Neck Brace for DN Sailing

   Whenever I am cruising my DN I tend to steer with my knees with one hand on the sheet and the other holding my head up so that I can look forward. Sailing a DN is tricky on the neck. You lay down in the hull and end up looking at the top of your mast. In order to look forward one must crane their neck down towards their toes. The older I get the more this hurts. Thanks to John Curtis for this design suggestion. Many DN sailers use a rig to ease neck strain during races.

Parts
1 Grippie Rope Tightener (sku 061-0044-0 at Canadian Tire)
6 ft x 2 inch cotton webbing
3 ft x 3/16 inch Bungee cord
3 ft x 3/16 inch cord
several small cable ties

Step 1
Sew the webbing into 2 loops 32 to 36 inches long. Make sure to put each loop through the Grippie first. Use several passes of zig zag stitch.

Step 2
Determine how to fasten the bungee cord to your helmet. This will depend on helmet type and construction. Make sure you have enough "stretch" to be able to raise your head (flatten your body) when you tack or jibe. I was able to pass the bungee cord right around the helmet through built in loops to give plenty of stretch.

Step 3
Fasten the bungee cord ends to the cord using knots and/or small cable ties.

Step 4
Test everything out in full gear. With your legs through the straps the Grippie should be near your waste. Feed the cord through the top half of the Grippie and cinch it up just before the race.

Step 5
Have fun and be safe.

Dual DN enclosed trailer part 1

My cousin Lester Druiven and I build and sail DN ice boats for fun and the odd race.

A couple of years ago we purchased a 15 ft. 1000 lb single axle boat trailer with no bunks or winch. The long tongue makes for some interesting times backing up the trailer but made it easy to strap on our DN Ice Boats. I sewed a couple of bags out of heavy cloth to help protect the hulls from stones on the road. With an added cross brace and some kayak brackets we were able to trail our boats cross country. It would take us some time to strap everything on and the hulls still sustained damage from stones and from rubbing against other parts.

We always planned to make an enclosed trailer that could house everything, 2 hulls, 2 masts, 2 runners, skates, sails and booms, tools and clothes in a "ready to go" state. The method seen above to clamp the cross member to the tongue worked well. Les welded up a 4 ft by 8 ft frame out of 2 inch square steel and we clamped that onto the tongue by welding 5 1/2 inch x 5 inch plates to the frame using a second set of plates and 1/4 20 bolts. We brought out the marker lights and skinned it over giving us a 4 by 13 foot base.

The base is 3/4 brown plywood and the sides are 3/4 sanded plywood, 2 feet high. We used 2x2 offset from the edge to attached the sides. Everything is bolted down with plenty of 1/4 20 bolts and nyloc nuts. Joints are glued and screwed with 2x2 and 2x4 reinforcing backing.

Next time I will discuss the construction of a lid. The ribs are done and final assembly of the lid will start soon. You can see a quick mock-up below.

The trailer will look like and open like a giant coffin. The 6 inch pipe will project forward and aft to house the 16 ft masts. I thought it might be best to make the 2 bottom outside stringers out of solid 2x2. It turns out you can't buy a 16 ft 2x2 so I bought a 16 foot 2x4 and split it in two. It was amazing to see a straight 2x4 go into a table saw and watch the 2 twisted and warped 2x2s emerge!