell ya! We’re doing most of the work ourselves, so everything else has taken a back seat, for the time being.

There’s a boat-gadget angle in all this, though: With the kitchen in pieces, I’ve been cooking my precious "bagel eggel" breakfasts in the carport, on the Magma Kettle 2 gas grill. True Navagear fans will recognize my clever-but-abandoned downrigger mount, repurposed here for temporary backyard grilling. Well, I’m not actually "grilling". I’m "frying", with my trusty All-Clad skillet.

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