chubby
Well-known member
Has anyone fitted the sort of folded MOB ladders you can deploy from the water and do they work in practice and any particular make recommended? Don`t ask why I am interested!
MOB recovery ladders deployed from the water: do they work?
- Thread starter chubby
- Start date
KeelsonGraham
Well-known member
I’ve no experience of them, but I do have plenty of experience of being dunked in very cold seas for half and hour or more at a time. Even with top notch survival gear its a test of stamina. Hands become useless very quickly.
So, I can’t see how a casualty in UK waters at any time other than high summer would have the strength and dexterity to use a flimsy MOB ladder after anything more than a few minutes in the water. In my view our best recovery aid is our electric winch.
So, I can’t see how a casualty in UK waters at any time other than high summer would have the strength and dexterity to use a flimsy MOB ladder after anything more than a few minutes in the water. In my view our best recovery aid is our electric winch.
vyv_cox
Well-known member
I fitted one of the string and plastic ones that push inside a tube mounted into the transom. Made by Plastimo I think. Utterly useless.
Refueler
Well-known member
Having done survival course in Plymouth Sound in January .... and also fallen into Bembridger Hbr in early summer many years later - BOTH had similar effect :
Legs and lower torso quickly become numb and useless .... arms start to ache .... ability to climb - even if ladder is stiff and deep enough is extremely doubtful ...
fredrussell
Well-known member
In summer/autumn months the only thing that’s going to be any use at all if you’re on you’re own is a decent fold down ladder that extends AT LEAST 3 rungs below the water.
Refueler
Well-known member
I have such and TBH ... it needs be 5 rungs ..... but it needs to be deployed quick and before person starts going numb.
3 is ok for a fit, able person.
peter gibbs
Active member
This is the reality of using what otherwise seem a useful bit of gear. I have one in my loft you understand. Either the reach is too short to get your feet onto the lowest rung or, if long enough to mount is then too unstable to climb. There's no substitute for a metal ladder on the transom with a pull down lanyard to access from the water.
veshengro
Well-known member
My boat is only 18 feet LOA with a low freeboard and fitted with some hefty cockpit grab rails. Even so, for a Wrinkly it was really difficult to get aboard from relatively warm almost mirror calm water, and she was on her mooring bouy too! I cheated a bit as I was wearing just shorts and T shirt. I managed a pull up on the rail and one foot on the coaming but realistically in jeans/trousers, footwear, clothing etc: and in choppy /cold water..forget it!
That was part one of an experimental drill because she is fitted with a Transom ladder which folds up and is secured by a pin to which I have attached a lanyard which hangs down to within a few inches of the water line. I can be in the water, tug the lanyard and the ladder drops down to well below the water line and it really isn't difficult to climb aboard, plenty of hand holds and the ladder feels really secure. The only caution is I would need to be quick before the cold/shock got to me.
That was part one of an experimental drill because she is fitted with a Transom ladder which folds up and is secured by a pin to which I have attached a lanyard which hangs down to within a few inches of the water line. I can be in the water, tug the lanyard and the ladder drops down to well below the water line and it really isn't difficult to climb aboard, plenty of hand holds and the ladder feels really secure. The only caution is I would need to be quick before the cold/shock got to me.
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KeelsonGraham
Well-known member
Aah, the joys of Mountbatten - before it was a marina!
Roberto
Well-known member
I made one with webbing, it is attached to the guardrail to the side of the boat, near the transom. It can be deployed by someone in the water.
I have a normal deep steel ladder in the middle of the transom but I must take it off when I mount the wind steering, in case of need (basically fishing gear tangle) I have used the emergency one. Warm waters of course, and having seen big sharks on the fishing quays of the ports (Morocco) I had a strong stimulus to make it work, and it did.
One useful trick is not try and climb facing the ladder -in which case one ends up belly up with the legs under the boat-, but keeping it perpendicular and between your legs, climbing by putting the heel of the foot on each step, on opposite sides of the ladder. Have a try, you might be able to climb with your swimming fins on
Anyway, I would not use it for simple leisure bathing, but in an emergency it works.
Have a look here, minute 3:45 onwards
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Refueler
Well-known member
Its how you climb a Monkey Ladder ...
veshengro
Well-known member
Rhymes from a distant lesson.
Climbing rope ladders from a boat alongside.
Heel and toe and up safely you go,
Put both toes in and you'll go for a swim...
Blimey! That's from 63 years ago (simple rhymes for simple minds...it's how I remember things...
)
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Try doing it in the Moray Firth!
I have a pull down emergency ladder and have used it to climb on board in the Med in August as a test. Forget about doing it with any way on or after any time in cold water.
I'm thinking someone needs to design an inflatable recovery platform like a stand up board with an auto inflate function like a life jacket.
Just thought I would get it out there so when someone does I can claim IP rights
Sumara of Weymouth
Member
Slightly off topic as I need to deploy my device from the cockpit, but it seems to work as both a ladder and a parbuckle rescue net
Relatively simple to make.
fredrussell
Well-known member
Yes. That’s why I said “at least 3 rungs”.
KeelsonGraham
Well-known member
I have!! But it was off Mountbatten in a blizzard that took the biscuit!
thinwater
Well-known member
A ladder with rungs 21 inches in the water and hand holds all the way up is an ISO requirement for all new builds. Also ABYC.
As for "emergency" ladders that you can pull down...
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I once spent 6 hours in 0C water (some ice on the surface) in a drysuit as part of a gear test. I was wearing neoprene gloves and a dive hood. Perfectly comfortable, read a book amoung other things, and my core temperature actually climbed a few tenths. I have also been in the 4C water in a good fleece outfit and it was horrible; I'ld have been helpless within 10-20 minutes. With a good ladder, after 10 minutes, it was not problem. I was not yet truly chilled, just very, very red skin.
As for "emergency" ladders that you can pull down...
- What is the point if you have an ISO ladder, as required (it must be deployable from the water).
- I seriously doubt it would work well for a cold, tired, or injured casualty. A good stiff ladder is much easier to climb.
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I once spent 6 hours in 0C water (some ice on the surface) in a drysuit as part of a gear test. I was wearing neoprene gloves and a dive hood. Perfectly comfortable, read a book amoung other things, and my core temperature actually climbed a few tenths. I have also been in the 4C water in a good fleece outfit and it was horrible; I'ld have been helpless within 10-20 minutes. With a good ladder, after 10 minutes, it was not problem. I was not yet truly chilled, just very, very red skin.
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
There was no such requirement in 1971 and putting scaffold on the back of my yacht would ruin her. As a single handed sailor a ladder is of no use to me and I would use the emergency ladder plus my 4:1 spare kicker tackle to hoist any passer-by's I might come across.
Good for you for testing stuff. Im sure it helped some of the people we rescued in my SAR days. (we can wave our tackle all night if you like)
penberth3
Well-known member
Practically, that isn't enough. In the water your feet will be five feet/60 inches below the surface. Lifting a foot 40 inches to the lowest rung, then starting to climb from that position isn't going to happen, is it?
thinwater
Well-known member
There were no shoulder belts in cars either, but I think we can agree they are a good idea, and if a 70's car is your regular ride you'd be smart to install them.
Calling it is scaffold is an example of creating an exaggerated case to make the idea easier to tear down (straw man). Are looks more important to you than safety? I hope not. A ladder can be made unobtrusive with a little ingenuity. And following the same rhetorical method, I could argue life jackets look dorky (they do) and I'm not going to wear one just to prove it (and many refuse). And a ladder won't help much when singlehanding
.Poor or non-existant ladders are a pet peeve of mine. I've added compliant ones to each of my boats since 1980, generarally custom made, there was always a way, and they were always used. I think sailors in warmer climates look are them differently, but really, they are more important for safety where the water is cold.