Assembling a boat first aid kit means carrying the gear you can actually use to stabilize an injury and stop bleeding until you get back to help, without overloading the boat with equipment nobody knows how to operate. You cannot carry an ambulance with you, so the goal is to be prudent. In this How 2 Tuesday I sit down with ER doctor and avid boater Dr. Max Baumgardner, who dumps out his own first aid kit and tells me exactly what is in it, why he carries each item, and how to use it. Press play above and follow along.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Dr. Max Baumgardner builds his kit around stabilizing injuries and stopping bleeding until you reach help. He starts with a commercially prepared first aid kit, the kind most marine stores sell, containing scissors, band-aids, an ice pack, a wrap, and gauze. Then he adds advanced clotting gauze, an ACE bandage for pressure dressings and splinting, one or two tourniquets, Betadine to clean wounds, Benadryl, topical steroid cream and an EpiPen for allergic reactions, vinegar and baking soda for jellyfish stings, a glow stick for light, and 550 cord. He keeps it all in a bright yellow bag that is easy to spot on the boat.
For most bleeding, pressure is your best tool, and Dr. Max recommends advanced gauze with clotting factors, which you can buy on Amazon, placed on the wound with an ACE bandage as a pressure dressing. For a major cut to an arm or leg with arterial bleeding that pressure will not stop, that is when you consider a tourniquet. He carries two, because two is one and one is none, and notes that tourniquets save lives, are inexpensive, and can stay on far longer than people used to think. In a pinch you can improvise one from a sturdy dock line and a lever.
Dr. Max says yes, and he carries two. A tourniquet is for a major arterial bleed in an arm or leg that direct pressure will not control, and used correctly it saves lives. They are readily available and not expensive. He notes the old advice to loosen them periodically has changed, the reality is people keep them on for quite a while and do fine, so it is life over limb. If you do not have a commercial one, you can improvise with a sturdy dock line tied above the injury and a windlass lever, like a short gaff or boat brush, to wind it tight.
Dr. Max rinses the sting, then applies vinegar and baking soda, followed by an ice pack to manage the pain. He also keeps Benadryl and a topical steroid cream for the reaction. For anyone with a serious allergy, he carries an EpiPen, which requires a prescription and must be handled carefully, since the needle auto-injects when you pull the safety cap. Having these few items on board turns a miserable, trip-ending sting into something manageable.
Because even experienced people forget small but critical details when they fall into a routine, and he admits he has forgotten the boat plug. He compares it to pilots who still run a checklist after twenty years of flying. He suggests making a laminated checklist of the things that matter, the night before, before you leave, at the dock, and before you head home, covering everything from the boat plug and life jackets to putting the antenna down. Most of his checklist is built off mistakes he has actually made.
Not necessarily, and that is an important point. Dr. Max says it is fine to carry a piece of first aid equipment you may not know how to use, because there is a good chance someone else on board or nearby will, as long as you have the space for it. The bigger principle is to carry what you can prudently use to stabilize someone before getting back to help, rather than burdening yourself with a full hospital you cannot operate, especially when space is limited on a boat or kayak.
A first aid kit is one of those boating items everybody knows they should have and almost nobody thinks hard about. Dr. Max Baumgardner is an ER doctor who has seen the injuries that are common among boaters and fishermen, so I asked him to bring his actual kit into the studio, dump it out, and tell me exactly what is in it and why. The moment that stuck with me was my own son, fresh off an EMT course, looking at my old kit and asking if I even knew how to use any of it. I get into all of it with Max in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here is how Dr. Max assembles his kit, item by item. He walks through each one and how to use it in the episode.
He explains how to use each item in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The guiding principle of Max's kit is that you cannot carry an ambulance with you. The goal is to stabilize an injury and stop bleeding until you can get back to help, not to perform surgery on the water. That mindset keeps the kit useful instead of bulky, light enough for a boat or even a kayak. I let him explain how he decides what makes the cut in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Max walks through pressure dressings with clotting gauze and an ACE wrap for most bleeding, and exactly when an arterial bleed calls for a tourniquet. He carries two, because two is one and one is none, and he shows how to improvise one from a dock line if you have to. This is the part of the kit that genuinely saves lives. I cover it with him in the episode, so press play in the player above.
One of my favorite tangents was Max making the case for a laminated boating checklist, the same way a pilot runs one after twenty years of flying. He has forgotten the boat plug, and most of his checklist is built off real mistakes. It is the cheapest insurance there is against a ruined or dangerous day. I get him to lay it out in the episode, so press play in the player above.
A good boat first aid kit is thorough without being burdensome. Start with a commercial kit, add real bleeding control, cover allergies and jellyfish, keep it in a bright bag, and pair it with a checklist.
Do that and you are ready to handle the injuries that actually happen on the water, and to get someone back to help safely. Press play in the player above and let Max walk you through his kit.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
Dr. Max Baumgardner · emergency medicine · Wilderness EMS · first aid kit · clotting gauze · ACE bandage · tourniquet · Betadine · Benadryl · EpiPen · jellyfish stings · 550 cord · boating checklist · boat plug · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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