Dingy Painting, or the "Red Snake Project".

Upon arrival, I was certainly glad to see our boat in such good condition. We always worry a bit, when we have to leave her for awhile, but all is good.
Our dingy, an Avon 3.41 'Airfloor' model(11') stays inverted on our foredeck while we travel elsewhere. I keep it covered with a small white sunbrella tarp but every year, I have touched up the painted extras on her.

PAINT BY "MDR"



You see, cruisers give good tips. One passed on to me by several folks, was NOT to put your boat name or any such I.D. on your dingy, as it allows theives to know too much. A dingy from "Sea Ya" that is tied to a dock in town alerts any thief that the owners of "Sea Ya" are probably not aboard the big boat out at anchor! Hmmmm, time to go out there and break in!



So, to identify our Avon dingy in a way that does not give a name, I painted a design on her tubes of a big red snake........or maybe it's a worm, not sure, but I like to call it a snake.

Taping around the edges with blue masking tape took a few minutes but made application of paint quite simple.



Dingies get lost some times and some way to identify it clearly, is to paint it up. For Coast Guard or other Search and Rescue to identify our Dingy if lost, I had painted, with red hypalon paint, 15" numbers and letters on the bottom of the Avon, with our Vessel's Documentation Number down one side of the bottom and our Radio CALL Sign down the other.


To help "us" find our Avon, if it breaks away at sea, or if anyone thinks about borrowing it without permission, I did 2 things; painted the transom, seat and oars Bight School Bus Yellow Awlgrip, which can bee seen a mile away. And also that Red Snake on top of the tubes. Actually, even our outboards are painted the same yellow.

(http://memoryrose.blogspot.com/2009/03/outboards-for-dingy.html)




Well, upon return from our stateside visit and before relaunching the dingy, I flipped it half over, on deck and repainted both bottom and top with fresh Red Hypalon Paint. The Red, stands out on the boat, just as much as it does in this post's lettering.

Safe travels!