Category Archives: Backup Equipment and Tools

Beginners Guide to Diagnosing Under-Deck Problems – Electrical/Radio/Winch/Servo….!!

Leave a reply

I had a little outage last Marblehead Sunday. The boat slipped into Failsafe mode and drifted quietly off toward the Royal Castle of Windsor!!

The Commodore leapt into RIB duty mode and helped me get it back, no problem! Useful to take a lifter with you! As soon as racing finished, in classic Datchet manner… everyone gathered around, tool boxes came out, to get my fault diagnosed.

It was pretty educational and a great learning to see them go about it. We quite quickly figured all the electrics and radio were OK and identified the winch as a possible failure point. It was great to see them checking out the transmitter, receiver, battery, cabling etc.

All this learning was a delight. So as not to lose it, I have documented the diagnostic and repair process here. If you find yourself in a similar position, it may be helpful. Click below to download.

Click to access sailing-pdf-version-v2-diagnosing-under-deck-problems-jul-2024.pdf

Can You Cut Dyneema Line with Kevlar Scissors??

Leave a reply

Just recently we published a couple of items on both dyneema line sizes and cutting them with dyneema scissors.

In my experimenting here, I happily got my dyneema lines out to find if there is any need for fuss about cutting it… there is!! My Stanley knife and scissor collection was useless.

I immediately googled “dyneema scissors” on Amazon and got the fright of my life … £40-£60 for a pair of scissors!! Tut tut NO!!! I noticed that kevlar scissors were about half the price, and so googled “can you cut dyneema with kevlar scissors?” and this interesting little video came up:-

You can never tell if these videos are genuine or not, can you? Anyway, I found on Amazon the exact Kevlar shears they use in this video – £20 !! Ordered a pair and they are great!! £20 sounds a lot, but at local coffee prices that’s only about 6 flat whites, and they’ll probably last a lifetime. I’m happy!!

It seems that a reason there may be so many kevlar shears out there to choose from is that this is the method of choice for cutting fibre optic cable. Who’d have known the big need for that ten years ago!

I’m less happy about sealing the rope-ends though. I’m using a keelboat rope burner from my toolbox at the minute – very quick, but leaves a bit of a blob. Might be OK. Sailboat RC recommend a quick swipe of THIN superglue along the line, cut it with your wife’s favourite ceramic kitchen knife, and then you can thread it through holes. I have a battery sealing knife in my toolbox – I must have dropped int once too often as it refuses to deal with dyneema or anything else at the moment. SailboatRC list a natty little USB plasma cutter – only 15 euros… but postage is 49 euros!! More research to do!

Cord Sizes – What to Carry in Your Tool Kit !!

Leave a reply

Rather impulsively, in 2023, I decided to make a move into Radio Sailing. Practically nothing worked in my big boat toolbox for this part of the sport. Evidently none of my (huge) string and cord collection was going to work . In the flash of the moment I acquired a reel of dyneema to be ready for anything, or so I thought.

That’s it in the photo above. The experienced amongst you will spot my error straight away. It’s a 300m reel – that’s enough for a whole club fleet to use for a hundred years.

It is also 4 braid which gives it a slightly lumpy appearance – I know now that SailsEtc recommend 8-braid lines.

If you have come to radio sailing from another branch of sailing, you’ll realise that you use different size and strength lines for different jobs on the boat. In your first encounter, you may think that all the lines we use are the same size (small).

Not so – explore SailsEtc and try looking at the Sailboat RC website. Sailboat RC carry a stock of four grades of lines – if you buy from them, they come on different colour spools about the same diameter as 5p piece or smaller. In a crowded tool box that’s a good idea, but I’m also thinking is using different colour lines to indicate diameter or strength is a good way to go – see SailsEtc.

This is what Sailboat RC says:-

GREEN spool   0.25mm 18.5kg Topping Lifts

BLUE spool 0.30mm 36kg   Main&Jib Sheets

LIGHT GREY spool 0.70mm 60KG  Drum Sheets 

                                                                        &Jib Foot to magnet    

TRANSPARENT Spool 0.70mm 30kg Rigging all round

The diameter is interesting, but not half as interesting in the line loads indicated for each job.

Generally speaking they only put around 5-10metres on a spool, and frankly that would last a club sailor a lifetime. At that size, you can tuck them anywhere in the toolbox.

If anyone needs 300m of dyneema, give me a call!!