- Installing an Additional Cockpit Water Barrier
- Boat Numbering
- Decorating Your Boat
- Installing a Bow Bumper
Installing an Additional Cockpit Water Barrier
This is a suggestion for serious heavy weather sailors – as we have stressed, a great deal of design ingenuity has gone into protecting the electrics of the RC Laser. The majority of sailors will have minimal water problems if simple maintenance procedures are followed; see ‘Waterproofing Maintenance’.
Buy a plastic Tupperware-type container that will fit into the cockpit void. Transfer the battery holder and radio receiver into the plastic container. This will create an almost impenetrable waterproofing system for the most severe water & weather conditions. If you wish, the on/off switch can even be removed from the deck and fitted onto the lid of the plastic dish. The hole left in the deck can be closed up with some white insulation tape.
Boat Numbering
If you intend racing your Laser you will be required to place the last two digits of your hull number on your sails and your full hull number on the hull together with the national identification letters AUS. Radio Control Sailing Australia. (see ?Getting into Racing?). You will be provided with one set of numbers for the standard sail together with a copy of the sail numbering diagram when you register your boat with Radio Control Sailing Australia.
Decorating Your Boat
There are three ways you can add colour to your boat without violating the one-design rule that boats cannot be altered. The first is to use ink markers. The second is to use PVC tape (electrical tape) which comes in a variety of colours. Finally, you may also affix the enclosed RC Laser decal on the deck. (It also looks great on a car window!). Any other medium of decoration including paint violates the one-design rule and will bar your boat from competition.
Installing a Bow Bumper
If it is your intention to race alongside other classes of model yacht like the One Metre you will need to fit a bow bumper of some sort in order to protect the other boats. It is difficult to visualise the Lasers themselves being damaged by collision with other boats as they are extremely robust in construction but we must protect the investments of our non-Laser colleagues!