What are guard-rail wires for?
- Thread starter Babylon
- Start date
salinia
Well-Known Member
For keeping precious cargo on board!.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
+1
We have a boat ashore for refitting at the moment, with the deck about 7 foot above the ground. I took the guardwires off, thinking they'd give us more room to move about the boat, and the idea of going head first into the sea is one thing, but onto the hard ground something else entirely.
However, without the guardwires I found it much more difficult to move around the boat, and decided the raiseed bulwark around the edge of the deck would probably trip me over if anyway if I did fall, and have reinstated them.
I used to dream of having guard wires when I had a small centre-boarder without them. At sea was fine, but there were only about three possible places to hang a fender on - jib fairlead, shroud, and cleat in centre of foredeck, almost invariably not where I where I needed a fender, and all trailing across the side deck.
A1Sailor
...
Shurely shum mishtake?
...and guess what - the total number of answers isn't divisible by 3!!!!
Simondjuk
Well-Known Member
I've half fallen off a boat without 'em, never one with them. Thus, to my mind, they help you stay on the boat.
Unless you're so clumsy you manage to pass them with your feet level with the upper one that is. That I've never managed and can't imagine how I ever would. I've never managed to fall in or out of my bath either, the rim of which is at about the same height, so perhaps I'm just blessed with superior balance, coordination and spatial awareness.
Unless you're so clumsy you manage to pass them with your feet level with the upper one that is. That I've never managed and can't imagine how I ever would. I've never managed to fall in or out of my bath either, the rim of which is at about the same height, so perhaps I'm just blessed with superior balance, coordination and spatial awareness.
James_Calvert
Well-Known Member
other use
To heave against when boarding from the dinghy alongside (how else if the shrouds aren't convenient?). As another poster intimated, this also provides a regular strength test for the manky green terylene lashing which tensions them up.
To heave against when boarding from the dinghy alongside (how else if the shrouds aren't convenient?). As another poster intimated, this also provides a regular strength test for the manky green terylene lashing which tensions them up.
kds
Well-Known Member
They were introduced to comply with racing regulations.
I never fitted any when completing my 29' sloop, preferring to use high-level jackstays.
5 years later I still wouldn't fit any.
ken
I never fitted any when completing my 29' sloop, preferring to use high-level jackstays.
5 years later I still wouldn't fit any.
ken
reginaldon
Well-Known Member
Don't know! Only got a pulpit and a pushpit. 'Fraid my knees are not what thy were, but I dont think guard wires would help - I hang on to the mast.
E39mad
Well-Known Member
They are for inexperienced race crew to wind the spinaker pole up into. To drop the pole onto and to mess up the free running of the sheets and guys!
nimbusgb
Well-Known Member
All of the above
bbg
Well-Known Member
Guard wires HAVE stopped me from going overboard once. Mid-Atlantic, solo, middle of the night, standing in the cockpit when a combination of wave, acceleration and a wiggle from the autopilot threw me half way across the cockpit and heavily into the wires. So they worked for that.
They also give something to hold onto when moving on deck.
On the foredeck, with some light line or netting, they keep the jib on deck instead of slipping into the water.
And a convenient place to hang fenders.
They also give something to hold onto when moving on deck.
On the foredeck, with some light line or netting, they keep the jib on deck instead of slipping into the water.
And a convenient place to hang fenders.
Norman_E
Well-Known Member
On some boats they mainly exist to chafe the foot of the genoa!
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
Snagging the hairs on your legs
BlueSkyNick
Well-Known Member
That's exactly what I was taught - they are there to tell you where the edge of the boat is and nothing more..... until it is time to put the fenders on.
I get really wound up by people trying to be helpful in berthing a boat while pulling on the wires and distorting them.
bbg
Well-Known Member
I was clipped on, but don't relish the thought of being dragged beside a boat at 8 knots, or trusting that the lifeline really is short enough to prevent me going in.But of course you'd have been clipped on anyway so would have been fine without
Sandgrounder
Well-Known Member
I don't have them; being a small boat the mast and shrouds are usually within reach. They would be useful for attaching fenders but a "fence" would seriously spoil the look of the boat.
grazbo
Well-Known Member
+1 ...... I don't rely on them as a hold on deck - at least not load bearing. When I do take a tumble, I want them to be "fresh"
ChattingLil
Well-Known Member
me too. I was in a race and sliding over the coach roof and mid-swapping over lifelines when subjected to an accidental gibe which flipped me head first through the wires. It was my lifejacket catching on the top wire that stopped me being posted through. I would defo have gone over without them - my arms, head and shoulders were outside. The only time I have actually fallen off was on the hard when they were off - not sure what happened but one moment I was walking forward and the next I was not.
on my bit tatty plastic boat, I certainly think they're essential. I would think twice if I had a wooden sleek beauty though. Form over function and all that
Babylon
Well-Known Member
I get really wound up by people trying to be helpful in berthing a boat while pulling on the wires and distorting them.
The funny thing is that it was exactly this that motivated my OP.
Having just finished tightly lashing my new unsheathed wires, the plonker who'd been rafted onto me ballsed-up his departure while his crew shoved hard on my wires.
Unbelievable!
... all too believable!
