We cruise our summer boat, a 43’ Ocean Alexander trawler name, appropriately enough, Shockles, in the San Juan Islands off the northern coast of Washington State during the summer. The cruising grounds there are varied and spectacular, from the myriad San Juan (US) and Gulf (Canadian) Islands, to the intricate Inside Passage that snakes it’s way between mainland Canada and Vancouver Island, to the rough and wild west coast of Vancouver Island (which bears the brunt of all the north Pacific weather).
We have all our toys on board—from folding bicycles to dive and fishing gear—including, of course, our inflatable kayaks and inflatable stand-up paddle boards (SUP).
Being far too lazy to inflate and deflate our SUPs all the time, we just leave them inflated and strap them to the side of the flying bridge with our handy ShockStraps. The ShockStrap is by far the fastest, easiest, safest and BEST way to tie down any inflatable toy on a boat. We just haul the board up along side the flying bridge railing, clip a ShockStrap front and back, cinch it up and there we go: solid in any conditions.
But the best part is that we don’t have to worry about the board getting pinched too hard in hot weather when it expands (or coming loose in cold weather when it shrinks). The stretch portion of the ShockStrap is just snug enough to keep it perfectly secured.
In fact, when we were putting Shockles (the boat, not the company) to bed for the winter, we decided to just leave the SUPs ‘shockled’ to the boat for the winter. We’re not worried about them coming loose, even in the harshest northwest winter storms. The boards stay nice and firm up against the railings.
Now it’s time for our winter boat: Jangada. Jangada (www.jangadacat.com) is a 42’ Fountain Pajot catamaran we keep in Mexico for trips down south when we need to get our heads out of the cold northwest winters and into the sunshine. Of course we have lots of toys of there as well; and lots of ShockStraps keeping them secure.
