Minor injuries are inevitable on a boat. Especially when you’re the only person whose hands are small enough to get needed access for a repair. Here is how I’ve benefited from having small hands. And learned to deal with inevitable minor injuries.
Projects that Benefit from Small Hands
Once on Barefoot Gal, we started a project to re-string a line on our centerboard. It involved a lot of work down in the centerboard trunk, which is about an inch and a half wide. My hand barely fits; Dave’s does not. But when I say mine fits, what I really mean is that I can somehow wedge it in far enough to cut off the old line and then pass the new one through the eye.
And yes, there have been a bunch of boat bites in the process. The only way I could get a knife to the right angle to cut the old line off meant that my pinky was rubbing on rough fiberglass. Nasty blister that immediately popped. And then several other cuts and scrapes as I tried to run the new line.
I’ve come to expect various nicks, cuts, and blisters as we work on a boat. And the reality is, my hands are considerably smaller than Dave’s, so I’m the one that gets to reach into all these fun places. Now, I’m reasonably mechanical, but even if I wasn’t, this work doesn’t take any great skill beyond being able to reach the part in question.
Back when we had to rebuild the engine, Dave and a mechanic friend did it all. Well, almost all. They got to the point of needing to remove the motor mounts and just couldn’t do it. After two days with no luck, they finally accepted my offer of help. In less than 5 minutes, I had the first one off simply because my hand would fit.
Another time, a hose clamp on the transmission cooler for our diesel engine broke. Again, Dave’s hand was too big to get to the right place to put a new one on. It still took me several hours and a double universal on a socket wrench, but I finally got it.
Access is Key
This article really has two points. The first is that there are a lot of tight spaces when working on a boat, and enlisting someone with smaller hands may be just what is needed to accomplish a seemingly impossible task. More often than not, I haven’t needed any special knowledge or strength. Just being able to reach was “skill” enough.
So, if you’re stuck on a project, see if there is someone around with smaller hands that might be willing to help out (teenagers are great for this, whether yours or borrowed from another boat). I honestly think that others on your boat or even a neighboring boat are happy when they can be of help – feeling like you’re part of a team is good.
Dealing with Minor Injuries
The second point is that boat bites just seem to happen. It’s not that you’re doing something wrong. And the reality is that if you ask someone to help you, they might get a few scrapes. I’m not talking about major injuries, just little stuff.
The big thing is to keep them from getting infected. Our 3-point program to avoid infections:
- Wash our hands frequently as we’re working and after to keep “gunk” out of scrapes.
- Keep a tube of triple antibiotic ointment next to the sink to remind us to use it after we wash our hands.
- For anything that is not fully scabbed over, keep a Band-Aid with some triple antibiotic on it over the scrape. Keep Band-Aids on even in water or as you sweat with tincture of benzoin (read about it here – it’s truly wonderful).
Here’s hoping all your projects go very, very smoothly and you have oodles of room to work in!
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
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