24 March 2010

Lockers

Yes, it is possible to get an inflatable dinghy into the cockpit locker. And a 16L fuel tank, although it is a bit of a squeeze. The dinghy was a real find. I got it at a boat jumble for £150 because it had been covered in mud by a dirty dog that had jumped all over it. It is a transom sterned inflatable, about 2.1m long, but narrower than normal. I am not sure a normal width one would fit in, but a round tailed dinghy would go in without much problem. Also in the locker are the floor boards, thwart, oars and pump, so it is all really there. You can see the dinghy being towed behind Daisy G in the second photo.

There is an enormous amount of locker space in the boat. The two sternmost cockpit lockers are still big in themselves. You can just see the circular hatch of the starboard locker on the right of the photo. I have all my spare ropes, fenders, snorkel and flippers in there. The port locker is quite empty. I am trying to balance the boat as the 50L water tank is on the port side, and the  boat lists a little that way when it is full if you don't counterbalance it.

You can just about see the lock hasp on the locker lid. It was in the centre originally, but I have moved it to the aft end. In the middle it was exactly at ankle position and everyone on board hit it sooner or later and yelped. It might not be so secure at one end, but the lid could easily be unscrewed by a determined thief so it is not super secure anyway. I don't think you  gain much from big strong locks on a boat. A serious thief will just smash in the doors or washboards, causing horrible damage. All you can do is discourage the opportunistic thief by using padlocks and hope they go and look somewhere else. I had an outboard stolen from my old boat, even though it was padlocked to the transom. Now I take the engine off, which is a pain, but at least I have still got it.

1 comment:

  1. Re.the engine - me too - I just leave it in the cabin behind pulled curtains so no one can see it.. Steve

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