Ideal height for passerelle

boatmike

boatmike

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Or is that passerele , passerale..... sod it gang plank. You guys know what I mean! Having acquired a telescopic one, it has a swivel mount on the inboard end which I was going to mount on my swim platform but it's only about 12 inches above the waterline which would mean it would slope upwards to any pontoon or dock which ain't right cos the wheely things won't be ashore before the plank hits the edge of the dock (if you see what I mean) So I thought, well I will mount it on the transom then, which means it could be anywhere up to 4ft above the WL to allow it to slope down and the wheels contact the dock first. Obviously most pontoons will be about 2ft above WL so about 3ft at the inboard end seems right but if stern to on a med mooring perhaps a dock may be higher? How high is ideal???? How high are yours folks?
 
It's an impossible question to answer, especially as you move further east. No ISO standards for pontoons! Our passerelle mounting is on the stern platform about 18 inches above the water. This is ideal for maybe 50% of situations in the Aegean but in the past quay heights have varied from almost on the water at several ports in the Ionian, to best part of six feet above it at Galixhidi and one whose name I have forgotten on the west side of Corfu. I am about to construct a bolt-on socket to fix to my pushpit top rail to cater for these situations. In your situation with a telescopic passerelle I think I would go along with many mobos and set it around 3 ft above the water, if possible. Most boats are set up with a length of bungee in the uphaul for the passerelle so that it swings clear of the dock normally but drops down onto either the wheels or solid part when people walk on them.
 
Originally I bought two sockets with the intention of having a high and a low mounting point, one on the top of the transom and one on the sugar scoop. In the end after looking at dozens of other installations (in Corfu) I ended up with a compromise below the top of the transom on a bracket bolted through the transom with a big backing plate. Was about 3' above the waterline. Worked well for most situations using a uphaul to a block on the backstay and guys to either quarter. Appreciate with yours you won't need an uphaul and your mounting may be strong enough to do away with the guys.
 
We have a plank and it either goes on the infill in the stern or at deck level with the infill removed depending on the height of the quay. Not much help for there....
I've often thought of getting something a bit more sophisticated than the plank sorted out. If I ever do, I'd probably go for a swivel mount about 30-40 cm down from the top of the cockpit coaming off to the port side (starboard side has he diesel filler).
 
Thanks for that guys. Bears out what I thought. For those who might think I still have the catamaran, I don't. We have traded down to a twin screw motor yacht to get down the French canals. Really must change my avatar! I think with twin screws and a bow thruster I won't have any problem reversing in to a med mooring on a pontoon but will be a bit wary of doing so on a quay as I don't want to damage props or rudders so from what Viv says I will probably go for about 3ft at the stern and rig something a bit higher from the bows. (well it will have to be actually) That should give me the best of both worlds I guess. Luckily I do have a fairly substantial stainless framework over the aft cockpit so should be able to rig a couple of lines from there to support the beastie. The bungee lines are a good idea to stop unwanted guests (rats cockroaches etc ) from boarding too... thanks again!
 
vyv_cox said:
Most boats are set up with a length of bungee in the uphaul for the passerelle so that it swings clear of the dock normally but drops down onto either the wheels or solid part when people walk on them.
Click to expand...

Is it a dumb question to ask what is the reason for that ?

Boo2
 
Boo2 said:
Is it a dumb question to ask what is the reason for that ?

Boo2
Click to expand...

Not dumb at all. Very few ports are totally swell free for one reason or another. As the boat yaws and pitches a passerelle with one end on the ground will gradually work itself around until it either falls into the water or, worse, wedges itself between the boat and the wall, where it can do considerable damage. In many cases on Greek quays there are obstructions such as bollards, lamp posts, fire boxes, services pillars, all of which can act as stoppers that will exert unwanted stresses on the boat.
 
Yes Jim. Not just a Med problem. As I said in my post Rats and Cockroaches. Certainly the latter are often brought on with groceries but I once watched an army of the little boogers walking up a makeshift gangplank onto a local ferry in Tobago!
 
boatmike said:
Or is that passerele , passerale..... sod it gang plank. You guys know what I mean! Having acquired a telescopic one, it has a swivel mount on the inboard end which I was going to mount on my swim platform but it's only about 12 inches above the waterline which would mean it would slope upwards to any pontoon or dock which ain't right cos the wheely things won't be ashore before the plank hits the edge of the dock (if you see what I mean) So I thought, well I will mount it on the transom then, which means it could be anywhere up to 4ft above the WL to allow it to slope down and the wheels contact the dock first. Obviously most pontoons will be about 2ft above WL so about 3ft at the inboard end seems right but if stern to on a med mooring perhaps a dock may be higher? How high is ideal???? How high are yours folks?
Click to expand...

As pointed out - long as a piece of string - however would suggest optimum is between 600mm and 1.2m above waterline. Lower if you habitually use marinas with their low pontoons.
 
boatmike said:
Thanks for that guys. Bears out what I thought. For those who might think I still have the catamaran, I don't. We have traded down to a twin screw motor yacht to get down the French canals. Really must change my avatar! I think with twin screws and a bow thruster I won't have any problem reversing in to a med mooring on a pontoon but will be a bit wary of doing so on a quay as I don't want to damage props or rudders so from what Viv says I will probably go for about 3ft at the stern and rig something a bit higher from the bows. (well it will have to be actually) That should give me the best of both worlds I guess. Luckily I do have a fairly substantial stainless framework over the aft cockpit so should be able to rig a couple of lines from there to support the beastie. The bungee lines are a good idea to stop unwanted guests (rats cockroaches etc ) from boarding too... thanks again!
Click to expand...

Go bows to - I usually do but for a different reason.
 
charles_reed said:
Go bows to - I usually do but for a different reason.
Click to expand...

When we first arrived in the Med we always berthed bows-to, being Brits with a boat that doesn't go astern very well this seemed the easier option. Our boat has a long overhanging pulpit that is not easy to climb over, particularly when arriving to put the crew on the pontoon, and it wasn't long before Jill fell off in the process, damaging herself quite badly. After that we bought some extra kit, did some practice and now always berth stern-to, which has so many advantages that I would never consider reverting to bows-to. Even where there is ballast at the foot of the quay we still go stern-to, using the dinghy as a stepping stone.
 
We have a Westerly Oceanlord and find that the passerelle works a treat when mounted off the top on the transom above the sugar scoop. If you are in a marina with low pontoons there will be a slope downwards but nothing that cannot be coped with, But we find that in Greece Turkey etc we never go into marinas and the town quay walls are normally much the same height as the top of the transom, so that to me is the ideal height.

The passerelle is help up by a second main halyard which provides some stretch to spring the plank off the jetty when no weight is on it.
 
Hi Mike.
We have come across a big variety of berthing quay heights French and Spain Med coasts, ranging from 2 inches to 7 feet.
Most berthing is stern or bow to moorings but also a few pontoons.
As the Aquastar is relatively small half the time we found we could moor stern to close enough to step ashore from the bathing platform.
However that is not always the case.

The stern
We have fitted two parasol mounting holes at the stern. (We have a transom gate for accessing the bathing platform)
Low down, I fitted one mounting hole on the deck floor directly under where the gate is when it is shut.
A second one we fitted high up, mounted directly on the transom below and just behind the hand rail.
(I have emailed you a photo)

The bow.
we removed the bow centre joining rail (the std rail & anchor roller make it a nightmare to get off over the bow)
We fitted quick release SS bars with teak wood step above the anchor, which makes a purfect very high way off when the quay is very tall. And also with the quick release remove it completely when the quay is a bit lower. (As a bonus it also makes a great seat) we haven't yet found it nessacery to install a mounting hole for the Passeralle at the bow.

We have needed all of them in roughly equal measure.

Of note if you have not yet bought yourself a pasasserelle, every chandler in the Med seams to stock them and they are far cheaper to buy, especially in Spain.
Being a small boat that can get close alongside we never once had use for a Passeralle on the rivers or canals.
 
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Our passarelle was tied to the top step of the swimming ladder, it was about 12 feet long and had no wheels but a sacrificial piece of wood screwed to the underneath of the dock end. It had a rope loop at the end so we could pull it up a night with the mizzen halyard. The most interesting visitor we had using the Passerelle was a green Iguana in Venezuela.
 
Chris_Robb said:
We have a Westerly Oceanlord and find that the passerelle works a treat when mounted off the top on the transom above the sugar scoop. If you are in a marina with low pontoons there will be a slope downwards but nothing that cannot be coped with, But we find that in Greece Turkey etc we never go into marinas and the town quay walls are normally much the same height as the top of the transom, so that to me is the ideal height.

The passerelle is help up by a second main halyard which provides some stretch to spring the plank off the jetty when no weight is on it.
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
There is no ideal height for a passerelle. I am 6 foot five inches tall and never had a problem with any passerelle. Unless you mean a covered passerelle of course.
 
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