Panic attacks and cockpit lockers.

[dralex]

Does anybody else ever get that feeling of no return once you've contorted yourself into a cockpit locker to do a job ( No Scottish jokes please)? Everytime I get in there, weird thoughts go through my mind about my joints bending enough to get me out. Irrational I know, but is it only me?

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Nope.... I am entirely with you on this one......... boats only ever seem to threaten to sink when you are curled up inside a locker half your size with several power tools for company....

 

[Metabarca]

Full sympathy from here too!

 

[aluijten]

The current size of my cockpit lockers prevent me from even trying to experience this...

Arno

 

[Lakesailor]

They of course design boats with locker hatches just too small and all the pipes and clips you want to get at just out of reach.
I once got stuck under a lounge floor (whilst trying to feed a cooker cable through to the kitchen) in just such a way as dralex describes, with my feet sticking out of the hole. My brother had to physically pull me out by my boots.

 

[tcm]

not irrational. I contorted myself once in tight space and then tightend a spanner on summink and altho not ancient i had to go to hospital. But got injected then better again...

 

[DanTribe]

I recently had exactly that thought when I was alone on the boat & inside a cockpit locker, thinking they might not find me for days!
I now only attempt it with someone else aboard, but tell them not to call the fire brigade if I get stuck. They would saw the back off the boat to get you out.
Dan

 

[Gordonmc]

Closest I came was when refitting the gearbox, a big Borg Warner that I struggled to lift, let alone manoever into position. The only way I could fit the bottom bolts was to go in head first and upside down through a hole. I got in there, tightened the nuts and then found my boiler suit pocket was fouled when I tried to get out.
I couldn't get my arm out to free the pocket... and had a near panic moment as I was working on my own, boat in water.
After calming down I got out by ripping the pocket.
I broke a rib finishing the job, but that's another story.

 

[StugeronSteve]

On my last boat the log impeller was located in the bottom of a cockpit locker and wasn't one of the self sealing jobbies. Took a lot of courage to pull the thing out! I tended to clean it from the outside whenever possible.

 

[PaulR]

agree entirely with you - when we bought our current boat had to change the bow roller fitting so had to contort 6' and too many kg's into the locker - legs up- body and head down and into the anchor locker and found I could n't get myself out-luckily my then 11 year old son pulled and pulled and finally got free but can remember all too well the feeling, tend to get the children to go in now - makes me feel easier and with 3 of them one normally fits!

 

[Cutter]

Alex
Totally agree. Too big and cumbersome for cockpit lockers. Replacing the electrical charger on the Dehler was bad enough but the thought of trying to reach the Eberspacher unit which has gone us fills me with horror.
All comes from childhood making tunnels in hay loft - farmers son collapsed the bales on me and I thought I was going to die.
The thought of people getting enjoyment from caving leaves me amazed Each to their own tho.

 

[HeadMistress]

I came close to actually getting stuck between the backside of my port engine and the hull. Why I waited until everyone else on the dock had gone home on Sunday evening to do this job, I'll never know...DUMB! Thanks to gravity, I had no problem settling on my li'l bum behind the engine...but after finishing the job, I discovered that a) I was in a position that gave me nothing to brace my feet against to get out....and b) while I'm still the same size I was 20 years, I'm no longer anywhere near as flexible as I was then!

No one around...my cell phone was out of reach on the dinette...I began to have visions of being there for days! Which, of course, immediately created an immediate need to pee--which, btw, seems to be the my body's normal reaction whenever I find myself in a situation that prevents locating a loo (i.e stuck in an elevator...in a traffic jam between exits, etc). So I HAD to extricate myself...but every move I tried only produced a LOT of pain! Finally I realized that I'd just have to accept the pain, 'cuz I couldn't stay where I was...bit the bullet, and--cut and bruised (but not as badly damaged as my clothing)--managed it.

Never again will I EVER crawl into a bilge or any other tight space when no one else is around without my cell phone.

 

[arTThur]

Blimey Dralex,

I thought it was only me who did these things! Went upside down in the stern locker of a 25'er and fell onto my head, Passed out for a few mins and when I came round went into huge panic. Took 10 mins of sweaty exertion to get my self out, but almost gave up on the way. One dislocated shoulder and two greenstick rib fractures gave me something to ponder over the next few weeks - never again.

Cheers,

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Excellent......

I'm sporting a bruise the size of an apple, and the colour of a plum on my side this week after fitting a shore power outlet in the rear of a large cockpit locker last weekend. It involved hanging my whole upper body in the locker, and using a power drill upside down... [oh really!] it hurt.....

 

[aitchw]

[ QUOTE ]
tend to get the children to go in now - makes me feel easier and with 3 of them one normally fits!

[/ QUOTE ]

It's like having a full set of spanners, isn't it?

 

[FullCircle]

hahahahahahahahaaha. Jimdew does a little dance. After 15 years of contortion, my new cockpit locker is the size of a small suite in the Hilton. In fact it echoes.
And I am not embarassed to say so.

Tee Hee Hee


Jim

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Thats it... sorted.... party in Jim's lockers.... name the time, and i'll be there.... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[LadyInBed]

I’m with Jim, where is the problem? On my CC33 if I want to enter the cockpit locker / workshop I get there via the door in the aft heads. I also have access from the cockpit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[doris]

Reading this thread I reckon that all the 'in locker jobs' should be saved up till the Cherbourg cruise, that way everyone will be able take turns in to pulling each other out ( I said out not off, no sniggering at the back there). It's nice to hear that other peeps are also dumb enuf to get jammed here there and everywhere. I thought I was the only idiot. Mobile phone to hand at all tmes, including when up the mast by myself!

 

[alahol2]

On a previous boat, working relatively comfortably, in a stern locker the wind blew the lid shut. No problem except that the hasp dropped straight over the staple and nothing I could do would open that lid. Sat for 10 minutes in the dark before building up the courage to shout for help. Current boat, one of the first mods was to change the staples to ones with turnbuckles. Always make sure they're turned before I get in there now.