Lifelines

[Roberto]

We tie fenders to the base of the stanchions and base of pulpit, pushpit. We use a cross section of fenders - 'normal' long fenders and spherical fenders. We also use a fender board - I made one from a long length of marine ply with closed cell foam on the 'hull' side.

The mooring setup in my home port for example (and most other ports around here) is a short finger in slightly diagonal position, about 1/4 of the aft part of the boat remains behind the end of the finger (which is only tied by a spring, no stern transverse line), this means all fenders have to be concentrated in say a couple of meters which is the contact area between hull and finger pontoon, they are basically useless anywhere else -except of course the opposite side of the boat, I have 6 to 8 fenders almost in contact to each other and there is only one maybe two stanchions along the area.
During wintering I tie about a half of them to the guard rail holes and a half to the lifeline as they work differently when the boat is heeled by strong winds and compresses them; during summer I usually tie them all to the lifeline as it is a lot more practical than feeding every single fender line through the rail holes (and untying as one leaves). Steel wire is stiff and accepts rope knots without problems, I guess one should keep the dyneema extremely taut to achieve the same stiffness.
I have a length of 6mm dyneema and my upper steel wires are due for replacement so I may give the dyneema a try.

 

[Cowie]

I've had 8mm dyneema guardrails since the start of this season, I think they're great - look nicer, feel nicer and even cost less. Mine terminate on pelican hooks at the stern so would be easy to undo if necessary

Yep I am heading that direction with them should be fitted shortly.

Lightwave 395 beautiful boat

 

[Neeves]

The mooring setup in my home port for example (and most other ports around here) is a short finger in slightly diagonal position, about 1/4 of the aft part of the boat remains behind the end of the finger (which is only tied by a spring, no stern transverse line), this means all fenders have to be concentrated in say a couple of meters which is the contact area between hull and finger pontoon, they are basically useless anywhere else -except of course the opposite side of the boat, I have 6 to 8 fenders almost in contact to each other and there is only one maybe two stanchions along the area.
During wintering I tie about a half of them to the guard rail holes and a half to the lifeline as they work differently when the boat is heeled by strong winds and compresses them; during summer I usually tie them all to the lifeline as it is a lot more practical than feeding every single fender line through the rail holes (and untying as one leaves). Steel wire is stiff and accepts rope knots without problems, I guess one should keep the dyneema extremely taut to achieve the same stiffness.
I have a length of 6mm dyneema and my upper steel wires are due for replacement so I may give the dyneema a try.

Not quite what I expected. Every application is different.

The only suggestion that I can make would be to tie the fenders to finger, rather than or as well as to the boat - and using different styles of fender. Fenders can 'lift' and as well as hanging them tie them down might help - but you will know that.

Jonathan

 

[ckris]

As this is a racing forum, worth mentioning that some race organisers (eg JOG) NOR precludes the use of dyneema lifelines. This has stopped me going down this path

 

[Cowie]

RRS 3.14.6

 

[ckris]

RRS 3.14.6

Took me a few minutes to decode this You mean Offshore Special Regulations (OSR). Is a good point, I had not spotted before that even OSR only allows dyneema for cat 4 monohulls and multihulls. Offshore monohulls need to be wire if racing under OSR.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Took me a few minutes to decode this You mean Offshore Special Regulations (OSR). Is a good point, I had not spotted before that even OSR only allows dyneema for cat 4 monohulls and multihulls. Offshore monohulls need to be wire if racing under OSR.

Sounds good to me then.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

You're only thinking of one MOB scenario, namely the one where they have completely lost contact with the boat and you've sailed back to them. The scenario where it is pretty bouncy and you have someone overboard but still clipped on has a strong argument for dumping the lifelines and trying to get them back on board where they are, rather than unclipping them to move to the stern, risking losing contact with them.

In that instance if you have the attachment of the lifelines as a separate dynema lashing (as has been best practice with SS lines for years anyway) then once you have recovered them 5 minutes with a bit of Dynema and some knots gets your guardwires back in place.

If a man went overboard for us the easiest and logical location to get them back on board would be the transom and I think with a yacht with a sugar scoop and or steps at the transom that would be the logical place to retrieve. Lifting a person up the sides and over the stanchions would be a nightmare - yes you could cut the lifelines -but to make it easy you would need to cut them all, making it dangerous for those on board making the retrieval .

Really you need to look at the big picture and work out what is best for you, your crew and your yacht. There is unlikely to be one right answer.

Jonathan

Training organisations tend to advise not to retrieve MOB at the transom. Yes, this CAN work in flat water, but in rough conditions the casualty is very likely to slip under the stern and be struck violently on the head when the boat pitches. There is also the increased possibility of catastrophic injury if the propellor is inadvertently allowed to rotate. It's better to develop( or buy)a method of recovery that gives mechanical advantage to a person or short-handed crew recovering a casualty over the side of the boat.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Training organisations tend to advise not to retrieve MOB at the transom. Yes, this CAN work in flat water, but in rough conditions the casualty is very likely to slip under the stern and be struck violently on the head when the boat pitches. There is also the increased possibility of catastrophic injury if the propellor is inadvertently allowed to rotate. It's better to develop( or buy)a method of recovery that gives mechanical advantage to a person or short-handed crew recovering a casualty over the side of the boat.

Recovery of a POB is very boat specific. However, I strongly recommend that every life jacket is fitted with Lifesavers, as sold in many chandlers and from Duncan Wells directly. My wife can lift me on board, over the guard rails, no cutting involved, with an 8:1 tackle effortlessly. The easiest part is that the lifesaver can be hooked with a boat hook and secured to a midship cleat or stanchion base. They make securing a POB to the boat very easy, and provide a convenient point to lift the casualty with the favoured method. I have no association with Lifesavers.

Force 4 MOB Lifesaver | Force 4 Chandlery