Smart Readers

Franklin Lock, FL
26 43.39 N 081 41.46 W

I'm very proud of the knowledgeable readers who read this blog. Recently I mentioned two problems and I got instant answers from two readers.

I mentioned that I've been looking for four years for replacement glass for the fuel sight gauges. Reader Bill K responded to that post with the suggestion to search for "boiler parts." Well, with that tip it took me only 18 seconds on Google to find the parts I needed. Amazing. I had been searching for "sight gauge" all the time. The boiler parts supplier calls it "gauge glass." I would never have guessed that phrasing.

I also mentioned that I hated docking med style at Labelle. My worry was being blown into the dock by the wind. Reader Ken C immediately sent this reply. "I probably shouldn't suggest anything to an old salt, but I hope you will take this suggestion in the spirit with which it is given. Next time you get to use a Med mooring arrangement, place a block on the anchor line and run a second line from the stern (or bow if you change your preference) to the block and back to shore. Then you can adjust how close Tarwathie is to the dock from either the shore or the boat, with no extra slack at either end. Fastening the block to the anchor line is left as an exercise for the curmudgeon."

I've seen dinghies in Maine attached that way to their moorings where there are 10 foot tides. The owners can drive them on shore. Get out, then move the dinghy 100 feet from shore for storage. Brilliant.

In Labelle though I finally did wind up in trouble and in this case Ken C's suggestion wouldn't help. Over night the wind started blowing pretty strong from the west. That blew us sideways, not directly onto the dock. Still the anchor started dragging in the very soft mud bottom. The holding in this river is poor. I kept tightening the slack in the anchor line, but each time that reduced the scope. I started with 120 feet of rode out. It dragged 40 feet. Tarwathie slewed to the side. Fortunately there was an empty spot beside us so we didn't hit another boat. Anyhow, before I ran out of holding, it was morning and time to leave. We got out of there quickly.

I should have done what a power boat at the dock dick. He dropped his anchor in the river, backed in stern first, and tied the stern to the dock. Then he took two more lines from the bow to the dock at wider angles. I thought it was strange because doing so blocked the docking spaces on either side of him for other boats. The advantage though was that the two extra lines kept his bow from swinging in response to strong winds from the side.

No matter how many years we do this, we'll never learn all possible ways of boat handling.