nortada
Well-Known Member
Nothing like a good plank - my wife married one!
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Passarelle for the Med?
- Thread starter stiknstring
- Start date
Carmel2
Well-Known Member
In the last 6 years I have only fallen in twice, one of a plank of wood, and the other of a ladder conversion...............
Tomahawk
Well-Known Member
I know a bit off thread, but could you elaborate on the rational behind your regret list..
The bimini is easy
Passarelle.. as per thread
Power, both petrol and diesel? how necessary is it or was that a would like?
I am worried about the water maker... we decided not to buy one!
BrianH
Well-Known Member
Regarding a passarelle; don't believe all of the Mediterranean is non-tidal - we have, here in the northern Adriatic, a regular one meter variation and even more during spring tides, which are active about now. A point to note is the essential passarelle pin and socket may become separated as the boat drops at low tide. A cautionary tale ....
Last Autumn returning to my boat at its fixed pier mooring late one evening at low tide I heard a faint cry from the neighboring pier. Going to investigate I found an 80 year-old German boat-owner in the water and clinging to a ladder that ended too high to climb. As the side walls of the basin are steeply sloping and slimy there was no way he could get out there and he had been swimming around in the dark looking for berth ladders that had deeper extensions where he could climb up; there were none. He was bleeding profusely from lacerations from the extensive shellfish growth on the ladders he had tried to climb and was completely exhausted.
After I had heaved him out we found that his passarelle pin had risen high within its socket leaving only the tip in contact, as his boat settled on the falling tide and when he stepped off the boat the passarelle had tilted over, tipping him into the water.
Even in less tidal waters I could imagine ferry wash could cause a similar effect. Moral: lash the pin down to its socket in some way.
Last Autumn returning to my boat at its fixed pier mooring late one evening at low tide I heard a faint cry from the neighboring pier. Going to investigate I found an 80 year-old German boat-owner in the water and clinging to a ladder that ended too high to climb. As the side walls of the basin are steeply sloping and slimy there was no way he could get out there and he had been swimming around in the dark looking for berth ladders that had deeper extensions where he could climb up; there were none. He was bleeding profusely from lacerations from the extensive shellfish growth on the ladders he had tried to climb and was completely exhausted.
After I had heaved him out we found that his passarelle pin had risen high within its socket leaving only the tip in contact, as his boat settled on the falling tide and when he stepped off the boat the passarelle had tilted over, tipping him into the water.
Even in less tidal waters I could imagine ferry wash could cause a similar effect. Moral: lash the pin down to its socket in some way.
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vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Or do as the vast majority do: don't leave the shore end permanently resting on the quay, but haul it up a little so that the pin is always loaded. Many include a length of bungee in the hoist line so that the end lifts off the quay when nobody is on the passarelle. With a tidal range of a meter this may not be sufficient, in which case it might need to be hauled up each time.
Nostrodamus
Well-Known Member
Ahhh, Bungee ropes. A boat should never leave home without them.
TRUNDLETRUC
Well-Known Member
Plank lifting
Bungee is useful for lifting the plank just off the quay so that it gives as you walk on it, but when we leave the boat we wrap the two lifting ropes round the end of the plank to lift it right up. More of a deterent for rats, thieves. etc.
We use a normal plank but I have cut a slot on the inboard end and fastened a 12mm aluminium swivelling peg into it. This fits into a couple of sockets at different heights on the back of the boat.
The reason we only have a weak peg is that if the plank ever gets trapped between the quay and the lurching boat (wash from the ferry in Poros, Aegean), the peg will shear off and the boat will be undamaged.
Plank is stored flat on the side deck and is no problem when walking forwards.
Bungee is useful for lifting the plank just off the quay so that it gives as you walk on it, but when we leave the boat we wrap the two lifting ropes round the end of the plank to lift it right up. More of a deterent for rats, thieves. etc.
We use a normal plank but I have cut a slot on the inboard end and fastened a 12mm aluminium swivelling peg into it. This fits into a couple of sockets at different heights on the back of the boat.
The reason we only have a weak peg is that if the plank ever gets trapped between the quay and the lurching boat (wash from the ferry in Poros, Aegean), the peg will shear off and the boat will be undamaged.
Plank is stored flat on the side deck and is no problem when walking forwards.
affinite
Well-Known Member
I had a very nice teak/alluminium passarelle fitted on my last boat. The yard who fitted it said that one of his fitters had been seriously injured falling off a passarelle with a (dodgy) swivel pin mounting. For that reason he recommended an alternative mount which was simply a large SS "U" bracket fixed to the transom. The passarelle could not detach but could only go up and down (but not sideways). I agreed with the logic and had it mounted that way; trouble was that in use, any movement of the boat when the quay end was grounded resulted in horrible stresses at the boat end. We did use the elasticity of a long halyard to a high block mounted on the backstay to keep the passarell off the quay but I used to cringe when thinking about the stress on the transom mount, every time it grounded.
When I moved the passarelle over to my new boat, I had a pin swivel made up instead. Works musch better but I am wary of its stability.
BTW - I much prefer the look of a nice teak passarelle to a plank or a ladder. Sorry but the ladder just looks Heath Robinson to me.
When I moved the passarelle over to my new boat, I had a pin swivel made up instead. Works musch better but I am wary of its stability.
BTW - I much prefer the look of a nice teak passarelle to a plank or a ladder. Sorry but the ladder just looks Heath Robinson to me.
Marsupial
Well-Known Member
Our transom is walk-through, the seat raises and lowers. I fixed a piece of teak 40mm x 40mm x 500 ish mm to the back of the seat so the plank(s) we use (2mtrs long) rest on it, hook over it and fret on it and do not hurt the boat. The planks are held onto the teak with bungee so the whole lot can move if pushed but it maintains its position most of the time, bungee keeps it seeking its proper place, in this way the boat isnt injured by a big lump of plank when wash arrives or the tide goes out. Because this arrangement is on the seat when we are against a high wall the planks are deployed with the seat up, reducing the angle considerably. The shore ends of the planks are supported by the main halyard and more bungee, its had two very disabled users now for two seasons and it will be a hard act to follow. Currently I am having some stanchion bases made so I can fit a rail to the motorcycle ramp and do way with the planks but we will retain the fixing method - it works well, I dont expect the rail to take any weight, but as others who have trouble balancing will tell you its presence is purely psychological. God willing we will both be 100% fit this coming season, but getting on and off the boat has been a challenge at times but this solution works.
BrianH
Well-Known Member
That sounds logical, at the same time it is worth remembering that sometimes a life can hinge on a single vulnerable point and to have all safeguards against it. My new friend on the next pier is not the only one who has been dropped in it by a passarelle, judging by what others report here.
I'm lucky in that I don't have to bother with the damned awful, awkward things - my boat has a Colin Archer-style stern with a permanently mounted boarding ladder that folds down for water access; it lends itself perfectly for climbing aboard in my marina where we moor stern or bow-to. In other harbours I usually go bow-to, being suspicious of the rudder-crunching potential of sills and surges and prefer some privacy - for that I carry a bow ladder that fixes to the bow roller.
In fact, I am extremely averse to passarelles - the one below inflicted over €7000 worth of damage to my boat when it dragged down onto me in a bora gale in July (here).
dslittle
Well-Known Member
Totally agree. I have had plenty of practice - normally with half of the Taverna watching as they sip their cold drinks. I did have a sense of humour failure once through as I tried to set the anchor through some weed (well my missus dropped it and I had to PULL it up five times before it worked...). Only pulled up short twice luckily but it did give those ashore something to laugh about each time as they gave me a cold beer!!!
ccscott49
Well-Known Member
The above stresses are the reason my purpose bult passerelle has castors on the outboard end.
nigelmercier
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I recommend suspending the shore-side end so it doesn't normally touch.
When we were in the Med we had a 2.7m long plank, bought from a chandler. Then end got damaged, so I cut it down to 2.4m. After this is was a little too short, but this will depend on where the on-board end is mounted: our's was about 1m from the furthest point aft.