what's the best thing you ever did in your boat?
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 7:31 pm
(quickly now, before the jokers catch up!) I am referring to solutions for improving performance, reliability, manoeuvrability, lessen effort, provide comfort, etc, etc.
Evidently, fancy expensive gadgetry can do, and does, a lot in that respect, and sometimes it is a necessity. But I am more interested in imaginative, low cost, DIY solutions to common problems and annoyances that don't have immediate over-the-counter solutions.
If there is interest in the thread, I'll compile a list at the end of it. May give some of us some brilliant ideas to make sailing and living aboard more enjoyable and less laborious.
I'll start the ball rolling with this one.
SAIL STRAPS (This is specific to the wishbone rig, but there are still plenty of us around).
Before I came up with this I tried several ways, rather unsuccessfully, to catch my sails in place between the arms of the wishbone when abating, keep them there in a head wind when they tend to bulge and spill outside the wishbone, and get them to fold and flake tidy, all in one easy step. So, equivalent to lazy jacks and lazy bags in a conventional Bermudian rig, but better.
Materials and Tools
#25 m roll of 50 mm wide polyester webbing. May need more depending on how many and how long you want them. In my case, I find 5 per boom is plenty.
#20 50 mm wide plastic clip buckles; two per strap
#10 50 mm wide plastic cam buckles: one per strap
#40 50 mm wide plastic side release buckle: four per strap
Measuring tape and scissors
Access to your mother-in-law's old Singer
One or three beers
Time consumed: one miserable, rainy, dark Sunday. Like today in the UK, for example.
The whole strap looks like this:
The strap has a clip buckle at each end. Easy to remove them from the boom if you don't want them. The loop of webbing at each end is to secure it to each arm of the wishbone. It is kept in place with a slide buckle. The cam buckle in the middle is to adjust the overall length.
I tend to keep the straps in place at all times. Just before hoisting the sail, I adjust the length of the three straps closest to the mast to their maximum length with the cam buckle. This allows plenty room for the sail's foot whilst sailing. When abating, the long straps provide a deep cradle between the arms of the wishbone for the sail to fall into, without spilling over the wishbone, even if I am no longer heading into the wind. Once stationary, I shorten the length of the straps with the cam buckle, so the sail will lie straight inside the wishbone. I don't have to touch the sail or the straps again until I hoist the next time.
When the straps get dirty or encrusted with salt, I unclip them and throw them in the washing machine.
Total cost, not counting my labour and beverages: GBP 63.0
Evidently, fancy expensive gadgetry can do, and does, a lot in that respect, and sometimes it is a necessity. But I am more interested in imaginative, low cost, DIY solutions to common problems and annoyances that don't have immediate over-the-counter solutions.
If there is interest in the thread, I'll compile a list at the end of it. May give some of us some brilliant ideas to make sailing and living aboard more enjoyable and less laborious.
I'll start the ball rolling with this one.
SAIL STRAPS (This is specific to the wishbone rig, but there are still plenty of us around).
Before I came up with this I tried several ways, rather unsuccessfully, to catch my sails in place between the arms of the wishbone when abating, keep them there in a head wind when they tend to bulge and spill outside the wishbone, and get them to fold and flake tidy, all in one easy step. So, equivalent to lazy jacks and lazy bags in a conventional Bermudian rig, but better.
Materials and Tools
#25 m roll of 50 mm wide polyester webbing. May need more depending on how many and how long you want them. In my case, I find 5 per boom is plenty.
#20 50 mm wide plastic clip buckles; two per strap
#10 50 mm wide plastic cam buckles: one per strap
#40 50 mm wide plastic side release buckle: four per strap
Measuring tape and scissors
Access to your mother-in-law's old Singer
One or three beers
Time consumed: one miserable, rainy, dark Sunday. Like today in the UK, for example.
The whole strap looks like this:
- sail strap11.jpg (98.46 KiB) Viewed 4031 times
- Sail strap31.jpg (90.15 KiB) Viewed 4031 times
When the straps get dirty or encrusted with salt, I unclip them and throw them in the washing machine.
Total cost, not counting my labour and beverages: GBP 63.0