Don’t let the title fool you, this hack is not about He Man. How much power do we have left?   This is a question that is heard on most sailboats multiple times per day.   We have a huge bank on our boat, but still seem to never have enough juice.   In addition to conservation, we like to keep extra power in reserve.

You’re probably familiar with battery banks that you can use to quickly charge your devices without plugging into the main power.  If you don’t have one, you should get one.  Or four.

But, are you familiar with how far rechargeable AA/AAA batteries have advanced?   Our favorite is Eneloop by panasonic.  We’ve heard that you should avoid putting them in VHF handhelds, but we put them in all of our other devices that require AA/AAA batteries.  When drained, you just charge them back up and go on your merry way.   No batteries in the landfill, nor storing tons of spare batteries, no expense of buying over and over.   

What about C and D cells?  They make adapters.  You just stick a AA in there and you’re off to the races.   They don’t last as long as a full D or C…but I’m willing to accept that tradeoff.

Honestly, whether you’re on a boat or on land, you should get these.  I think they should be standard issue for everybody who has a kid.

You’re welcome.  Please check out our other hacks, and sign up to receive updates when we publish a new one!