Fastening Things In Or On To A Boat

Fastening Things In Or On To A Boat

When you need to mount something in a boat, you have a few options you can use. What you are mounting it to and what it is made of will help you determine the type of fastener you need.

Bolts are my first choice for most things, BUT you have to have access both sides of the hole so you can put a nut and washer on the bolt. You can use a backing plate on the inside to give more strength to the mount.

If you cannot get access to the back side to put a nut on, you can use a machine screw, but you need to be able to tap the hole so you can just thread the screw in, and the material has to be made of something that you can tap.

Sheet-metal screws and would screws are self-tapping and they will cut a thread in the sides of a drilled hole. These work well if what you are putting them in is thick enough to be able to let you have taped sides of the hole.

Rivets can be a great option. They need to be of the correct length and you only need access from one side. I am finding I am using more and more rivets these days because they are so easy and they are easy to remove also.

Kite Fishing and Dropping Things Fom a Kite

Kite Fishing

Kite fishing was done by the Pacific islanders as a way of catching fish off shore without a boat. Simply, you put up a kite, then after the kite is up a float like a plastic jug is tied to the kite line that has a fishing line with a weighted, bated hook on it.  Then when you let string out the kite will pull the jug out across the water. By pulling in the line and letting the kite line out, you can troll the fishing line. When a fish takes the bate, you just reel it in. When you reel it in the kite will often lift the fish into the air.

When at anchor I often kite fish. It is easy and when a fish hits and you reel in the line, the kite often lift the fish way out of the water so you can see what you caught. If a boat comes by, you can lift your line by just reeling quickly and the jug and bate lift out of the water so the boat can pass.

On land you can fish in the middle of a lake or pond this way if you are on the up wind side of the lake. You will get a lot of attention if you kit fish and people see you. It is fun, and you can fish in water out farther than the others that are fishing can cast. 8-) kids love it, and other fisherman think you are crazy till you bring in a fish.

 

Dropping Things From Kites is also fun!

If you have a kite that has good lift and can lift light weights dropping stuff off the kite can be fun. I have a winged box kite that is great to drop thing off of. One very easy way is to drop empty aluminum soda and beer cans. They are light so the kite can take them up easily.

Just below the bridal of the kite where you attach the string, and on the string itself, you tape the can to the string with a little piece of masking tape. Then you put the kite up. If you whip or snap the string sharply the tape lets go and the can comes falling down. You can put two or three cans on the string. 8-) Be sure to drop the cans where they will not damage anything and collect them when you are done.

You can also make or buy small sail drop mechanisms that let you send what you will drop up the string, drop the object and the mechanism slides back down the string so you can drop something else. 

You can send a piece of paper up the kite line by just putting a hole in the center of the paper with the string though it, I put a hole in the paper then cut a slit in the paper down to the hole. Slip the paper on the string and then masking tape the cut together. It is an easy way to put a signal up on a kite. 

Kites can be fum for us old kids at heart, so go fly a kite! 

Free Naudical Charts

Get free NOAA charts for free at : http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/pdfcharts/ They are PDF charts you can print out. I am a chart person…I like a paper chart better than a GPS chart for most things I do. With a paper chart and compass you really don’t need to turn on your GPS. 8-) 

OK I am getting old, no I am all ready old!  But I like a chart and compass. No batteries, no problem that you cannot see the display in bright light, and no multifunction buttons to do things I do not need for an easy day sail.

If I am planning a trip, that is different. Compass, hard chart, vhf radio, cell phone and GPS all get dusted off. Oh…a fish finder also (but the fish are safe because there are too many functions on it and I don’t know how to use it) and the underwater camera. I have them so I feel I should take them and use them. They are play toys.

Topless Waitress and Cat Feeding Time

Cat feeding

Back when I lived and worked in Ft Lauderdale area there was a donuts shop that opened up called R Donuts. It was a “topless donuts shop” that severed bad coffee and bad donuts. But the waitresses were topless. I do not think guys went there for the coffee or donuts anyway. From about 6 AM to 10 AM the waitresses were not too bad but the rest of the day they were as bad as the coffee and donuts.

At cat feeding time at our place it is like a herd of lemmings running toward a cliff when you pick up the cat food bin and head for the cat bowls. The little beasts get loud when they do not get fed on time. In the morning, if you do not get up to feed them they will get you up to feed them.

The other morning when we could sleep in the cats got us up at their feeding time! Wife got up and did a quick feeding and came back to bed. She served the cats their food and she was topless. They did not notice but it woke me up. 8-) That’s when I remembered R Donuts. 8-)

On my first Cast...

There is always stuff that need to be done at the house, but when I go outside on the porch and see the fishing rods I look at them and think I should cast a few lines in from the boat and maybe catch a bass for dinner.

I did that the other day even though there were other things that at SHOULD DO. I thought I would cast a few lines in, catch nothing and then I could do what needed to be done. My first cast was OK and I reeled it in and let the lure hang about 18” down from the tip of the rod. I was in the cockpit of the sailboat and away from the standing rigging and I brought my rod back to cast. The 18 “ of line swung back and in one quick spin wrapped itself around the toping lift line of the main sail and the hook grabbed the line and dug in. 

And this was just the second cast. I spoke something that a French pirate might say and looked at the mess. The wrap was just above where I could reach (Pole is 6 ½ feet long) so I had to lower the boom with the topping lift line to reach it. After about 5 Min. of finessing the hook out of the line (Seemed like a ½ hour) I was able to free my lure and line.

I moved to the bow of the boat for a few more casts. On my first cast the lure when right where I wanted it to go. That was unusual in itself. 8-)   I let the lure sink and started reeling in the line. SNAG! I caught something on the bottom. I gave it a constant pull and I felt movement. The line started to move to the left. Maybe I caught a big cat fish. I reeled in a little and it moved slowly left. The way in moved I decided it was a turtle. Turtles are such a pain to get off the line. Then it move quickly to the left again. I must be a big cat…turtles do not move like that, but big cats t either. Next thought was small alligator. We get small one up the canal…they are even nastier to get off the line. With them you just cut the line. Now the line was easier to real in and I brought a great big tree branch. I thought…well it lest it was not a turtle or gator and the good thing was I got another branch out of the canal. I will say it was the best branch I have ever caught!