! MODIFICATIONS TO A DABBER !

I trail-sail my Dabber Giulia, with which I am very happy on the northern Italy subalpine lakes and on the Med sea, often singlehanded. When not in the water she rests on her trailer in a home garage.

!

While sailing, trailing and launching her, in the long years since I bought her second hand in 1982, to my mind came many little changes or additions (I don't dare to call them improvements) that could be done. Since I don't dislike handicraft, little by little I actuated many of them. Many others are still only in my mind and I plan to make them real some day. A few of them concern normal operation of the boat, a few safety of boat gear, a few the outboard motor, a few trailing – and launching/recovering. Many of the changes I made are not new to Dabber owners, as I understand from the DA forum.

!

I’ll be happy to receive any comment and/or suggestion and/or warning – what I made could have unexpected drawbacks that I did not foresee.

!

Here is a random list with the descriptions and some pictures. The points that, in my opinion, at least for the use I make of the boat, are a must are marked with a (*). The points that are due to ideas suggested by the DA forum are marked with a (°).

!

Many of these changes were published in Practical Boat Owner magazine articles that can be found on: http://marinedirectory.ybw.com/reprints/results1.jsp

! FOR BOAT OPERATION !

1. KEEL BRASS RUBBING STRIPS (picture 3). Only stem, forefoot and the curved part of the stern keel were protected by a metal rubbing strip. I added half-round brass strips screwed to the whole length of the timber keel.

! ! !

!1

!

!

2. (*) STERN LOCKER FLOORBOARD (picture 4). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005) When recovering bow first on the trailer, the least bilge water quickly collected in the stern locker, flooding anything resting directly on the hull. I made a curved floorboard following the hull quarters shape; the frames are wooden, the floorboard itself is "formica", a thin hard plastic sheet used for lining kitchen furniture. The central section is removable for access to the bung and also when in place leaves a free zone for mopping up water. Made in a hurry, the shape is correct but the material poor. It is anyway effective also for heeled sailing.

3. NEW THOLE PINS (picture 2) (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005) Following my taste, I fitted new thole pins instead of original fork-like rowlocks. Bronze pins were machined on a lathe in a friend's workshop; wooden parts on the gunwales ware homemade. New thole pins seat in the original rowlock sockets. With these thole pins, used in the Med, one only for each oar, oars are loosely tied by strops and can be angled deep in the water, which is good for rowing in a broken sea and for rowing standing, looking ahead. When passing through a short narrow way you just give a couple of stronger strokes and let go of the oars; these range themselves outboard, parallel to the hull and the boat glides between the obstacles. Strops and leather should be liberally greased.

! !2

!

!

! 4. NEW OARS (picture 5). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). With the boat (bought second hand) came a pair of lake kind spoon-bladed oars not suited for a seagoing boat. After one year of useless searching for a second hand pair (unbelievable), I gave up, and bought two new oars, 2.75 metre (9 ft) long, with long straight blades, of the kind used in the Mediterranean Sea. I fitted a copper band for blade end protection, painted, varnished and leathered them. Remembering that in a pair of oars I leathered many years ago copper tacks had started rot and later caused a broken oar, leather was sewed and no tacks were used. I then made relevant strops. 5. STOWING OARS ALONGSIDE (picture 6, sketch 5). ). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). When sailing or motoring, big sweeps stowed inboard were a nuisance in the already cluttered little boat. After some trial and error I decided the best option is to leave the oars rigged on thole pins, parallel alongside and hold blades at gunwale level by a strop starting from a small open eye screw inside the gunwale, going round the oar and ending with a bight, hooked to the same eye screw. This way, oars are stowed completely outboard and are ready to work in an eye-blink in an emergency, or simply to lend a hand in a failed tack in light wind.

!

6. LONG BOATHOOK (seen next to the oars in the pic above) (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The boathook (required on board by law in this Country) I made as long as possible though going in the floorboards length, to be used also as a pole to brace out the loose footed mainsail when running downwind (picture 52). A notch and a strop are provided in the inboard end to tie it to the lee shroud. Poling out like that has been done on a Lugger as shown in a Practical Boat Owner issue of 20 years ago). The boathook is also needed for bracing the jib clew to windward for heaving to – without it the small Dabber jib, backed and sheeted hard is not man enough to push the bow leeward. It can be used also as a sounding rod. After a forum suggestion I plan to paint on it half metre marks. Beside all this, a short boathook would be useless just as a boathook.

! ! ! !

!3

! 7.

NEW HOLES IN FLOOR BOARDS (picture 7). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). Boat floor is made of only two tough and rather heavy halves, port and starboard. To grab and lift them, a hole was fitted near the after end of each one. Pulling up by this, the floorboard swings around its fore end and catches the centreboard case. Using a new hole amidships, near the outer edge of the floorboard, this one swings around the centreline of the boat and removing it is much easier.

!4

!

8.(*) STRUM BOX (picture 8). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The original bilge pump intake hose ended in the bilge, beside the centreplate case, just like that. The pump could not work until at least two inches of water covered the hose mouth. I made and fitted a strum box of tin-soldered brass sheet. The underside is open; the side walls’ lower edge is toothed and rests on the hull, held down in position by a plastic packing foam piece forced under the centreplate case.

!

9. NEW MOORING

CLEATS (pictures 9 – 10). ). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The stern mooring cleat was too busy, with two stern mooring lines, outboard safety line and cockpit cover strings. I added a new cleat. The strongest position I could find (so I then thought) was on the inside lower part of the outboard mounting wooden board (picture 10). In the pic the safety line of the OB motor is shawn secured to this cleat; after reading in the DA forum that someone lost motor and mounting board altogether I shifted it again to the central cleat (see point 25.). I also added a new bow mooring cleat, on the port side of mast thwart, symmetrical to the existing one (picture 9). By the way, for unattended swinging mooring or anchor riding, I don't trust any cleat and belay the line around the centreplate case, acting as a strong samson post. !5

!

!

10. (*) NEW BOW FAIRLEAD (picture 11) (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The Dabber bow fairlead is a very strong bronze piece capping the stem and is very good for long time or unattended mooring or anchor riding. But for temporary anchoring, (e.g. for having a swim or a snack) with the bowsprit shipped in place, an anchor rode using it would chafe and force against the bowsprit. I fitted a new fairlead, same type of the two stern ones, on the starboard gunwale, some inches from the stem head, that I use whenever I have the bowsprit shipped and I need a bow mooring or anchoring line.

!6

! !

! ! !

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

11. MAINSHEET ARRANGEMENT (sketch 10). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The aft block of the mainsheet tackle was meant to be attached to the rudder head. I think that it is no good to lay such a big force on the rudder. Now the block can move above the tiller on a rope horse from end to end of the transom. This very popular change had been already made by the previous owner when I bought the boat. I changed the original heavy clew carbine hook with a soft strop. The shaking block is more than enough for hitting a head.

!7

!

! !

12.(*) MAINSAIL DOWNHAUL (pictures 12 – 13 - sketch 11). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). To get a nice shape of the mainsail without vertical or horizontal creases, the tack downhaul needs to be adjusted on every tack, and on every change in sailing point or in wind strength, that means every few minutes. The original downhaul was a simple line moored on the mast thwart, threaded through the tack cringle, through a fairlead hole in the thwart and made fast in a fairlead clamcleat under

! ! ! ! ! !

the thwart itself. This meant, for trimming it, going forwards to the mast and pulling very hard every time. As I sail more often singlehanded, I rigged a two block tackle between thwart and tack cringle (purchase 3 to 1, all considered), the bitter end of the tackle is led through the thwart fairlead hole and backwards to a fairlead clamcleat on the starboard side of the centreplate case, already existing, (picture 13) well in reach of the helmsman.

!8

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !9

! ! ! !

13.FORESTAY PROTECTION (pictures 68 - 67). On every tack the jib clew has to pass ahead of the stem attached forestay. The knot connecting jib sheets with clew, despite trying many different arrangements, was fouled by the forestay. Though unwillingly for aesthetical reasons, I resolved to slip a section of rigid plastic electric conduit on the forestay, reaching up to the maximum needed height, on which the jib clew can easily slip free.

! !

! ! ! ! !

I also changed the knot of the one-piece sheets. The two sheets have a retaining overhand knot each side of the cringle. Then they are crossed over and whipped together where they are side by side astern of the cringle. This way a continuous rope is dragged on the forestay without snags. To this day the whipping never failed under stress.

!10

! ! ! !

14.(*) "AUTOPILOT" (picture 15, sketch 13). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). In the Dabber, under sail singlehanded, as in every well behaving sailing boat, letting go of the tiller and going forwards for any task means rounding up in the wind. A very simple and effective "autopilot" (nickname, of course) is a thin string stretched abeam of the stern deck, looping once around the tiller. The mooring points are two existing little hooks intended for the cockpit cover string. The tension is adjustable by a bight on one end with a rolling hitch. Being the tiller very long and flexible and higher than the line mooring points on the stern deck, the loop in the tight "autopilot" string holds the tiller firmly in position. If you wish to adjust the helm, you gently press down the tiller and the tension is slacked, you shift the now free tiller to the new position and, on releasing the down pressure, the tiller rises, the string tightens again and its loop clamps the tiller in the new position. It is indeed very handy to use and very simple made. Of course moving the weight of the single crew from stern to bow in such a small boat, also with a lashed tiller, causes a windward change in course but, if one prepares in advance the tiller position for the new balance condition, way windward, one can venture forwards for a short spell without too much upsetting of the course. Of course a lashed tiller deprives the helmsman of the feeling of the rudder, so the "autopilot" is used only when wanted, for instance never whilst teaching the grandchildren to steer. When it is not used, it rests out of the way, flat on the stern deck, stretched between its mooring points using a loop knotted halfway in it on this purpose. The self threading screws fixing the two hooks, originally threaded only in the fibreglass deck, were beefed by small brass plates under deck.

! ! ! !

!11

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !12

! !

!

!

! 15.HOOKS IN STERN LOCKER (picture 17). In the stern locker the bilge pump has six unused ears with holes, through which I threaded a few aluminium wire hooks for hanging objects that must stand upright, as e.g. an oil lamp. By the way, my oil lamp never suffered wind, in spite of the tin wind shelters which I tried and added to it; so I finally discarded it, shifting to electric lighting (see next point).

! !

16.MASTHEAD LIGHT (pictures 18 - 19 - 20). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). For this size of boat, an all-round white light may be used instead of the regular three navigation lights. I made one from an automatic lifebuoy light, discarded from my brother's bigger boat (a long plastic tube containing batteries, surrounded by a buoyant foam cone and watertight closed on top by a threaded transparent dome containing the bulb). I removed (picture 18) the outer buoyancy and the inner quicksilver overturning switch. I replaced the latter with an insulating cube (from an electrical terminal strip) just slipping inside the tube. A small brass bolt crosses through the cube from one face to the opposite. The cube is pulled out by a thread string loosely secured to bulb socket. When the little bolt is across tube, the light is off. You undo the dome and bulb holder, pull out the cube, reinsert it turned with the bolt along tube, thus connecting battery top electrode with bulb bottom contact, and redo the dome on: the !13

! !

! ! ! !

light goes on. Two strops are tied around the tube, one at the bottom, one at half height. To deploy the already switched on lamp, when mainsail is not hoisted it is tied to main halyard and hoisted as far as possible, that is until the upper strop arrives to the mast sheave and the dome is well above masthead (picture 19); the two ends of the halyard must be knotted together in advance to allow lowering the lightweight lamp. With mainsail bent on, before hoisting, the lamp is hanged loosely to the yard's peak end and hangs almost vertically by its own weight. When no mast is shipped (e.g. motoring in inland waterways) the light can be placed in the mizzen mast seat in the transom, where it will not blind the helmsman and will be well visible by craft overcoming from astern. (Picture 20). I do keep spare batteries but I never made a real lasting time test. Of course also a big torch light is always at hand by night.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! !14

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

17. RETAINING MESH IN OUTBOARD WELL (sketch 17). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of February 2005). The stern deck recess where the power head of the outboard tilts is a very convenient place for dirty or oily items as it drains sternwards through a gap under the motor mounting board, and under certain load or sea conditions is awash. It is convenient for laying engine parts and tools while cleaning spark plugs or doing other small repairs, too often needed. To avoid small items to roll or be washed overboard, I tacked a coarse brass wire mesh in the draining gap between the board and the bottom of recess. I also tacked from outside a rubber flap allowing water drain from the recess, whilst impeding too much water rushing in from slapping following waves.

!

!

18.HOLDING SHOCKCORD 1 (picture 2 - 24). I tied a suitable length of large size shock cord around the centreplate case, just under the wooden capping board. It is very convenient for sizing under it all gear and objects such as: knife, whistle, water bottles, shock cord loops, anything that should be at hand, and that otherwise would roll about on the floorboards. To the shock cord are temporary lashed also the bags with personal belongings of crew and with pick-nick stuff. Also the fore rowing position thwart stows very snugly against the centreplate case. While sailing it is never shipped in its working position because one of the features I appreciate in the Dabber is the absence of fixed thwarts, allowing you to walk freely up and down from bow to stern. !15

! !

! ! !

19.HOLDING SHOCKCORD 2 (picture 54). Fenders are a nuisance when inboard, and room in Dabber lockers is not so abundant. I found for fenders a suitable place under the mast thwart, held by a shockcord around the fore bulkhead.

!16

!

20.(°) MAST FOOT SUPPORT (pictures 50 - 51). I read in the DA forum that the pressure by the mast foot could break the inner moulding. I made a hardwood chock and braced it under the mast foot seat against the keel, to transfer the stress from the inner moulding to the keel. The chock is fixed by a screw from above. The water can drain from mast seat to the bilge through a carved way in the chock.

! !

!

! ! 21.NEW DRIFTER JIB (picture 53). The waters I sail in seldom offer enough wind for an exciting sailing ̶ when not too much wind for a safe one ̶ . I had a new drifter jib made by the sailmaker. It is of very light cloth, larger than the original jib, luff (maximum allowed by the distance between end of bowsprit and masthead): 3.40 m (11’ 1”), foot: 2.50 m (8’ 2”), leach:3.05 m (10’). Two light sheets lead through new fairleads inside the gunwales more astern than those for the “tan” jib ̶ the new one is white ̶ . I use it mainly in broad reaching and running. The improvement in speed is amazing. The balance of the sails is not affected as much as I expected. When wind freshens, I keep a good watch on the bowsprit: as soon as it begins bending too much to leewards I lower the white jib and hoist the tan one. I tried and established a drill for the under/over arrangement of one halyard, two sails, four sheets and one !17

forestay in order to be able to hoist one jib and shift between one another, starting from having both sails lashed ready on the foredeck, all of which without tangles, but I am not yet sure of the proceeding. I want to do some more experimenting.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

!18

! ! ! !

!

! 22.(*)SECOND SLAB REEFING POINT IN MAINSAIL (picture 76). The mainsail featured only one reef point. When singlehanded, though reefed, as soon as the wind freshens my weight sitting on the gunwale is not enough and I have to slacken main sheet and spill wind. Moreover, in this traditional boat, mainsail is actually main, having an area more than twice jib and mizzen areas added together. A second reef point was wanted. I got two cringles and four pendant pairs sewn by the sailmaker in the mainsail just under the yard. From the new tack and clew cringles two robust double strops are ready for joining with the old ones. I understand that most Drascombe Association forumites find it better sailing with jib and mizzen alone when needed, but this is true for larger boats. In the Dabber, having a very small jib, I think that the reefed mainsail alone is better for coping with bad weather. I tested only once on purpose the mainsail alone, twice reefed, on Lago Maggiore on a strong wind day, single handed, and I was satisfied: my weight was enough to keep the boat sufficiently upright. The lump of tied sailcloth is big and unsightly but if one takes in the two reefs before leaving the mooring it can be bent neatly enough.

!

!19

!

! !

23.(°) WOODEN CHOCK ON CENTRE-PLATE ARM (picture 55). I read in the DA forum that the centreplate in case of grounding can unhook from its pivot and fall down under the hull. This should not happen because the twisted shackle is larger than the slot but just in case I put around the arm a pierced wooden chock that surely won’t go through.

!

24.(°)(*) BACKPLATE FOR MOTOR MOUNTING BOARD BOLTS (pictures 56 - 57). (posted in the DA forum on 3 February 2013). I read in the forum of some Dabber that lost motor and mounting board altogether. To inspect how the wooden board is fixed to the GRP inner moulding I crawled on my back in the stern locker. From outside four bolt heads are visible. Inside, under the nuts of the two starboard bolts there was not even a washer (picture 56 - lower nut already removed). The port bolts are inaccessible without cutting through the deck.
 To strengthen the connection I fabricated a stainless steel stripe encompassing both bolts, bent it to match the GRP shape and fitted it under the nuts. Two thick washers were added where the holes weaken the stripe.
 It was a wicked job, all done with one hand by finger feeling , the only way to "see" it by eye being to take pictures. Especially unpleasant was the bending to shape of the stripe by trial and error, getting in and out of the locker a number of times.
 In an ideal world I should reach the other two bolts by surgery and fix them too but I won't do it. Someone (from the forum) dared to undo the port bolt/s and happily found that the nut is captive, but I shall definitely not push my luck and undo a bolt hoping that the nut is glassed in. After all the starboard bolt nuts are not.

! ! !

!20

!21

! ! !

! !

25.BACKPLATE FOR STERN MOORING CLEAT.(picture 70) I also checked the nuts of the stern central mooring cleat and fitted an s. s. backplate here too.

!

26.BACKPLATE FOR MAST THWART BOLTS. Neither the four bolts fastening the mast thwart to the inner moulding had washers under the nuts. Two backplates went here too, wooden this time.

!

27.SEALING RAINWATER OUT (picture 28). The cockpit cover (come originally with the boat) is very effective, either with mainmast shipped or stowed (see PBO 155 Drascombe Dabber Test article). When mainmast is shipped I use the yard with the rolled-on mainsail as a ridge pole. The floor area is totally sheltered. All rain water is conveyed on side decks and drained in the scuppers. The only water way is through the gap between mast thwart and foredeck, especially when trailing at car speed. I shaped a timber piece to close the gap and sealed it in place with silicone. The moored and covered boat has since withstood thunderstorms with pouring rain and not one drop was found afterwards in the bilge.

! ! ! ! ! ! !

!22

!

! !

28.BOARDING LADDER (picture 69 - sketch 18). (covered in an article of Practical Boat Owner issue of November 2010). In 2004, being – then – 68 y. o., I wondered how long I would have been able to climb on board either after swimming or after an unintentional dive. Thus I wanted a boarding ladder. Requirements for the ladder were: - Ladder small and lightweight. - Stiff, not rope. - Three steps – total length 90 cm (3’) - Positioned amidships – transom being cluttered by outboard, rudder, mizzen and bumpkin. - Should stow on the side deck, already hooked to the gunwale, ready to be deployed by a MOB in the water alongside, without any previous preparation.

!

After discarding a few not practical designs of mine, I found from the trade a stainless suitable ladder, narrow, three steps, three rigid sections sliding telescopically one inside the other. !23

!

Helped by my brother I fabricated (all in stainless steel) a pivoting and sliding guide, hinged to two C brackets astride onto the gunwale, just astern of the starboard shroud. In stowed position ladder and guide are swung inboard, the ladder is resting on the side deck, inside the gunwale, closed, upside down, protruding little above gunwale level. A string, tied to the bottom - now highest - step, dangles over the side, ending in a monkey fist near water level. By pulling the string down and outwards, ladder and guide capsize, rotating about 180° around the gunwale, the guide stops in vertical position outside the gunwale, the ladder sections slide downwards extending to maximum length. An arm hinged to the top section braces the ladder against the hull, slanted outwards at an angle. This arm is not shown in the sketch, having been added later. If anyone is interested in the construction I can give all details. I know that this telescopic ladder is available in UK.

!

I tested the ladder on the water: When stowed it does not foul the jib sheet, as could be expected. The deploying action works very well; only some attention is needed by the swimmer, who could pull the ladder down on his own head.

!

Climbing aboard proved to be not as easy as expected, because, if nobody else was aboard balancing, the climbing man’s weight heeled the boat a good deal and the ladder was tilting under the hull much beyond the vertical position. Thus the bracing arm was added. The shroud is a convenient handhold above the highest step.

!

Since then, the ladder is rigged on the gunwale whenever I sail singlehanded or alone with the grandchildren.

! ! ! ! ! ! !

!24

!

! !

29.TILLER HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT. (picture 82). The tiller fouls the outboard motor. I made a small chock resting between the rudder step and the tiller. A rubber cord loop (motor bike inner tube) holds the chock in position. As the chock has two different thickness, the tiller has three possible positions. The tiller highest position is also very convenient for standing steering.

!

30.COCKPIT COVER SHOCKCORD. I changed the rope string tensioning the cockpit cover with a shockcord one. It is less seaman-like but so quicker to do and undo.

!

31.(°)HALYARD BLOCKS (picture 78). The main and jib halyards are originally redirected by two wooden fairleads carved in the bowsprit support. The friction is important. I added two blocks tied with strops to the holes/fairleads. When unshipping the mast the strops are undone and the blocks remain threaded in the halyards and stowed with the mast. This is quicker than threading the whole length of halyards in the fairleads.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

!25

! !

32.SHACKLES BETWEEN SHROUD LANYARDS AND CHAINPLATES (picture 83). When launching, threading and adjusting the shroud lanyards is very time consuming. I inserted a shackle under the lanyard. The lanyard length is already fixed, one just has to pull down on the shroud and engage the shackle. Then the correct tension is got adjusting the forestay lanyard alone.

! ! ! ! ! ! !

33.PARALL BEADS/MAIN HALYARD ARRANGEMENT (picture 79). With the parall beads line tied round both mast and yard, as per instruction book, when the mainsail is lowered it cannot be moved and encumbers the whole cockpit. I changed to a way used on old mediterranean sail boats. I spliced a closed loop and tied it around the yard in a sort of prusik knot but passed only once, leaving a !26

short bight protruding. At the working end of the halyard a hook is tied. The parall beads, tied only around the mast, keep the hook loosely abreast the mast itself. Before hoisting one just hooks the yard to the halyard. When lowered, the yard with the mainsail can be unhooked and pushed forward outboard or harbour-stowed vertically against the mast. I find this arrangement very practical and quick also for rigging the boat and for stowing the mast connected with all its gear for trailing.

! ! !

34.ROWING SEAT/TABLE (picture 81 - 84) The two rowing positions are: fore, sitting on a thwart; aft, sitting on top the centreplate case capping. This one is a few inches too low and too narrow to be comfortable. Following the Drascombe requirement of two uses, I fitted two wooden chocks of suitable height to the inside of the stern locker door so it can be fitted on top the case. The stern locker door can be used as rowing seat, as chart table and as picnic table, four uses! One drawback is that the table hides the clamcleats of the centreplate lifting line and of the mainsail downhaul. Though they can still be reached by hand.

! ! !

!

!27

!

! !28

! ! ! FOR SAFETY OF THE GEAR !

In such a boat, at my age – 78 –, one should expect not to put himself and the boat in situations where a capsize is by far likely, but – you never know. So, to be prepared for the worst, I tried and could make fast all the gear that, in the dreaded case, could drift away or sink. In normal conditions I do not bother lashing everything, only the outboard is always secured, as well as some seldom used gear. Crew safety equipment is not listed here.

!

35. RUDDER AND TILLER (picture 26). To make fast rudder and tiller in one, I made a hole through the rudder head, above the swinging tiller. I used the inboard ends of the upper gudgeon bolts to fit a stainless horse. A slack line connecting the rudder and the horse prevents tiller to swing free from rudder and rudder to drift away. The rudder, though, is allowed to lift freely out of gudgeons without damage in case of hitting ground or else, and one can unship the rudder altogether with the tiller in a hurry if needed. When not used, as is most often the case, the line remains coiled and tied to the horse. 36.BUCKET, BALER, BILGE PUMP HANDLE, ETC. I made two strong stainless eyes, fitted to the underside of the shroud's chain plates U bolts, protruding in the bow lockers. To these is made fast by lanyards any gear stowing in the lockers, that is worth not to loose. The bilge pump handle is stowed inside the stern locker and permanently made fast to an ear of the bilge pump. The lanyard is long enough for pumping without unlashing the handle.

!

! ! !

37.(°) FLOORBOARD CLAMPING (pictures 74 – 71 – 72 - 73). I learnt from the forum that, in case of 180° capsizing, the floorboards would fall down pushing under water a crew under the boat and forbidding him/ her to breathe the air trapped under the inverted hull. For clamping the floorboards in position I fitted two wooden chocks, fore and aft, to the base of the centreplate case (picture 74) and two sliding bolts (picture 71) to the aft bulkhead under the floor level as outboard as possible (picture 72). As the staples bought with the bolts could not fit, I added two aluminium catches to the aft end of the floorboards (picture 73). The bolts can be disengaged from inside the stern locker.

!29

!30

! !31

! ! !

38.(°) ANCHOR TIED DOWN by a strop through a hole in the inner moulding – for safety in case of capsizing (picture 75).

!

! FUTURE PLANNED CHANGES !

As owning a boat is a never ending story, now I plan to have also the following features added to mine, and nobody knows if they will be the last ones (to be fair, I’m sure they will not).

!

39.NAVIGATION LIGHTS. I found - and bought - three very cheap navigation lights consisting in a plastic container for a D battery, topped by a coloured dome containing the bulb and having different angled plastic screens, suited for starboard, port and transom position. To put them off you undo the dome and just remove the battery. They snap in plastic forklike brackets. After some trying and error on the floating boat, I decided that the only possible fitting position where the lights can be seen and are not in danger from sheets or else is: for red and green ones, close together ahead of the mainmast. The jib tack shall be raised about 0.3 metres (1 foot) by a strop; there is plenty of free halyard under the masthead block and the standard jib can be hoisted higher. For the white one, abaft of the mizzen mast. The removable aluminium collars connecting the plastic brackets to the masts are already under construction. I shall not fasten the brackets directly on masts because the lights will be very seldom used and brackets would very likely be !32

! ! !

! !

broken before the first lighting occasion. For use without masts I could make two mast stumps on which fitting the lights. I shall make a box for stowing lights, batteries, spare batteries, spare bulbs, that will be taken on board only when needed, as well as the stumps. For unforeseen delayed coming back in darkness, the all-round white lamp and the big torch light (always on board) are enough.

40.JIB SHEET CLAMCLEAT. The two clamcleats on the side decks are too far away from a singlehanded helmsman. I use to tie together the two sheets ends and hook the resulting bight abaft the centreplate case for better control but, on tacking, I always have to go forward to cleat the new tack sheet. A good position for a single clamcleat would be on the centreplate case wooden cap, but this is the place where one sits when rowing. The cleat could be fixed on the after wall of the case but it is fibreglass: will the screws hold? – I shall see.

41.MAKING FAST OARS. The oars, when stowed as in point 5, are not safely made fast to the boat in case of a capsize. Also a short dipping of the gunwale would cause an oar to float up, out of its thole pin. I should think to something safer and at the same time quick to do and undo.

!

44. LEVER TENSIONER FOR FORESTAY With a lever tensioner the forestay tensioning lanyard could be left knotted in the right length, sparing time during rigging for launching. I could not yet find one small enough. I should make one.

! 45.TAFFRAIL ROWLOCK FOR SCULLING ! 46.ANYMORE SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE? !

A curious remark: every time you change something on the boat, you never take anything off but invariably add something – and some weight. This, in my instance, is affecting not so much the sailing performance (the Dabber never pretended to be a racing boat) as the load on the trailer, which is on the brim of the maximum allowed.

!

Summing it up, I am happy with my Giulia, almost quite. What I miss most (in comparison with my previous boat, a clinker 12' sailing dinghy of 1954, still existing) is stowing room. In a GRP boat every available volume is occupied by buoyancy stuff. A wooden small boat is inherently buoying and also much friendly to tinker with and, above all, has an undeniable appeal. On the other hand I must acknowledge that a wooden Dabber, although much more lovable, would be much heavier to trail and would require a lot more maintenance work. Moreover a wooden boat living high and dry, full of gear, on a trailer in a garage, like mine, would require a much more accurate cradle, not to be distorted by its own weight, and, as soon as launched, would for sure require one outnumber hand only employed in bailing out water. So, let’s be contented with the despised plastic.

! Sandro !!

E-mail: [email protected]

!33