Just had my first and hopefully only tow of the season.

E

Ex-SolentBoy

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Beautiful sunny day off Falmouth last week. Not a breath of wind but we were happy to motor to Scilly.

Near The Manacles the boat went from 7 to 0 knots quite quickly. Looking astern we could see a thick blue line being stretched taught either side of the boat like a bow string. Engine into neutral and we drifted back slowly. After a while we engaged gear again but we were still stuck and the engine was clearly labouring.

We tried motoring in several directions but to no avail and soon enough the rope cutter did its business. The engine was still very unhappy and although we could make slow headway, I was concerned about permanent damage.

Clearly it was time for the first swim of the season, so I donned a wet suit and dived in far a good look. The rope was firmly wound between the hull and the cutter.

A nearby Fisheries rib towed us back to Falmouth (thanks again folks) where a local diver spent 10 minutes hacking away and eventually cleared the problem.

I have before considered carrying my BCD on board for times like this, but I do not like diving alone. Apart from this, what would you have done different?
 
We do keep dive kit on board and a serrated dive knife. If you have a swimming ladder or another easy way to get aboard then if diving alone tie yourself to the boat. If not I wouldn't do it either.
 
If you need to dive solo on the underside of the hull at sea, then you really do need to have a line to the boat with someone one the other end of it and a set of signals, including one to haul you back in! Otherwise, that's about it. Oh, an old bread knife is often the best bet in those sort of circumstances for sawing through the bits of rope.
 
SolentBoy said:
Apart from this, what would you have done different?
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Given the circumstances as you describe them ... nothing. A job well done.

A call to the CG mght have been in order but would probably have resulted in you being another 'life saved'

Just out of interest what thickness wetsuit do you have and how long do you think that you would have remained 'comfortable' in the water?
 
We got a wrap many years ago. Didn't have a cutter on the shaft. Tried reverse, didn't work. Eventually got if off by turning the prop shaft backwards by hand. Maybe the cutter precluded that. Glad you're safe. I understand the major issue when under the boat at sea is the boat coming back down onto you due to even light swells and/or wind waves. I've found a "Hold Tight" (double suction cups with a handle between them) is invaluable for hanging on. Also helps to provide some stability to you when working underwater.
 
Good thoughts indeed.

A helmet sounds very sensible, as does the hold on gizmo.

My suit was a 5mm one with boots and a hood. I certainly think I would have been fine for 30 minutes although I had no gloves and that was probably the limiting factor. The biggest problem was the buoyancy of the suit. Without a weight belt I would have really struggled to get down far enough to do anything meaningful. Water temp was probably about 9 or 10.

There was no swell at all, but the following day it picked up a bit and I remember thinking that I wouldn't have gone in the water then at all.

We did in fact call the coastguard. With their big binos they could probably have seen us anyway! They put us on to the Fisheries boat who were very helpful. Shame they didn't have a BCD on board or I might have been able to borrow it and sort things myself.
 
Giblets said:
Hope you haven't damaged any of Fisherman's mate's nets out of Cadwith Cove! :eek:
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No, well clear of Cadgwith.

As it was a mirror like sea it was easy to keep a good lookout for buoys and pots. There were none anywhere near.

I can only assume it was lost gear. Once the rope cutter had done its bit an old buoy did come to the surface, but it was punctured. Perhaps that's why the whole thing sank.
?
 
Years ago whilst working on a coaster we were steaming down channel in ballast when we picked up a big thick ships mooring line.By dint of pumping more ballast into the bows and pumping out the aft tanks it was possible to luach a dinghy and cut the rope off.Luckily it was a calm summers day.We kept the rope on borad and on the return trip up channel ,ladden I couldnt find the rope .Our deckie learner had thrown it overboard as he had been asked to give the decks a wash!
 
Solent Boy, Stu Jackson, Galago,

thanks, this has been a very useful thread.

I get around the lobster pot menace by having an engine in a well ( and a breaknife kept handy ) but have had other boats with inboards where this was a serious worry.

I know a very experienced family who years ago picked up a plastic tarpaulin around their prop early one season, motoring back across the Channel in a calm.

Despite the son being an experienced diver, they had no wetsuit with them and father & son simply couldn't get anywhere due to the cold water.

They drifted to & fro in the Channel for 2 days and a night ( personally I think they should have called for a tow ! ) and took photo's of a submarines' masts going by, quite possibly oblivious to their presence.

Eventually the wind returned and they sailed in slowly, it turned out the plastic sheet had 'welded' itself on the propshaft and took 20 minutes to remove with saws and the boat dried out.

The suction 'hold on' is an excellent idea, as is the canoe helmet, why didn't I think of those ?!

Ta.
 
The only thing I can think of ( having once anchored by the stern inadvertently with a pot line wrapped around a quarter prop ). One 'might' have a go with trusty bread knife wired to an oar having practised this out of the water to familiarise oneself with the underwater shape and requisite actions...

I freed mine by dropping a 10mm line from the bow With a dinghy grapnel tied to it, each tail was brought aft along the deck until they could be taken onto the sheet winches, and sheeted the fxck out of it until the line appeared ar the surface...got a rolling hitch on it and led that aboard, cut it to be free and off sailing again, and proceeded to wind the transmission by hand to unwrap the pot line. All very tedious and it was night and we were motorsailing at the time. My main fear was pulling the props haft out by dint of the anchoring load...
Btw in the end because it was a quarter prop installation, the ppt marker buoy had wrapped itself/jammed between the prop and the hull, so I sailed into lymington(!) up the river and onto the town quay slipway, layed against the wall and removed the offending item at low water..
Bit long winded post, this, but some of it may just help someone else sometime....:)
 
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Those long handled 'garden loppers' for pruning high-ish trees, about £25.00 from garden centres, look well worth a go for anyone with an inboard; some have a serrated saw on the other side to the cutting jaws which seems very worthwhile.
 
Seajet said:
Those long handled 'garden loppers' for pruning high-ish trees, about £25.00 from garden centres, look well worth a go for anyone with an inboard; some have a serrated saw on the other side to the cutting jaws which seems very worthwhile.
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Yes, I can see th might work.

The problem is always how far is the prop from the water.
We have an underwater inspection camera. I tie it to the very end of our boat hook. I have to lie on a pontoon and extend my arm until my hand is underwater to get a good view of the prop. It is a long way.
Given a little swell or chop on our boat it would be impossible to get anything that far away to behave in such a way as to be able to focus the cutting to a small gap between prop and hull. I would have to be in the water to control it.
 
I've got some scrap stainless in the shed, and I think I'm going to make up a kind of boarding-pike head with a sharp hook etc, to go on the end of a boathook. It probably won't free up a jammed prop, but it should enable us to cut loose from a string of pots and sail towards shelter to sort things out.

Hopefully a keel-hung rudder, a rope cutter and a prop aperture will mean I never need it.

Pete
 
We sail from April to October and I do carry a wetsuit on board but most times I am inclined to hop in wearing swim trunks and hat and diving mask and snorkle. I first throw a line over the stern with a bowline as a foothold and a second line led from one side of the boat to the other under the hull in the prop area and secured both ends. This serves the same function as the holdfast described above wirth the advantage that it can be placed in position before you get in the water.I then swim facing up to the boat using the line to manouvre myself. The situation below becomes clear quite quickly and a plan to suit the circumstance can be put together.
 
I think I have found the culprit........

"We have been made aware of the deterioration of the Mussel Farm at Porthallow. It is said to be in total disrepair with material spreading over a wide area, including literally miles of heavy rope studded with spikes as well as floating lines, loose buoys and other material. Any member affected should contact the Falmouth Harbour Master. The message continues to warn that towards the mouth of Helford River floating material has observed which possibly might have been anchored by one of the fishermen in the river."
 
Bav34 said:
Just out of interest what thickness wetsuit do you have and how long do you think that you would have remained 'comfortable' in the water?
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We carry a 6mm suit. At this time of year the water will be as low as 7.c (16.c in the summer) so you must have a wet suit hood as well or the cold water will be painful, not just cold. You should be good for 20 minutes before the cold affects your fingers to the point you will probably drop the knife.


Pete
 
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