Other times by doing a little forethought, and being better prepared, things may have came out different or at least a lot easier.
One thing you may think about is, it could be hard to make things FoolProof, as idiots and fools can be very ingenious at times. I always insist that everyone aboard wear a PFD. This placard placed prominently in the cabin does not usually require me to explain. Refresher on Attaching Your Mooring Line to Cleat ; For the newbie and some not so new to boating, if the first time you need to attach your line to a cleat, it may be intimidating. Many of us do padlock the trailer hitch lever down so it can not be disconnected from the ball.
This can also be a good thing to get used to doing as it is a reminder to not forget to snap the lever down onto the ball Been There-Done That. But what about securing the hitch extension into the bumper's receiver?
If you just use the original spring snap clip to hold the pin in place, it is rather easy to pull the pin, slide the trailer rearward enough to get the extension out of the receiver and then transfer the extension to a waiting vehicle that has the who makes aluminum boat trailers quest commonly used receiver.
To prevent this, I have drilled my extension pin out enough to also accept a padlock bail, as shown in the photo below on the right. It is nice to purchase 2 or 3 padlocks using the same key for this situation. You do need to remove the extension padlock occasionally and clean the padlock up so it will function when needed.
I have found that if you don't, the lock may become hard to unlock. Therefore it may who makes aluminum boat trailers quest prudent to smear some Vaseline around where the bail enters the base to keep out water who makes aluminum boat trailers quest turns metal into rust and put Duct tape over the whole bottom and key slot to keep the dust from getting inside the tumbler. For those of you who may wonder what the upper license plate frame says, it is "Crime Control" on top, and the bottom as seen, "Not Gun Control".
Don't overlook padlocking your spare tire to the trailer as shown. On this unit, the padlock hole end needed to be bent down enough to be able to snap a standard shank length padlock lock. You will also notice that this wheel is turned upside down as to protect the valve stem from being accidently stepped on and broken off.
AND do not forget to regularly unlock this unit so that it does not rust or seize up at a time when you really need it. Possible Detouring Theft While Moored ; Or just plain keeping the battery from becoming run down when setting for a while, where possibly there is an electrical drain. Here I installed a main power line disconnect right off the battery. I happened to be shopping at my favorite locally owned shopping center that is also a True Value hardware store and came across a bargain table that had this high amperage disconnect switch.
You guess it, I envisioned a need for it immediately. This switch came with a removable red plastic key that has a small brass ear on one. You push it in, making contact between both inside terminals, twist 90 degrees and the ear holds the key in place giving you continuity.
I was making the finishing touches to a old 16' aluminum Hewes Craft open boat that I had told one of my grandsons that I would give to him when he graduated from high school, if he got a job and was a contributing member of the household.
Since this would be his first boat other than a 10'er, maybe I had better add a few safety features, this one twofold because of where they live. Inside this vented side seat, is a 12 gallon fuel tank and with the 12 volt marine battery right next to this rear wall inside a plastic battery box. It just took drilling a hole in the rear of the seat, and bolting this disconnect in place, then a short 8" heavy duty battery cable jumper between it on one end and the positive terminal of the battery.
The existing battery cable was bolted to the other disconnect terminal of this switch. Freon Signal Horns ; These devises are way better than most electric horns commonly found on recreational boats.
As long as the canister is intact and filled with Freon, these horns are very effective, producing a signaling noise that can usually be heard even above the sound of operating a boat. They are relatively cheap and can be refilled by purchasing a new canister. Even ones of the same manufacturer may be different IF the model is not the.
These canisters screw onto the horn body, however the threads are not universal. Then of the smaller PWC style, there is one style that uses a longer course threaded plastic tip. However this horn has the push button on the rear, not on top.
The three that I have are Falcon brands, the small one in the photo below on the left is designed for Personal Watercraft, while the one on the right is more for conventional watercraft. Both are Falcon brand and use the fine threaded canisters. One brand was encountered that uses the same fine threads as the Falcon, and that is SeaChoice. The other small Falcon brand unit that I have has a belt clip and is called a personal protection model, this may be good for ladies in a urban area or hunters in bear country however it has the course threads.
West Marine also sells an almost identical larger horn, the only apparent difference is that it is red, however it uses the course threads. Somewhere I saw an add for refillable canisters using compressed air. But I do not know which threads these use. In my search who makes aluminum boat trailers quest a compatible threaded canister, I even contemplated soldering or Epoxying a tire valve stem into the canister and making my own refillable compressed air unit.
I saw this happen close-hand in on the lower Columbia River during the Buoy 10 fishery before daylight one morning. Communication was sporadic from the boat in distress, as he was apparently very busy. He finally who makes aluminum boat trailers quest that he had drained the fuel filter and had the motor running, AND was trying to get into the Chinook channel.
We were still tied to our berth in the Chinook boat basin waiting for daylight being a newbie there before I attempted to join the crowd and head out the narrow channel. The large ribbed Coast Guard boat came flying into the entrance of the basin looking for the boat in distress. He was not here, which meant they had passed by him on their way in, as apparently they had came from downriver and he was coming in from upriver.
More radio communication and this time the distressed boat gave a more recognizable location. The Coast Guard boat had then turned and was headed back out the channel, and they soon had visual contact as it started to break who makes aluminum boat trailers quest. It did not have a lot of freeboard at that time.
My best guess is that they had forgotten the drain plug when launching in the dark that morning, and in the predawn the first clue that they were in trouble was that a fisherman's feet got wet when they began rigged up. From our vantage point still tied to our dock, it became obvious that I may need to expand my resources of emergency boat safety devices. This is an ingenious identification device. These can be had in various colors of light, are waterproof and uses a Lithium battery.
This one comes with a hook and magnet on the. It looks similar but only has 12 protective rings. This one is simply called a LED Safety Flare and sold who makes aluminum boat trailers quest some automotive hardware stores and distributed by www.
Brightness on both is comparable. Bilge Pump Indicator Light ; I made this installation after finding the bilge pump had died and probably had not been turned off after running it.
In my old age, even hearing aids do not solve all problems and if you can not hear it from the helm, forget to turn it off, who knows how long it can run. Sure the owner's manual says you can run it dry, but for 3 or 4 hours? And then when you need it, you get. This may not stop the motor failure, but it sure can not hurt if it helps you remember to turn the switch off.
This light is about the size of a lead pencil. The installation was made in the dash right above the bilge pump switch. Installation is simply drilling a hole. As shown in the photo below this LED light is really bright, now there who makes aluminum boat trailers quest no doubt if the pump is on or not.
Some of the boat manufacturers are now using a switch that has a built in light in it when turned on. Extra Bilge Pump ; It can who makes aluminum boat trailers quest sickening when you turn the electric bilge pump on and nothing happens, especially when your bilge is full of water. This happened to me when I had just replaced the bilge pump 10 months.
I knew it had to be working!! The next spring on our first tip out, were washing the deck down who makes aluminum boat trailers quest a day of bottom-fishing and my who makes aluminum boat trailers quest was being liberal with the wash down hose.
What they did not know was that when my self-bailers were unplugged in the rear deck, that with lots of weight on one side, them that the deck water could not get out fast enough but ran under my rear hatch cover and into the bilge. OK, but in who makes aluminum boat trailers quest instance, the who makes aluminum boat trailers quest bilge pump was defective in that the shaft seal had leaked, allowing saltwater from the previous fall fishing trips to get in and rusted the pump shaft solid during the winter.
Another thing to check during your spring who makes aluminum boat trailers quest. We hand bailed as much as we could out of the bilge, then borrowed a hand bilge pump to clear the balance. I had just taken my old hand pump out a few months before and put it on my jet-sled. Time to buy another back-up one I guess. Many boats now days have a wash-down pump.
With this in mind, I got a bright idea, if I slightly altered the suction of this wash-down pump and could have a emergency bilge pump.
This pump suction hose did not go thru the transom, but up and over it outside to just under the waterline on the outside of the stern. As shown below, I utilized a who makes aluminum boat trailers quest plastic 2 way garden hose splitter that has shut-off valves on each.
Pictured is the original who makes aluminum boat trailers quest coming in from the top into this "Y" with the valve on allowing the wash-down unit to function. Who makes aluminum boat trailers quest the other side of the "Y" is a plastic line going down into the bilge. It has that valve turned off until needed.
If the emergency bilge pump is needed, all I have to do is turn the main suction valve off, and the one from the bilge on. This new suction end, I cut the bottom on a taper allowing a better suction nearer the hull.
In the center of the photo is the battery disconnect main switch. I also have a short section of a regular garden hose which can be changed to divert this water over the side instead of utilizing the smaller higher pressured coil hose. One word of advise. The smaller red looped wire happens to be the main battery power to the forward fuse panel. It had a crimp-on splice just out of sight. It took 2 years after the salt water in the bilge to completely corrode this connection thru and t erminate all who makes aluminum boat trailers quest to the main fuse panel.
It is now has a soldered connection, shrink wrapped with liquid tape and then also taped. Wash-Down Pump ; Once you use one of these little jewels, you will not go back to the bucket on a rope to wash down the deck.
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