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    Sailboat Projects
    Sailboat Projects
    Sailboat Projects
    Ebook139 pages1 hour

    Sailboat Projects

    By Clarence Jones

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Here's what reviewers have said about this book:
    This book is full of well-illustrated ideas to make your boat safer and more comfortable. All of the projects are easy and economical to perform most with common items available at any hardware store. This is a great read for novices as well as seasoned sailors and particularly for those with smaller boats and weekend cruisers.
    . . .
    Downloaded the book before I went sailing.........big mistake! All I wanted to do was get back to the dock and get started on some projects. The book is worth every penny and then some. I highly recommend this book to any sailor.
    . . .
    There isn't a chapter in this tight little boating book that won't save you the $2.99 admission price. That's the theme of this book, how to make significant improvements to your boat under the watchful eye of a sailor who has done it before and has a talent for keeping it simple. Although it's a book for sailors, any boat owner would find useful do-it-yourself projects here.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherClarence Jones
    Release dateAug 16, 2012
    ISBN9781476196275
    Sailboat Projects
    Author

    Clarence Jones

    Clarence Jones is an on-camera coach who teaches media survival skills. He knows what he's talking about. After 30 years of reporting in both newspapers and television, he wrote Winning with the News Media - A Self-Defense Manual When You're the Story. Now in its 9th Edition, many call it "the bible" on news media relations. Then he formed his own media relations firm to (in his words) "teach people like you how to cope with SOBs like me." At WPLG-TV in Miami, he was one of the nation's most-honored reporters. He won four Emmys and became the first reporter for a local station to ever win three duPont-Columbia Awards - TV's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to his day job as a news media consultant, he writes more books and magazine articles. He builds his own computers and invents clever devices to for his sailboat. Nine of his books are now available in both print and e-book formats -- Winning with the News Media, They're Gonna Murder You (his memoirs), Sweetheart Scams - Online Dating's Billion Dollar Swindle, LED Basics - Choosing and Using the Magic Light, Sailboat Projects, More Sailboat Projects, Webcam Savvy for the Job or the News, Webcam Savvy for Telemedicine, and Filming Family History. Clarence started working full-time as a daily newspaper reporter while he was earning his journalism degree at the University of Florida. He was named Capitol correspondent in Tallahassee for the Florida Times-Union one year after graduating from college. Six years later, as one of the nation's most promising young journalists, he was granted a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. After Harvard, he was hired by the Miami Herald, where he was part of a year-long investigation that resulted in corruption charges against the sheriff and his top aides. The Herald stories led to a referendum that abolished the office of sheriff. Miami-Dade is the only county in Florida with an appointed public safety director. Clarence covered Martin Luther King's Civil Rights campaign all across the South for the Herald. His last newspaper position was Washington correspondent for the Herald. He then moved to Louisville, Kentucky to work under deep cover for eight months, investigating political and law enforcement corruption for WHAS-TV. Posing as a gambler, he visited illegal bookie joints daily, carrying a hidden camera and tape recorder. His documentaries during a two-year stint in Louisville gained immediate...

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      Book preview

      Sailboat Projects - Clarence Jones

      Preface

      Part of the joy of owning a sailboat for me has always been designing and building upgrades and accessories. Particularly when I can make them for a fraction of what the boating specialty stores charge.

      I write. I invent. I tinker. I sail. That's what this book is all about. It is a collection of articles that show you how to make upgrades and gadgets for your boat to enhance your sailing experience.

      My sailing started with a 12-footer about 40 years ago. I took lessons at the Coconut Grove Marina in Miami. A string of trailerable boats that kept getting bigger followed.

      In 2010, living in a canal-front home on Anna Maria Island (in the mouth of Tampa Bay) I moved up to a 28-foot Catalina. Because I was a television investigative reporter for many years, all my boats were named PRIME TIME.

      Since I left TV, I've produced several books and a lot of how-to pieces in newspapers and magazines. My guidelines for these DIY projects – and writing about them – have always been:

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_74074831.jpg Simplicity

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_74074831.jpg Ease of assembly

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_74074831.jpg Minimal cost

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_74074831.jpg Lots of pictures

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_74074831.jpg Where to get the materials

      The projects in this book vary from very simple (Easier Outboard Shifting) to fairly complex (Mast Raising System and D.I.Y. NOAA Charts). Some of them were previously published in magazines like Boat Works and Good Old Boat.

      Browse through the topics in the Table of Contents. Somewhere in there, you'll probably discover one or more ideas you'll want to make for your boat.

      Please send feedback when you build a project, particularly if you find a better, cheaper way to do it. I'll update this book and give you credit for the improvement.

      And tell us about projects you'd like to see us explore. This book will probably have a sequel or three.

      Welcome aboard.

      (TOC)

      Snagging the Dock

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_35421cc9.jpg

      I've devised an easy way to snag a dock cleat, stop the boat and tie it securely when I return from sailing single-handed.

      The secret is a ten-foot length of line. One end is tied to the dock. A loop at the other end has been modified so it will hang with the loop wide open, ready to be grabbed with my boat hook.

      The loop is held in place with Velcro®. When I grab it, the loop comes loose, and I drop it over the boat's port jib winch. That keeps the stern secure while I go forward to grab another post and tie the bow line.

      It took several incarnations for it to work the way I wanted.

      The size and length of the line depends on the size of your boat, and how much room you'll have for the line to play out before it stops the boat. Smaller line is lighter and easier to fasten to the dock bracket. It gives you more stretch, and a gentler stop.

      I used 3/8-inch braided nylon line. My 28-foot Catalina weighs 10,000 pounds. Braided is better than three-strand twist because it offers a better surface for self-adhesive Velcro. Nylon has more stretch than most line material.

      Making the Bracket

      Start by making a bracket that will hold the loop out, hanging wide open. (shown here upside down)

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_m3549854a.jpg

      Virtually any kind of wood will work. I first used a wooden yardstick. The yardstick was one-quarter-inch thick and 1½ inches wide. I underestimated the holding power of Velcro. Pulling the line off the bracket bent the brass corner braces I had used, and twisted the wood to the point that I thought it might break.

      I eventually settled on one-half by 1.5-inch wood. The horizontal section of the bracket that will hang out from a dock post is 12 inches long. This keeps the loop well away from the post. The cross piece that forms a T and suspends the loop (still a piece of yardstick) is 6 inches long. Notice the placement of the Velcro patches. Those on the cross piece keep the loop open. The patch near the corner braces keeps the free line out of the way.

      Cable Clamp Keeps It In Place

      The vertical piece that slides into the base slot is four inches long. There's a nylon cable clamp that swivels on the end to keep the bracket in its base. This makes it easy to install and remove when the clamp is swiveled out of the way.

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_m65f76745.jpg

      I don't leave the bracket on the dock full-time. Velcro deteriorates in the sun. The two sections of the bracket are connected with corner braces that were coated with polyurethane to avoid rust.

      The first version had brass corner braces, trying to prevent a rust problem. The brass was too soft and twisted out of shape when I pulled the loop loose from the Velcro patches.

      The Base That Holds the Bracket

      The base screwed to the dock post is a 3x6-inch piece of ¾-inch wood. It has two strips of that same wood mounted on each side. Those strips on each side are covered with a 3x3-inch piece of ¼-inch plywood when the base is completely assembled. (Shown below, disassembled)

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_m13907386.jpg

      To install the loop, you slide the foot of the bracket into the base slot, then swivel the cable clamp to prevent the bracket from coming out accidentally.

      Bracket in Base

      tmp_c916cbeaebacdd3d15c693dc685cae8b_hcfgqW_html_342fc906.jpg

      In its first installation, I mounted the base too low. It worked fine at low tide. But at high tide, close to the dock, the loop was so low I couldn't see it – much less grab it.

      Applying the Velcro

      Prickly Velcro is on the bracket and fuzzy Velcro on the line. This is because the prickly side can sometimes stick to fabric or soft lines. You don't want this line to snag something else accidentally.

      Velcro comes in a variety of sizes, colors and strengths. I used industrial strength patches on both the bracket and the line. I cut off the corners on the patches that are on the bracket.

      This helps prevent peeling. Self-stick mailing labels also have rounded corners, for the same reason. The short strip of prickly Velcro at the opposite

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