Portishead Cruising Club

Top Tips

Warning!! These tips are provided by the members of the Portishead Cruising Club for the members of the Portishead Cruising Club. None of the tips are guaranteed for accuracy or efficacy. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether the any use of these tips is appropriate or safe.

Undertake the RNLI Sea Check - even if you think that your boat has all the necessary safety equipment and that you have a working knowledge of safety procedures, getting a free 'professional' second opinion is always worthwhile. If nothing else you will be given a comprehensive checklist of all the important factors required to minimise the risks.
This site is well worth a visit giving lots of safety and maintenance tips http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/
The onboard car radio or clock needs a continuous 12v supply - Most car radios require a continuous 12v supply in order to maintain the memory of stored stations. In parallel with the radio supply install a rechargable 12v battery (as used in a domestic burgler alarm). Install a diode in the supply line so that the battery only supplies the car radio/clock. The current requirement is minimal. This solution also maintains the memory/time when the main batteries are removed. D1 needs to be rated according to the maximum current drawn by the radio and R1 (limiting resistor) can be any value from 1Kohm to 100Kohm

Using Sealant - If the fitting is tightened whilst the sealant is still wet, the layer of sealant could be reduced to an effective zero thickness. Any difference of expansion between the two surfaces will shear the sealant and let in water. To prevent this, after applying the sealant do not completely tighten the bolts on the fitting, leaving a suitable thickness of sealant. Stancions need to be firmly mounted and have a fairly thin layer of sealant. Acrylic windows with large co-efficients of expansion will need several millimeters. When the bolts are tightened this will break the seal around them, if the option is available hold the bolts so that they do not turn and tighten the nuts, or remove the bolts one at a time and smear sealant on them before replacing them. As a last option 'Captain Tolley's creeping crack cure' which is taken into the joint by capillary action before it sets.
Single Keel Boat Drying Out on a Concrete Grid. The two big dangers with tying a boat up on a concrete grid are a) the boat is heeling outwards and falls away from the wall and b) the boat is heeling into the wall and the keel slips outwards on the concrete. Each skipper must assess and decide for him/herself, but one option is to tie the boat hard into the wall so that it stands upright. Use adequate strength ropes to do this. A mast head line gives good leverage to hold the boat in, but the rigging must be sound. Do not use pneumatic fenders as these will compress and cause additional heel. A length of scaffold plank with rubber or rope packing is better. N.B. A boat on one of the clubs grids must be attended over every high water where there is likelyhood of it floating, note that the tide can make considerably more than that predicted (3 metres over has been recorded but is very infrequent occurance).
Drying out against a pontoon with a single keel. Not sure of the depth of mud or how far the keel will go into the mud. Tie the boat in tight to the pontoon but make sure that the boat is leaning away from the pontoon, and secure a masthead line to shore to prevent the boat from falling over. Avoid leaning inwards, if the pontoon is only shallow you could end up heeled well over. The angle of heel can be adjusted, by adjusting the masthead line. N.B. If you do this, make sure that there is enough heel outwards to prevent the boat from falling inwards when you move about the boat. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE SURE THAT THE KEEL CANNOT SLIP ON THE BOTTOM.
Using a masthead line ashore. A masthead line is often used to prevent a single keel boat from falling over when taking the ground. However the lead angles are poor for the block at the top of the mast and this will cause chafing on the halliard, and there will be noticable friction when you adjust the halliard. To prevent this attach a block to the halliard and rove the 'masthead shoreline' through it. Hoist the block before putting tension onto the shoreline. Feed the shoreline through a block at the base of the mast and back to a winch.
The yacht is broaching and its all going horribly wrong. Once the yacht has entered the broach and you have lost control, instead of steering out of the broach (which only serves to hold the boat in the broach) steer in towards windward. The boat will then come upright again and recover quicker. Take care not to tack, as the backed jib will bear you away and possibly invoke a violent gybe.
Engine Starting - To reduce engine wear. When starting the engine initially press the starter with the 'engine stop' out. After a few turns push the stop in. This will ensure that the oil pressure is up before the engine fires. Typically some engines will have run for several seconds before the correct oil pressure is reached, during which time damage is being done to the engine.
Delaminating Plywood ? - Using a 3mm drill, make holes in the delaminating section of the ply every 10cm, but do not drill all the way through. Using a medical syringe with a nozzle that tightly fits the holes inject epoxy resin. If possible gently hold the failed joints apart to allow the resin to flow freely along the joint. Cramp (or use a tourniquet) the laminates and allow the resin to set.
Installing Instruments - Some instrument manufacturers include a paper template which you are encouraged to stick to the bulkhead then drill the mounting holes. Use the template to obtain the position of the larger (i.e. instrument) hole, but use the instrument itself to guide the drill for the smaller screw or bolt holes. Drill one hole at a time and insert the screw/bolt before drilling the next hole.
Water leaks - If you are getting water into the bilges a taste test (salt or fresh) may be able to indicate the likely cause. However further up the Bristol Channel the water is fresher and also any mild salty taste may be due to salty bilges. A good alternative to the taste test is to take a good look at the bilges. As the water in the Bristol Channel carries a fair amount of silt in it, the silt will settle out in the bilge. If the bilges are clean then you know that the leak is either rain water or from the fresh water supply. If there is silt check to see where the biggest accumulation of silt is and that will more than likely be near the source of the leak. P.S. If you suspect a leak from the heads drop some food dye (a dental 'revealing' tablet, or 'blue' antifreeze) into the heads N.B. there is a risk that the dye will permanently stain, an alternative is any water soluble aromatic substance, then smell the bilges.
Before Starting the Engine - Check that there are no ropes over the side which could foul the prop.
Gooseneck wear reduction - the universal joint on the end of the boom (gooseneck) is expensive to replace. Most of the wear occurs when the boat is on its mooring as the boom moves around as the boat rocks. When not sailing secure the boom by passing the loose end of the main-sheet from a cleat on one side of the cockpit, over the boom and to a cleat on the other side of the cockpit.
First Aid Kit- Using self adhesive velcro strips secure a first-aid kit to a bulkhead near the companionway. Make sure that you have a book of first aid on board.
Carry engine spares - especially fanbelts, hoses and impellors. The risk of failure of these components is fairly high and they normally do not take long to replace.
Night Light- At night tie a fluorescent chemical light-stick (about £4 each) to your lifejacket, or carry one in your jacket pocket. These are activated by breaking an internal glass phial and so are best removed during the day to save accidental activation. N.B. these lights are not nearly as effective as lifejacket lights and should not be regarded as an approved alternative.
Join a yacht club - sailing is a hazardous sport for the unprepared. There are two ways of gaining experience, either from your own mistakes or those of others. Joining a yacht club will give you access to plenty of experience. From pilotage information on local ports, to local suppliers (at reasonable prices), to unbiased opinions on boats and equipment. Portishead Cruising Club Family Membership for 2002 is only £60, Single Membership is £50, one useful piece of advice could easily save you that amount.

The two main reasons for calling the lifeboat out are engine failure and setting out in inappropriate weather. There is an R.Y.A. course on diesel engines which gives a good grounding (pardon the expression) on the parts of the engine, the preventative maintenance and how to fix the fixable problems at sea.

If your sails jamb when to raising or lowering use Halfords - Rubber and Nylon Lubricant (or similar silicone spray) to lubricate the grooves in the mast (or boom) which accept the sail slides or bolt rope. Also useful on pulleys, sliding hatches, curtain rails etc.

To stop getting riding turns on winches. Start hauling the sheets with only one turn on the winch and pull in as much as you can, then put on two more turns and use the winch handle. Riding turns do not normally occur when there is tension in the rope (unless the lead angles are wrong). With just one turn a riding turn is impossible

Cutting Through Ropes - a serrated edge cuts rope without jambing, i.e. a breadknife. If you do not carry a knife on your person, mount one just inside the companion way for quick access

Anti-Collision - using two spring clips mount an anti collision flare (white smoke) on the inside of the cockpit locker lid so it is readily accessible.

No liferaft - carry an inflatable with some air already in it and with the pump secured to it. Tie it to the foredeck using a slip knot.

Trip hazard - a rope on the deck can act as a roller underfoot. Flat coiling the loose ends will prevent this. For the same reason webbing jack stays along the deck are preferable to wire ones. Nylon or polypropylene ropes slide very easily underfoot - avoid them.

Topping Lift - having two or three loops tied at intervals near the end of the topping lift will allow the boom to be positioned at various heights (or loose) just by putting a different loop on the cleat.

Label the cleats - it is rare that everyone on board knows which rope is which. In an emergency this could be crucial.

Washboards - if the inside of the wash boards is white, turn it around when underway, it can be written on using a chinagraph pencil. Record passage plans, waypoint bearings, transits etc. when more that one person is involved with the navigation.

Do not put a stop knot in the end of a spinnaker sheet, during a broach under spinnaker you will have a sudden desire to let the sheets fly.

NEVERuse locking turns on a cleat. - when the rope is under tension you might not be able to release it. If you get in the habit of using locking turns you may put one on where its use could potentially be dangerous. Locking turns are never needed. If you are worried about the rope coming undone use extra turns or better still use the OXO technique (next item) . Likewise don't use bowline knots. I know! the knot gets its name from its use, but bowlines cannot be undone when they are under tension.

OXO - when attaching a rope to a normal cleat do one round turn (O), one figure of eight (X) and another round turn (O) then pull the loose end of the rope to tighten the rope. The change in direction (around the cleat) of the rope caused by the one figure of eight will significantly increase the friction. Not only quick this method is secure if the rope is pulled tight. N.B. it is important to tighten the rope.

Mooring Warps have three pairs of mooring warps a) Short warps about 0.75 the boat length to use as fore and aft breast ropes, b) Medium length warps about 1.5 the boat length to use as fore and aft springs c) Long lines as shore lines when rafting up or when locking in or out of a harbour. Each pair of warps should be a different colour so that they can be located quickly in the locker. No other warps are necessary so clear out your cockpit locker.

No fuss tying up alongside. This method is suitable when you only have one crew member. The main secret in tying up without panicing is to brief the crew well, then move the boat slowly and allow time for the crew to do their job. a) Use the short warps (see previous item, if you use longer warps they can more easily get tangled, they take longer to thread, also they will be more difficult to carry and cleat), b) preparing the aft warp; from the cockpit thread the warp through the aft fairlead, tie a bowline in the shoreside end and pass it outside the guard rails and take it to the shrouds, the helmsman holds on to the other end.c) preparing the bow warp; cleat one end onto the bow and thread the long end through the fairlead, take the end outside the guard rails to the shrouds, c) the crew should stand at the shrouds and hold onto both warps (standing at the shrouds is normally the widest part of the boat, not only is it normally the first part of the boat to touch the pontoon but also the crew can hold on to the shrouds to make stepping ashore easier, d) as the pontoon is approached the crew steps ashore and drops the loop on the aft warp over a cleat, e) the boat maintains forward way. The helmsman takes in the slack of the aft warp, f) meanwhile the crew walks forward and cleats on the bow warp. The boat is now secure. As soon as practicable replace the bowline on the aft warp with turns on the cleat, a bowline under tension cannot be undone and you will not be able to release the boat in an emergency.

Before leaving the mooring Rig slipping lines (i.e. a line which goes from the boat, passes around the cleat and back to the boat) fore and aft. Remove the existing warps. Slip the lines from on board. Your crew will not have to jump aboard at the last moment.

Write down and 'encapsulate' your commissioning and decommissioning checklists. - if you have a checklist it is considerably less stressful than trying to remember, and it is less likely that you will forget something, especially when you are tired.

Using a labelling machine produce an adhesive label for any critical information (i.e. water draft, air draft, beam, call sign etc.) and stick where it would normally be used (e.g. a label 'shows depth below the transducer' could be stuck on the echosounder)

A car tool kit - these are available as ready made up kits in a case with a shaped space for each tool. It is easier to remember to put each tool back. Loose tools can occasionally get misplaced. You need a good basic set, if you carry too many you may be tempted to undertake a major repair when you should be calling the coastguard.

If you are getting into difficulties call the coast guard sooner rather than later. Lifeboat men are all volunteers and want to rescue boats and people, it is what they spend long hours practising for

If a rope is in use, flake the loose end (i.e. back and forth) rather than coil it. If you let it run it is less likely to snag.

After sheeting in when tacking, flake the end of the sheet. - if the end of the sheet is not tidied up then there is a good chance it will snag when the sheet is loosed, that is if no one is already stood on it as part of the tangle in the bottom of the cockpit.

Going up the mast ? I don't know what the statistics are but this is a dangerous activity, don't undertake it without having a backup system which will protect the volunteer from falling in the even of a component failure. Use a bowline to tie the hoisting rope (halliard) to the bosun's chair, don't rely on the halliard shackle. Tie a second hoisting rope around the volunteer, and as he/she is being hoisted up the mast take in the slack and make off at regular intervals. Take extra care when using an electric winch to hoist the volunteer, if the rope snags or the bowline reaches the top of the mast you will not feel the extra strain coming onto the rope. If you are short handed consider using a mast ladder, here again a secondary system is essential. Once you have been hoisted a couple of feet from the deck, bounce up and down to test the tackle, better it fails when you are not very high.

Don't rely solely on any one method of reckoning your position. A GPS is an excellent tool but if you have entered one digit wrong in a waypoint, or transposed the position on to the chart incorrectly you could be putting yourself in danger. Always use some secondary method of confirming where you are. e.g. Use a hand-held compass to make a fix, or plot your position every hour, and confirm that your speed, time and direction from the old GPS position should place you where the new GPS position puts you. When changing to a new waypoint, lay out your new GPS bearing on the chart to confirm it is accurate. Take hand bearings to confirm your position. NEVER make a navigational decision in an unfamiliar area without confirming it. If in doubt stand off and check, arriving slightly later is better than not at all.

Not sure of his intentions. Call him up on Channel 16, if you don't know his name call using a description e.g. 'large red dredger heading South two miles Southeast of Newport'.

Topping Lift - this should be of the same diameter as the main halliard so that it can be used as such in an emergency.

Marking the Anchor Chain - Mark the chain every ten metres by painting at least four consecutive links, use a memorable series of colours (for the scientifically minded use the colour sequence used in electronics to denote the values of components - black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, grey, white, for the sports minded use the colour sequence of snooker balls - red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black). If you run out of colours before you run out of chain repeat the sequence using two marks of the same colour instead of one. Do not use cable ties to mark the chain, if you let the chain slip through your hands the cable ties can gouge your hands, especially when the skin is softened by immersion in water. Coloured electrical tape can be used to mark the chain but it will need to be renewed on a regular basis. P.S. I have been informed that cable ties can be used, if you use them across the centre of the link with the head of the tie inwards.

Man Overboard - A good lifejacket will on average double the time that you stay alive in the water. Even with a lifejacket on, having waves passing over your head every few seconds does not give you much survival time. After only a few minutes in the water the cold will significantly affect your ability to swim or help yourself being rescued. The moral is DON'T let yourself go overboard. If you are on deck and feel yourself losing your footing then drop down as soon as possible inside the guard wires. A few bruises are much better than going over. When moving about the boat, you should only have one limb not in contact at any one time. Don't urinate off the back of the boat, the emergency services have two categories for recovered bodies at sea a) D.O.A. - dead on arrival and b) F.O.A. - flies open on arrival.

Man Overboard - The most difficult part of recovering a man overboard is getting a line on them and then lifting them back onto the boat. Keep a boat hook in a tube lashed to the pushpit. Keep a looped line handy to the cockpit. Have a block rigged with a line that can have each end clipped on to a halliard. Most halyards are not long enough to reach to sea level and so cannot be used on their own to recover a M.O.B. This arrangement gives a 2-1 purchase when either halliard is raised to lift the M.O.B.

Guard Rails - all guard rails should include a rope section which can be cut in an emergency.

Practice your man overboard drill.

Lifelines Twin or Single Clip ?- Man overboard is life threatening. Having a good harness and lifeline, and using them is much more preferable than having a good lifejacket. If your budget does not reach to the twin clip type then use two lifelines of the single clip type. This will allow you to clip on to the next secure point before releasing the last one. There should be enough lifelines for everyone on board and it will not be very often that one could not be 'borrowed'.

Harnesses - As the weight of the harness will hamper your ability to stay afloat you should always wear a lifejacket when you wear a harness. In fact the sensible option is to have a lifejacket that incorporates a harness. Having a harness on will greatly increase your chances of recovery if you lose consciousness.

Sailing at night - A man overboard is life threatening, at night it should be avoided at all costs. Everyone should wear a lifejacket and harness (or lifeline). No one should go forward on deck without someone else being in the cockpit, and they should be clipped on.

Tell Tales - Along with most 'yachtie' equipment, shop bought tell tales are expensive for what they are. They can be made easily from strips of spinnaker cloth (offcuts are available from any good sailmaker See our links). To attach the tell tale to the sail cut a circle from self-adhesive sail repair tape. Cut a slot in the middle of the circle and thread the end of the strip into it. Use a different colour tell tale for each side of the sail.

Securing Bottlescrews and Clevis Pins. Electrical tape wrapped around a stainless fitting will encourage corrosion, split rings can work loose. Use new split pins to secure fittings and turn the ends inwards to prevent snagging, and seizing wire (either stainless or monal metal to prevent galvanic corrosion).

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