Assortment of cheap fixes on Cat 22
- Thread starter Jacktar
- Start date
Shot of me sailing with new ruddercraft on balmy oct 16 day in pensacola bay with light winds at 5 knots from se and boat doing a hairraising blistering 1.7 knots over ground,
Finally got a good day on pensacola bay, Feb 15th, brisk winds 10 - 12 knots, and rudder-craft rudder did its thing, set the davis tiller minder, adjusted sails and on about 45 off wind found it maintained course without adjustment no more wandering up wind when left alone like the old tilt up rudder I had. Made me a believer.
Well finally got out for a sail after heat index and tropical storms and surges etc. but first had kill two large wasp nests inside sail cover for main and yankee bag for genoa. Got to put a old sock with some moth balls inside each now to discourage re-population. Old sailors trick, wasps hate mothballs.
I like to keep a tupperware of mothballs in my boat. Just put the lid on and stow when time to go sailing. The active ingredient is napthalene
It also keeps spiders out of your boat.
Another cool factoid is that napthalene kills mold spores.
If you live someplace VERY hot I don't recommend putting this in a tup and keeping it open in your boat. The melting point is 177F but napthalene will sublime so if there is a chance that the interior of your boat will start to exceed 100F you will start to sublime significant quantities and then you will coat EVERYTHING in your boat with a thin film. You will never fully get the smell out.
BUT!!! I do use napthalene in my boat for the winter layover. Works great and my boat is bug free and mold free when I take the winter tarp off.
I would not leave moth balls out when camping in the boat. Napthlene is not healthy to breath. It is essentially a double benzene ring. I would close up the container and let the boat air out while sailing so the cabin will be mostly cleared out by night.
Please read this MSDS sheet describing the health hazards of naphthalene exposure.
In my post I said I keep them in a tupperware and close it up when I am on the boat. I tend to leave mine out only when I am closing up the boat for extended periods of time.
I have a cheap fix to share. On the way to the ramp, one of the Bimini legs unscrewed itself and was lost somewhere along the road. One cypress stick and a couple sail ties made a perfectly workable replacement. Maybe I'll just leave it this way??
OK, this is autobraking. So it looks like it would work well and has a bigger thimble that the original one on my boat.