Here is a hack that might shed some light on a bit of rigger magic for all you rowers out there who may have wondered just how a "Lone Boatman" can manage to fix the eight you damaged without needing any help at all to lift and flip the boat over: it is a simple, but oh-so-clever use of a boat strap --we call it the Boatman's Buddy.

For those readers who have only ever been involved in breaking a boat and skipped out on having to do the repair yourself, you may not know that even small repairs to the hull can require working on both the inside and outside of the shell. That means that your friendly neighborhood rigger needs to get the boat rolled from hull-up to seats-up, and back again, at least a few times for any repair. If the crew managed to damage a rib or puncture the hull, a good repair can require a lot of boat-spinning…and not always at a time when the culprits--er, athletes--are around to help move the injured shell into position for the next stage of the operation.

Enter the Boatman's Buddy--and you can file this hack under "So that's how they do it, those darn clever boatmen"--which is a strap that supports one end of the shell so that the Lone Boatman can pick up the far end and spin the boat, like a hot dog roll-roasting at a Wawa.

At its simplest, the Boatman's Buddy can be a boat strap up to the rafters or a high rack, which does the trick of taking up the weight without binding up on the shell so it will roll over. Russell Giacobbe, who coaches the Michigan men's team and maintains their fleet, uses this to get through a year's worth of dents, scratches, and worse over the summer when no one is around and the exposed beams of the boat shed make for a perfect "just add a boat strap" hoist.

Even slicker, though, and perhaps nearly magic indeed, is a custom sewn loop that has a twist in it: the twist allows the strap to roll smoothly without kinking, and lets the Lone Boatman spin the boat in one go: hoist one end, via the strap and a boat-lift (or rafter), then roll away to get the hull, and your repair, ready for the next step of the fix.

So, next time you need a boat moved, take a tip from the pros and enlist a Boatman's Buddy. This is not a trick for neophytes, of course--and it is a big step up from most of the simpler uses we all put boat straps to on a daily basis--but it is how some of the real work gets done in the boathouse when only the Lone Boatman is around.

Have a clever way to get repairs done on your fleet? Share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

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