The Cape Dory Board

Friends and realitves? It depends what you want to put at risk, Steve.

I have know what it means for quite some time but I am not sure why people use it. Does anyone really consider their opinion humble? Possibly in the midsts of great men some of us may be a bit timid. That is not the case for some on this board and thats a good thing. We are all great men and women, ...

I have lovely opened bronze turnbuckles. I also have a detachable stay for the staysail. It is set up to get it out of the way to fly a large genoa. There are cotter pins on all the turnbuckles except for the detachable which had a ring type safety pin holding in the pin to the chain plate. I say, h...

Throwing good beer overboard! That would add a lot more incentive than picking up tennis balls for the dog or losing your favorite hat. We would just have to be very carful about the initial drops. I could see collision avoidance being a big part of the maneuvers. Could you imagine the accident repo...

Larry, I belive we probably have the same set up with some of the same problems. I have a ST4000 wheel drive that works very well most of the time. I have come not to trust it too much though. Some times it will be steering along just fine and then start to steer off course. As it gets farther off i...

I think we might be able to work out passing beers while under way. Extended boat hooks and a net bag may get it done. It may get a bit hairy while single handing in a breeze though. That could become a sport in itself. The part I am having trouble understanding is that you might be suggesting that ...

I don't see any problem at all with putting buoys all over the place except that they may be hard to tell from the usual lobster pot buoys. They would have to be very well marked as to differentuate them from lobster buoys. I would dread the thought of pulling a buoy thinking I had a geo job and fin...

I have just re read Godforsaken Sea about the 1996-1997 Vendee Globe race. You might add open 60 Vendee Globe boats to the list of bi stable craft. One of the boats rolled, dismasted and then remained inverted with keel intacted in Southern Ocean waves. Some of these boats weigh less than a CD-33 an...

Mine is still in use on the boat right now but I will probably be taking it off towards the end of the month. I plan to take it to our local sail maker to have him measure it and quote a price for a new one. It would be interesting to compare information if you get some prices. I am not sure which i...

Clear packing tape is one of the best most under rated clamping systems ever used. You can even stick the lose piece to it so you can keep it held back till the cement sets, then just stick it down. Best part is you can see how you are doing, Steve.

I have played with our drifter a few times this summer. It has usually been while short handed. The last time out was with my daughter who has very little experience and the wind had picked up a good bit before dowsing time. What a great ride we had out to Montauk! I was having her release the sheet...

You could cut off the eye splice of your old halyard, sew the tail of your new halyard to the cut end and pull it through. If you want to keep the eye on the old halyard, then sew a light line to the tail of your old halyard pull that through cut off the old and attach the tail of the new halyard th...

I think I used boatlife caulk. While you are at it you might as well take them both right out of the boat. You can clean them and or paint them if the shine is gone. I cut a fresh piece of plexi glass while I was at it then caulked it into the ring. Let it dry so you don't mess up while you are rebe...

My first rule of trouble shooting is to eliminate the easy ( and cheap) stuff first. I know you said you dove on the strainer and cleaned it off. That is deffinitly in keeping with my thinking. If the yard painted it and you haven't scraped out the tiny little slots they may be clogged with paint en...

If the fit is close but not water tight you might try some sort of compound and then heating the hose before clamping. The heated hose will be more malleable and conform to the barbs on the fitting a bit better. The tape idea sounds good but then you have lost the barbs that make the joint water tig...