Boat care

Transporting boats and equipment

• Hitting hulls of boats with rigger nuts.  This is the number one cause of minor damage to hulls.  It is especially dangerous with narrow rack space (like our singles and doubles). 

• Hitting the hull on boathouse ceiling / door.

• Dropping boats on the floor (e.g., from attempting an ambitious manoeuvre with too few people carrying).

• Putting the boat into shallow water where the fin hits the bottom (a risk when the water is over the bank).

• Hitting the hull or fin on the bank as it's lifted into and out of the water. 

• Boats falling off trestles and racks.

• Oars left leaning against a wall and then falling to the ground.

• Leaving oars lying around on the floor (they get trampled on, or run over by cars).

Boating / docking

• Rowing in a boat where your feet are too big for the shoes (this destroys the shoes).

• Allowing oar handles to be dragged across the ground (especially bad for handles with rubber or fabric grips).

• Treading on non-weight bearing parts of the hull when getting into and out if the boat.  This can damage the structure of the hull. 

• Landing ‘oar tips down’ where the blade does not have a vortex edge.

• Approaching the bank too quickly when parking (damage to oars, riggers, and hull).

 On the water

• Bits of boats, nuts, equipment etc. which fall in the river, and are lost forever (mostly hatch covers, lights and phones).

• Equipment lost after a capsize (anything not secured, which does not float, will be lost forever).

• Hitting flotsam, ice, or submerged objects whilst rowing (damage to hull, fin or rudder). 

• Trying to use the rudder of a small boat where the rudder is pinned.

• Oars damaging moored vessels.  Try not to let the oars touch moored boats.  If you get stuck near a moored boat, try to gently float away.  If you really do need to push away with oars, then do so gently, and preferably against a fender.  Do not push off with an oar below the water-line of a moored boat (this risks expensive underwater damage).

Cleaning / Maintenance

• Rough handling of cox-box wiring which damages connections.

• Rowing with dirty and gritty runners (this destroys the wheels).

• Not cleaning dirt and oil off the hull after an outing (this will accumulate over time).

• Overtightening nuts.  Rigger nuts (usually 10mm) need to be two-finger-spanner tight (i.e., tighten using a spanner with thumb and two fingers). Top nuts (usually 13mm) can be three-finger-spanner tight.

• Rowing with missing spacers on pins (this damages the gate inserts and any pin extenders).

• Forcing slides off rails without removing the rail end stoppers (damages the seat undercarriage). 

Trailering

• Boats falling off a stationary trailer when not tied down - luckily not X-Press yet, but we have seen this happen to other clubs.

• Driving off with the handbrake on.

• Losing bits of boats in transit where they are not secured properly (mostly hatch covers).

• Leaving equipment behind (mostly seat bungees).

• Losing nuts and bolts.

• Boat ties too tight (e.g., crushing the canvas of small boats).