Med mooring bows too. how to get off?

[Kibo]

I also berth in the Med, and wish I could do it stern to, but my long keeler is impossible to manoeuvre that way, so I must go bow to every time.

I was made a SS and teak ladder that clips on to the Rocna anchor roll bar, so that I can get out the boat that way. The problem is when going well dressed or with proper shoes....not so easy.

 

[Tranona]

Apparently most boats in the med moor stern too and in the Northern Baltic a lot moor bow too. Don't know why.
I agree that I have seen most of the Scandinavian boats with a simple ladder that hooks to purpose made contraption on the bow.

That is because the dominant way of berthing in the Baltic (and the Netherlands) is in what is called boxes, where you go bow to a walkway and the stern is moored to either two posts - hence the term box, or to a buoy. Only access to the boat is over the bow. Anchoring is also commonly to a rock so you go bow to so that you don't damage the rudder and a kedge astern. Again going ashore is over the bow.

Darwin sorted all this out 150 years ago - and now boat design adapts to the conditions where the boat is used. Hence the popularity of open transoms and sugar scoops in med orientated boats.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Well Nostro, you certainly have lots of balls.

(or you used to).

In the eyes of the wife I am always wrong. There for it is a weekly ritual to castrate me with a rusty knife and then boil them for 4 minutes so I remember what I have done wrong before re attaching them so she can do the same next week.

 

[davidaprice]

Swedish bow ladders such as we have on our Maxi 999 can be seen here (click the British flag, then chose ladders->bowladder from the page's top menu):
http://www.batsystem.se
As you'll notice, all the boats in the photos have open or semi-open pulpits. But a long bow ladder might be useful with a closed pulpit too. They have agents in the Med.

 

[Nostrodamus]

What about those ladders that concertina. I don't know how strong they are but attaching them to the bows might work. They don't take up much space and could also be used for when the boat is out the water. It may also be that they could be used to get off the stern when laid flat. (obviously not when bows to)

 

[Nostrodamus]

Looking around the marina the best solution I have seen and has been mentioned here is to weld an extension sideways onto the bow roller with a top hat on. The paracell would then fit in but we may need training with mountain goats in Tibet to climb up and down it.

 

[drawp]

Nostrodamus,

I've been looking at this going bows-to problem. I've seen a few boats with solutions similar to this one below. The ladder is made by Lalizas in Italy, I think.

 

[Tranona]

In the eyes of the wife I am always wrong. There for it is a weekly ritual to castrate me with a rusty knife and then boil them for 4 minutes so I remember what I have done wrong before re attaching them so she can do the same next week.

When Henry VIII fell out with Thomas More over his proposed marriage to Ann Boleyn, he ordered he be hung, disembowlled, castrated and the whole lot burned in front of him. In the event he relented a bit and settled for a straight beheading, followed by boiling his head for 4 days and then displaying it on a spike on London Bridge.

So you got off equally lightly!

 

[Nostrodamus]

When Henry VIII fell out with Thomas More over his proposed marriage to Ann Boleyn, he ordered he be hung, disembowlled, castrated and the whole lot burned in front of him. In the event he relented a bit and settled for a straight beheading, followed by boiling his head for 4 days and then displaying it on a spike on London Bridge.

So you got off equally lightly!

He only had it done once .... I get it every week

 

[jordanbasset]

This is what we had fitted to our bow roller (not our boat)
http://www.svsarah.com/sarah/Images/Deck/0907090001.JPG
This is how it looked with the motorcycle ramp fitted
http://www.svsarah.com/sarah/Images/Deck/2006 Almerimar, Passarelle 1.JPG

The blog the pictures comes from is very good
http://www.svsarah.com/sarah/ewupgradedeckrig.htm

 

[lenseman]

He only had it done once .... I get it every week

Mark, I hear that you have large balls, perhaps Angi is going to use all the ones you have lost as fenders.

Much better that way as it might be painful if they are still attached !!!



.

 

[Honey Trap]

We are currently in Leeuwaarden, Netherlands on our way to the Baltic. The following is an essay I wrote during an idle few moments on the subject of the problems we encountered when we berthed bow first.

'Over the last week or so we have gelled as a team, dealing with the various problems that arise on board in a calm and sensible way. That's not to say that everything is rosey - there are the occasional little frictions between Captain and First (and only) Mate.

One such incident was when we entered a marina berth bows first, skipper jumped down on to the finger pontoon while crew stayed on board and we sorted out the lines. Once the boat was securely tied up a difficulty revealed itself - the deck was over a metre above the pontoon. I couldn't get back on board other than by rolling under the guardrail (undignified behaviour for a skipper) and the crew refused to jump down.

"I could break my leg".

"I'll go to the harbourmaster and see if he has a step", says I.

"You'd better make it fast" said the First (and only) Mate, "I'm in dire need of a bathroom and the holding tank is full".

As luck would have it the harbourmaster did not have a step or anything that might be used as one but he suggested I try the supermarket just outside the gate. Success - I bought a crate of beer, 24 bottles of best Danish lager to be exact and scurried back to the boat, the crate held jauntily high on my shoulder.

"What in God's name are you up to?" she bellowed from the deck.

" I'm thinking outside the box. Just wait and I'll expl....."

"Try thinking outside the bottle and get me off this boat!" she interrupted.

As I removed the bottles from the crate and stood them on the pontoon a eureka look crossed her face. Crate empty, I turned it upside down and we had a step of suitable height.

"Sorry I doubted you Captain" she said meekly and rushed to the bathroom.

"If Carlsberg made steps they'd probably be the best steps in the world", I replied graciously.

Now where did I leave the bottle opener?'

Frank.

 

[mjcoon]

... - I bought a crate of beer, 24 bottles of best Danish lager to be exact and scurried back to the boat, the crate held jauntily high on my shoulder.

Heigh-ho for proper bottles and crates; none of these aluminium cans in cockcroach-egg harbouring corrugated cardboard trays!

But now you have to return the empty bottles in their crate, and still get back aboard...

Mike.

 

[Woodlouse]

He only had it done once .... I get it every week

It seems even Prometheus had it easy in comparison.

 

[Nostrodamus]

It seems even Prometheus had it easy in comparison.

I don't know how many levels hell has got but they live in the hanging gardens of Babylon in comparison. Then again I usually deserve it.
Luckily we don't have a banister with a razor blade going down to make me slide along but you try holding freshly boiled eggs under the armpits for ten minutes (first level offence)

 

[Sybarite]

For us going in stern first when Med mooring is easier to enable us to get on and off the boat.

As you know there are occasions and places when it makes more sense to go in bows first.

Our bow is quiet high and there is no gap in the metal bit to allow is to climb through.

I have seen all sorts of contraptions attached to the bow and even some welded to the anchor to facilitate getting on and off. Most don't look very trustworthy. Only yesterday we saw a French woman go for a unscheduled swim in her nice white evening clothes.

Has anyone found a simple but safe way of getting on and off from the bow?

Thanks for any replies.

Use the neighbour's boat.

 

[Tranona]

He only had it done once .... I get it every week

When it was Thomas Cromwell's turn a few years later he paid the executioner to make sure he did the business in one clean stroke. Seems he took the money - but still took 30 minutes of hacking to sever the head completely.

Looks like there is no easy way out!

 

[mjcoon]

When it was Thomas Cromwell's turn a few years later he paid the executioner to make sure he did the business in one clean stroke. Seems he took the money - but still took 30 minutes of hacking to sever the head completely.

Looks like there is no easy way out!

Maybe the block should have been combined with one of those seaside test-your-strength machines; so long as the executioner rang the bell he got his money...

Mike.

 

[AMCD300]

Or use the dinghy from the stern....

+1

I saw a lot of people doing this recently.