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Old 20-02-2019, 14:10   #16
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

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My wife used "Purple Stuff" to clean the cabin top from the crud in the air in the L A harbor. Worked great, but the over spray ruined the vinyl windows in the dodger.

It wasn't the caustic that did the damage, it was the glycol ether (diethylene glycol monobutyl ether). This stuff is rough on many plastics and will lift, or at least de-gloss, many paints. Not to be used everywhere.
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Old 20-02-2019, 16:08   #17
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

When taking wench apart on the boat for cleaning I like to cut a hole the size of the wench . then set it over the one I'm working on. If you drop a little part it drops in the box and not in a crack or the water. Cheap and works well
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Old 20-02-2019, 16:45   #18
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

Put an LED on your bulkhead or motor panel connected to bilge pump so you can see when you have bilge pump activity !
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Old 20-02-2019, 17:07   #19
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

When sailing alone, or with unskilled guests, I use the furling jib only. So I go a little more slowly...who cares? But it makes sailing the boat much simpler and safer, especially at the critical times of coming and going from the marina.

I spliced the head spring and back spring to exactly the right length for my home dock. When leaving, I would first remove both those lines from the dock, and clip them together with an over sized carabiner, and clipped the whole thing to the lifeline. When docking again, either at my home dock or elsewhere, both spring lines could go over a single dock bollard or cleat very quickly and easily, with no adjustment required. This simple system made coming and going from docks, especially single handed, very simple and quick. Of course there was still the head rope and stern line to deal with, but that's a story for another day.

Get the tiller autopilot ready before you leave the dock. Who's going to steer while you go search for that thing later?
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Old 20-02-2019, 19:35   #20
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

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Originally Posted by Capt. Hack View Post
When taking wench apart on the boat for cleaning I like to cut a hole the size of the wench . then set it over the one I'm working on. If you drop a little part it drops in the box and not in a crack or the water. Cheap and works well

...wench.....hole.... box....crack..... ? Feeling a bit lonely, are we?
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Old 20-02-2019, 20:05   #21
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

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Originally Posted by hamburking View Post
I spliced the head spring and back spring to exactly the right length for my home dock. When leaving, I would first remove both those lines from the dock, and clip them together with an over sized carabiner, and clipped the whole thing to the lifeline. When docking again, either at my home dock or elsewhere, both spring lines could go over a single dock bollard or cleat very quickly and easily, with no adjustment required. This simple system made coming and going from docks, especially single handed, very simple and quick. Of course there was still the head rope and stern line to deal with, but that's a story for another day.
I do something similar. Both my spring lines stay on the dock so they're already preset, measured, and waiting when I come back. They have eye-spliced loops that I only have to drop over horn cleats on the deck when docking.

My bow and stern lines are both long enough that I can hang onto both when moving from the bow to the stern while tying up - and I can muscle the boat around the slip single handed. When the boat was hauled out, I cut the bow line so it was just too short to reach the prop - so if it goes overboard, it won't foul the prop, so only the stern line needs careful attention to not go overboard.

I keep an anchor and rode in the stern locker, so if the engine quits in the harbor, all I have to do is fling the anchor in the water, pay out a scope, and tie it off. I've had to do that more than once. The 200 foot rode (1/2 inch three-ply) is kept in a random heap in a laundry basket. I keep a snatch block with a line that goes forward to a bow skein chock and then back to the cockpit in a loop. If I want to move my anchor rode to the bow, I simply snap the anchor rode through the snatch block and haul it to the bow from the cockpit. My ideal is to never leave the cockpit when single-handed.

My tether attaches to my harness with a snap shackle that I never release until I am down in the cabin.

I wear a helmet. Not because I'm a klutz, but because:

1) it's a lot warmer than a hat
2) It doesn't fly off in the wind
3) It gives me a convenient place to attach a camera and a light
4) It helps prevent a concussion. Even a mild concussion where I sail, which is nearly always off a lee shore, would be ultimately fatal. By the way, the only time I banged my head, before I wised up and got the helmet, was down below in the cabin.

My little boat gets bouncy in 12 foot and above swells -- the motion is mostly sway. I run a round (not flat - which wrecks your hands) jackline between the forward bulkhead and the aft cabin bulkhead when the swell is up. It works much better than overhead mounted handholds since it runs the full length of the cabin and I can clip in my harness with a short tether if I need both hands free. It also makes a convenient laundry line.

I have a camping toilette, which eliminates half my maintenance headaches. The waste bags get tossed in the harbor dumpster. At sea, I dispense with the waste bags and use "direct deposit."

My three bilge pumps pump out to hoses that dump water overboard into my engine (outboard) port. That eliminates three through hulls and all worries about siphoning. Through hulls are EVIL!
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Old 21-02-2019, 03:41   #22
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

install valves under your diesel and water deck fills.
This way you can be sure no water gets in the diesel from O ring leakage and you remain in control of fills so you can be sure diesel goes in diesel tank and no tampering can take place when you are off the boat.

Change cockpit cup concept from handles to double walled insulated. The cup holders can then hold other things besides mugs (no handle slot required so peanuts etc can also go in the holder) and coffee stays warm in 25kts of wind.
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Old 21-02-2019, 06:24   #23
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

Use a compass to draw a circle on the bottom of a cardboard carton cut dow to the height of your biggest winch. Cut out the circle. Place over the winch. Service the winch. Now, the tiny, expensive and hard-to-source pawls and spring will fall in the box instead of leaping into the drink.


Guess how I came up with this one?
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Old 21-02-2019, 07:15   #24
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

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Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy View Post
Use a compass to draw a circle on the bottom of a cardboard carton cut dow to the height of your biggest winch. Cut out the circle. Place over the winch. Service the winch. Now, the tiny, expensive and hard-to-source pawls and spring will fall in the box instead of leaping into the drink.


Guess how I came up with this one?
From reading post #17?
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Old 21-02-2019, 08:34   #25
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

In the past I've had a bad experience with a failed/fouled depth transducer and spent way too long before hauling and replacing. On my current sailboat, I ran the transducer from my pedestal mounted Lowrance under the cockpit and out of the deck at the transom. I then attached my transducer to the flip down swim ladder (not at the bottom, but at a point where it is just under water when the ladder is dropped.) Now, at the cost of a little extra drag, if I need to monitor depth I drop the ladder and continue on - if I need to minimize drag for speed (not really a thing in my boat), I flip the ladder up. As an electronics tinkerer, it also makes experimenting with different depth monitoring instruments a breeze!
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Old 22-02-2019, 05:00   #26
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

If you have a generator,

Buy an expensive AC industrial submersible pump with fire hose fittings. Buy 15 meters of fire hose or other fold flat type hose.
This will be an emergency bilge pump that can be quickly deployed and pump large quantities of water and tin labels uphill.
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Old 22-02-2019, 09:11   #27
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

Quote:
Originally Posted by texwards View Post
In the past I've had a bad experience with a failed/fouled depth transducer and spent way too long before hauling and replacing. On my current sailboat, I ran the transducer from my pedestal mounted Lowrance under the cockpit and out of the deck at the transom. I then attached my transducer to the flip down swim ladder (not at the bottom, but at a point where it is just under water when the ladder is dropped.) Now, at the cost of a little extra drag, if I need to monitor depth I drop the ladder and continue on - if I need to minimize drag for speed (not really a thing in my boat), I flip the ladder up. As an electronics tinkerer, it also makes experimenting with different depth monitoring instruments a breeze!
I've done much the same. I've made use of my Ariel's engine port by mounting my Airmar depth/speed transducer to the end of a short piece of 3 X 1/2 inch oak board. That piece of wood is then fastened with wing nuts to the aft side, offset all the way to starboard to keep it away from the prop wash, of the engine port - placing the transducer just deep enough that it is fully submerged. At the end of each sail, I remove it and stow it.

That solves the fouling problem, and eliminates yet another evil through hull. There's no more drag than if it was conventionally mounted to the hull.

When I bought my Ariel, it had eight through hull penetrations. It now has only three: two cockpit drains and the rudder post penetration. The fewer the better!
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Old 22-02-2019, 12:14   #28
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

Make your bow dock line long enough so that you can take it out thru bow chock , back along the outside of all rails etc. & slip knot it to a point that you can reach from the cockpit.
Now you can put the mooring alongside the cockpit,run the bitter end of the bow dock line thru the mooring eye &tie off the bitter end to a convenient cockpit point(winch,etc).

The boat will drift back,the mooring eye will slide up to the bow chock & you can take your time to safely toddle up to the foredeck & tie off properly.
Safer than losing gaffs/boathooks & admirals off the bow.
Really helps when single handing.
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Old 22-02-2019, 12:28   #29
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuss View Post
If you have a generator,

Buy an expensive AC industrial submersible pump with fire hose fittings. Buy 15 meters of fire hose or other fold flat type hose.
This will be an emergency bilge pump that can be quickly deployed and pump large quantities of water and tin labels uphill.
I have a sump pump for a house basement with a flat hose for just this purpose. Sump pump cost $89 and the 2"flat hose that would go out the port hole cost about $20. They will pump alot of water and the generator will run forever from the main diesel tank.
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Old 25-02-2019, 07:52   #30
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Re: Boat hack; Any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty which increases efficiency on a

I single handed from Chichester around the UK and back again in 2014 in a Snowgoose Elite, and quickly discovered that approaching a strange harbour in anything other than flat seas made locating and sequential tying of fenders around the boat a gamble not worth the risk. My solution was to keep two fenders permanently rigged OUTSIDE the top rail either side of the boat, one in from the bows and the other in from the stern. I never needed any more. The bottom of each fender was lifted and hooked up to the top rail - forming a sort of "U" shape.
A short (10m) mooring line was permanently coiled OUTSIDE the top rail directly above - and attached to - the centre cleat. Bow and stern lines were also coiled and attached OUTSIDE the top rail above their respective samson posts. An approach to a new harbour/marina in lumpy conditions required but a single trip around the deck to a) unhook each fender and b) uncoil each of the mooring lines and hang them conveniently along the top rail. No more fetching fenders one at a time (inconveniently tied to the top rail across the aft deck or in a deck locker), and tying them in position one at a time. No more untangling a hastily coiled mooring rope or three.
Now, with only two fenders alongside, the centre cleat comes into its own. No matter what, I came alongside so that the first line to be attached to the dock was the line from the centre cleat. The boat was then pulled in until sitting snugly and the line tied off. At this point one could go off and make a cup of tea or have a shower. With just that one line attached, the boat is going nowhere, and one can - as leisurely as one wants - then rig bow and stern lines and springs. My fore and aft line were always long enough come back aboard as springs.
A centre cleat - if you do not already have one - is in my view a must for single handing and mooring alongside.
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