Sails, Rigging & Deck Gear

A wildly flailing boom is one of the most dangerous ob­jects aboard a sailboat. If you could completely control the boom at anchor and under power, and while raising, lowering, and reefing the sail you'd avoid worry, save energy and be much safer. For this reason, many serious cruising boats have traditionally carried permanent boom gallows. They usually take the form of metal pillars bridg ed across the top by a wooden cross member. Bolted to the deck at the aft end of the cockpit or on the aft deck itself, they serve several functions: holding the boom firm­ly when the sail is down; catching the boom easily as the sail is lowered; and, perhaps most importantly, keeping the boom steady during reefing operations.

For those who enjoy fishing or char­coal cooking, here's a design for a stern rail mount work surface useful for fish cleaning and meat cutting, and big enough to hold a hibachi when moored. I got the idea from yacht designer C.W. "Chuck" Paine, and Chuck got the idea from some Caribbean charter boats. You could also clamp a vise to the work surface and thus have a handy little work bench for onboard repairs and modifications. Mounted as it is on the stern rail, it is at a useful height, and offal and mess are easily cleared over­board. A hibachi used on the surface demands careful use, of course — as with any open flame on a boat — but it's about as far outboard a position as can be found. It's also a lot cheaper than those charcoal grills designed to be clamped to the stern rail.

On my Catalina 22 I have a tiller tender which has served me well for many years — and it didn't cost a cent. On top of the tiller are two pieces of 3/8" x 3/4" hardwood about 5" long. The two pieces are drilled horizontally, at the joint line, about 2" from the end to accommodate a 3" length of split neoprene which has an inside diameter slightly less than the diameter of the braided line which runs to the coamings. Two holes drilled vertically near the ends are used to fasten the device to the tiller.

Conventional commercially available anchor chocks, though convenient, can be nasty metal toe stubbers and not particularly attractive. In contrast, wooden chocks are easy to make, handsome, and relatively snag- and toe-proof.

Practical Sailor tested more than a dozen bullet blocks (sized 40 to 45 millimeters) from eight marinedeck hardware manufacturers: Barton, Garhauer, Harken, Karver, Holt, Ronstan, Schaefer, and Selden Mast. The units tested were ball-bearing and roller-bearing designs, and the growing trend toward more composite material and less metal construction was evident among the products. Blocks were loaded to 200 pounds-well within the safe working load for the test blocks-and testers measured the amount of force required to move a line in a closed loop set up. Once the efficiency test was complete, the blocks were subjected to an aerated saline bath to gauge corrosion and oxidation tendencies. Weight, price, safe working load, cheek material, and attachments were also evaluated.

With some modification to our bench-test jig, we were able to place two blocks in opposition to each other, attach them via a closed loop of ultra low-stretch line and place the system in tension. The load-inducing mechanism was a vertical capstan Ideal anchor windlass capable of incrementally adding tension to the mix. A Dillon AP dynamometer was placed in series with the tension-creating tackle, and during each test, the load on the closed loop was closely monitored.

Researching an upcoming article on the effects of various cleaning chemicals on ropes, our testers scrubbed and machine-washed mountains of nylon and polyester rope of every description. Samples ranged from three-strand dock line encrusted in marine life to brand-new polyester double-braid line. Our testing for that article continues, but we want to report one immediate finding relevant to any sailor who is wondering how to deal with old or dirty lines. Fully 70 percent of our test samples, including new and used line from New England Ropes (NER) and Samson Ropes, experienced failure of pre-spliced eyes; the buried portion of the core worked its way out of the main line and into the eye, where it carried zero load. In some cases, these failures were scarcely visible, while in others, the tail was exposed.

Practical Sailor contributor and world cruiser Joe Minick details the steps he and his wife took to replace the wornout teak deck aboard their Mason 43, Southern Cross. Minick breaks down the major tasks of the three-month project and explains how they saved a lot of money by doing some of the work themselves. The article looks at the pros and cons of a do-it-yourself teak deck refit; planning and budgeting; step-by-step removal of hardware and the old deck; and the detailed installation process of the new deck.

West Marine has released a new, improved version of the safety tethers it voluntarily recalled last summer. As we reported in the August 2010 issue, West Marine recalled its model 9553512 (single) and 9553504 (double) safety tethers—which featured Kong hooks on the boat end and snap shackles on the user end—over concerns about the durability of the split ring connecting the snap shackle’s release pin and the lanyard.

Do you have any suggestions on a book or manual that explains how to replace a cored deck where most of it is soaking wet? I replaced a 1.5-square-foot area and was surprised to see that it was so wet and rotten that I could grab the wood core and squeeze it like a sponge.