boat owner

PRACTICAL

Safe, small, open boat trips and young children needn’t be

mutually exclusive. Jake Frith reports on a low-cost fi x that

has increased confi dence on the water for his young family

A safer open boat –

for your toddler

W

e often take
my young son,
Daniel, for
gentle trips
up the river in
settled weather in Mahogany
Bob, my 1965 14ft LH Walker
tender. When he was a small
baby, things were much easier:
we popped him into his car
seat, which jammed nicely
into the forepeak area forward
of the bow thwart, and he slept
through most trips while we
got on with things.
Now he’s 18 months old, he
plays more of an active role in
proceedings: he is very much up
and about, and makes short work
of climbing up over the thwart to
get into the main part of the boat
where all the action takes place.
This is not a great place for him to
be as we mainly row, so elbows
are fl ying about; plus, once he
gets out of the bow area with its

The banner had a doubled-over

hem, so I was able to thread a

line through the top using a

sprung claw device designed

for retrieving lost bolts in car

engine bays

Once the top was cut to length,

I marked then cut the bottom to

roughly follow the line of the bilge

Eyelets were placed at strategic

points to hold the ‘curtain’ to the

bilge. I used plastic eyelets for

reasons of corrosion resistance

One of the benefi ts of a clinker

boat is the endless number of

tying points. I was going to add

more eyelets and ties, but a

quick test drive proved they

weren’t needed

raised fl oorboards, he’s into the

bilge with seawater sloshing about

(this is a clinker boat) so it has

often ended in wet trousers and

an about-turn back to the slipway.

What we needed was a soft

barrier to stop him coming aft.

This would also help to keep his

toys out of the bilge and give him

an area of the boat that feels like

his own. Just as importantly, it

would also help the adults relax

a bit and get on with the job

in hand.

My initial thoughts were to

cordon off the bow area with a

fi shing net-type mesh. I was at the

chandlery, about to buy a suitable

length of the netting usually used

to keep hank-on genoas inside

the lifelines at the bow of racing

yachts, when I was suddenly

struck by a ‘what if’ scenario. It

wasn’t a palatable thought, but

in the highly unlikely event of a

capsize, this netting would be

exactly the right size to tangle a

toddler’s hand or foot.

It turned out that the perfect

material had been sitting at home

all along. I had a few old vinyl

advertising banners, made of the

same heavy vinyl used in truck

curtain sides and some boat

covers. This would stop toddler

and toys moving aft without

presenting an entrapment hazard.

Young Daniel in Mahogany

Bob, his dad’s 14ft tender

The fi nished area is like a

marine playpen. A nice fl at

surface to sit or stand on,

and with the gunwale at

perfect peering-over height