June 3 , 2005 - MORE DRAGON TIPS - TRIED AND TRUE
by Michel & Jane DeRidder

Drafting implements are an essential part of our gear. Michel uses them to draw up systems, cogitate and improve on them, redraw them, before the actual building. He reckons it's cheaper, faster and easier to make mistakes on paper, rather than going through with the construction and finishing of projects and then discovering it all has to be re-done.

A broom handle for an outboard steering extension can be used for accelerating and decelerating and changing course - whether standing up or sitting down. The secret is to have a flexible joint to be able to push/pull to steer. We use a short length of reinforced hose secured with hose clamps at each end for the flexible joint between broom handle and outboard arm. Because we like to explore tricky waters where underwater dangers lurk, this feature is a must for us as it makes it possible to travel standing up. Also we don't want to get wet butts on a rainy day.

A DoelFin hydrofoil on our outboard motor gets the dinghy up on a plane faster, and thus increases gasoline mileage. There are other makes nowadays, but the DoelFin was the first one we noticed many years ago.

For coral navigation we use Polaroid sunglasses, enabling us to see through the surface glare. "Exaggerachrome", we call them. In really tricky places, it's best to have a lookout standing on the spreaders. I must own up to having a terror of heights so I've never been the one on the spreaders. I'm the one with my head cricked upward and my foot on the tiller following hand signals.

Fail-safe sunglass or spectacle retainers can be made by drilling the tips of the earpieces of glasses with a mini-drill bit and then threading in line or monofilament. Rather than tying the ends, we just burn a knob on each end of the line so that, should the glasses catch on anything, the melted knob would break off, rather than demolishing the specs themselves. Just pray that they never fall over the side in deep or murky water.

Black alkathene in various diameters is invaluable for chafing gear. It's more durable and stronger than plastic and rubber hoses. We use slitted lengths on anchor rode, on shrouds, on mooring lines and painters. We've seen the larger diameter hose used around the perimeter of tenders, most particularly on "tinnies" (aluminum boats) and on workboats.

We use a canvas water and mildew proofing solution on sail covers, shoes, awnings, canvas bags - and as well, brushed on teak to keep it from going black. It seems to keep teak a lovely pale gray color if applied (diluted with water) once or twice a year. Clean the teak with fresh water and a very soft car brush before re-applying. When we built the boat in the early sixties, we kept toe rails and handrails varnished. Brightwork was the In Thing in those days. Then I decided that my hide was leathery and blotched enough, thank you, so Michel planed and sanded the teak trim for me, and I've used canvas-waterproofing-come-mold-preventer ever since. We buy it at a tent and awning place. It's so quick and easy and effective, and so much kinder, as a result of which so far we've not had trouble with skin cancers. Touch teak.

Carpeting boat-sized areas need not be expensive, provided you don't have to have yards of overlocking done - that's where the big expense comes in. Instead, we dilute PVA woodworking glue half and half with water and paint it on carpet edges that abut bulkheads, or any run where the carpet doesn't have to be lifted very often. Areas of frequent uplifting and heavy traffic are best overlocked nevertheless. We have our cabin sole painted with a water-based anti-skid deck paint. It keeps the carpet from sliding. In heavy weather, when we roll the carpet away, we have an anti-skid surface to walk on below.

For scrubbing the dinghy bottom, or for use on the hard where the water blaster missed, Michel devised a spade handle with a plywood pad on a flexible mount. The 5 inch by 7 inch wooden pad is just the right size to hold half a sheet of sand paper, or a green 3M Scotchbrite scrubbing pad affixed by means of screws at the corners. The short spade handle with its secure handhold makes for a great lever. The flexible joint - made of webbing bolted onto the plywood, and held in place with strong inner tube elastic on the handle - means we can follow the curves of the surface we are cleaning without the gymnastics of handling a broom head parallel to the surface. We call this simple one-off gizmo "Dragon's Magic Tool."

Cover sun-perished fenders by inserting them in the legs of tights or sweats cut to length. This prevents the softened fenders from leaving sticky imprints on the hull (marks that can only be removed by wiping with kero or turps).

For keyboard or screen failure, we first put the laptop out in the sun on a low-humidity day. This may bring the keyboard or monitor to life for a while, thus staving off immediate evisceration and surgery. Or keyboard replacement. Or buying a new laptop. It's also wise to rinse salty hands before touching the keyboard.

We use a Clorox bleach bottle cut to fit, and taped around the shaft gland, then fitted to a hose leading to a shower sump to be automatically pumped overboard, to maintain a dry bilge.

Rubber inner tubes in various thicknesses (harder to come by these days than once upon a time) are useful for multiple emergency fixes. Contact cement is a must. Or inner tubes can be used for various backings. For nearly forty years we've used sturdy sailcloth plus inner tube rubber to make diaphragms for our old Par water pumps. My resident gungineer has used it to fashion fixes for leaky mast collars on vessels with through-deck masts. He bandages overlapping strips tautly around the mast and deck collar, and lo and behold - watertight!

A curved, flexible automobile squeegee wiper is just the thing for de-sliming the hull while snorkeling, without taking off any antifouling. (We don't use it where there are barnacles; we use a trowel there.) Two or three years back in Vava'u, we were engaged in this pursuit (our version of lawn mowing), when we discovered a Tongan and his grandchild in a pirogue nearby watching us.

"How old are you? You're too old for that!" he informed us. Turned out he was in his fifties. Seventies is old there.