Owning a sailboat has changed my whole shopping experience. It doesn’t matter what I’m out shopping for, hunting for a particular item or merely window browsing, I now find myself constantly on the lookout for things that would be great on the sailboat. Maybe I like a challenge, but it doesn’t matter where I am, I now look at everything differently.

Last year when getting ready for the annual sailing trip to Desolation Sound, I was browsing in the flower shop area of the grocery store when I saw a cute little aloe vera plant. I remember growing up as a kid we always had one around, using it for cuts, scratches and bee stings and generally finding it incredibly useful to have around. For a boat plant, how had I never thought about buying this before??? Dinghy adventure cuts and scratches, sun burns, it seems like a natural addition to the boat first aid kit.

All summer long the aloe vera plant had a nice home in the aft cabin right by a window. Sitting on top of the cupboard positioned in the corner all tucked in with a few things around it, the ale vera plant enjoyed sailing around for the summer getting great sunlight.

Aloe vera plants don’t like incredibly cold weather, so I moved the plant to the house for the winter, but once the spring weather warms up a bit more the plant will move back to the boat for its summer home. Get yourself a useful boat plant!

The aloe vera plant was to me a no brainer and now that I have one, I can’t see boating without one.