Hi!
I’m Carolyn Shearlock. From 2002 to 2008, my husband Dave and I lived aboard our Tayana 37, Que Tal, full-time and cruised the Pacific side of Mexico and Central America. During that time, I learned a lot about what works — and doesn’t — aboard a boat.
While I’ve enjoyed cooking since I was a little girl, I’m not a gourmet chef. Yes, I do enjoy cooking . . . but I also enjoy a lot of other aspects of cruising: snorkeling, hiking, exploring new towns, entertaining friends, and sailing from one gorgeous anchorage to another.
On The Boat Galley, I pass on all the tips, tricks and insights I’ve gained over the years — as well as some that have sent in by readers. I focus on practical ways to cook without prepared foods and electric appliances, with ingredients that you can actually find and store on a boat. I also try to provide insights on outfitting your galley.
I began The Boat Galley in 2010 and now there are over 500 articles here. I love the collaborative nature that the site has taken on with readers expanding on many of my ideas. Together we know so much more than any of us do by ourselves.
In addition to the comments under each article, a lot of discussion takes place on TBG’s Facebook page. I’d love to have you join in — get more info or just click “Like” below and TBG posts will start showing up in your newsfeed along with questions and comments from other readers:
Everything here on the site is free, although I do make some money from the advertising here and when readers purchase from Amazon (and a few other retailers) through the links here. It does not extra cost to you, however.
There’s also a free e-newsletter highlighting all the new articles as well as a couple of older ones that you might have missed. It’ll be delivered via email, so you won’t miss a thing even if you’re away from internet coverage for a while. Just enter your e-mail address and click on “Subscribe.”
You might notice that while there are a few recipes here, there aren’t tons. That’s because you frequently don’t have internet on the boat, and so can’t refer to something on a web site. An actual cookbook is more useful in my opinion — whether in print or electronic format.
And so The Boat Galley Cookbook was published in 2012. It contains over 800 boat-friendly recipes made from obtainable ingredients with hand utensils, in-depth instructions for unfamiliar cooking techniques, and food storage and substitution information. You can read more about it or just see where to buy it in 90 countries worldwide.
Whether you just go out for an afternoon or are planning to go around the world, I hope you‘ll find the information helpful and that you’ll have as much fun on your boat as I did on ours. Most importantly, wherever your boat takes you, have a wonderful time!
The one comprehensive galley reference needed aboard every boat
Hey Carol! Just wondering what you store your boat documents in, manuals, etc.. to keep out moisture. Any help in this area is greatly appreciated. I absolutely love yours and Jan’s sites. Thank you both from all of us want to be full-time cruisers.
-Cathy
For the boat docs, we just put them in plastic sheet protectors and used a small folder. For owner’s manuals, the previous owner had gotten three very large 3-ring notebooks and put a bunch of dividers with pockets in them — items were sorted by “system” and put in the pockets (or if they were punched for a notebook, right in the notebook). Dividers were labelled and the general categories were handwritten on the spine of the notebook to make it easy to find the right one when they were on the bookshelf. The big thing was to remember to take old manuals out when something went to the trash!
You may have noted that the manuals weren’t really protected against moisture . . . and we never had any problems. Just be sure that there aren’t any leaks over the bookshelf where you store them!
Carolyn