Aegean island hopping on a steel twin engined Pedro....

[duncan99210]

We find that mossie nets are a useful addition to the inventory. Ours are all made by us using netting from Point North fabrics along with strips of acrylic canvas as a "frame". The deck head hatches are inside the boat, held on by a turnbuckle at each corner, whilst the various port light nets are fixed externally by the same type of turnbuckles. The companionway is closed by a roll away version supported by some pieces of broom handle inside pockets sewn into the canvas "frame": this stows on top of the hatch when it's in the open position. In the cockpit after dusk, we burn a couple of coils to discourage the little darlings when they're about.

 

[Hardmy]

35 m nowhere near enough for some circumstances. We had 2 x 40 m and have exchanged that for 1 x 100 m. Polypropylene, 12 or 14 mm for your boat. If you can buy the braided stuff it handles much better than the three-strand variety.

We have 50m. of flat rope on a reel and 60 m. of floating pp line (14mm). In 2-3 occasions I ran out of flat rope. I think it is a good advice not to take less than that.

Storing the pp line is a bit a problem. In an ideal world I would like a reel which I can also install in the dinghy. But I didn't found what I need yet.

Deploying rope with a reel is such a breeze... that's why we use following technique when there is more people then only my wife on the boat:
There is a driver (wife), an "operator" of the reel mounted aft (a friend) and a swimmer (myself wearing palms).

1. Attach a long, heavy, chain at the end of the flat rope with a shackle. Attach also two big fenders with knots who are easy to untie
2. Anchor the boat and hold position
3. Swimmer jumps in the water. Reel operator throws the first 2-3m. of rope and it's chain/fenders attached. This must be done on the side of the boat (helm woman must see the rope and the swimmer)
4. Fast movement of the swimmer in direction to the rocks. Reel operator controls the pace of rope payout. Rope and chain swims nicely thanks of the fenders so no big resistance for the swimmer
5. Swimmer throws the chain over a rock (underwater also OK). Fine tuning by the reel operator. Placing the 2 fenders in the middle of the rope by the swimmer (I had once a Croatian fisher caught in it during the night, the fenders help now to prevent similar incident. I am aware of the rat problem, but touch wood we were lucky till now).

Et voilà. It's now apéro time. From all techniques, we found this one the fastest. But... we don't do it with too much wind.

 

[Hadenough]

We have 50m. of flat rope on a reel and 60 m. of floating pp line (14mm). In 2-3 occasions I ran out of flat rope. I think it is a good advice not to take less than that.

Storing the pp line is a bit a problem. In an ideal world I would like a reel which I can also install in the dinghy. But I didn't found what I need yet.

Deploying rope with a reel is such a breeze... that's why we use following technique when there is more people then only my wife on the boat:
There is a driver (wife), an "operator" of the reel mounted aft (a friend) and a swimmer (myself wearing palms).

1. Attach a long, heavy, chain at the end of the flat rope with a shackle. Attach also two big fenders with knots who are easy to untie
2. Anchor the boat and hold position
3. Swimmer jumps in the water. Reel operator throws the first 2-3m. of rope and it's chain/fenders attached. This must be done on the side of the boat (helm woman must see the rope and the swimmer)
4. Fast movement of the swimmer in direction to the rocks. Reel operator controls the pace of rope payout. Rope and chain swims nicely thanks of the fenders so no big resistance for the swimmer
5. Swimmer throws the chain over a rock (underwater also OK). Fine tuning by the reel operator. Placing the 2 fenders in the middle of the rope by the swimmer (I had once a Croatian fisher caught in it during the night, the fenders help now to prevent similar incident. I am aware of the rat problem, but touch wood we were lucky till now).

Et voilà. It's now apéro time. From all techniques, we found this one the fastest. But... we don't do it with too much wind.

Hmmm? Sounds very dodgy. Why Palms? Oaks are stronger.

 

[Hardmy]

Haha, OK! In the "perfidious Albion" ;-) language, you would call it underwater fins!

 

[vyv_cox]

We use the technique that leaves the shore line flaked into a bag on the boat. I row the dinghy, Jill stays aboard, engine in astern hopefully pointing the transom of the boat at the shore. With floating line it is very easy to drag it behind me while she ensures it runs out correctly. As soon as I have attached the line she winches it tight and I haul myself back along it. We have found that the converse method, tying the line then rowing the rope back to the boat, often results in there not being enough of it as the boat has blown away in offshore winds. Towing the rope from the boat allows me to give it a pull if necessary.

I use a chain loop around sharp rocks if necessary. Not all are as convenient as this one with a hole right through it.

There is a detailed account of our technique at https://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Linesashore.aspx but we have now replaced the 40 metre lines.

 

[cmedsailor]

One of the most helpful things I have in my boat is a grapnel anchor and I use the following tenchique very often (works only in a rocky bottom) and completely single handed. Drop main bow anchor as usual and reverse (go backwards) the boat. Have the grapnel anchor ready with the first 2 meters with chain and then around 10-12 meters of rope (the end of the rope secured around a cleat so I don't drop everything in the water....). Stop the boat where I want it and throw the grapnel anchor in the rocks at the bottom of the sea. It will catch almost immediately. And this immediate catch is the best thing because usually there's a side wind! Then you have all the time you need to secure the boat better like vyv_cox is showing (though personally I use a chain loop + rope around a rock in the bottom of the sea behind the boat and don't need more that 20 meters of rope.

 

[duncan99210]

A variation on the theme of a chain to attach the line to shore/rocks is to acquire a set of climbing 'nuts': these are irregular aluminium hexagons with a web loop through them In a variety of sizes. The idea is to place them in a suitable crack in the rock where their irregular shape will cause them to become wedged. Attach the long line to them and job done with little or no danger of chafe. To remove, simply push back into the crack and the nut will come free. I use them when trees are in short supply and the rock has enough suitable cracks.

 

[Carmel2]

We bought some lorry strops to use instead of the chain that Vyv shows, they are a lot easier to handle and are cheap as chips, ours have a breaking strain of 3 tons, yes you will get chafe, but at 5 quid each..........

 

[Hardmy]

Re the hp for the dinghy you mentioned at the beginning of your thread. I think there are two schools: to plane or not to plane.

I have chosen the first option. It proved to be very handy being able to plane with 4 PAX on board. e.g. I use it also to go shopping around the corner ~2NM away. I bought the engine (a two stroke Johnson 15hp) and the boat (a Marvel 310 with fiberglass V-bottom) used in Italy. It rides nicely, and I can lift it alone in two times on the bathing platform without using the Davits. But the engine is ~30kg and the dinghy ~50kg. I am sure you can find lighter, but it is manageable for me.

I admit that the flat bottomed RIB with 5hp is also appealing because its leightweight. But after having switched to solid V-bottom, I don't want to go back.

In any case, I would try to take a 2-stroke engine. More torque and less weight than its 4-stroke counterparts, but they are more thirsty and smoky at low revvs.

 

[macd]

+1 with much of what Hardmy wrote (although he seems to have got his plane/not plane the wrong way round).

I imagine the OP's boat could easily handle davitts (and bearing in mind that he has no mast to winch a tender on deck). They're not essential, but will make life easier. Ditto a small RIB, ditto a 2-stroke, but these are matters of degree. If he happens already to possess something else, it will almost certainly serve him well. Certainly most people hereabouts managed perfectly well with 4-strokes, which in most places is all that can be bought new.

Another thought about davitts: if the OP needs to install these from scratch, I'd suggest he consider a set-up rated to carry his tender and outboard as a unit, i.e. with the outboard on the tender's transom. Seems perfectly acceptable to me on a mobo, and makes deploying it so much easier. If anyone one has a different view based on experience (what do I know about mobos?), please shout.

It's also worth pointing out, Tom, that the references to tying lines to trees need to be treated with a dash of caution. In parts of Turkey, it's forbidden: rocks only (or, in some popular spots, purpose-made hardware bolted/bashed/cemented into the shore).

 

[tomcourtney]

Thanks all for the replies, been away from my keyboard as the boat's been rushed in for some interior tarting up, the carpenter had a cancellation


Had to google a few terms ie. Flaked into bags, turnbuckles, flat rope on a reel....

Added to shopping list -
Chain loop, grapnel anchor and lorry straps on the list. Upped my rope length to 2 x 60m PP

Mossies -
We have 3 over double bed mossie nets, considering making overlapping sides to velcro on the bimini and hatch and door covers.

Tender -
Got good SS davits fitted, but the planned rib http://www.zodiac-nautic.co.uk/boat/240/cadet-rib-290-neo-pvc
is 75 kg without the approx 5hp motor.... will be looking for a block n tackle or similar
Will need Ability to suspend the tender high for access to the swim platform and low for passarelle use so fixing points on the swim platform necessary? haven't figured this out yet..

Tom