This tip won’t work for active voyagers far from home, but for those of us who commission our boats at the same yard every year and have a place to store them it’s well worth owning our own sawhorses.

The things are always in short supply at a boatyard, and the ones we can hunt down are usually rickety and of mismatched heights.

We need four, three to hold the mast and one extra to tie a spreader to so the mast won’t roll when dressed.

Ours are a bit over-the-top strong and heavy because we originally bought them to support the mast on our McCurdy and Rhodes 56.

Something a bit lighter, maybe in plastic, would work well for smaller boats.

Do you have a brand that has worked well for you? Leave a comment.

Engine access on the J/109 is way easier if we remove the top companionway step, so over the years that’s clearly been done a bunch of times.

And of course with each removal and reinstallation the screw holes in the retaining battens underneath have got bigger and more ragged. So people have replaced the screws with ever bigger and longer ones.

But we can only go so far with that, plus there’s a better way that solves this problem forever wherever a screw will be repeatedly removed and reinstalled into wood (or fibreglass):

Change to machine screws and threaded inserts as shown above.

Here’s the hole (bottom) with the threaded insert screwed in.

And for extra points, change to a round-head screw with a washer, instead of the usual countersunk head that will slowly wear through the step or whatever is being attached.

All that said, don’t try and install threaded inserts without the right tool—only way to get them in straight and true.

Here’s the finished step that can now be removed any time I want to without worrying about stripped screws. The electrical panel is next.

Pretty much any deck fitting should have a substantial backer plate. I like G10 for this function, although fibreglass sheet can work for less money when less stiffness is required. I keep some of each in different thicknesses on hand.

But how do we hold the backer plate in place while we drill the holes?The best way I have found is to epoxy it to the underside of the deck. So doing also stiffens everything up because the thickened epoxy fills any voids or curves.

Cool, but how do we hold the plate in place while the epoxy dries?

Simple, a dab from a hot glue gun. In the photo above I have applied the epoxy, but left a small area for the hot glue. Hold in place for 15 seconds and it stays put. Works a treat.

Once the epoxy hardens up, drill the hole(s).

I’m guessing most of you know this one, but I didn’t when I first started working on boats, so it may be useful.

When cutting a bolt off that’s too long, first put a nut on it as shown in the above. Winding the nut off cleans up burs on the threads from cutting.

But even better, to avoid fragments that will make it difficult to get the nut on, particularly in confined spaces, before winding the nut off, grip it in the vice and use a fine file to clean up the cut end—only takes a moment and makes a world of difference.

¹Bad pun alert

I’m just about finished rebuilding the steering gear, less the rudder since we did that last year, on our new to-us J/109.

When I pulled it apart half the bearings fell out and there was not a drop of grease or oil on any of it…except the brake pad, where we don’t want it!

I’m guessing Tillotson Pearson assembled it dry 18 years ago when they built the boat and it has not been looked at since.

A steering failure looking for a place to happen.

It’s amazing how often I use the stack of dive weights I needed to get neutral when wearing my Arctic-level dry suit, (bought when we were cruising the high latitudes) to hold stuff down or together while glue is kicking off.

In the photo above the weights were invaluable while I was splatting¹ new TreadMaster on our companionway top step.

The heft and curved surface of dive weights works great for this function.

Worth having a few around in the workshop even if we aren’t divers.

¹A technical term Phyllis and I developed while spending three months covering the deck of our McCurdy and Rhodes 56 with TreadMaster.

I have always cleaned winches with kerosene, but I hate the smell and I’m guessing that breathing the vapours for hours is not good for us.

So last winter I tried this water-based degreaser from WD-40, even though I don’t like or use their spray lubricant.

The stuff really works. After a good soak the old grease came right off. No smell, and probably better for the environment, although we did take the used stuff to a hazardous waste drop-off.

Is it the best water-based degreaser? Who knows…or cares. It was available at the local hardware store and solved (ouch) my problem.

In this case there is $250 worth of my paint in this can that will likely be ruined by next season.

I have brought this to the attention of the yard in question. All yards make mistakes, but if we want things to get better we need to bring it up when they do, but in a non-confrontational way—more yard management tips here.

As I’m sure most of you know, the right way to seal a paint can is to first press the lid down firmly with our hands and then gently and progressively, while working around the can, tap the rim into place with a wood or rubber mallet.

I confess I used to just flush out the systems on our boat until the antifreeze came out the end looking “pink enough”.

But that approach can either result in a lot of expensive damage if the antifreeze is overly diluted by the water in the system, or end up being wasteful and expensive when we “use one more jug just to be sure”.

A refractometer is a way better way and can be used to check liquid-filled batteries and engine antifreeze as well.

My kit cost a bit over US$100 when I bought it a few years ago, but I see there are refractometers on Amazon for $20. Anyone have any idea if the cheap ones are reliable?