WHITE SQUALL: Lessons Learned

 While BIANKA survived the White Squall conditions from a weather front that blew through the harbor a few weeks ago. The same could not be said for the dingy. The heavy rain was not an issue but, the winds blew BIANKA around and whipped saw the attached Porta Bote dingy around and may have flipped or at least turned it 90 degrees at some point. Dumping some of the contents into the water. Including one of the Oars, seat cushion, outboard motor cover and anything else that was not attached like a plastic scrapper I use to clean the dingy bottom from time to time. So when things calmed down I took some of the lessons learned from the event and implemented a strategy to try and limit the damage during a future weather event.

OARS

Losing the Oar could have made trying to get back to the shore in anything but calm conditions. Keeping them in the dingy ready to use is important. So an easy fix was to use TY Wraps to create loops where I can attach a line secured to the dingy to help keep the Oars with the dingy.

I'll cut the excess tabs but, the loop will make a good place to attach a line to secure them.

if the Oars should happen to leave the dingy again since they float it makes sense to mark them with BIANKA's name in case any one finds them floating around the harbor. There is a better chance they will find there way back to the boat.

Since the Oars come in two pieces I used a DREMEL Tool make sure both pieces had my boats name on them.

CUSHION

Another Item that was lost in the storm was the seat cushion. It's not only on board for comfort it's also used as a flotation device. Labeling it will also help it getting it returned should it leave the dingy again.

 

MISC

One item that did leave the dingy after the storm but, I miraculously found floating next to BIANKA a few hours later was the outboard motor cover. I was able to grab it with the boat hook. Still no reason not to label it too.

MESSING ABOUT IN BOATS: Honda 2000i Oil Change Help

One of the maintenance rituals I do before launching is to change the oil in the Honda 2000 EU generator. I've been able to significantly reduce the the mess of this procedure by using a Hopkins Measure Funnel:

While this eliminates a lot of the mess of the oil changing procedure I still...

IN BIANKA'S GALLEY: Measuring Cups

I try to keep glass carried on board to a minimum. Usually that means only bottles of wine and beer which are stowed well. Broken glass is a hazard on a rocking and rolling boat. So when it comes to measuring in the galley area I have found plastic measuring cups are a perfect fit when cooking up a meal or mixing up some Boat Drinks.  I've been using two Evercoat epoxy mixing cups for years now. They are durable won't shatter like glass and are perfect for use in the galley.  I have them labeled with a Brother P Touch labels for galley use only:

Just so they are not accidentally  used elsewhere on board for mixing cleaning products etc... They are also very useful because they not only have calibrations in ounces but, also milliliters and cc's too. If you have recipes that call for those measurements:

 I use two in the galley area so I can use one for measuring dry ingredients and the other for wet ones. Such as when one is cooking up some rice for a meal:

Also because they don't have handles the cups stack inside one another:

 This helps save space and on most sailboats saving space is a real good thing!

TOOLS FOR THE SAILOR: BROTHER P-TOUCH LABEL MAKER

One of my on going projects is labeling various things on board to make it easier for me and others to find them or understand what they do. I find that a Brother PT 1290 label maker is a very useful item to carry on board for such projects.

It does not take up much room and can make labels in various sizes and colors for ones needs. For example sometimes when I am up on the foredeck about to drop the anchor and I have forgotten to turn on the windlass circuit breaker. If I have crew on board I may have to shout back to them to turn on the breaker. If they are new crew they may not find it to easily. So I have labeled it so it will visibly stand out:

Likewise various bottles and containers in the tool locker or galley are worth a label to be able to identify them easily:

Since I have electric propulsion I also try an make some of the tools I use around the high amperage batteries a little less prone to shorting things out. I use electrical tape for this. Unfortunately, this often obscures the size markings for the tools. But, some labeling with the P Touch labeler soon remedies the problem:

I also use it to label wiring, panel circuit breakers, plumbing lines and a myriad of other things on board that I might want to label. In short it just comes in very handy and useful on board to label anything..