Yachting USA — January 2018

8 GREAT BOAT HACKS FROM OUR HISTORY

2 0 YACHTING JANUARY 2018

 F

or about half the 20th centu-
r y, Yachting ran a column titled
Gadgets and Gilhickies. With a
name like that, we couldn’t help
but revisit the content and found it just
as quirky as the title promised. Filling
its pages are MacGy ver-style inventions
cooked up by readers to make their lives
on the water a little easier. In this day and
age, one might call these gizmos “boat
hacks.” ¶ The quirkiest of these novel-
ties, at least in the 1968 columns, might

be Howard Barnes’ glasses snatcher, for

those pesky times when your specta-

cles take a plunge into the drink. Barnes’

refrigerator-shelf (yes, refrigerator

shelf ) gadget was good for swiping any

small object from the water, though. His

fi rst season using it earned him $

worth of overboard items. See below for

a full description of how the snatcher is

made — you know, in case you’re in the

market for such a thing. ¶ The column

held its fair share of seafaring tips as well.

Ham deFontaine, the column’s author

for more than 20 years, wrote in the

June 1968 issue: “Any maneuver that is

good seamanship is just plain common

sense.” That little proverb referred to

a temporary outhaul rig for casting off

after a beach landing during falling tide,

but it applies to other gilhickies as well,

including an emergency storm trysail

rig and a type of sailing line work called

a racking seizing. ¶ A racking seizing

is “used to hold two ropes together or

CURRENTS HERITAGE

GADGETS AND GILHICKIES

For years, Yachtingachting readers wrote in and shared inventions that had saved their days on the water.

By Kelley Sanford

A BOATBEL AY

This temporary outhaul rig

will get your boat off a beach

landing in a falling tide. Drop

an anchor far enough off shore

to ensure deep water after

the tide drops, then shackle

four fathoms of chain to the

anchor and, at the other end,

a swivel block. Rove some line

through the swivel block to

make an outhaul. The swivel

block and outhaul line allow

crew to pull the boat to deeper

waters upon departure.

PUMP, PUMP, PUMPIT UP

Here we have a “do-it-

yourself faucet for a remote

pump.” With just household

plumbing fi ttings and some

chrome-plated copper tub-

ing, boaters could make a

space-adaptable, leakproof

faucet for their vessel.

FULL-METALJACKET

You’re on your own with

avoiding pinched fi ngers and

possible capsizing, deFontaine

says, but Bill Crowe at least

fi gured out a way to protect a

dinghy’s rail when pulling an

anchor and chain into the boat.

Form a wide piece of sheet

metal ( best if nonrusting) over

a pipe to get the right shape, fi t

it onto the transom, and call it

a day. Crowe’s was 20-gauge

galvanized iron, springy

enough to snap into place.

THISWAY, FELLAS

Facing a powerboat restric-

tion on his lake, E.T. Skelton

crafted this “instant commit-

tee boat” to start the club’s

races. Figure 1 depicts fl ag

signals hoisted via a 6-foot

yard attached to the mast.

Figure 2 depicts Skelton’s

jury-rigged course board.

The piece of plywood has fi ve

grommet holes to secure it to

the mast, and fi ve panels on

each side that indicate what

course should be sailed.