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So I lost the little chute (the door) on my bailer again recently. Seems to happen about once a year due to a bad launching situation, lending the boat to someone ... etc. Does anyone know why Laser Performance no longer sells repair kits with the door? Looks like the only option if you...

I've recently discovered that my boom -- bought with a new boat last summer -- has a permanent bend aft of the vang fitting. Anyone else seen this before? I do sail in windy places (the Gorge, SF), I sail several days a week, and we use a lot of vang. But I don't remember any of my...

Yesterday upon returning to the dock I discovered that my new GRP centerboard has a chip out of the gelcoat on the trailing edge. The underlying glass is fine, but the white stuff has a nickle-sized chip missing. It's been used about 10 times, and I've been quite careful with it -- didn't...

So I recently upgraded from the oldschool thin hiking strap to the nice wide Zhik one -- huge improvement! But I keep coming out of tacks with the strap twisted up (rolled over upside down, or worse). It's harder to get locked into, twists the mainsheet up, etc. etc. etc. ... Anyone else...

When I bought my boat it came with a few used sails that went on a shelf and didn't see the light of day for a while. Pulled one out today and discovered that the batten caps (or something?) are stuck in the batten pockets. The batten has been removed, but there's still something in there...

I have an old Silva compass mounted on the spider from APS. Last weekend after a particularly rough capsize the assembly that holds the card and lubber lines came off the pin. So it still points north, but sometimes the compass card is upside down -- you might think that's ok since my...

The time has come for a new pair of hiking boots. Sailing here in SF where the water is often chilly and the boat is often full of water in the summertime, so I want something warm but stiff. Any US folks have a set of the Rooster boots? I have somewhat wide feet -- I've often found that...

I've recently switched from the Harken clew sleeve and hook arrangement to using a clew strap and a shackle (with a tiny block) on the clew. I made the switch for two reasons: A few weeks ago my clew hook undid itself after a capsize in big breeze and short chop. I'll probably always be...

Summer season's over, and the winter season won't really get started for another month. So in the meantime the boat is at home in the backyard -- time for me to sort out all those niggling little rigging and other issues I lived with through much of the summer (because the boat was stored in a...

I have a mid-90s hull with a ding in the bow -- took off the gelcoat and the first layer or two of glass (see attached). Since the rest of the bow is in good shape I'd hate to take off enough gelcoat to do the usual 7:1 or 10:1 ratio for fiberglass, but then again it's a part of the boat that...