Trap dirt and sand before they get on the mother ship
Issue 105 : Nov/Dec 2015
My sailboat, Pelorus, sits on a mooring about a third of a mile offshore. I get to her by dinghy, a plywood Phil Bolger design, that I keep in a boatyard. The yard, like a lot of boatyards on Raritan Bay, took a big hit in Superstorm Sandy. Before Sandy, the launch ramp at the boatyard ended in deep rich black muck. Sandy changed it to sand washed off the beaches and redistributed by monster waves. Some of this sand ended up at the bottom of the launch ramp.
Over time, I got used to it. If I thought of it, I would take off my shoes and wash off the soles in salt water, but a fair amount of muck or sand — sand lately — usually ended up in the bottom of the dinghy. From there, I tracked it onto the deck of my boat.
Then I got an idea. At a local hardware store, where homestyle porch floor mats were on sale, I bought for $8 a mat with a heavy scruffy weave, much like that of a scrub brush, capable of scraping off nearly anything up to chewing gum. Well, maybe not chewing gum.
The base is a flexible rubber substance that looks like it wouldn’t hold much water. Best of all, it was way too big. I cut it into three parts, so when the first one wears out I will just replace it. The cut size is a perfect fit in the bottom of my dink. When it’s full of sand, I rinse it in whatever water is handy, salt or fresh.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
