During the sailing off-season I have been improving my sailing dinghy by fixing the hiking straps, moving some unnecessary deck hardware, adding a tiller lock, and making some oars.
I tested out the tiller lock in conjunction with the oars on the weekend. It worked very well. The tiller lock helps with tracking - keeping the boat moving in a straight line while paddling. Without the tiller lock rowing is very hard, as the boat quickly turns on the spot whenever one oar catches more water than the other.
Great video thankyou ! . I just got the exact model. In the place of rivets many use stainless well nuts as the rubber grommet expands behind the fibreglass very effectively. Ive used the one from kyak2fish. As lm a very newbie l dont know the correct way to rig my vagabond. I'd love a video run-down of rig if you decide to do one. Awesome video thanks.
Hi Don. Congrats on the purchase, they are a great little boat. I recently made some more minor modifications to make it easier to sail single handed. I will put together a vid on rigging and show the changes I made as well. Though rigging is much the same as any boat with a jib and bermuda sail. Are you in Melbourne metro area by any chance?
Yes. It was pretty easy. I found the post below on the web and sort of followed it. Though I used a 19mm gal pipe from my local steel supplier rather than the expensive aluminium rod, and I used carpet glued on some well placed timber along the A frame to support it. www.blokespost.com/sailing/how-to-make-a-simple-sturdy-and-functional-sailing-dinghy-launching-trolley-dolly/6095 They are a nice stable dinghy, so I heartily recommend it. If you do buy it then let me know. I need to update certain rigging and such, so it would be good to compare notes with another owner. I dont know of anyone else who has one.
