Summer is not too far away for us Aussies and with it comes some seriously strong afternoon winds, at least here in Perth, Western Australia anyway.
When I used to race my locally built 21 foot daysailer (very much like the Hunter 216) my crew and I spent a lot of time sitting on the rail. That boat had hiking straps mounted on the leading edge of the seats and were made out of what looked like seat belt webbing.
I would love to have the security of anchoring my feet in my new H15 when hiking out in high winds. A few H170 owners have shown me what they had done on there boats. Bow end is attached to the mast step and the stern end near the rudder with the strap running along the sole of the cockpit. But the H15's and H146's have that dam at the stern, effectively denying access to the rudder mount.
The main problem with adding deck hardware on these boats is the lack of access to the undersides of the cockpit to secure anything that requires through deck fitting.
Looking through one of the H170 Modification articles on this site I came across the attached photo. This owner had cut an inspection port in the cuddy area of his H170 to get to the tube that carries the furling line from the cockpit to the foredeck. I discussed the idea of cutting two inspection ports into the seat uprights on each side of the cockpit with a local chandlery who also suggested that I could put a water tight bag, the type that Kayakers use, in the inspection ports. I like this idea as it will give me access to the undersides of the seats to secure any through deck fittings and provide some water proof storage.
I’d really appreciate your opinion of this proposal.
When I used to race my locally built 21 foot daysailer (very much like the Hunter 216) my crew and I spent a lot of time sitting on the rail. That boat had hiking straps mounted on the leading edge of the seats and were made out of what looked like seat belt webbing.
I would love to have the security of anchoring my feet in my new H15 when hiking out in high winds. A few H170 owners have shown me what they had done on there boats. Bow end is attached to the mast step and the stern end near the rudder with the strap running along the sole of the cockpit. But the H15's and H146's have that dam at the stern, effectively denying access to the rudder mount.
The main problem with adding deck hardware on these boats is the lack of access to the undersides of the cockpit to secure anything that requires through deck fitting.
Looking through one of the H170 Modification articles on this site I came across the attached photo. This owner had cut an inspection port in the cuddy area of his H170 to get to the tube that carries the furling line from the cockpit to the foredeck. I discussed the idea of cutting two inspection ports into the seat uprights on each side of the cockpit with a local chandlery who also suggested that I could put a water tight bag, the type that Kayakers use, in the inspection ports. I like this idea as it will give me access to the undersides of the seats to secure any through deck fittings and provide some water proof storage.
I’d really appreciate your opinion of this proposal.
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