Dinghy Life

 Almost nightly I seem to be watching Roger Barnes'  dinghy cruising videos on utube. Very good they are too, inspiring even.  

What I was not fully aware of was how seriously Roger follows traditional sailors' ways; tarring the bilge boards,  linseed oiling the rigging,  wooden blocks,  splicing various sheets & warps,  seizing eyes & so on.  I am drawn to him for this,  he is seriously intelligent & can articulate ways in which dinghy cruising is a most enjoyable activity. Roger is clearly wedded to the simple pleasures & out spending peacefully hours hard pressed in nature. 

This evening,  confined to barracks by Covid restrictions,  Roger did a short treasure on art in life.  He closed with a plea for his followers to take time to imbue you're life with creativity & to get off the bandwagon of ujmediocrity (my words), that goes hand in hand with mass consumerism.  

Beautiful.    


In my life,  beyond the pursuit of chores,  I have cobbled together a light bar & gathered tools & straps,  ready to collect Jacaranda.  Today the foul weather putt a stop to it,  but tomorrows forecast is better.  


P.S. While daydreaming while laying in bed before dawn,  the presence of bubbling rust under the rear rollers was eating away at me.  I imagined it dealing out under load & the keel striking the road. Tensioning the hull down will increase the load on the rear frame of the trailer,  the load bouncing on it would make it worse.  

The soft option would be to float the whole thing,  boat & trailer. Other options are to place a solid brace across & under trailer,  & to lace that rear section,  using the hull a as a stressed member.  

Hopefully,  in the light of day it will be ok,  & my initial assessment will be correct. I am really aware of two things; if you ever see a rusted out trailer,  that's the section that goes,  & I have a tendency to assume everything will be ok.  So, I need to be careful.  I think I'll pack a length of pipe to brace that rear end.  

I'm really conscious just now that the trailer,  including the lights, will be the basin of dinghy life if I don't give it a good hard shake. I don't have a stack of money to invest in a "new" trailer,  but I do have steel & can weld.


Avel Dro's new trailer.

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