Making an offer

[LittleSister]

Whilst getting about the deck see howI can manage with narrow side decks.

How to manage with narrow side-decks:
1) have job forward that can't be put off any longer; and
2) a combination of fear and care will keep you safe. ?

Yes, it's much nicer to have wide side decks, but it isn't usually that much of an issue once you get used to it. On a small boat it usually comes with the territory, and the cost of having wide side decks is either pitiful internal accommodation or several tens of thousands of pounds extra!

Observations

• Once you get used to a particular boat, you almost automatically develop an unconscious routine of which foot to put where to pass along the decks most easily, and what there is where to hang on to. It helps greatly if the boat isn't too tippy - generally easier to cope with narrow side decks as the boat gets bigger, paradoxically.
• Good stout handrails on the coachroof help (not too small in section - can you get your fingers round and under them?), as is a high coachroof. Placing of side stays is important - they are good handholds because you can hang on at full standing (or any) height, but on narrow decks they often limit where you can put your feet and which order.
• One of the many things that sold me on the LM27 was that going forward from the cockpit you have (taking stbd side as the example) a high handrail on top of the wheelhouse (there's also one on the lower coachroof ahead of the wheelhouse), then the aft lower for your left hand + space for right foot, then then cap shroud for your right hand and space for your left foot, then the forward lower for your left hand and right foot again. Admittedly, you do then have a fairly big foredeck to launch yourself across! You have space here, though, to crawl if need be. Getting round the aft quarter with the cockpit canopy up is the most challenging & hazardous bit, but one is usually anchored or berthed then.
• It's almost impossible, in my experience, to rig up a practical high level jackstay on a small boat. I have had jackstays run along the narrow side decks of a smallish boat, but in that position and height they won't stop you going over the side (though will keep you with the boat); wire ones are lethal in this position as they roll under your feet so webbing ones are, for me, preferable here; and with narrow side decks the safety line or its clip often gets snagged on stays, genoa cars, etc. I eventually stopped using them as the combination of their own hazards and the nuisance seemed to give marginal if any advantage (others may conclude otherwise).

 

[Wansworth]

How to manage with narrow side-decks:
1) have job forward that can't be put off any longer; and
2) a combination of fear and care will keep you safe. ?

Yes, it's much nicer to have wide side decks, but it isn't usually that much of an issue once you get used to it. On a small boat it usually comes with the territory, and the cost of having wide side decks is either pitiful internal accommodation or several tens of thousands of pounds extra!

Observations

• Once you get used to a particular boat, you almost automatically develop an unconscious routine of which foot to put where to pass along the decks most easily, and what there is where to hang on to. It helps greatly if the boat isn't too tippy - generally easier to cope with narrow side decks as the boat gets bigger, paradoxically.
• Good stout handrails on the coachroof help (not too small in section - can you get your fingers round and under them?), as is a high coachroof. Placing of side stays is important - they are good handholds because you can hang on at full standing (or any) height, but on narrow decks they often limit where you can put your feet and which order.
• One of the many things that sold me on the LM27 was that going forward from the cockpit you have (taking stbd side as the example) a high handrail on top of the wheelhouse (there's also one on the lower coachroof ahead of the wheelhouse), then the aft lower for your left hand + space for right foot, then then cap shroud for your right hand and space for your left foot, then the forward lower for your left hand and right foot again. Admittedly, you do then have a fairly big foredeck to launch yourself across! You have space here, though, to crawl if need be. Getting round the aft quarter with the cockpit canopy up is the most challenging & hazardous bit, but one is usually anchored or berthed then.
• It's almost impossible, in my experience, to rig up a practical high level jackstay on a small boat. I have had jackstays run along the narrow side decks of a smallish boat, but in that position and height they won't stop you going over the side (though will keep you with the boat); wire ones are lethal in this position as they roll under your feet so webbing ones are, for me, preferable here; and with narrow side decks the safety line or its clip often gets snagged on stays, genoa cars, etc. I eventually stopped using them as the combination of their own hazards and the nuisance seemed to give marginal if any advantage (others may conclude otherwise).

Thanks,it’s not me it’s her indoors,even so we are both not as steady on feet.

 

[LittleSister]

Thanks,it’s not me it’s her indoors,even so we are both not as steady on feet.

Cata-meringue?