has anyone here actually repacked a bell lifeline?

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I have re-packed the "Trem" brand throw lines after demonstrating them to keel boat trainees. It's just a matter of stuffing it all back in, while resisting the urge to coil it in the process. It takes a good while to do it properly, and if any is protruding when finished, you just jam it in with your fist and quickly close the top.
In my demonstrations I also showed what would happen if the line was coiled.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I made up a heaving line from a length of very cheap poly propylene 8mm line. The cheaper it is the better it floats. It has a bowline loop just right size for a person to pass over their shoulders so under arms. It is thrown as a rope however the end loop does aid in distance. I made up a bag out of canvass tubular shaped with a hole in the bottom with the inside end emerging to be tied to the boat. (could fit a snap shackle) The Loop emerges at the other end but is held in by a piece of velcro. The rope is stuffed in exactly as it would come out. So you pull the rope out of the bag and heave to the victim. Pull it in and throw again if necessary.
So the length of the heaving line is dictated by how far you can throw it. No point in having it longer. The whole thing being cheap can be left attached to stern rail. I guess the commercial heaving lines where line is paid out from the bag which is thrown means the bag must be heavy enough to make a good throw but light enough to float. Plus line must run smoothly out so not to limit throw distance.
Now the essence of successful MOB is practice. Firstly you and your wife should practice heaving a line. This is done by coiling up your line with half in one hand and the other half in the other hand. Have the end going to victim in your dominant throwing hand. So you throw under arm your primary half coil with dominant arm while also heaving the secondary half coil after it. In this way a rope with no weight on the end can travel and unravel easily.
Second essential part of MOB is for the remaining crew to be able to control the boat. Turn around and sail back to the victim then heave too close enough to retrieve. We use an old foam life jacket thrown over board for practice. If you have enough crew one person is delegated to simply watch the location of the victim. Losing sight of victim is biggest danger when sailing. It is best if you can contrive to return to the location without gybing the boat. A bit tricky but doable. Start engine if you have one, possibly pull down or furl jib. Practice will show what is best for your your wife. good luck with new boat and lets hope you never need real MOB drill. olewill

Your MOB technique is pretty much what is taught on cruising courses. However, I would not recommend the method of heaving a line that you favour. It's fine for heaving a mooring line or towrope, where there is weight in the line, to give it momentum, but, used correctly a Trem or Bell type line will travel much further. Besides to heave a line as you suggest requires the use of two hands,leaving you vulnerable to falling overboard, whereas the "line-in-a-weighted-bag" type requires only one hand, leaving you with your other hand to hold on to the boat.
For my previous boat I made up a copy of one of the commercial ones, using 30m of floating orange line, some material from an old dayglo orange work jacket, a piece of lead, some closed cell foam and a few inches of garden hose to cover the end loop to go round the thrower's wrist.
The arrangement (homemade) which came with my current boat consists of about 50m of floating line to be tied to the Horseshoe buoy. The line lives in cylindrical plastic drum cut down from something that possibly contained oil, or cleaning fluid. I haven't tried throwing this yet!

 

[solent clown]

Your MOB technique is pretty much what is taught on cruising courses. However, I would not recommend the method of heaving a line that you favour. It's fine for heaving a mooring line or towrope, where there is weight in the line, to give it momentum, but, used correctly a Trem or Bell type line will travel much further. Besides to heave a line as you suggest requires the use of two hands,leaving you vulnerable to falling overboard, whereas the "line-in-a-weighted-bag" type requires only one hand, leaving you with your other hand to hold on to the boat.
For my previous boat I made up a copy of one of the commercial ones, using 30m of floating orange line, some material from an old dayglo orange work jacket, a piece of lead, some closed cell foam and a few inches of garden hose to cover the end loop to go round the thrower's wrist.
The arrangement (homemade) which came with my current boat consists of about 50m of floating line to be tied to the Horseshoe buoy. The line lives in cylindrical plastic drum cut down from something that possibly contained oil, or cleaning fluid. I haven't tried throwing this yet!

I like that. Karen and I will have fun experimenting. We have done it all from a dinghy and small yacht without the luxury of an engine - now we are concerning ourselves more with doing things from a distance and closing that distance