Motor Boat & Yachting — November 2017

Dog lifejacket Campingaz

Powerbox Plus

28L electric cooler

Having children on a boat is stressful

enough, but having a bouncy young

cocker spaniel on board, who rarely

knows her limits even on dry land,

takes things to a different level. She

hasn’t yet thrown herself overboard

in pursuit of a seagull, but given her

propensity to chase anything with

wings, it can only be a matter of time.

The problem isn’t so much the

swimming – she’s a spaniel after all

• it’s the getting back on board. She’s
  as wriggly as an otter at the best of
  times, and trying to heave a heavy,
  wet, paddling dog on board is like
  wrestling with a conger eel.

This lifejacket from Mayland Marine

makes things much simpler thanks

to a grab handle on the back, and

provides some additional buoyancy

when swimming. The unpadded

straps are fine for swimming but

when picking her up, they transferred

all the weight on to her chest and

belly. From the look on her face,

this must be where the expression

‘hangdog’ comes from. Hugo

Contact http://www.maylandmarine.co.uk

For the dayboater, or even someone

who values some extra portable fridge

space on board, a coolbox is a crucial

piece of kit.

The Powerbox is a cooler with

a twist though, because it connects

to power via a 12V plug or to a 230V

socket using an optional adapter. It

has three running modes (eco, max

and night), which can be selected

by a switch on the front panel, and

it promises to keep its contents 18º

cooler than the ambient temperature.

At 28 litres, it is large enough to

swallow eight 1.5-litre water bottles

(or a decent amount of picnic)

and will work just as well if you

stuff it full of ice for a trip to the

beach. Is it worth the premium

over a standard cooler, though?

Yes and no. It is handy to be able

to plug the cooler in to boost its

performance – especially on a

dayboat – but it’s quite noisy, even

in night mode, and having the cable

attached either traps the carrying

handle in place or makes the lid

impossible to open fully. The lid

must seal in place firmly for obvious

reasons, but the result is that you

need two hands to open the cooler,

which is a pain if you have an armful

of food to offload into it.

The powered box adds a useful

element of flexibility, but we used

it more regularly as a £90 icebox.

Jack Haines

Contact http://www.campingaz.com

£23

BuoyRope

£17.50

Why bother with a separate line and

fender when you can combine them

both into a single easy-to-use

product? That’s the theory of

BuoyRope at any rate. Essentially

it’s a 5ft length of doubled-up bungee

cord crimped together at intervals to

create elasticated loops that you can

hook over cleats, posts or through

fender eyes. Add a fender to one end

of it, put one of the loops over a side

cleat to ensure it hangs at the correct

height, stretch the remainder across

to the nearest pontoon and hey

presto, you’ve secured your boat.

It works okay as a temporary

solution in calm weather, but I’m not

convinced I’d want to rely on it for any

more than that. With a bit of wind and

tide pushing my 23ft Karnic off the

pontoon, the bungee cord was soon

stretched to its limits and in danger

of testing its breaking strain. I’m not

really convinced it even saved much

time, or looked any neater than a

separate fender and dock line. It might

be handy for holding a small tender/

jetski alongside, or a temporary

solution for single-handed berthing

in a sportsboat, but I can’t see owners

of larger boats trusting it for anything

more permanent. Hugo

Contact http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk

We put the latest kit through its paces

VALUE ★★

RATING ★★★

BuoyRope: a temporary

solution in calm weather

but not a great deal more

The dog lifejacket

eases lifting but

the straps could do

with extra padding

The Powerbox 28L

has three different

running modes:

eco, max and night

VALUE ★★★

RATING ★★★

VALUE ★★★★

RATING ★★★

£89.99

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