stanchions and guard rails

[kds]

I was interested in the article in PBO which mentioned a 28 ft. yacht where the owner prefered not to refit the stanchions and guard rails/wires.
As I am just fitting out a 29ft. one and have the same feelings, I would be interested in your comments.
It has wide side decks, good hand-rails at a reasonable height and jackstays for harnesses. It looks much better without and dinghy work and coming alongside is so much easier. It must also make pulling up a manoverboard, or dinghy much easier.
Are we all hidebound by the racing rules ?
Ken

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[spark]

I went through the same thought process for our new boat - a 30 footer. I am 6'4" tall and find that most small boat guard rails are inclined to trip me up, as well as having the disadvantages that you list. I reckon they provide a false sense of security. Better not to have them and clip on when going forward. Unless you have small children on board, in which case guard rails with netting will be a big help.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html>http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html</A>

 

[snowleopard]

i too am 6'4" and have been tripped by a guardrail, it caught me behind the knees and i went over the side. in fact it was the wing deck of a tri and my foot went under the deck, leaving me suspended from the wire across the back of my knee. the nearest stanchion folded under my weight. since then i do still fit guardrails but opt for the 750 mm height rather than the standard 600mm.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[cnh]

A guardrail saved my life about 2 years ago.

Long story.

Coming out of Cherbourg, wind F5 on the nose. Headsail halliard broke. Went up forward to pull it off and out of the water. Boat on autohelm [I was singlehanded]. Sitting on top of coachroof hauling in genoa. Boat hits wave. I slid across coach roof, through the wooden grabrail the other side, end up in scuppers with my back against the wire. Without the wire I'd have gone clean over the side. Vis about 2 miles; rough sea, April. No lifejacket.

Rather grateful for the wire after that.

CNH

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Mirelle]

Took them off my 37ft gaff cutter. Oddly enough they were original - she was built with them, back in 1937 - but the reasons for removal were that the stanchion bases were a fertile source of leaks and I reckoned they were ideally placed to speed the passing guest!

We have a 100% harnesses-worn-at-sea rule, enforced in the manner of William Bligh, and children wear harnesses at all times on deck.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[ridgy]

Also been saved in similar circumstances.
I was doing something near the mast when single-handed under autopilot. The wind shifted causing a gybe and knocking me off balance. I landed against the wires...started wearing a harness soon after!

I've also seen someone else fall against them as they were trimming the jib on steeply heeled boat. Not even a rough day...momentary lack of balance, an unexpected lurch and over you go.

Besides which what would you tie your fenders to?


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[spark]

I'm glad they caught and held you. I'd prefer, myself, to put my faith in a good solid jackstay and a harness, which is what I intend to do on the new boat.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html>http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html</A>

 

[snowleopard]

<put my faith in a good solid jackstay and a harness>

is your jackstay arranged so that when you slip and you're at the end of your tether you are still on deck or would you be dangling in the water? i ask because that happened to a man during the 2002 ARC. the remaining crewman couldn't get him back aboard and he died.

standard stanchion/guardwires aren't a lot of good, they should be a lot higher and infilled with net to be really useful but they do occasionally frevent an MOB as others have testified.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[rich]

SO,,,, where do you hang the fenders,/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.jersey-harbours.com>http://www.jersey-harbours.com</A>

 

[kds]

Never from the life-lines, or so I was taught !
Ken

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[JPGruntfuttock]

Being self taught and having an idiot for a teacher, what was the correct solution when rafted up to something with a much higher freeboard and deeply curved hull, so the point of contact is your own toe rail under their topsides?

I use large fenders hoisted up so they rest with the toerail half way up them, but to do this have to secure the fenders to the lifelines.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kds]

Got me there - choose a more suitable boat to raft alongside ?
Ken

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jimi]

Guard rail once sent me overboard and save me at the same time. Was pratting about with the anchor and stumbled backwards, guard rails caught me behind knees, over I went but managed to hook foot behind lower guard rail as I fell. So there I was dangling upsidedown with the back of my knees over the upper guard rail and foot behind lower. Nobody noticed and it took what seemed an age to extricate myself .. load of bruises though.

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha

 

[pugwash]

Wanderer IV

As far as I remember, Hiscock fitted taller than usual stanchions to his Wanderer IV and as a 6ft 4in bloke myself I thought it a great idea. Now I've got kids and a mortgage and I'm not so tall but I still think it's a good idea.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[spark]

The jackstays on the new boat are rigged along the top of the coachroof either side of the main hatch garage and forward to the forehatch. Between cockpit and forward end of coachroof, if I go over the side I reckon my shoulders, at least, will be above deck level. Up at the mast I'll go further over the side but the hope is I'll be swept aft, which will have the effect of lifting me up. I'm contemplating having a clip-on point next to the halyard winch/reefing lines onto which I can attach myself when working at the mast (need to try it out and see what it's like for working).

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html>http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html</A>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Working at the mast.

Tether around the mast and clipped back onto the harness. You'll be fine as long as the rig doesn't come out of the boat.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[spark]

Re: Working at the mast.

I doubt the rig will fall down, the mast is a 9" diameter carbon tube. The problem that I might have is that the tether will be too short and hold me too close to the winch for convenient working. The winch is mounted on the boom which wraps around and extends forward of the mast (you might be able to see what I mean<A target="_blank" HREF=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malcolm.henry/images/mastup.jpg> here</A>) which means that the winch sits a good 10" out from the centrline of the mast. I need to experiment when I have a spare moment and there isn't a gale blowing.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html>http://www.qei.co.uk/spark.html</A>

 

[MainlySteam]

I am 6 foot and our lifelines often are as high as my ears - I am not too proud to crawl along the deck, even in moderate conditions.

As some will be aware, NZ flagged yachts clearing NZ for a foreign destination have to submit to a safety check which is loosely based on Category 1. I have been told, by a boatbuilder preparing his own boat, that in instances where the lifelines do not contribute to safety that not having them is allowed by the inspection. His boat was a catamaran and passed the inspection without lifelines.

That may help in the decision.

John

<hr width=100% size=1>