×

SEARCH

10 Summer maintenance tips for your ding...

Top 10 Summer maintenance
tips for your dinghy

written by former Olympic dinghy sailor, Christian Brewer

Summer is the perfect time to ensure your dinghy is in top condition. The warm weather and longer days provide an ideal opportunity to tackle essential maintenance tasks that may have been neglected during the colder months. In this article, I share my top summer maintenance tips to keep your dinghy in peak performance. From gel coat repairs and trolley inspections to checking spars and halyards, these practical steps will help you address common wear and tear, ensuring your boat is safe, efficient, and ready for its next outing. Implementing these tips will help you prolong the life of your dinghy and enjoy a trouble-free summer on the water.

1. Gel Coat repairs

This is one of those tasks that usually does not get carried out over winter, mainly due to the cold, damp weather, and storing your boat outside. The best time for gel repairs is in the summer months when humidity is low and temperatures are high.

Check your centreplate casing – I sail a Laser dinghy in which the centreboard is manually lifted up and pushed down, doing this often does result in noticeable wear inside the casing at the back and along the join. You may see that the gel coat is worn away and the glass matting is exposed. Leaving this unattended will result in leakage and damage to the lay up. Flip the dinghy over and give the area a really good clean with a strong degreaser/cleaner before keying the damaged area with sandpaper wrapped around a long artist paint brush. Using the same brush, coat the back of the casing with a layer of gel coat and leave to dry.
Check your foils – hitting the ground usually results in damage to the leading edge and base of your foils, you can repair these using a gel coat repair kit. After a thorough surface wash, I use sandpaper to key the damaged area and then apply parcel tape up to the edge of the damage, before applying the new gelcoat. When dry after 24 hours you can sand the area flat keeping the tape in place so that you do not cut into the undamaged area. Flatten using 320 grit wet and dry paper followed by 600 grit and finish with 1200 grit. Always use a sanding pad to get a flat finish, don’t be tempted to use your fingers.
Check your hull/deck joint – It’s very easy to clip the landing jetty or maybe you have had a coming together with another boat. Chances are that you can see a small amount of gel damage on the top side of the gunwhale, but it could be much worse on the underside. You can check for damage with the boat upside down whilst you are checking your plate casing. Also have a look at the bow section of the boat along the join, look for any stress cracks that may need cutting back and filling in. The bottom edge of the transom should also be checked.

2. Launching trolley inspection

This brings me onto checking your launching trolley for damage to the sacrificial rubber or plastic pads rivetted or slotted onto the trolley base and uprights. Exposed metalwork can damage your smooth hull finish. I noticed that the plastic tubing on my laser trolley uprights had split leaving the metalwork exposed. This had caused damage to the gel coat on the underside of the gunwhale on each side, which was not noticeable from the top side.

3. Check your spars

The mast goes up at the beginning of the season and quite often does not come down until the end. Take some time mid season to drop the mast and inspect the fixtures and fittings.

I recently had a boom fitting fail that was rivetted on; over time, the dissimilar metals in the spar and rivet had reacted and caused the fixing hole to elongate, this is now replaced with a nyloc nut and bolt fitting using nylon spacer washers with a good dab of inhibitor paste (Duralac).
Check your spreader arms and rigging tangs – look for any sign of corrosion or split wires. One split wire can reduce the overall wire strength by 30%, you might wish to replace rather than be left stranded.
Tape your split rings – Split rings are notoriously fiddly to fit and remove and yet get easily hooked and distorted by ropes and sheets. I use electrical tape to completely cover my split rings, this prevents any rope fibres from catching on the ring and distorting it or ripping it off.

4. Block and sheave damage

Whilst the mast is down, have a look at the sheave cages and blocks to see if they are actually turning. Over time, internal sheave centres can wear and distort causing them to jam, they may need replacing. Any external blocks should be checked for side plate wear, this would indicate a foul lead which may require a block with a different type of head fitting.

5. Check for halyard and control line wear

Halyards usually end up in the same position when the sails are hoisted, where the stress on the line and the friction of the sheave will weaken the fibres and distort the centre filaments. This will be obvious to the eye.

To move these high stress areas, “end for end” your halyards (swap one end for the other) or shorten the line where it exits the mast. This will also help where the line passes through a turning block at the mast base and where lines pass through a jamming cleat. Cleats are notorious for chewing up the outer casing of your control lines.

6. Inspect your sails for chafe and wear

A stitch in time is the expression often used, a quick visual of the stitching and material can save money and keep you afloat for longer.

Check stitching along the vertical seams and the back edge of your sails, excessive flapping weakens the material especially around batten pockets.
You can use adhesive sail cloth for material tears as an interim to getting a professional job done and for chafing damage caused by spreaders when sailing downwind.

7. Tiller joint inspection

The tiller extension is secured to the tiller by means of a flexible tiller joint, it allows the helm to sit on the side to balance the boat and steer. The joint enables easy switching from side to side.

Check the rubber joint for signs of cracking or splitting, if this breaks whilst you are helming you will most likely capsize.
Replace with a new unit and consider one with an internal string within the moulding to prevent total failure.

8. Toe strap condition

Toe straps assist the helm and crew to sit out on the side of the boat, their feet being positioned under the strap to support their body weight. A lot of load is put through the toe straps so it’s worth checking for signs of wear to prevent falling over the side.

Check the toe strap material, is it getting sun damaged? Usual sign is discoloration on the top side compared to the underside.
Are there signs of material splitting or fraying around the toe strap fixing eyes? This could mean that the eyelet is about to detach from the strap.
If in doubt, fit new straps and adjustment lines.

9. Check your bailer and buoyancy tanks

Where solid buoyancy tanks are fitted, these usually have an inspection cover fitted which enable you to check for any leaks, for example after a capsize. If they are leaking, it is most likely that the rubber sealing ring has failed; replacements are available in different sizes and simply pop onto the cover lid.
The Laser bailer fitting comes with rubber ‘O’ rings to hold the flap in position, over time these will perish and break. I recommend fitting stainless steel springs which you will never have to replace – now I have a dry cockpit on a light weather day.

10. Wash your boat every time

I cannot recommend this highly enough, take time to thoroughly wash your boat down with fresh water each and every time you have used it giving special attention to the pulley blocks, track systems and spars. Salt water build up acts as a grinding paste, especially if allowed to dry out. It takes just minutes each time, yet will save you £££s in the long run.

Christian Brewer is a member of Whitstable Yacht Club and a former Olympic Squad and British Sailing Team member in the Tornado class.

He has won fifteen National and one European Championship in catamarans and in One Design keel boats.

A former sailmaker and charter yacht sales manager, Christian has sailed extensively in Europe, the Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Why insure your boat with HK-J?

Boat insurance, shipshaped around you

Useful Links

Haven Knox-Johnston is a trading name of Howden UK Brokers Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority No. 307663. Registered in England and Wales under company registration number 02831010. Registered Office: One Creechurch Place, London, EC3A 5AF. Calls may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance purposes.

Top 10 Summer maintenancetips for your dinghy