How do you guys pack if you were doing let’s a say a 60 day deep sea job. Clothes, tools, personal items, entertainment etc. What do you need to take as opposed to what you can buy on board? I’m currently waiting for my first job but realized I have NO idea how and what to take when I get one! Lol!
Use the search feature, both here and google.com
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Funny how this was just complentky ignored !!! Bring a book to read you’ll be fine it’s only 60 days
Work clothes, Just buy some cheap jeans and shirts. No need to wear heavy overpriced Carharts.
Laptop, hardrive with some movies on it. Kindle, ipad etc.
Toiletries, tobacco, meds for the duration.
Bring your own earmuffs, safety glasses, flashlight. It should be provided, but half the outfits are rinkydink shitshows.
Knife, tweaker, channel locks, bahco
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I hit the thrift store these days and wear a lot of second hand stuff that can be tossed after a hitch.
Medications are a big one. Make sure you have enough.
Shower shoes (flip flops). I cannot emphasize enough the importance of not picking up some grunge from the shower. I actually witnessed a qmed suffer through a trip with a fungal infection so bad he could not tie his shoelaces. There are people out there who never clean their head and shower. I do it upon arrival as soon as I can.
Ditto on the good flashlight and knife. The ship ought to have tools. I don’t bring any other than the knife, light and maybe a small crescent.
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Normally do a 50 day hitch here, weight restrictions for NS helps, so I always bring more socks and underwear that I can toss later. T shirts that are comfy, ditto on nail clippers, tweezers, I also go to Dollar store for antifungal cream and hydrocortisone ointment for the odd rash, if you wear prescription glasses, the Auto darkening safety glasses are worthwhile, otherwise bring comfy safety glasses. And yeah, junk jeans, pants, I get them at BJ’s in case I ditch them. Good luck. Oh yeah, if you have a big portable hard drive, I’d recommend it too. Bring some stuff on it you like. People generally share movies and shows at sea. If bringing a laptop, download VLC player beforehand. You can play any format with it in case people have movies from other countries. Kindle, book, etc. I bring a shit phone unlocked in case you are in another country and need a local sim card. That’s about it. I’m looking at my bag as I type this too. It’s funny how many shirts I have with different cabins written on the collar for each hitch.
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Almost forgot, my shit phone has no camera. Can be hard to find, but it’s cheap. A few projects have no phone with camera policy in place, so it’s a handy thing to have in the bag o goodies…
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Porn :yum:
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Goes without sayin! 
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Invest in a good bag… i lost my shit once when my 3rd LL Bean roller failed in the Paris airport. That sucked. LL Bean would replace it but that doesn’t help when you in Paris. I can’t tell you how many bags I’ve seen fail on the gangway. I’ve even seen one burst open on a billy pugh.
For a carry-on and computer bag I use Go Ruck. They make the strongest bags out there. Patagonian bags are ok. If you are on a tight budget get an really strong dufflebag (it sucks carrying these but most are durable).
For a roll on I use Briggs Riley: http://amzn.to/2xJ7Q6K
Travelpro’s more expensive platnium series bags are ok but not as good as Briggs: http://amzn.to/2xI2o3Y
None of these options are cheap but, as the rest say, you can save money on clothes and stuff. cheap stuff is ok.
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I always had a portable short wave radio, if you expect shore time bring a phrase book for the language, use a army duffel bag if you have a lot of stuff, or a filsons but generally they’re too nice to have except for personal carry. The knife/multi tool, xtra glasses, flashlight, spare bulb/batteries… ALWAYS have a flashlight handy, the lights DO go out.
everyone develops their own carry stuff, you’ve gotten some good insight on these posts. most of us did it so long it was just automatic. a couple cruises without and you get it together quick.
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I’m a fan of North face bags.The rolling thunder series in particular. They are weather proof to some extent so if you crew change in some rain or the decks wet your stuff stays dry.
Go cheap on the clothes, not your luggage.
That said your first hitch or two use what ever you gotand upgrade as finances allow.
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It depends on where I’m working.
I used to do the thrift store thing for jeans but then I started working in the gulf and realized that I don’t hate myself that much. I now only purchase things with life time no hassle guarantees that are quick drying with little to no cotton.
WORK GEAR:
Socks:
darn tough x8
https://darntough.com
underwear:
bucknaked extra long x8
undershirts:
quick dri undershirts from walmart.
These are the only thing I get that don’t have a life time warranty.
Pants:
for the summer in the Gulf:
MEN’S COOLDRY FIRE HOSE SUMMER WORK PANTS x2
Rest of the year I’ll probably still use thrift jeans… we’ll see this is my first hitch in the gulf.
rain gear left over from USCG that I put reflective tape over.
SUNY MARITIME SWEATSHIRT
PERSONAL GEAR
entertainment:
COLREGS
Ipad with a shit ton of books and garage band
Chrome book with 1 terabyte external with movies.
Travel guitar (extra: picks/cable/strings)
go pro (haven’t used once)
Phone
cords
Tools:
flash light
small little red filtered flashlight for bridge stuff
channel locks
knife
(I’m slowly building my own toolkit for safety book stuff. So, I’ll be adding to the list)
MISC:
Shoes:
Shower shoes
fake crocs
Boots
gym shoes.
Toiletries:
toothbrush/paste
scrub (3 n 1 shampoo/body wash/conditioner)
razor (5 extra blades)
shaving cream
x2 waterbottles
x2 glasses
x1 watch
x1 sunglasses
x1 button up dress shirt
x1 pair of jeans
x2 pairs of gym shorts
x1 gym shirt
x3 low cut socks
x2 t-shirts
x1 of gym pants
I mix all the shirts up for bridge watch.
All told. I probably brought 35lbs of gear including my steel toes for my first hitch.
I fit everything into an REI camping 75 liter pack and all of my electronics in a med. chrome messenger bag.
I’m permanent on this vsl now; so I’ll probably leave all of my work gear minus my boots on the ship.
I seriously don’t understand how people bring more than one bag and one carry on to a ship. Roll aboard luggage is dumb and hard to get up the gangway. In theory, I could just wear boiler suits in entire trip and carry nothing…
Anyway, now that I have my pointy things on the boat, I shouldn’t have to check bags anymore which is a huge relief because I don’t need to worry about losing shit. I’m sure a lot of this would be different if I were tramp shipping but I generally know where the tanker is going and can pack accordingly. Good luck. If this is your first hitch, don’t bring a lot of toys. You should be reading manuals and figuring out where things are.
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I have no problem getting rollaboard luggage up the gangway. I grab the side handle and carry it just as if it were a bag without wheels.
Bag I’ve been using for the last 4-5 years is a Dakine roller duffel. Love it.
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I’ve been using this large size ll bean roller duffel for a little over a year now and no complaints , plenty of clothes for 28 days boots , pillow even throw my wheel house coffee maker in there
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I’m a fan of the red oxx bags. I have the PR6 duffel carries more than I need and made in the USA by a veteran owned company. Kind of pricey but guaranteed for life I have a bunch of their bags from carry on up.
London bridge trading post large deployment bag. 10,000 cubic inches of made in America rolling goodness. The one bag you’ll ever need.
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I have two Red Oxx bags. A sky train and beanos pr5. Once in awhile I’ll take one along with my big roller.
Hockey bags. Huge, and made for abuse.
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You’re qualified to comment on hauling gear onto a vessel why? Stick to advice about briefcases to get your papers to the offfice.
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