Positioning of Jackstays and Safety Lines!

Zagato

Zagato

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Just wondering where people attach their Jackstays and Safety Line.

My old boat had Jackstays running the length of the side decks but I would of thought you would be forever tripping over your line or you could be turfed over the guard rails. I was thinking of running a rope from the mast to the cockpit. It wouldn't foul anything as I won't be using my spray hood. I would also have a line from the mast to the sampson post!

What do you think or is there another tried and tested method utilising the grab rails somehow perhaps :confused:

Also do people attach their safety lines to the webbing on their life-jacket or should you really have some sort of proper harness underneath.

I was thinking about this safety line

http://www.force4.co.uk/237/Seago-Double-Elastic-Safety-Line-1-2-1-8m.html

If anyone has a source of cheaper ones i would be interested...

EDIT - Rats just realised if I had paid £10 more I could of bought the same life-jacket with built in harness :mad: Crewsaver 150 I wonder if mine would be strong enough!

Already seems to be a d ring maybe for that purpose below the entrance!
IMG_2949.jpg


IMG_2896.jpg
 
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Zagato said:
.... My old boat had Jackstays running the length of the side decks but I would of thought you would be forever tripping over your line or you could be turfed over the guard rails. .....
Click to expand...

Were you forever tripping over your line?
 
We use tape jackstays, run from the aft cleat to the forward cleats, so that you can clip on once in the cockpit and then make your way all the way to the bow without unclipping. To get to the mast, we use a double leg safety line from the harness, so that we can clip onto the stays with a short strop and then unclip from the jackstay.

We have no problems with tripping over the jackstays and the tape doesn't roll if you step on it like a wire jackstay would do.
 
Ah thanks Duncan and I realise why webbing is used now ;)

Like an idiot I cut the jack-stays off my old boat along with a lot of other stuff as I didn't know what it all was and sadly didn't realise the cost of it all :rolleyes:
 
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I've adopted PRV's method - clip a safety line to the tabernacle and lead it back to the cockpit. Clip in when you need to go forward, unclip when you get back. His boat is similar in length to yours, so it should be a system to consider.
 
Zagato said:
Just wondering where people attach their Jackstays and Safety Line.

My old boat had Jackstays running the length of the side decks but I would of thought you would be forever tripping over your line or you could be turfed over the guard rails. I was thinking of running a rope from the mast to the cockpit. It wouldn't foul anything as I won't be using my spray hood. I would also have a line from the mast to the sampson post!

What do you think or is there another tried and tested method utilising the grab rails somehow perhaps :confused:

Also do people attach their safety lines to the webbing on their life-jacket or should you really have some sort of proper harness underneath.

I was thinking about this safety line

http://www.force4.co.uk/237/Seago-Double-Elastic-Safety-Line-1-2-1-8m.html

If anyone has a source of cheaper ones i would be interested...

EDIT - Rats just realised if I had paid £10 more I could of bought the same life-jacket with built in harness :mad: Crewsaver 150 I wonder if mine would be strong enough!

Already seems to be a d ring maybe for that purpose below the entrance!
IMG_2949.jpg


IMG_2896.jpg
Click to expand...
Whatever that D-ring is for it's not for a harness, not NEARLY strong enough.

On a small boat I much prefer a temporary line led from side of companionway, round or through a strong point on the foredeck, and back to the other side of the companionway, over the usual jackstays on sidedeck.
 
Jackstays.. on a small boat ideally along the centre line. you ideally want to work on the basis that if you slip the line will keep you on the boat not over the side.

A couple of clip on points low down in the cockpit would also be sensible. make sure you put a nice big plywood backer on any fittings you add.
 
I assume my deck is fairly similar to yours. I made a Y-shaped jackstay which would run down the middle from the mast. The fork of the Y would sit on the top of the spray hood, so you could clip onto it before leaving the cockpit (don't know about yours, but my sprayhood is pretty low-slung). If you fell it on you'd probably trash the sprayhood frame, but that hardly matters.

In my case the legs of the Y went down either side of the cockpit coaming, held in place by the winch bases, and secured around the mizzen mast tabernacle. The idea wasn't to provide something to clip onto in the cockpit, just to secure to the two strongest things on deck (the mast tabernacles). You could just add strong eyes on either side to secure it to. The hatch prevents you having just a single run up the centreline.

Pete

EDIT: Actually, looking a second time, your deck isn't all that similar to mine. You seem to have a lot less distance between the hatch and the mast.
 
jwilson said:
Whatever that D-ring is for it's not for a harness, not NEARLY strong enough.
Click to expand...

The blurb for my boat, with a strong family resemblance to Zagato's, says it is a harness ring. I agree it seems a bit undersized; I've not yet felt the need to clip on in the cockpit but if I did I think I'd put a strop round the mizzen mast instead.

Pete
 
Ru88ell said:
I've adopted PRV's method - clip a safety line to the tabernacle and lead it back to the cockpit. Clip in when you need to go forward, unclip when you get back.
Click to expand...

That system won't keep you on board though.

If I'm honest, I hadn't actually tried the Y-shaped jackstay by the time of the Cherbourg trip, decided not to try to fanny about with a new system on that occasion, so just went for the quick and simple extra-long tether clipped to the tabernacle (it's good to have options rather than one dogmatic approach). I didn't think the risk of falling overboard that day was any higher than normal, just that the consequences of doing so would have been worse. Remaining attached to the boat mitigated that.

Pete
 
Thanks Pete, I am hoping to get to the boat this week so will have a look at it all. Good to know I'm on the right track - I will also probably end up using the sprayhood so.......

There is another D ring at the rear of the cockpit so this is obviously what was used to clip onto.
 
Coding requires harness points at the exit from the cabin and at the helm. The two you have are common. On my boat with a much bigger cockpit and potentially bigger crew, I have one in the companionway, one partway down the side and two at the stern either side of the wheel. I also have a hoop over the binnacle which has a line clipped to it. So wherever you are in the cockpit you have easy access to harness point. How you lay out your jackstays depends on the layout of your boat and on a small boat like yours with narrow sidedecks a centreline stay is sensible as is using the mast or tabernacle as a strong point. On bigger, wider boats webbing stays down the sidedecks are more appropriate. Mine go from forward cleats to Wichard U bolts at the stern and are easily removable and adjustable. More expensive than permanently made up ones, but encourages removal when boat is not in use.
 
>We use tape jackstays, run from the aft cleat to the forward cleats, so that you can clip on once in the cockpit and then make your way all the way to the bow without unclipping. To get to the mast, we use a double leg safety line from the harness, so that we can clip onto the stays with a short strop and then unclip from the jackstay.
we have no problems with tripping over the jackstays and the tape doesn't roll if you step on it like a wire jackstay would do.

That's exactly our setup, we also have a D ring I fitted in the cockpit. We used the short stop on the jackstay so you can't go over the lifelines and when at the mast the long strop around the mast.
 
jwilson said:
Whatever that D-ring is for it's not for a harness, not NEARLY strong enough.
Click to expand...

Not easy to see the size of the D-ring from that picture but for a harness it should be made of solid rod at least 1/4" dia. It is important to be able to clip on to a strong point before leaving the companionway in heavy weather so that's where I would expect a ring. There should also be one close to the helm position.
 
snowleopard said:
Not easy to see the size of the D-ring from that picture but for a harness it should be made of solid rod at least 1/4" dia. It is important to be able to clip on to a strong point before leaving the companionway in heavy weather so that's where I would expect a ring. There should also be one close to the helm position.
Click to expand...

From memory, I don't think mine (same as Zagato's) is quite 1/4". Maybe 3/16". It also has no backing plate, just a couple of washers. There's a similar one at the aft end of the cockpit, so they're clearly intended to meet those requirements (one at the companionway, one at the helm). I would still prefer to be attached to something more substantial if things were bad enough to be clipping on in the cockpit.

Pete
 
prv said:
The blurb for my boat, with a strong family resemblance to Zagato's, says it is a harness ring. I agree it seems a bit undersized; I've not yet felt the need to clip on in the cockpit but if I did I think I'd put a strop round the mizzen mast instead.

Pete
Click to expand...
Have seen a 1/4" S/S ringbolt bent and nearly pulled though a cockpit moulding, despite half inch washers behind it, just from shock loading of a real harness incident (admittedy two simultaneous persons overboard). The setup was beefed up considerably after that.

It's not strong enough...
 
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