What imbecile designed this or is it me

[KAM]

These tube clamps came with a liferaft cradle. Looks like the tapped holes are in the wrong side. It's impossible to reach the cap head screw once the cross tube is in place also the saddle clamps only have 2 threads engaged. Not very secure for a liferaft. Am I missing something

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Surely you clamp the lower bit to whatever first, torque up the cap screws, then add the tube section of another assembly, below the saddle clamp and tighten that.

The lower bit is designed to fit a range of tube sizes e.g. a stanchion, push pit, or whatever it being clamped to.

 

[KAM]

Easy enough for one. The liferaft cradle has 4. You need to line them up within a mm to fit 8 screws to 4 saddles the position of the saddles are determined by the frame. Pretty tricky whilst hanging off the stern. No way to tighten anything if it comes loose in service without removing the liferaft and dismantling the whole thing. Don't understand why it's designed that way. It would have been OK and cheaper to manufacture if all the tapped holes had been in the same half of the clamp. Suspect it wasn't designed for that application.

 

[Neeves]

Easy enough for one. The liferaft cradle has 4. You need to line them up within a mm to fit 8 screws to 4 saddles the position of the saddles are determined by the frame. Pretty tricky whilst hanging off the stern. No way to tighten anything if it comes loose in service without removing the liferaft and dismantling the whole thing. Don't understand why it's designed that way. It would have been OK and cheaper to manufacture if all the tapped holes had been in the same half of the clamp. Suspect it wasn't designed for that application.

Presumably it will not come loose if you use red Loctite.

I also assume it was not designed to be assembled 'hanging off the transom' but was designed to be installed, possibly on the hard, with he who is installing using a step ladder.

However - generalising - many installations on yachts are made with little thought for the owner - I'm thinking of windlass which always seem to be installed with no thought at all for the owner to service same. The same goes for winches - which to remove is commonly a 2 person task, simply to release 5 nuts and bolts. We had a steering cable fail - the only way to replace was to removed the sheaves. The sheaves were bolted through the bridge deck and the only access to the lock nuts was from a dinghy - with one person in the dinghy and the other on deck (fortunately we were at anchor. ). But the space under the bridge deck was 1m - access was a bit like mining anthracite in a Welsh coat mine - and just as wet. Mast head light bulbs - replacement - simple, but less so single handed - yachts are often sailed single handed - why not instal lights that are accessible.

You are not alone.

Jonathan

 

[MoodySabre]

The clamps on the cradle I got were too big for the pushpit tubing. I fixed with two interlocked jubilee clips at each corner. Not pretty but effective.

 

[littledancersadhu]

The clamps on the cradle I got were too big for the pushpit tubing. I fixed with two interlocked jubilee clips at each corner. Not pretty but effective.

If it works, it works!

 

[KAM]

"Presumably it will not come loose if you use red Loctite". Not sure I'd want to trust my liferaft to 2 threads engagement even with loctite.

 

[DinghyMan]

"Presumably it will not come loose if you use red Loctite". Not sure I'd want to trust my liferaft to 2 threads engagement even with loctite.

Longer cap screws?

Or better still longer cap screws plus nuts - always assuming there is space?

Could you remove the threads, put longer cap heads in from the easier side and jam nuts where the cap heads are in your photo?

 

[webcraft]

What noises do we hear when we are working on boats, children?

— W