CARRIER
BAGGED
Q You recently published
a reader tip about
transporting outboards. I
use a standard bike
carrier which connects to
the back of my car (got it
included in the deal when
we bought the car). We
simply strap the outboard
to the carrier, including
various accessories, and
off we go. It has the
added benefit that it slides
backwards to allow
access to the boot even
when fully loaded.If your mast isn’t too long it
can be carried on deck while
transiting inland waterways
en route to fresh sailing
grounds; but there are two
issues to address before setting
off. First, a small overhang
won’t present a problem. I find
carrying the overhang aft of the
transom works best for me. I
tremble at the thought of
charging around narrow
waterways like Vlad the Impaler.
Second, you have to lash the
mast down securely – this
summer in the French canals
there were two or three
occasions when we seriously
felt we were in danger of losing
the spars over the side, despite
my best efforts up on deck to
prevent this from happening.
It’s one thing to carry a mast on
deck along tranquil canals and
rivers, but quite another on tidal
waters – wind over tide
especially – or in the constantly
churned waterways of big cities
like London and Paris. Here
motor launches, speed boats
and jet-skis roar up and down
setting up some pretty ghastly
sea states.
If a mast isn’t secured directly
to the cabin top, it will not be
secure when a boat is pitched
either forward and back or side
to side. Worse is a confused
rolling motion. But securing to
the cabin roof isn’t practical for
anything other than a brief
passage because we want our
spars to be above heads, out of
harm’s way. So how do youBOOM AVOIDS A BUST MAST
Richard Hare on the best way to
secure your spars to the deck on
sometimes choppy inland waterways
secure a mast that lies across a
set of elevated braces?
Warps, however tight, remain
elastic. An answer is to use the
boom as a brace, taken down
to the edge of the side deck.
Here it resists movement both
fore and aft and sideways too.
Even with a lashing at each end
(as tight as you can get it) the
elasticity problem is overcome.Would you be happy with
this much overhang?Boom brace in actionIt is easy to forget the churned
waters created by city trafficPRACTICAL PROJECTS