Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

Experience

Releasing seized nuts and bolts by heat
Bolts and nuts, like most every fastening, have a tendency to seize up on boats due to the challenging sea going environment.

How to confidently board and unlock your yacht on dark moonless nights
Climbing aboard and unlocking a vessel upon dark nights can involve considerable groping in the dark and the occasional stubbed toe.

Re-floating techniques after running aground
Every now then you will run aground, it is part of the life of an adventurous cruising sailor.

A handy knot for going aloft
Going aloft and working on rigging can involve some danger and knots that fix in one place can be inconvenient.

Preserving fish without refrigeration
Fish caught on long passages are often too large to be consumed in one sitting by the average cruising couple and most cruisers do not have refrigeration.

Preventing the loss of washboards during heavy weather sailing
It is critical that the main hatch be kept secured during heavy weather sailing. Yet washboards are difficult to handle in these times. Each ascent / decent of a crew member necessitates a dismantling and reassembly of the washboards. This involves replacing typically two to three washboards in the correct sequence and orientation to correctly fit. Performing this operation in difficult conditions makes it very likely that a board could be lost overboard. In particularly difficult situations, where the boat has rolled or pitch poled, the washboards tend to fall out and get lost further exacerbating a survival situation.

Mounting a collapsible radar reflector
Small boats cannot rely upon the larger ships watch seeing them, especially at night. But traditional collapsible radar reflectors are a nuisance aboard. Their edges eat through anything that rubs against them, especially so once they oxidise and become pitted, and they look highly unattractive.

Guaranteeing the anchor comes up the correct way to sit in bow roller
When hauling in the ground tackle it is a matter of good luck that it comes up with the anchor head orientated in the correct way to sit on the bow roller.

Removing a broken off bolt or screw where a remnant of the shaft still protrudes
Bolts and screws like most every fastening, have a tendency to seize up on boats due to the challenging sea going environment.

Getting to grips with sound signals
In busy waterways large vessels use sound signals to notify nearby boats of their intentions.

Adding ventilation and lighting to the washboards
When the washboards are in place they shut off the companion way ventilation. They also cut off any view that crew below decks have of their colleagues in the cockpit.

Mast tuning made simpler
Altering or tuning a mast is typically achieved by moving about the boat rotating the bottle screws. Tightening and loosening the mast is an art that is frustrated by each bottle screws lay-up determining which way they turn to achieve the desired effect.

The trick to coiling ropes
Coiling ropes looks simple, but when it comes to actually tying it the rope fights the coiling and never lays flat to make those beautiful even coils. Most all my early attempts looked like a recoded impression of the path an atom makes around the nucleus rather than the beautifully coiled ropes that instruction books present.

Guide to filling & fairing achieve the best quality finish on wood, composite, ferrocement and metal surfaces
Most craft of whatever size or construction material have required filling and fairing compounds at some time either in their life or in their development and design.

Tanking rainwater - at anchor
Completely clean fresh water can be hard to come by in the tropics. This is particularly the case if you do not have an osmotic watermaker aboard, or choose to do without the attached cost and regular maintenance, and you are cruising in remote areas.

Preventing and dealing with sea sickness
Anyone can get seasick and it is a totally unpleasant malady to succumb to.

Don’t have a hand-driven oil filter wrench and the oil filter is stuck?
Tightened oil filters can be difficult to remove without a hand-driven oil filter wrench.

Dealing with the three different GPS conventions for describing a waypoint
GPS has forever transformed the art of navigation, but there are sublties of expressing a position that need to be understood. There are three different GPS conventions for describing a waypoint, it is imperative for accuracy of position that you understand which convention you are using aboard and format of information you are being provided from external sources.

How to cut out a large round hole
Cutting out a hole larger than the largest hole saw fitting can be daunting. It is very difficult to hand cut with a jig saw unless it is very large.

Reducing the cost of engine oil
Manufacturer recommended branded engine oils are expensive and add substantially to the cost of running your vessel.

Undoing seized nuts and bolts in an awkward position aboard your vessel
Seized fastenings in difficult areas are a common encounter on a sea going vessel.

Reducing galvanic corrosion or electrolysis throughout the vessel
When different metal are in contact with each other, either submersed in, or subject to seawater spray, galvanic corrosion or electrolysis occurs. This is an exchange of electrons, atomic particles, ions etc causing an electronic difference of potential between the metals. The less noble or anodic metal can be very quickly corroded away by the seawater conducting its ions to the more noble or cathodic metal. Aluminium, ordinary steels and the more base metals are less noble and highly subject to corrosion. The more noble materials include bronze and stainless steel.

Stowing small object that are continually used
Finding small objects that you continually use in boxed storage can be tiresome.

General all rounder box for the vessel
There are a multitude of purposes that require a box on a vessel. Yet a box consumes a lot of storage space on a vessel making it illogical.

Convenient tools for engine work
Tools are stowed in lockers that can be, as often as not, less than conveniently located. Any engine work will typically involve a search for the tools that involves lifting cushions out of place and holding up locker lids whilst digging through tool boxes to find the required item.

Comfortable lifelines to lay against
Some cockpits have natural seating or resting positions that find crew leaning back on the guard rails. A cockpits arrangement leads to this position but this can be very uncomfortable after a short amount of time.

Preserving night vision
Operating a boat at night is a challenge. Typically the watchman has to keep track of the vessels sailing environment and maintain a chart plot or at least monitor the charted position. The problem is the chart plot has to be implemented with the aid of illumination causing the watchman to lose the night vision acquired above decks.

Removing stripes and stickers from boats
Boat stripes and stickers tend to degrade and look bad in time. Although they can be removed and replaced it is not easy to get the originals off. The usual approach is to heat the stickers with a hairdryer and then scrape them off with a wide chisel.

Keeping track of tides when sailing in tidal affected areas
Sailing in tidal waters requires constant vigilance and quick maths to make best use of currents. As the tide times are constantly changing and there are many distractions on a sailing vessel, it is easy to forget the tidal times or make an error of maths.

Understanding composites for large scale boat projects
If you are considering a large scale boat building project, or re-building / altering portions of a vessel, you will find there is a wide range of composites with specific applications that make this area complicated.