Spray Dodger Back On

I put the spray dodger back on and boy, did I miss it while it was off.  Pachuca is a different boat without her dodger.  I mention it because I learned something about zipper maintenance yesterday.

After several attempts to free a stuck zipper I took the dodger to Snug Harbor Sails only a half block from the apartment.  Doug was as relaxed and affable as usual.  After 15 minutes of talk about the boating scene I showed him the problem.  He said that the metal tab had swelled due to corrosion and managed to pry it off without damaging the nylon zipper.  He fitted a new nylon tab, which involved cutting the end of the zipper and sewing on a stopper after the new tab was in position.

He told me that it is a good idea to run a chap stick up and down the zippers twice a year.  Then he mentioned that another method was to apply Vaseline with a small brush.   Back at the boat I think I did better than that.  I spent about an hour applying lanolin grease to the zippers and tabs.  This is a made-in-Australia product that the New Zealand mechanics swore by.  I'll be very dutiful this zipper maintenance because it important that I be able to remove the spray dodger quickly and easily to prepare for really, really heavy weather.

I then showed him a rough sketch of a proposal to cover the lazarette doors with waterproof material, fixing the material with battens around the door frame, with a zippered area in the middle large enough to allow me to open the lazarette doors.  He didn't laugh me out of the shop and in fact showed me the material that he could use.  I will visit him today with a scale drawing of the job.