21st December 2025
Reading Time: 3 Minutes
Nerdiness Quotient: 2/10
My new toothbrush has arrived. I think it is a Suri 2, well that’s what I ordered.
I try to look after my teeth having neglected them for too long. I even get them professionally cleaned twice a year at great expense. My dentist recommended that I buy an electric toothbrush – an Oral B Blah Blah Brush which I did buy, and still have. Now the battery only lasts a few days and it needs mains power to recharge it so it is no good for the boat. Sticking to my Dentist’s advice I bought another electric toothbrush for the boat but one which used batteries. It was useless. What I really needed was a toothbrush that recharged using a USB cable. Strangely there aren’t many around, but there was a new kid on the block called Suri. The reviews were promising so I bought one.
One night watch while I was in deep sleep I was woken by this deafening din of a weird mechanical noise. I leaped out of my sleeping bag wondering what the hell was happening. My toothbrush had started by itself. A one-off incident I assumed but no, it happened again. I couldn’t even turn it off and had to wrap it in bundles of towels to silence it until the batteries ran flat. This was no good, the Skippers sleep is important, well very important indeed! I sent the toothbrush back.
I couldn’t find any other USB charging toothbrushes. I searched and searched. Eventually I wrote to Suri (who were always super helpful) to ask whether the problem had been resolved and they assured me that the new Suri 2 had got it sorted. So I bought one.
Guess what? The whole object was to find a toothbrush that charged from my USB socket and they had changed the charging from a USB to a USB-C so I hadn’t got a socket on the boat to charge it. Now I need to find a bloody USB to USB-C convertor or wire in a USB-C socket. Life has got far too complicated.
It reminds me of the Space Pen story (myth?). The story goes that the Americans spent millions developing a pen that would work in zero gravity. The Russians just used a pencil.
So
Do I really need an electric toothbrush on a boat?
Do I really need roller furling gear when hanks work fine?
Do I really need an electric winch while I can still just pull up the anchor by hand?
Do I really need a fancy chart plotter with all-sorts overlayed and networked. A 2b pencil, a set of parallel rules and some dividers seem to work fine?
Do I need a fridge?
Do I need a shower?
Do I need pressurised water system?
Do I need shore power?
Do I need a 40 ft yacht to cross an ocean?
Do I need a bow thruster?
Do I need an aluminium or steel boat to sail into the Arctic?
Do I need all my lines led back to the cockpit, so I never go on deck?
Do I need solar panels?
Do I need Starlink?
Do I need a water maker?
Do I need a massive bank of Lithium Batteries to meet my consumption needs?
Do I need Lazy-Jacks?
Do I need a self-stacking fully battened sail?
Do I need gas on board?
Do I need Radar?
Do I need a generator?
Do I need a Jordan Series Drogue?
Do I need an outboard motor for the dinghy?
Do I need a rigid sprayhood?
Do I need fancy Gortex sailing clothing?
Do I even need Shampoo?
Nope
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