It is hard to believe that summer is over and we are heading into the fall sailing season. We had a late start this year due to family matters. Then the proliferation of 100+ degree days made sailing and any exterior projects very uncomfortable. In fact, I just got my new 135% genoa up, which was delivered in April, on a relatively cool day this past week and used it for the first time today. Definitely makes tacking down theYork Rivermuch easier and adds about 5 degrees pointing capability versus the old, baggy 150.
I will report that one of my winter projects has performed wonderfully over the summer. That project was adding a vent in the starboard lazerette with a 12V pancake exhaust fan wired to run with the refrigeration compressor. This simple project has completely eliminated the “boat smell” that used to emanate from the
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After about 10 years of light use of our shower, the sealant failed at the bottom of the wall in which the shower door is mounted. This resulted in water getting trapped along the bottom edge between the inner and outer seal of that wall. This only became noticeable when I was trying to replace the factory-installed sealant that had started to crack along its full length just below the shower door area in the head area. When trying to remove the old sealant, the Formica covering the area blistered off because the water leak had broken the bond between the wall material and Formica (see Photo 1). The real damage probably occurred during winter lay up when the boat is blocked nose up. This nose-up attitude causes any small amount of water or snow leaking into the shower
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My boat did not come with any type of latch or bumper to keep the head door from swinging into the shower doorframe. So the door was always left closed. However, while in a seaway, the latch would work and the door would eventually swing open. The head door handle would then start banging into the shower door frame and eventually put a dimple in the shower’s aluminum doorframe. This did not seem healthy to any of the parts involved. I evaluated the cost and appearance of standard doorstops available in marine and hardware stores. Nothing looked right and the marine stuff cost well over $50, more than I wanted to spend. After some creative pondering, I came upon the idea of using a white eraser. I cut it to a pleasing shape and mounted it to the shower
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I get tired of the tangle of genoa sheet tails in the cockpit. They usually end up at the ends of the “T”, but they still get under foot and in the way. I also find the cockpit bins are too far forward to stow and easily reach winch handles from the helm area when tacking short-handed. I started looking at various options for pre-made sheet bags and various winch handle holders, but did not find anything that fit the bill. I have a canvas sewing machine so I also looked at making the bags mysef, including a kit from Sailrite. However, I quickly figured out I could just buy the materials and save some money versus the kit. Plus I could custom fit the bags to the “T” ends and include a pocket for the winch handles to
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