What Items To Have In a Cruising Sailboat First Aid Kit. Boating First Aid

My wife and I once spend a few years lliving aboard our boat Rising Star, cruising the Caribbean from Miami to Panama and everywhere in between.

During that time we had burns, broken fingers and toes, numerous cuts, heartburn, diarrhea, and many more maladies.

The occasional scrape or bruise is normal on a cruising boat where everything moves or is slippery.

We carried a  complete cruiser's first aid kit that was well stocked and we had to use it quite a few times.

Things To Look For In A First Aid Kit For A Cruising Sailboat

It is important that a cruiser's first aid kit be waterproof, with a sealing O ring around the edge and a compression closure, or else dampness will quickly destroy the contents.

A good boaters first aid kit for offshore use should have things to treat burns, minor and major cuts and lacerations as well as sprains and broken bones.

Your cruising sailboat first aid kit should have hospital quality tweezers to remove broken glass, scissors, items with which to make splints, large size bottles of iodine and triple antibiotic ointment, as well as other medicines to fight infection in wounds. It should also be well stocked with lots of bandages of all sizes for minor cuts.

A cruiser's first aid kit should have a good sharp scalpel, in case you need to excise an embedded hook miles away from shore and hospitals.

For swelling and pain your sailboat first aid kit should contain several instant cold packs. You may also want to include skin staples to close large wounds, eye wash for battery  accidents and eye patches to cover injured eyes.

First Aid Kits For Offshore Vs. Those For Near Shore Sailing

The items you need in a first aid kit for sailboats are numerous and I'm not going to list them all here, but what you want to look for is a kit that is made for offshore cruising or one for coastal waters if that is where you are going to sail.

The difference between the two kind of kits are that one is for minor patching up and the other for major patching up when help may be days away.

You may consider getting a prescription for serious painkillers and antibiotics to add to the kit. Carry all prescription information as your vessel may be searched by the Coast Guard or foreign authorities.

Stock an offshore sailing first aid  kit with extra over the counter medicines such as anti diarreah medicine, antacids, etc.

Check with your doctor before taking off on your cruise and get all of your inoculations plus anti malarial pills if you are going to areas where it is a problem.

You may want to make a smaller version of your primary first aid kit and keep it in your "ditch bag" or abandon ship bag.

A good first aid kit onboard your cruising sailboat can save your life so don't skimp on its contents.

In addition to a good first aid kit we keep a copy of Wilderness Medicine onboard which gives instructions on how to deal with just about anything, from an emergency tracheotomy to setting a broken arm.