Locking washboards

[Resolution]

When you have finished fussing over your washboards, take a long look at everything else that might go loose if you roll or have a knockdown. Cooker, batteries, floorboards and anything stored in the bilges, all the bottles of wine, cans of beer, the toolkit full of heavy spanner so etc etc.

 

[OceanSprint]

I am.

But being able to safely block up the main big hole into and out from the cabin seems a pretty important function.

My next "fuss" is to think about securing the lids of my anchor lochor and being more careful to secure the lid of my cockpit locker.

Like my liferaft, i very much hope never to need any of these features of my boat.

As my late father was a lloyds surveyor, i know that many safety and design fratures on ships have been introduced after specific disasters. As the accidents fade in history, people question the need for those features, until of course they prevent a repeat of the previous ones.

 

[john_morris_uk]

There is a much cheaper and simpler solution.

Get 2 small plastic cleats. Fix each one either side of top washboard onto the frame the washboard slides into.

Drill a small hole in the top of the washboard.

Run a bit of small dia nylon thru the hole.

Cleat it off both sides.

It can be undone from inside or out.

And doesn't cost a fortune.

View attachment 62950

Put the line through the hole that's often in the cleat and a knot in the ends and the washboard can't be lost overboard if it became uncleated.

 

[Gin]

Mistakenly copied op's last input

 

[Gin]

I am.

But being able to safely block up the main big hole into and out from the cabin seems a pretty important function.

My next "fuss" is to think about securing the lids of my anchor lochor and being more careful to secure the lid of my cockpit locker.

Like my liferaft, i very much hope never to need any of these features of my boat.
.

When we turned turtle on a passage race some years ago, the volume of water gushing in through the open, inverted hatch, was alarming but with no way to displace the large volume of air in the cabin I doubt that it would have been terminal, at least that is-quickly. However, we righted soon after and the scene of chaos where everything not tied down had been thrown hither and thither around the saloon, had to be seen to be believed.
Since then I have been careful to batten down batteries, toolkits, tinned food, as well as cupboard and locker lids, including the anchor locker- it took days to sort out the mess.
You are certainly quite right to attend to the less obvious and somewhat more difficult possible causes of potential damage and injury

 

[OceanSprint]

Thanks gin, and for all ideas.

I think getting pooped with the cockpit awash might be more relevant fory coastal sailing than full inversion.

Then having washboards that dont shift will be important, as qell as washboards that dont float away.

 

[Neil_Y]

Thanks gin, and for all ideas.

I think getting pooped with the cockpit awash might be more relevant fory coastal sailing than full inversion.

Then having washboards that dont shift will be important, as qell as washboards that dont float away.

I've always wanted very strong washboards and a spare, I wonder why...

Many years ago my father was sailing off the needles probably near the shallows where the waves get steep and they had a wave break into the cockpit, guess they were running to get back into the Solent. The wave broke the washboards and the air pressure blew off the fore hatch. It was a low freeboard boat like a nich32 or a twister as I remember it, I think it was a crusader which had a maltese cross emblem on the sail. This was 1971 or 72

 

[OceanSprint]

Yes, I dont think all that many happy boaters realise just how destructive a lump of simple sea water can be. When a 100cm by 100cm by 100cm cube of seawater flies on board via a wave, thats 1035 kg (or two suitcases plus a tonne) landing in your cockpit.

 

[eddystone]

Yes, I dont think all that many happy boaters realise just how destructive a lump of simple sea water can be. When a 100cm by 100cm by 100cm cube of seawater flies on board via a wave, thats 1035 kg (or two suitcases plus a tonne) landing in your cockpit.

Yes good point - I think I am much more likely to experience a wave landing on top of me than an inversion - the anchor locker is a worry given the only thing holding it in place is the length of chain from the windlass to the bow roller and the drains are tiny but the volume is but a teacup compared to the cockpit locker. If that filled.........

 

[OceanSprint]

I still dont understand why such things arent more often built in.

Fastnet happend in the 1970s for goodness sake.

I think all anchor lockers should have moulded in ways of securing them, and all washboards / sliding hatches simple ways of securing them so they can be opened from inside or out. Getting pooped is one thing. Taking shelter in my cabin then inverting (with bilge keels which may not right the boat) and cant get out is another ! (or even worse - me outside and my family in)

Still - I know the answer - MONEY !

 

[Resolution]

Thanks for reminding me about securing anchors. The image that comes immediately to mind is of a large motorboat being craned off a delivery ship a few years ago, when the slings slipped, the mobo flipped and dropped fifty feet upside down into the water. The slow motion replay showed the anchor flying free and the chain snaking out everywhere, smashing across the boat.
It is the recovery that would really worry me. Most yachts will quickly right after a knock down, but would you then want to go up on the foredeck to recover your full length of chain plus anchor? I know my windlass would have difficulty in coping, even on a calm day.