Hints and tips

[LarryandSusanMacDonald]

Here's one that makes sense once you think about it:

If you've got dorade vents with two in front and two in back, when the boat is unattended (or just closed up) turn the back two to face aft. That way the breeze comes in one set and out the other.

With them all set in the same direction, very little air flow results and mildew will gitcha.

[TrueBlue]

On that same theme, it makes sense with just two adjacent dorades, to have them facing opposite directions - but, parallel with prevailing winds.

[T37SOLARE]

This is a great thread, so to revive it I'll add this for un-winterizing your fresh water system:

Last year it seemed like I still had traces of antifreeze in the fresh water system until August, so this is what I did yesterday to make sure it was fully purged.


Get a barbed female garden hose fitting that fits your freshwater plumbing tubing (Mine is 5/8")



Remove the tubing from the output side of your freshwater pump, and insert the garden fitting.

Put a shutoff valve on the end of your garden hose



Connect the hose to the fitting you put on the supply line in the boat.

Open all faucets, and slowly open the valve to the desired flow and let it run until all traces of antifreeze have been flushed out. I ran it for 30-45 minutes.

This eliminated allot of wear & tear on the fresh water pump, and ensured that the system was clean.

For the water tanks, I disconnected the supply line in the bilge, and filled and flushed the tanks several times.

[dongreerps]

When your glasses get dirty, or fouled up with dried on salt spray, to clean them, first spray with spray was (Lemon Pledge), and then polish them as usual. Gets all the crud right off. Also the wax fills in all the microscopic scratches in the lenses, so the lenses are restored to their original curvature!

[dongreerps]

The suggestion on use of tennis balls is clever. In order to drill the hole in the tennis ball, drill a hole 3/4 the size of the tennis ball in a block of scrap wood. Put the tennis ball in the hole, and then drill the hole in the ball.

[svstrider]

If I am trailing a fishing line or anything for that matter e.g. the wife, I put a plastic clothes peg (red is best) on the engine throttle lever to remind me that something needs to be done before starting the engine - like retrieve the fishing line or the wife. Well definitely the fishing line.

[svstrider]

I remove the engine key/s (I own a cat) if I am going over the side to work in the water. Just in case someone has a brain snap and decides to start up the donks. Very important strategy if there are kids or drunks on board. I put the keys in the beer fridge to remind ME to have a cleansing ale when I return from underwater maintenance in exotic locations.

I DO trust the wife but if I know the keys are not inserted, I don't have nagging scarey thoughts about being made into chopped liver. I have enough to worry about with sharks and salt water crocodiles as it is.

[chucklesR]

I have a RIB as a dinghy, and store it on davits. Since you don't want the boat to fill with rain water and rip said davits from the hull one normally pulls the drain plug on the dinghy after raising it. After more than one time of lowering the dinghy without first re-installing the plug (makes for a little fun doing a quick rehoist) I started thinking.
After I took some aspirin to clear up the headache that caused I took a piece of sting and tied the plug to the cleat on the davits, on the side the engine/plug goes.I can't uncleat the line and lower the dinghy without untying the plug which is a wonderful reminder. Now I can't loose the plug, or the dinghy

[sailingdog]

Chuckles-

I hear thinking is hazardous to your health...wears out the brain cells.

[chucklesR]

Everything other than Rum is hazardous to my health.