Small Stuff

 Another issue last season was when the boat nearly broke free of the mooring after the mooring pennant chafed against the bow chocks. The bow chocks were strangely not even stainless, but chrome-plated and had begun to get pitted and a bit rough. I realized this was the root of the issue. After further thought, I opted to get rid of both chocks and the center bow cleat to be replaced with two stainless steel cleats mounted on the gunwales near the bow where the chocks had been.

I discovered a USCG-compliant all-round white navigation light that had 1/10th the power consumption of even the LED one I installed last year, so I upgraded that. I replaced the red/green bow navigation light with a lower power one too.

Last season it was a challenge to keep my little outboard in the water without having everyone near the stern, so I decided to lower the motor mount as well. Being a rectangular mount, I simply moved the upper bolts to the lower holes in the transom, filled the upper holes with epoxy/filler, and drilled two new lower holes for the lower bolts, potting with epoxy as before. Countersunk the holes, The whole mount is still well above the waterline, but at least 6-8" lower than before. I painted the plywood mount pad white with Interlux Brightside polyurethane to protect the epoxy I coated it with last year from UV damage.

Ventilation was a concern last year, especially with the leaks from the pivot bolt, but I figured it was worth improving regardless. I added louvered vents on the hatch board. I'm working on a system to lock the forward hatch in a slightly open position for when the boat is on the mooring to aid this also. More to come on that soon.

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