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 Life's tough in the sandpit but tinnies show true mettle
Remember when you were young and there was that snotty kid who left his toys in the sandpit and his new bike on the footpath? Well, that kid grew older but not up ...
For every boat owner who looks after their vessel today, there is the mongo who drives as though in a demolition derby and leaves the rest to rust.
 | | Boats have to be tough to withstand a Seal Rocks beach launch and retrieval Sandman PR |
This past weekend I watched with bemusement, and some angst, the antics of fishermen putting their craft back on trailer at Seal Rocks beach on the NSW mid-north coast.
The tactic of some was to gun the engine and hit the sand at about 15 knots to get above the wave line. The outboard would kick back and the prop roar as the hull shuddered to a stop. They'd then get the four-wheel-drive and scull-drag the hull further away from the breakers.
One guy attached a lanyard to the bow eye on his Stacer, allowing plenty of slack, then sped up the beach. I cringed as the lead snapped tight and the welds absorbed the shock.
Such was the ensuing strain of dry-winching the hull onto the trailer that the seatbelt cord snapped.
There should be a Royal Society for Prevention Of Cruelty to Runabouts. (RSPCR)
Until that time, however, boat builders will just have to continue engineering an imbecile-factor into their hulls.
I dips me lid to the structural integrity of the ubiquitous Aussie tinnie.
Mark Rothfield
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