Sunset Chaser

Boarding ladders for small boats

Getting into a boat from the water is HARD. The drag of the water makes it difficult to jump, and there's often no bottom to stand on. Even if you're in good physical condition, it's quite difficult to heave yourself more than about 15 to 30 cm (6" to 12") vertically out of the water. Take a look at a swimming pool: the copings are rarely more than 15 cm above the surface; in the best modern pools, they're level with it. Most people just can't jump any higher out of the water.

Let's look at Sunset Chaser for a moment:

Eye splicing single braid rope

Most of the lines on an average boat are either double braided or twisted three-strand, but single braid does show up on occasion. If you do have it, here's how to splice it.

My advice: Avoid single braid rope. Splicing it is very tedious (an hour or two per eye for 12-strand, although 8-strand is much faster), and without a protective cover it's more easily damaged and more prone to chafe than double braid. But now and then, you just happen to have some, and wouldn't it be nice to have proper spliced eyes in it instead of bulky bowline knots....

Cleaning up the docking paraphernalia

For a small boat, Sunset Chaser carries an awful lot of docking and mooring paraphernalia. Small boats are inherently much more vulnerable to storms than large ones, and get knocked around more by smaller waves, so our inventory shouldn't come as a surprise: four 4"x12" fenders, two 6"x15" fenders, seven 3/8" docklines (four 12', three 20'), plus of course the anchor, its rode, and assorted light cordage.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Sunset Chaser