Category: Sailing

Sailing Technology Toys
25/10/2026

Waterproof flying drone

Can you really land a drone on the sea and take off again without damaging it? With a properly designed waterproof drone, the answer is yes! And for sailors, this opens up some amazing possibilities for aerial photography, filming and even fishing. In this episode of The Low Cost Sailor, we head offshore into the beautiful Bay of Biscay, on the northern coast of Spain, […]

Comfort on board Sailing Toys
20/09/2026

Inflatable Sailboats & Portable Boats That Fit in a Backpack

What if you could fit your boat in a backpack? ⛵🎒 Inflatable boat technology has evolved enormously. Today, you can find inflatable kayaks, SUPs, dinghies, electric-powered watercraft, inflatable sailboats and even inflatable sailing catamarans that can be packed away when you are finished using them. In Episode 41 of The Low Cost Sailor, we explore the world of inflatable boating and portable sailing and test […]

Electronics Sailing Security Technology
15/03/2026

The cheapest AIS emitter on the market, for your boat

Hello sailors, Today we’re going to test the cheapest AIS transponder I’ve been able to find — and of course, it’s Chinese… very Chinese. Officially it’s marketed as a fishing net locator, specifically the “SOCOTRAN Net Locator”, but we’ll see that in reality it is a perfectly functional AIS transponder. We will be able to program it with our boat’s identification information so that other […]

Electronics Sailing
06/03/2026

Navionics vs OpenCPN vs Orca: Which Is the Best Chartplotter App for Your Boat?

For many years, marine chartplotters have been expensive and fairly closed systems. Dedicated devices that can easily cost $700 to over $2000, and often become obsolete after only a few years. However, the evolution of smartphones and tablets has completely changed this landscape. Today it is possible to turn an Android phone or tablet into a fully capable marine chartplotter, with advanced charts, AIS, weather […]

Sailing Toys
20/07/2024

Electric outboard comparison

We test and compare the different electric outboard options on the market. In this episode we are going to see how much we can squeeze out of the different types of electric outboards available on the market, what we can expect from them: maximum speed, battery, thrust… We compare it with equivalent gasoline engines, to see What we can expect from them and we will […]