Cleat guard

Sails, sheets and the lines on a pole don't often get caught in the bow cleats, but it's big trouble when they do. This fold-down guard was copied from a design on a Goetz Custom 44.

The bases were routed, sawn and planed from a piece of 1-in.-thick Starboard (polyethylene sheet). Apparently similar bases are available from some Web marine store, but who knows what they would be called? Since the guards must fit precisely if they are to stay locked in the grooves filed in the top of the cleat, a trial version of the wire guard was bent from coat hanger wire with a bending jig and fitted. With the lengths right, final versions were bent from a discarded s/s VHF antenna. – David Weatherston, Towser