Adapting to life on a boat is not always easy. You are living in a much smaller space than you've been used to and are surrounded by a continually changing environment. You have special needs that are not always apparent to you up front, but appear over time. In response to this, we and other cruisers that we've met along the way have come up with some creative solutions to the everyday situations and/or problems that arise. Most of these ideas are common sense, practical things that can be done by you and for very little cash outlay. Under the "Creative Cruising Solutions" headline, we plan to share some of these ideas with you.
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Stowable Rub Rail Problem: When docking in high wind or strong current, it can be very difficult not to rub hard against a dock post or high wall on a wharf. Even though we deploy fenders and even fender boards at times to protect the side of our boats, they often don't do the job of protecting the entire length. It's not unusual to find your boat at angles not intended or expected in a docking maneuver and it's not uncommon for a fender to roll off the post it was intended to protect against. A good heavy rub rail down the side of your boat is the best solution to this problem, but most boats today are not manufactured with this feature. To add a rub rail yourself is not only very expensive, but quite an intensive project as it should be thru-bolted down the length of your hull.
Solution: To make your own stowable rub rail, take 2 inch diameter line, cut to just under the length of your boat, and hang it from bow to stern over the side. The line should be hung at the appropriate height where your hull protrudes the most and first contacts dock posts, etc. Whip each end with a smaller line so that it will not unravel. Use a smaller line to attach the 2 inch line to your bow and stern cleat. You may need additional support along the hull in a few places. Once again, use a smaller line and attach it to a midship cleat, the base of a stanchion or a hole in your toerail. Voila, a full length rub rail that will protect your boat and can be stowed easily when not needed for docking. Best of all, it will not cost a fortune. If you are regularly docking with dock posts on both sides, you may want to have two of these thick lines ready. This line should not be considered a replacement for fenders, but rather used in addition to them.
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Comfortable Cockpit Seat Problem: Finding a really comfortable place to sit in your cockpit.
Solution: Fabricate an easy to put in place, easy to stow away again, roll-up seat that you insert into the grooves of the top sliding hatch in your companionway. First measure the size and length of the empty groove left when you slide back the top companionway hatch. Next, cut to length two pieces of hardwood, metal, or whatever you have on hand that will fit into this track from the open end, but be totally captured in every other sense. Next, using a strong fabric, like Sunbrella, sew up a seat that will span the area with about a 14 inch drop from the sides to the middle. In each side of the seat, sew a pocket in which you will insert the cut to length piece of wood or metal. You might want to double the fabric in anticipation of chafe. Feed each edge of the seat into the companionway hatch track, and have a seat. The wood or metal strip inside the pocket of fabric is captive by the track and will hold you and the fabric in place. Combine your new perch with a couple of cushions, or even a "Sport-a-seat" cushion, and you'll have the best seat in the boat. This works well on any boat, but has the drawback of having to be moved anytime someone wants to go below. For those of us with an aft companionway in addition to one forward, this seat is invaluable. We set ours up and sit comfortably while under sail as well as at dock or anchor. While heeling or rolling, the seat acts as a perfect gimbal, and takes much of the strain off your body since you don't have to compensate for the motion.
Storing and Moving Chain Problem: For many cruisers their boat is their home, and to lose it would be to lose everything. As a result, cruisers recognize the value of having several anchors onboard. As an anchor sets best with chain, an additional length of chain along with line should be carried for each subsequent anchor. Moving these heavy lengths of chain around can be like wrestling an octopus in the water. Plus it can cause some ugly cosmetic damage to your boat. To store, easily move about and expeditiously deploy this chain, you'll need some sort of system.
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Solution: We've found that the best way to manage extra chain is to place it into empty 2 1/2 gallon plastic fuel cans. Believe it or not, the compact size of this container will hold approximately 50 feet of 3/8 inch chain. Feed the chain in through the opening in the can. As the chain flakes, it compacts nicely and comes back out without tangling. Our 50 feet of chain weighs 73 pounds but the handle on the can allows us to easily move it about without scratching or dinging up our boat. Unlike fabric or canvas containers the heavy duty plastic will not rot and subsequently fall apart when pressed into action. We store our longer section of chain, a continuous 100-foot length, in two 2 1/2 gallon fuel cans. To move this amount of chain in a single container would be impossible for us due to its weight. What we've discovered though is that by using two cans, each weighing 73 pounds, we can advance one plastic can forward, sit it down, and then advance the other can. The whole process is very much like a prisoner walking with his legs shackled. These size containers fit nicely under our floor boards and allow us to keep the heavy weight of the chain down low.
Refrigeration Alarm Problem: Nothing's worse than reaching for an ice cold beer only to find it lukewarm. O.K. - I guess a couple of things could be worse than that, like maybe food poisoning or the loss of several months' rations. If the refrigeration on your boat stops working for some reason, you could find yourself in this predicament.
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Solution: To monitor the temperature and provide an early warning of potential malfunction of the 12 volt refrigerator and the separate freezer on Serengeti we discovered a great little tool. It's a wireless battery operated thermometer that includes such features as an alarm that will sound if the temperature of our box has risen above a pre-set level. A sensor is placed both in our refrigerator and freezer box. Every 30 seconds or so, these sensors record and transmit the current temperature in the box to a digital display that is mounted by the nav station. This central display shows the current temperatures in each box and in the main salon along with historical high and low temperature data. The high temperature alarm feature has really saved our butts on several occasions. A few times seaweed has clogged our water intake for cooling the compressor, but on other occasions plain human error was the culprit. We sometimes flip the refrigeration switch off on the electrical panel to reduce static when we're using the SSB radio and then forget to turn it back on. Our temperature sensor came from Radio Shack and cost around $35. For this price you get a central display and one remote sensor. Additional sensors for other locations (like maybe your engine room) can be added.
