Tips, Tricks & Kit

A reliable anchor

This 20kg Rocna Vulcan anchor with 60m of 8mm chain holds Good Dog in all conditions.

It allows us to overnight in some really stunning locations around the UK.

Favourite anchorage – Dornoch Firth, NE Scotland.

A good tender

A key bit of equipment is my tender. It is an “F-Rib” with a solid hull which can be folded up. 

Being able to anchor or pick up a mooring buoy vastly increases the number of places you can explore in a boat…. but you need a good tender to get to shore.

Tip – row ashore where possible, so much easier and you hear the birds.

Tip – write your phone number on the tender in case it escapes!

A strong fender board

With this scaffold plank held on the outside of our fenders, we have sat happily on some pretty scruffy walls.

It prevents the fenders disappearing into gaps and holes on a quayside.

Favourite harbour wall:  Solva and Montrose.  Least favourite: Fishguard just behind the ferry quay at spring tides.

A very powerful torch

Departing Woodbridge at the head of the River Deben in Suffolk, we needed to pick out the unlit buoys.

It would have been impossible without this very bright headlight.

Also handy for a man overboard – not that we have had one yet.

Long ropes

Several long ropes are vital for mooring against harbour walls where there is a large tidal range.  

By copying how fishing boats moor up, I have found that Good Dog sits quite comfortably with a very long bow line and stern line of equal length. 

Due to their weight they seem to act as springs at the same time. 

Wetsuit (and suction handle)

Several times I have had to get in the water to extract plastic bags from the bow thruster, check an anode or clean the waterline.

As well as a wet suit, flippers, hood (vital) and 2 x diving weights…. I also have prescription goggles which are invaluable.

Another good bit of kit is a detachable handle with two suckers on it, for clamping against the hull.  Sold by Screwfix as a “Glazing Tool – Double Cup Suction Lifter”

Beware of magnets!

This small magnet in the corner of a tea towel looks so innocent.   

Little did I know what mayhem it would cause when it was hung up just inches from the Fluxgate Compass.

This semi electronic compass controls the Auto Pilot, so as the towel rocked about, so did the compass causing the boat to lurch violently from one side to another. 

Like all “intermittent” problems it took a long time to solve – thank you to Paul from PT Marine in Shoreham who did an amazing job tracking it down.

One simple tool that makes all the difference.

Ardfern Yacht Centre kindly made me this special spanner which fits the large nut that controls the amount of grease held inside a seal called a stern gland.

The gland is packed with rings of greased flax that enables the shaft to turn without abrading the metal and prevents water from getting into the hull.

In order to keep the correct pressure on the flax a giant nut has to be tightened regularly…with this spanner!