Boat falls off cradle killing owner at Weymouth

AntarcticPilot said:
Why does it need a notice? It was on of the conditions of having your boat ashore at James Watt Dock Marina - the boat had to be in an approved (mostly marina provided) cradle, and ALL propping etc. had to be done by the marina. This was well known, and was on the (short) list of T&Cs that was on your berthing contract.
Click to expand...

Sadly, a lot of yards aren't very professional, so allow all sorts of home-made cradles to be used (rather like the one involved in the fatal accident). There's a marina near me which uses wooden props and wedges to "secure" boats for the winter. I'd only be happy with my boat in a properly-designed steel cradle.
 
The yard in France where my boat is kept uses very substantial steel props but I was told off for hoisting a sail before launching. Annoying, but that's the yard rules and I have to comply or be chucked out.
 
pvb said:
Sadly, a lot of yards aren't very professional, so allow all sorts of home-made cradles to be used (rather like the one involved in the fatal accident).
Click to expand...

The cradle in this case was absolutely fine as long as all four props were in contact with the hull. I would expect many or most professional cradles to offer failure modes with one prop moved out of place. Anyone who drops one of four props is, frankly, an irresponsible idiot.

There's a marina near me which uses wooden props and wedges to "secure" boats for the winter. I'd only be happy with my boat in a properly-designed steel cradle.
Click to expand...

I'd be fine with wooden props done (haha) properly. At least one Clyde marina uses them, but with substantial cross-racing between adjacent props and across the front and back.
 
JumbleDuck said:
The cradle in this case was absolutely fine as long as all four props were in contact with the hull. I would expect many or most professional cradles to offer failure modes with one prop moved out of place. Anyone who drops one of four props is, frankly, an irresponsible idiot.
Click to expand...

Hard to disagree with that, but the practice is sadly not uncommon. Boats are often secured in cradles with additional timber supports, I am told, to prevent the development of rocking harmonics in big winds and also to beef up if the cradle’s wind limits are exceeded.

Most marinas have a ban on touching the cradle pads, but one often sees the wooden poles being temporarily removed for antifouling. Hence the practice of painting the remaining cradle patches when the boat is lifted in slings for launching, which of course doesn’t work that well.

The only proper solution is to shift the boat in its cradle which can cost a few hundred quid. Hence the surreptitious and dangerous pad-dropping lark.
 
JumbleDuck said:
The cradle in this case was absolutely fine as long as all four props were in contact with the hull. I would expect many or most professional cradles to offer failure modes with one prop moved out of place. Anyone who drops one of four props is, frankly, an irresponsible idiot.



....
Click to expand...



I have to agree; though dropping a pad is fine provided you put something useful in it's place. I sense the Health n Safety brigade warming up for an ecstasy of nannying on this one

A bit of a storm in an egg cup really, there was nothing wrong wrong with the bloke's cradle, the chap made an error, it's very sad but crap happens. There is more chance of being hit by lightening when picking up your race winnings than a spate of these things.
 
Last edited:
Dropping a prop on a cradle is fine if it's done carefully.
There are a few things which make a difference.
1) Can the keel move?
I've seen a few boats out of shape on their cradles after a wind, due to the keel being able to move sideways.
2) Is there any wind?
It doesn't take much to rock a boat on its keel.

If your cradle is big enough and the keel is secured at the base, you can ratchet strap one side down against its supports while you work on the other side.
If you've got a 6 -leg cradle, dropping any one leg ought to be OK.

With a deep fin boat, some fore and aft props make a big difference in preventing the boat rocking on its keel.

AIUI, this incident was not on a calm day?
 
dom said:
Hence the practice of painting the remaining cradle patches when the boat is lifted in slings for launching, which of course doesn’t work that well.
Click to expand...

Antifouling the pad patches as the boat is lifted for relaunch has always worked well for me. There's no noticeable difference in fouling next time the boat's lifted out.
 
pvb said:
Antifouling the pad patches as the boat is lifted for relaunch has always worked well for me. There's no noticeable difference in fouling next time the boat's lifted out.
Click to expand...

I remember my boat being craned in once and I had none of the cheap antifouling paint I had used left to do the pad patches. A friend who was painting his boat with an expensive a/f kindly gave me some of his.

When my boat was lifted out again there was no difference in the degree of fouling between the pad patches and the rest of the hull.
 
pvb said:
Antifouling the pad patches as the boat is lifted for relaunch has always worked well for me. There's no noticeable difference in fouling next time the boat's lifted out.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, was that a hard or a soft a/f, although I think I recall you use Micron Extra 2? I sometimes wonder if it also depends a bit on the drying conditions on launch day.

I also recall you get two good seasons out of it. I put on 3x coats of Micron last April and a 4th on leading edges + waterline. Am hoping to get 19 months out of it in Portsmouth Harbour with a lift and low pressure wash in June. The jury is still out!
 
dom said:
That's interesting, was that a hard or a soft a/f, although I think I recall you use Micron Extra 2? I sometimes wonder if it also depends a bit on the drying conditions on launch day.

I also recall you get two good seasons out of it. I put on 3x coats of Micron last April and a 4th on leading edges + waterline. Am hoping to get 19 months out of it in Portsmouth Harbour with a lift and low pressure wash in June. The jury is still out!
Click to expand...

Soft antifoul, Micron (whatever it's called this year). Yes, I get 2 full years in the water (although the boat is marina-based so there's probably a reasonable concentration of antifoul in the water). Will be lifting this May/June for a week to antifoul and polish, be interesting to see what it's like.
 
pvb said:
Soft antifoul, Micron (whatever it's called this year). Yes, I get 2 full years in the water (although the boat is marina-based so there's probably a reasonable concentration of antifoul in the water). Will be lifting this May/June for a week to antifoul and polish, be interesting to see what it's like.
Click to expand...

Gosh, there's no way on earth I could get two full seasons from mid-summer to mid-summer. As a matter of interest (sorry for all these questions!), what colour is yours? Mine is light grey and I suspect that's a good deal less effective.
 
dom said:
Gosh, there's no way on earth I could get two full seasons from mid-summer to mid-summer. As a matter of interest (sorry for all these questions!), what colour is yours? Mine is light grey and I suspect that's a good deal less effective.
Click to expand...

I've been doing the 2-year regime for almost 20 years. I get lifted out in the summer because (a) it's cheaper as the marina has a "Summer Scrub" offer, and (b) it's much easier and more pleasant to antifoul and polish in warmer weather. I always use black Micron, and apply it generously with a brush.
 
Just launched a boat and painted the pad bald bits while on the travel lift. They expected that and buzzed off while we did it.
If one uses an 'Akro' prop against the toe rail to replace the released pad, while AFing the patch, unless one lets it go off a bit, might the paint stick to the pad?
 
pvb said:
Don't do it! Don't ever change the cradle pads once the boat is in it. Never!
Click to expand...

Devil's Advocate here. :rolleyes:

Since my cradle was designed and fabricated by myself, and since my boat has a long keel, and since I subsequently fitted an extra pair of midship supports to the cradle, I humbly crave exemption from your "Never". :D
 
NormanS said:
Devil's Advocate here. :rolleyes:

Since my cradle was designed and fabricated by myself, and since my boat has a long keel, and since I subsequently fitted an extra pair of midship supports to the cradle, I humbly crave exemption from your "Never". :D
Click to expand...

Of course, my comment was geared at common-or-garden boatyard cradles. If yours has been designed to support the boat properly when one pad is removed, fine.
 
Lots of people safely drop cradle pads every year.
Lots of boats get the bottom re-epoxied, faired, sanded etc all over, without mishap.
Maybe it just takes an engineer's way of viewing things to have some understanding of whether it's possible for things to go wrong?

Equally, I've seen a lot of dodgy, worrying practice without pads being dropped.
I've seen boats heeled over in their cradles after a gale. I've seen cradles which aren't very strong, cradles which are designed for different boats so the forces on the legs are in directions where the legs aren't strong. I've seen cradles on dodgy ground.
Boats and cradles sat on wood I wouldn't bother to try burning.
I've seen people running their engines ashore with the wedges rattling out of the cradles. People raising masts in crackpot ways that nearly have the boat nose-diving or sat on its rudder. Two big blokes on the deck of a small boat, walking towards the bow....
Funniest (in retrospect) possibly was being in the office of a certain South Coast yard when the owner's dog walked in very pleased with itself, carrying a 5ft wooden prop in its mouth.

I generally feel relieved when the boat's back in the water where it belongs.
 
lw395 said:
I generally feel relieved when the boat's back in the water where it belongs.
Click to expand...

Likewise, I drop one leg at a time while antifouling the patches at an unnamed yard but with two akro props in place that are tied in to the cradle. Normally giving it an hour per prop to tack off before replacing the leg but never going aboard.

I think sometimes accidents happen when one may not be cautious.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top