Hand On Heart....Can You...

Well I certainly couldn't claim to fully understand the workings of any of the technology on my boat (OK so there isn't that much technology on my boat) and I am a Chartered Engineer with a first & second degree, but I understand enough to know if it has gone wrong & how I might manage without out any given bit. I also know tricks & techniques that will allow me to use currents anchor, sails and winds if the engine fails to stay safe or get home.

The trick is that you must not be dependant on any one piece of kit (err except maybe the hull?) so that failures are not catastrophic & there are back up options.
 
I think one important aspect has slipped under the radar here.

I and a lot of others know my kit pretty well, I make it a point to do so, and could 'fault-find' most things.

However, could I do that on a dark night in a F6, possibly alone or with novice girlfriend left on the helm ?

One must always have a slightly paranoid ' the XXX will fail if I rely on it completely ' attitude, with a Plan B up one's sleeve.
 
I am much happier going to sea in a boat whose systems I understand sufficiently enough to be able to use standby/ alternatives when something goes wrong.


That's why for the new boat (i.e used new) I am putting together a Operations Manual covering all the components to a level where one could know how many AA batteries are in use, what filters are for which part of the engine and where the spare ones are stored, fire extinguisher expiry dates, yakka yakka.

Obsessive ? No, just reducing the risks associated being a natural oxygen breather with the nearest bit of land being half a mile beneath my feet.
 
It always helps if you've built your own boat. When you've designed, bought or built and installed every bit of kit on board you have a fair chance of knowing what to do when something goes wrong.

The down side is that when things get a bit hairy you are always wondering 'did I make that bit strong enough?'
 
fireball said:
Do you mean that in the present tense? If so it is at odds with the view you posted above ?

I don't doubt that there are people who do have implicit trust in their GPS - but given that it already has a limit of accuracy I tend to give mine conditional trust - based on unrelated systems and spacial awareness.

Not entirely "GPS" - but for a while our chartplotter (with inbuilt GPS) would show double the Log miles for a trip - ie Chichester -> Beaulieu ~ 18Nm - would show a trip log as ~ 36Nm ... I think this is enough of an error to have a healthy 'distrust' of the GPS - it's not that I don't use it - just that it's not used blindly!
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No it isn't I trust my GPS, I am not so sure about one or two other systems ( the e-80 and raymarine instruments for example )
 
>Does it matter? Which systems require understanding and which (if any) can be safely ignored?

It depends what sort of sailing you do. If you coastal sail and pay for a 'tow you home service' or an RNLI to call then you don't really need to be able to fix things. Although I wouldn't want to call them.

If you go long distance sailing most countries don't have any rescue service. When you are one thousand miles from anywhere you must be able to fix everything. The main problem is not fixing things but knowing what has broken. For example what if the diesel engine takes longer and longer to start and then won't start at all. First thing to check the solenoid, then the fuel supply. The odds are it's the solenoid, the rivet that holds it has stretched and lost electrical contact.

You need to carry spares for everything (down to tap washers), same with parts digrams and all the tools needed, some specialist.

If you want to learn how to fix things take everything apart and put it back together. Lay the parts out in a straight line so you know how to put it back together. That will give a good clue to what has broken and confidence in fixing it. That's what my father did (elecrical engineer) and taught me to do.

For engines it is not realistic to think you can replace pistons, con rods etc. But you can carry spares such as fuel lift pump, injectors, gaskets etc. Most components on an engine can only be repaired by a machine shop, but it's worth knowing how to replace the ancilliaries.

Niggel Calder's book Boatowner's Mechanical & Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems is the bible on the subject. You can buy it here http://www.amazon.com/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-Essential/dp/007009618X
 
bbg said:
Fireball - you make my point.

First of all, I have NEVER seen any GPS unit fail for any reason whatsoever, and there isn't anything more reliable than that.
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I have had 3 GPSs all die, including a waterproof handheld, once a lot of salt water started sloshing around the inside of the saloon. I have also been several times in an area (not that far from of a communist country's military base) where all GPSs stop working, and start up again five miles further along the coast.

Going back to the original question: I don't understand every bit of every system on board my boat ( I took an electric bilge pump to bits last week before I discovered a blocked pipe connector I didn't know was there ), but I am tolerably practical and try to have duplicated systems, ie sails and engine, at least 2 anchors, torches as well as fixed lights, etc. etc.
 
I may not have a raft of qualifications, I may not be particularly articulate, but I do have, what I consider a gift, of being able to 'fix things'. Its all well and good carrying a boat load of spares and 'how to' books, but if you dont have common sense, then its all a waste.
 
Well maybe a bit in the wrong camp here as we carry an engineer but I have a pretty good working knowledge of the systems on board and what I don't know I can find out from our technical manuals.

Relying on an outside agency is in my mind a false sense of security. I know that major unfixable or unresolvable problems occur but I think we should all know the basics of our boats and systems.

As an aside how many people (and SWMBO/HWMBO) know where their gas/water stop cocks are at home or how to turn the power off?

W.
 
Lakesailor said:
Does it matter? Which systems require understanding and which ( if any) can be safely ignored?
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Asking that suggests you have never been in a difficult / survival situation at sea. When you do ( and its only happened to me once in 25 years) then you get a sudden real understanding of why self reliance matters.

Sure, as someone below has said, the items that really matter on a sail boat are few. You dont need gps or chartplotter for example - unless you have been daft enough to venture offshore without the paper charts and knowledge to use them. And in some sailing boats, but not all or even maybe a majority, you dont need the engine except in special situations. But if you do need the engine and are as impractical as not being able to bleed the diesel or change a filter, you should not go to sea. IMO of course.

Once took my boat down across Biscay to N Spain. It was then, and maybe still is, an area where there was little if any yacht sailing or the facilities to deal with yottie problems. I was appalled by the number of UK sailors who had arrived there having had either the yard or the "little man they had" prepare and launch their boat. Epitomised by one guy whose boat went up in flames when he had a battery cable dead short at sea. Managed to survive and sail to port but hadnt a clue how to repair anything.

Or was he too lazy and arrogant to bother to learn what is really very simple. Like the people who say " I can't do sums".
 
Bosun Higgs,

Or was he too lazy and arrogant to bother to learn what is really very simple. Like the people who say " I can't do sums".

- A hell of a lot of truth in that little statement !

I know it regards all kit, but you reminded me of an example.

My first cross -Channel was aged 17 with a similar aged school chum, we knew how to sail alright but navigation was just what we'd discovered from books and 'sort of worked out' ourselves; GPS or even Decca were not available, and we couldn't even afford an RDF set between us ( our cross Channel aspirations were secret, long story ).

I have always been poor at Maths, my excuse being I am reasonable at English and not many people are good at both, so I just scraped 'O' level Maths.

When we ended up in un-forecast fog tacking blind between the Casquets & inshore shipping lane relying on sound signals & dead reckoning, sums suddenly seemed useful !

We made it fine after 40 hours of intense sailing with the chart spread on a bunk top, many years afterwards we agreed it was a combination of concentration & being young & fit to enable that concentration which got us through.

Nowadays I'm not sure if I could do that again, and usually sail with my g/f who refuses to take any lessons; I have a couple of spare hand GPS, a trail log, sextant and compasses, and more formal training; but I'm not sure I could ever repeat that first, hairy crossing, and plan to use the Test Pilots ( of which I'm not one, just know a few ) motto; " to use superior judgement, so as to avoid having to exercise any superior skills ! "
 
Bosun Higgs said:
Originally Posted by Lakesailor

Does it matter? Which systems require understanding and which ( if any) can be safely ignored?
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Asking that suggests you have never been in a difficult / survival situation at sea. When you do ( and its only happened to me once in 25 years) then you get a sudden real understanding of why self reliance matters.
.
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I was asking the question to provoke discussion. If you've followed my various threads on boaty matters you'll know that I like to know the far end of a fart about things. :D
 
Lakesailor;2942433 Does it matter? Which systems require understanding and which ( if any) can be safely ignored?[/QUOTE said:
I once witnessed a large sailing yacht enter the British Virgin Islands. All the crew (about five or six of them) ran ashore to the nearest fresh water tap. With mouths wide open they fought to get under the running tap. After half an hour of this they made their way to customs to check in.

I was told that they left New York three weeks ago with full water tanks. One of the crew during the second week ran the main tank dry because he was holding his hand under the tap waiting for it to run cold as if he was in a house.

You can make a system fool proof, but you can not make a system idiot proof so all systems must be understood and explained to the crew just in case.
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Baaah humbug ....

Most modern systems are luxury items, I remember making do with decca and a hand bearing compass instead of GPS, a spinning echo sounder, paper charts instead of a plotter, a fog horn, binoculars, eyes and ears instead of AIS and engines were called auxiliary for a reason. Even the biggest sailing yacht works on the same principles as a dinghy, just the forces involved are way bigger.

One of the key points relating to people who survive disasters is that the ones who already have an escape or survival strategy worked out before the disaster strikes are orders of magnitude more likely to survive.
 
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