Marking my Paddles (dinghy safety equipment) article on janice142

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Date: 26 June 2016. Marking my Paddles (dinghy safety equipment)

© janice142

Being on the water is fabulous. Having Stuff is okay too. Keeping my items from the nefarious is an ongoing concern. This is a mobile society. Boats come and go. I do not want my perfectly good dinghy paddles to disappear with the town bum. To that end I have a solution.

My goal is twofold:

Keep my goods from being acquired.

Make mine less tempting than yours.

I do not have to have the Best System.
It's just got to be slightly better than yours.

If your items are easy to snatch and mine are not... well, suffice it to say I believe yours will be more tempting than mine. To that end I mark Seaweed on my stuff.

I recently replaced my dinghy oars with brand new paddles from Walmart. I wanted to permanently mark them. Ideally one of those etchers would have been the perfect tool for this job. I do not own one. Buying a tool for a single use is a waste of resources. Thus I got out my soldering iron and had at it.

My writing could have been better and neater. It is Good Enough and now those paddles are permanently marked as belonging to Seaweed.

IMPORTANT!

Just because your dinghy has a motor does not mean you can forget about oars. You definitely NEED them in your dinghy. If the outboard quits you should be able to row yourself to safety.

Also you'll want the following: (affiliate links in blue)

A whistle to alert others when you need help (required)

A life preserver for each person onboard (required) I prefer the less bulky Auto Inflate Life Jacket Vests

A bottle of water (or coffee, tea) (smart to have)

An anchor with sufficient line to keep you in one place (smart to have) (Get at a nautical flea market)

If you run after dark, Red and Green Running Lights (required)

A Cobra VHF handheld floating 6 watts to call for help (smart to have)

While chatting with my friend Cheryl we realized I had marked the paddles with the name of my boat. Thus anyone at a dinghy dock will be able to know Seaweed has no one aboard her. ARGH. Obviously I was not thinking. I should have marked the oars Algae. Thanks Cheryl -- good catch!

Marking your oars is a Good Idea. I am glad I did so.
I just wish I had written Algae instead of Seaweed.

Such is life on the waterfront. I'm having fun using Seaweed. It's cool to be the boat that moves regularly enough that neighbors comment. Next stop is the fuel dock. I'll be doing that on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Would you attempt to change Seaweed to Algae on those oars?
If so, how would you do it? (Paddles are a soft rubber.)

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