Man overboard devices

I was in the Azores last month (Via 747, not yacht sadly). One of the cruising boats in Horta had a 6:1 tackle permanently rigged to a halyard which I have since copied.

In lieu of a photo, I'll try to describe - A purchase set up, on the lower block I have a webbing strop, long enough to go around ones chest. One end of said strop is affixed to the lower block. On the other end of the webbing strop is a climbing carabeener. As such if you are wearing a life jacket, the carabeener can affix directly to the harness point, if you are not wearing one then the strop can go around your chest.

The upper block of the tackle is hoisted far enough up the mast that the casualty can get over the stanchions on either a long tether (carabeener direct to life jacket) or short tether (around chest). This is permanently hoisted in front of the mast on a spare halyard. The extra rope needed to drop the strop into the water is kept flaked into a netting bag so should not tangle when deployed.

Hopefully i will never need to use it in anger.
 
I don"t think anyone has mentioned the spinnaker halyard. Unless in us, hooked onto the MOB and with the spinny halyard seems useable.

As the boat heels with the load, the mob is swung away from the hull. Using the boom with a tackle (which was my preferred method), seemed to guarantee knocking out the casualty.

It the mob is unconscious, it is a whole different ball game.
 
Graham_Wright said:
I don"t think anyone has mentioned the spinnaker halyard. Unless in us, hooked onto the MOB and with the spinny halyard seems useable.

As the boat heels with the load, the mob is swung away from the hull. Using the boom with a tackle (which was my preferred method), seemed to guarantee knocking out the casualty.

It the mob is unconscious, it is a whole different ball game.
Click to expand...

I use my spinnaker halyard pushed out by my spinnaker pole to lift my hard dingy from my fordeck over the side so the same setup to get a MOB back on deck.
 
Graham Wright,

that wasn't my experience when hooked on the mainsheet for real - the boat still heeled keeping me away from the topsides, if I had briefed my novice crew how to use the mainsheet and topping lift as a MOB device it would have worked.

Though if i'd been unconscious for any reason the task would be infinitely harder, same as with any MOB recovery - and I wouldn't have been able to clip the mainsheet to my harness to start with.
 
DuncanWells said:
Here's one way of getting a man back on board, using a 6 part Harken ratcheted block tackle which we developed with Harken, a Rescue Sling and a M OB Lifesaver in the lifejakcet. this is a demo from Yarmouth spring 2018. https://vimeo.com/268563053
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But why not use a winch? It was patently hard work for that young lady. A purchase has so much friction inherent in the mechanism that the more sheaves there are the less the reward.
 
Seajet

The Hammar life Jacket inflater works by the hydrostatic opening and letting the water meet the sensitive element. ... Due to it's ability to recognise pressure, the Jacket won't inflate in high humidity, or when subjected to spray and wave splash.

I think I'm getting closer........ Thanks

Hammar
Similar Terms: PFD, life jacket, automatic inflator

The Hammar life Jacket inflater works by the hydrostatic opening and letting the water meet the sensitive element. This releases the Stainless Steel coil spring, which drives a needle into the end of the gas cylinder. So once you have been submerged 10cm in water, within 3-5 seconds, your life Jacket should automatically inflate.The life Jacket can still be manually inflated like all others, by pulling the handle.
dlj097.jpg

I think I'll buy one of these expensive life jackets for myself and some cheap ones for my guests.:)
 
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Rogershaw said:
An aluminium telescopic ladder may overcome the of a rope ladder swinging under the boat when trying to board.

51-Byy2cVUL._SY450_.jpg
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Yes, that style looks practical, albeit kind of long for MOB recovery!

There seem to be hundreds of items meeting that description if you Google "telescopic boat ladder", which look like a practical answer, aside from the recovery of unconscious, injured or helplessly weak/hypothermic casualties.
 
Graham_Wright said:
I don"t think anyone has mentioned the spinnaker halyard. ……..
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I mentioned in earlier post. We tried it with wet heavy victim (aka medium beefy training adviser in wet suit). With my halliard winch neither myself or wife could lift casualty - and we were fresh and moored up in calm water with rest of club watching. And why would you go overboard in calm water? Maybe with racing crew in their 30s and bigger boat better winch, more hands on deck, it might go but with 60+ aged crew with single person doing rescue it didn't go.

We bought 6 to one hoist next day, I hope I never fall overboard but if I do I don't wont to drown uncessarily while my beloved watches helplessly unable to do anything.
 
oldmanofthehills said:
I mentioned in earlier post. We tried it with wet heavy victim (aka medium beefy training adviser in wet suit). With my halliard winch neither myself or wife could lift casualty - and we were fresh and moored up in calm water with rest of club watching. And why would you go overboard in calm water? Maybe with racing crew in their 30s and bigger boat better winch, more hands on deck, it might go but with 60+ aged crew with single person doing rescue it didn't go.



We bought 6 to one hoist next day, I hope I never fall overboard but if I do I don't wont to drown uncessarily while my beloved watches helplessly unable to do anything.
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How do the purchase ratios compare?
 
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Rogershaw said:
An aluminium telescopic ladder may overcome the of a rope ladder swinging under the boat when trying to board.

51-Byy2cVUL._SY450_.jpg
Click to expand...
I've just bought one of them for another reason, getting on board on the hard standing.
I immediately wondered if the design would be useful at sea. Conclusion, not much use and an accident waiting to happen.
I would be very wary about relying on one for boarding..the catches which support the rungs open are not deigned to work with the top end made fast, but with the bottom feet resting on the floor.
The tiny catches and weak construction (neccessary for lightness) wouldnot last long at sea, and would soon be bent out of shape, or stuck with salt.
The visual check window, showing that it's correctly latched would not be visible at sea.
The release catch, to unlatch and collapse the ladder, is on the bottom rung, under water and easy to snag with rope or foot..
They are unwieldy and awkward to deploy, and that's in a nice level boatyard..
But the main issue is that they are designed to work in compression not tension.
Verdict 1/10.
I think a rigid folding ladder is the way forward for this application.
 
It’s a great shame that the Mastep ladder - which was a really nice design, with stand offs at each (rigid) tread, seems to have vanished.

Thanks to Duncan Wells for his contribution. I think the point about a tackle rather than a winch is that a winch is great for sweating the last few inches but if you are using a winch to hoist several metres it isn’t so good. After using my staysail halyard and winch to get lots of stuff weighing about a human each aboard (dinghy, etc) I have settled on using the single part halyard to hoist the purchase...
 
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Ohlin Karcher said:
I've just bought one of them for another reason, getting on board on the hard standing.
I immediately wondered if the design would be useful at sea. Conclusion, not much use and an accident waiting to happen.
I would be very wary about relying on one for boarding..the catches which support the rungs open are not deigned to work with the top end made fast, but with the bottom feet resting on the floor.
The tiny catches and weak construction (neccessary for lightness) wouldnot last long at sea, and would soon be bent out of shape, or stuck with salt.
The visual check window, showing that it's correctly latched would not be visible at sea.
The release catch, to unlatch and collapse the ladder, is on the bottom rung, under water and easy to snag with rope or foot..
They are unwieldy and awkward to deploy, and that's in a nice level boatyard..
But the main issue is that they are designed to work in compression not tension.
Verdict 1/10.
I think a rigid folding ladder is the way forward for this application.
Click to expand...

With the ladder hanging from the top rung ant weight on the bottom rung would be trying to extend the ladder further. The catch you refer to stops the ladder collapsing when used propped up against a wall.

My plan is to attach the bottom to the top rail of my life lines.

It would also be possible to reduce the extension by tieing the bottom 2 or 3 rungs together.

2 standoffs could also be fixed to a lower rung to stop the ladder swinging towards the hull and give foot space.

This assumes the MOB is cable of helping, if not lifting with which of handy billy would be need.

This may be a case when a halyard directed to a windlass would aid lifting a mob from the water onto deck.
 
Graham_Wright said:
How do the purchase ratios compare?
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Main sheet on LM27 and Westerly Pentland both 4:1

6 to 1 Handy Billie was from Jimmie Green for abut £70. I tried permanent mounting it on mast at just above head height but got in tangle so will stick with hoisting it up halliard if needed

MOB advisor said 8 to 1 gives just too much cord when pulled in. Still vigorous with 6:1 but Navigator can manage and I hope she would put some effort in getting me back on board:o
 
oldmanofthehills said:
I mentioned in earlier post. We tried it with wet heavy victim (aka medium beefy training adviser in wet suit). With my halliard winch neither myself or wife could lift casualty - and we were fresh and moored up in calm water with rest of club watching. And why would you go overboard in calm water? Maybe with racing crew in their 30s and bigger boat better winch, more hands on deck, it might go but with 60+ aged crew with single person doing rescue it didn't go.

We bought 6 to one hoist next day, I hope I never fall overboard but if I do I don't wont to drown uncessarily while my beloved watches helplessly unable to do anything.
Click to expand...

We have a 4:1 tackle which goes on the end of the kite hallyard.
It's an old mainsheet with jammer.
Winding that in with the jib winch is not quick but it pulls the MOB back to the cockpit.
 
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