liferaft mounting

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iandodsworth

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I have recently had my 4 man liferaft placed in a canister with a view to mounting it on the pushpit; my boat is a Contessa 32. I have recently read that placing weight this far aft can lead to hobby horseing. What is hobby horseing and are its effects something to worry about?
I sail in the west of Scotland where it can be a bit bumpy.
 
Liferaft Mounting position.

Some of us like to have the liferaft accessible in the event of inversion of the vessel due to keel loss etc.
As you have one of those vessels which is unlikely to be able to remain inverted for more than a few seconds, this consideration should not apply.But I have known of incidents where most of the gear on deck has been swept away by breaking seas.So cabin top mounting on battens etc. would want to be through bolted and perhaps in a pukka s/s frame?
So perhaps the stern is still a good place especially if a fire breaks out that cannot be overcome, it might be a good exit strategy?
Down below the raft is safe, but could become unreachable in extremis.

Good sailing and boating to all!
 
Hobbyhorsing is just what it says - the boat behaving like a child's hobbyhorse and pitching fore and aft excessively. Weight at the ends of the boat can increase the chance of this happening. However, doubt that such a relatively small additional weight would make much difference on what is otherwise a well balanced boat. Siting of a liferaft is always a compromise on a smallish boat which was never designed to carry one. Personally my preference would be to mount it on a cradle forward of the main hatch. Intuitively hanging off the pushpit might seem to offer advantages in deployment, but not sure there is any evidence it is "better" - simply because there have been so few real life deployments from yachts to determine any pattern.
 
Pound for pound (or is that kg for kg) it probably isn't any heavier than a self steering kit. I'd ask anyone who has mounted s/s on a CO32 if that has made any difference to performance or created this effect. I have a Victoria 34 which has very heavy Monitor self steering kit mounted on the transom and I'm not aware of any particular impact - I also sail on the West Coast.
 
In my opinion it will be exposed to a greater chance of damage on the pushpit compared to a coach roof mounting. All the damaged life rafts that I am aware of have been pushpit mounted.
 
iandodsworth said:
What is hobby horseing and are its effects something to worry about?
Click to expand...

images
Envisage the motion

and if you actually find the motion you have found something very very rare :eek:
 
Liferaft Mounting

We have very limited space on our pushpit, which is totally occupied by MOB devices, Walker log mounting plates, and outboard motor bracket. Therefore this was our solution as it is for many others.

Very happy with the result.

Cheers,

Michael.
 
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