Favorite Small-Boat Mods
Tell us your most satisfying or successful mod to maybe win a prize
Tell us about your most successful or satisfying modification, repair or upgrade. Send us a few details and a photo or two and you’ll be entered to win a a pack of System Three METLWELD—their metal-filled structural epoxy adhesive—and a pack of SUBMARINE—their underwater epoxy adhesive.
You can send your photo(s) and description of mod or upgrade to: josh@smallcraftadvisor.com. We will share the best of the responses with readers and pick one entry at random to award the prizes.
MetlWeld is a super tough epoxy adhesive designed to bond dissimilar materials such as steel, wood, and rubber. Submarine is a general use, epoxy paste compound that bonds to wet surfaces by displacing water from the substrate. Submarine can even be applied to objects that are completely submerged and will cure in temperatures as low as 35°F.
Thank you to our friends at System Three for the prizes! –Eds
My favorite mod was what I fondly called the “Rusty Reef”. I simply used a large stainless hook attached to the outhaul and after dropping the sail to reef would run the hook through the reef grommet in the leach. Tensioning the outhaul also pulled the foot of the reef taut and a sail tie around the boom held the reef down to the boom. Simple, fast, and only one line for the outhaul and as many reefs as the sail had.
My favourite mod was sealing off under the fore and aft decks on my GP14. I know it takes her out of compliance for racing, but having that huge sealed off areas has made the boat both safer from being knocked down and gave me more room for dry storage when camp cruising.
I did the work when I redecked by boat, using the internal framing to secure the okoume ply before sealing it right. In the middle I used a large compression hatch to make access easy, aside from ducking beneath the edge of the deck. Overall, It is just a good mod all around that makes the boat safer and better to use.