Cheap Alternative Methods

[spareribs]

I recently did up an old searider , "I want a pat on the back, yes, I'm not going to beat about the bush" anyway, whilst doing so I found a few cheap alternatives to paying out for expensive "made for the job" stuff. I was looking for this thread to be a compilation of things people have used as an alternative to expensive purpose made equipment and parts. ALSO PUT WHY THEY COULD BE BAD IDEAS. Obviously if your an insecure tarty bling head you wont want these old tat ideas on your boat, move along please, move along. If you want ideas , look at the old fishing boats, they just want the job done, bling free, but still effective.

Heres mine so far , not much but something to start it off.

1. Roofing coach bolts instead of expensive stainless steel. If there easy to access and can be changed easily, you can get 300 of them for £12. I used them to fix the consol to the deck, making sure the main fixings were going into the thicker wood part of the deck and resin'd in.

2. Make crab and shrimp pots out of a oil barrell from the chippy.

3. Make an anchor out of a piece of scaffold pole with two pieces of concrete reinforcing bar, each length bent round double , then threaded through the centre of the pole, then bend the two ends up to form the spikes.

4. Gas mains pipe as boat runners for aiding pulling the boat up the beach.

5. Tie a piece of 10lb fishing line to your toggle on your manual inflation lifejack and your boat in a big sea if you want it to become auto for a while !!! Hopefully never folks.

[HughN]

Re 4). I believe it is not unknown for the gas board (or whatever they are called now) to come along and ask for their pipe back, their argument being that there are no legitimate means by which it can come into private ownership.

[Pikey Dave]

6, Save all those dried out carrots that you find hidden in the bottom of the veg drawer, grind them into a fine powder & mix with flour & water. Hey presto instant SR4 gel coat repair at a fraction of the cost of the proper stuff. Apply frequently.

7, Buy a Black Shadow? Not me! I just wear loads of the wifes' old tights & get her to wrap me in self adhesive pallet wrap... ooops wrong forum sorry

[HughN]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

7, Buy a Black Shadow? Not me! I just wear loads of the wifes' old tights & get her to wrap me in self adhesive pallet wrap... ooops wrong forum sorry

(Nah, black self-amalgamating tape!)

8. Shock mitigation flooring too expensive? Save the foam parts of old flip-flops that get washed up on the beach and simply glue them to your shoes.

9. Got a 4m Searider but can't afford a microwave for it? Simply hold your preferred pastie in front of the radar of a passing fishing boat. Don't forget to keep turning it.

10. Got an SR4 but can't afford the full underwater lighting system for it? Tow some old fairy-lights from your transom - nobody will know except you!

11. A carefully dampened cornflake makes an excellent puncture repair.

12. Chartplotter too expensive? Cut out a page from an old RAC map and fix it to an up-turned margarine tub with some PVA glue. Voila!

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by HughN

(Nah, black self-amalgamating tape!)

8. Shock mitigation flooring too expensive? Save the foam parts of old flip-flops that get washed up on the beach and simply glue them to your shoes.

9. Got a 4m Searider but can't afford a microwave for it? Simply hold your preferred pastie in front of the radar of a passing fishing boat. Don't forget to keep turning it.

10. Got an SR4 but can't afford the full underwater lighting system for it? Tow some old fairy-lights from your transom - nobody will know except you!

11. A carefully dampened cornflake makes an excellent puncture repair.

12. Chartplotter too expensive? Cut out a page from an old RAC map and fix it to an up-turned margarine tub with some PVA glue. Voila!

I get the impression that you're not taking this seriously, any idiot would know that a damp cornflake wouldn't seal a puncture. You have to use Frosties, the sugar makes them stick.

[willk]

Originally Posted by spareribs

If you want ideas , look at the old fishing boats, they just want the job done, bling free, but still effective.

Old lawn tractor and Quad tyres would make cracking little RIB sized fenders and could be secured with "blue rope". You might want to reconsider the "tie the LJ toggle to the RIB" idea, no self-respecting fisherfolk would entertain that notion - they keep their lifejackets nice and safe in their berth so they know where to find them...

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by spareribs

1. Roofing coach bolts instead of expensive stainless steel. If there easy to access and can be changed easily, you can get 300 of them for £12. I used them to fix the consol to the deck, making sure the main fixings were going into the thicker wood part of the deck and resin'd in.

My bold. I say no more! Oh but I can't resist... how many bolts did you need?

2. Make crab and shrimp pots out of a oil barrell from the chippy.

3. Make an anchor out of a piece of scaffold pole with two pieces of concrete reinforcing bar, each length bent round double , then threaded through the centre of the pole, then bend the two ends up to form the spikes.

You made me spit my coffee out! This is a crude grapnel. Grapnels are sh*t so this will be even sh*tter

If you can bend it easily you can unbend it easily - or the F6 blowing against you with the tide can!

4. Gas mains pipe as boat runners for aiding pulling the boat up the beach.

You'd be better with water pipe. More water companies so you can always tell them you stole it from someone else! Plus there may be more chance of you legitimately buying water pipe if you were a builder...

5. Tie a piece of 10lb fishing line to your toggle on your manual inflation lifejack and your boat in a big sea if you want it to become auto for a while !!! Hopefully never folks.

What pull is actually needed to pull the toggle? If you put 120lb on the line does it break before pulling the toggle?

PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A WINDUP THREAD!

[BogMonster]

Some of the above might be wind-ups but this is genuine!

Used light aircraft tyres also make excellent "RIB sized" fenders - quite soft and squishy and about the right size, and usually replaced long before wires and things start sticking out of them, which possibly isn't the case for anything belonging to a farmer

[spareribs]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

My bold. I say no more! Oh but I can't resist... how many bolts did you need?





You made me spit my coffee out! This is a crude grapnel. Grapnels are sh*t so this will be even sh*tter

If you can bend it easily you can unbend it easily - or the F6 blowing against you with the tide can!


You'd be better with water pipe. More water companies so you can always tell them you stole it from someone else! Plus there may be more chance of you legitimately buying water pipe if you were a builder...


What pull is actually needed to pull the toggle? If you put 120lb on the line does it break before pulling the toggle?

PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A WINDUP THREAD!

All these ideas are in use, and the anchors have been by proper sea goer's , i.e. fisherman for decades, as are the pots, they just get there boats out without the bullshit and expense, go and spend your money how you wish, I'm gonna spend mine wisely. This thread is deadly serious, it was mean to add good ideas to my shit ones. People use rope and hose instead of expensive handles.

I found this useful if 1 other person does all your know it all comments are worth it. YC's

[spareribs]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

6, Save all those dried out carrots that you find hidden in the bottom of the veg drawer, grind them into a fine powder & mix with flour & water. Hey presto instant SR4 gel coat repair at a fraction of the cost of the proper stuff. Apply frequently.

7, Buy a Black Shadow? Not me! I just wear loads of the wifes' old tights & get her to wrap me in self adhesive pallet wrap... ooops wrong forum sorry

That Gel coat is "kin" brilliant dave, add cumin for some extra fish attractor built in , appently bass love it mate.

[spareribs]

a straw and your mouth instead of an auxiliary engine, I'll will post pics for thicky boy !

[Poly]

Originally Posted by spareribs

1. Roofing coach bolts instead of expensive stainless steel. If there easy to access and can be changed easily, you can get 300 of them for £12. I used them to fix the consol to the deck, making sure the main fixings were going into the thicker wood part of the deck and resin'd in.

you must have too much time on your hands if you are going to change all the bolts when they start to corrode in salt water. If you don't do it quickly you'll get horrible stains around them and find them very difficult to remove.

3. Make an anchor out of a piece of scaffold pole with two pieces of concrete reinforcing bar, each length bent round double , then threaded through the centre of the pole, then bend the two ends up to form the spikes.

are anchors expensive? As a fairly critical piece of safety equipment I'll stick to a tried and tested model with a good blade area. At least then if my boat ever gets washed up on the shore I will be able to make a credible claim to my insurer.

5. Tie a piece of 10lb fishing line to your toggle on your manual inflation lifejack and your boat in a big sea if you want it to become auto for a while !!! Hopefully never folks.

I bet you accidentally trigger that more often than an auto one.

[whisper]

#2

This just washed up on the beach, is it yours???

[willk]

Originally Posted by spareribs

a straw and your mouth instead of an auxiliary engine, I'll will post pics for thicky boy !

An old plasterer's mixing rod and a cordless drill would be an ideal cheap auxie...

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by spareribs

and the anchors have been by proper sea goer's , i.e. fisherman for decades,

You're sort of right in your own unique way, fishermen & dive skippers do use the grapnels that you describe. But not for anchoring, they use them for pot lines & shot lines for one simple reason, THEY ARE EASY TO PULL OUT either with a winch or hooking the line around a bollard & giving it some beans. You'd never catch a fisherman anchoring his boat with one.

[m chappelow]

Redundant traffic cones and footballs make good fenders as stinky pete would confirm on our local canal.
though we were told later his home made bilge pump dident live up to expectations in last winters storm .

Having a Horse shoe on the bow dident give him much luck either ,,lol

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by spareribs

All these ideas are in use, and the anchors have been by proper sea goer's , i.e. fisherman for decades, as are the pots, they just get there boats out without the bullshit and expense, go and spend your money how you wish, I'm gonna spend mine wisely. This thread is deadly serious, it was mean to add good ideas to my shit ones. People use rope and hose instead of expensive handles.

I found this useful if 1 other person does all your know it all comments are worth it. YC's

I don't see many fishermen using Ribs, so do they know something we don't?

Have they realised that that home made anchor sounds like its gonna rip the tube to shreds?

The only good thing about grapnels (apart from they pull out easily) is they fold tidy in the boat.

[m chappelow]

To be quite honest though & having owned fishing boats for many years , so I have made and adapted many things over the years but with some the second hand bargains that can be had at boat jumbles these days does it justify going to the hassle of making stuff especially for basic things such as anchors or fenders for a rib or a sib .
even if its second hand or maybe old and perhaps a bit out of fashion .

[Boatnomad]

Originally Posted by m chappelow

To be quite honest though & having owned fishing boats for many years , so I have made and adapted many things over the years but with some the second hand bargains that can be had at boat jumbles these days does it justify going to the hassle of making stuff especially for basic things such as anchors or fenders for a rib or a sib .
even if its second hand or maybe old and perhaps a bit out of fashion .

+1

[whisper]

Hightower showed me a very cheap waterproof mobile phone case