What is this ? (1)

budgester

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So having got my first boat, and learning about it there are an amount of things that I have no idea what they are for, so to start with....

2012-09-23_16-07-01_553.jpg


It a rubber ring, that comes away from the black section, attached to about 10 m of thin orange rope that is stored in the black section.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/112427146229368970194/albums/posts/5791645139851799810
 
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Everyone has their own ideas about what (if any) safety equipment should be carried and where.

Possibly the most important safety item in the cockpit is a strong clip-on point(s) one located where you can reach it to clip on from down below, U bolts often used. Other than that, our cockpit is clear. On the pushpit we have - danbuoy with light and horseshoe, horseshoe with nothing attached, MOB recovery long floating line and soft horseshoe. Liferaft on aft coachroof. Radio and EPIRB just inside the companionway within reach.
 
Safety Equpment

safety gear is for 2 different scenarios.
Man overboard...As said do not fall overboard. Harness on short tether to strong points is best bet. Short enough so you can not go in the water.
For situations like climbing onto the boat from a tender you need a ladder at the stern so you can deploy it from the water and recover yourself. Lifejackets of course should be worn.
Pregressing from there. A long rope that floats with a mass on the end that enables it to be thrown is good. tie a bowline in the end that can slip around a victim's body.
You may go for a horseshoe type float to throw to the victim. This may have a pole and flag/light on top so you do not lose sight of the victim.
For other emergencies a radio provides a huge mantle of safety. You need a GPS so you can report your position (and don't get lost). Or a DSC radio with GPS.
Next thing will be a EPIRB with GPS. That will sumone help from anywhere.
An anchor is vital along with firextinguishers buckets for bailing flares first aid kit etc.
Right up to ultimately a liferaft. As said there are many variations on this theme. Here in West Australia it is all spelt out in law. Your RYA will have requirements for racing which are pretty good too.
good luck olewill
 
OK cannot see the pictures but just some random ideas for you...

You have a nice quite capable sailing boat, by the sound of it in need of some TLC.

First suggestion is do not scrap anything that is not broken.

Take item 2 your heading reminder, if its doing no harm live with it FOR NOW. You might find it handy, you might find another use for it or the holes left if it goes.

The rescue quoit do you need another one? can you address man-overboard in another manner newer equipment?

EPIRB, Dinghy, Liferaft, Harness points, hand held VHF, Flares etc, people can list all the safety equipment in the world. In the UK there are recommendations many quite sensible, but finally it is up to you to decide what YOU think is necessary.

Certainly read the advise ask the advise, think what you are going to use the boat for and what equipment is best for you... Allot can also come down to your budget.
 
Thanks all for the comments.

A lot of what I am doing at the moment is understanding what I have actually bought.

Making sure that if it is safety equipment the is should function as such, there is nothing worse than having something that you expect to work in an emergency fail.

We took her out for her first (to us) run yesterday.

First time was a short motor about 2 miles round trip. then back to the mooring for a coffee.

Then a 6 mile trip in the afternoon and we got the furling genoa out, and turned the engine off, and actually sailed her, what a lovely feeling, although mooring up this time was a bit, shall we say interesting.

Sunday, the weather was a bit lively for us, so we just fettled and got to know the boat, and did a bit of investigating, testing etc.

Every time you tick one job of the list another 10 seem to appear, but the main thing that bugs me is the amount of unused cabling that is running around the boat, but that's probably my IT background.

Looking forward to getting more adventurous and extending the trips a little bit further each time.
 
OK cannot see the pictures but just some random ideas for you...

You have a nice quite capable sailing boat, by the sound of it in need of some TLC.

First suggestion is do not scrap anything that is not broken.

Take item 2 your heading reminder, if its doing no harm live with it FOR NOW. You might find it handy, you might find another use for it or the holes left if it goes.

The rescue quoit do you need another one? can you address man-overboard in another manner newer equipment?

EPIRB, Dinghy, Liferaft, Harness points, hand held VHF, Flares etc, people can list all the safety equipment in the world. In the UK there are recommendations many quite sensible, but finally it is up to you to decide what YOU think is necessary.

Certainly read the advise ask the advise, think what you are going to use the boat for and what equipment is best for you... Allot can also come down to your budget.

Whilst onesea is right it is up to you to decide what safety gear you carry. There is a lot to be said for find a standard and meeting it. If ever you are in a position of needing to justify your diligence in this matter if you can point to a standard and so move the responsibility to another authority. It could be very useful in an inquest or court. Hopefully it will never come to that. RYA will give standards which would be worth following. (and if necessary quoting)
Here is a link to West Australian authority requirements. It is by no means OTT but bare minimums. It quotes equipment needed for 3 different degrees of off shore. Note the Recreational Skipper's Ticket is peculiar to West Australia but similar is required in most parts of Oz. You can ignore that but it would be good to have some sort of qualification that you can point to. Note EPIRB is very highly regarded here. Yet another case last weekend of a rescue of 3 from a capsized dinghy purely from deploying EPIRB.
Boat safety here is a greater issue because of the huge number of small open boats on trailers and hence the large number of tragedies resulting from inexperience.
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/19089.asp#Safety_equipment good luck olewill
 
Every time you tick one job of the list another 10 seem to appear
Welcome to the wonderful world of boating :rolleyes:

But doing it all yourself, or with a bit of expert help if you really can't, or shouldn't until you've got a better idea of what you're doing (I'd get a rigger to help with anything to do with standing rigging, for example) is the best way I know to find out how your boat works and gives you your best chance of sorting it when it doesn't.
 
Interesting and constructive replies from all, but as an instructor I would have to say that the most valuable thing you could do, on the safety front, is to do a course. I would recommend that you sign up for a theory course over the winter which will allow you to extract full value from the practical course which you should follow up with. See the RYA website ( or ISA if you're in Ireland, etc.)
 
Nothing wrong with throwing quoits per se, but if the boat has space on the pushpit and you have the budget I'd be replacing it with one of the life buoys with the built in lifting thingamagig, like this.
 
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/19089.asp#Safety_equipment

Do they really need to enforce laws to get complioance with this list??:eek:

It is so basic who wouldn'y comply? Only a fool with no experience of the sea and who hadn't thought about what to do if something goes wrong? Who'd go to sea in a motor boat with no tools?

Most countries have laws about qualifications and safety equipment, the UK is the odd one out by not having.

You would be surprised how many foolish people are out there, they don't have tools because they don't know how to use them. On another forum, a guy asked if someone could advise where his rear heads and galley seacocks are located. Turned out he had owned the boat for 7 years!
 
Most countries have laws about qualifications and safety equipment, the UK is the odd one out by not having.

You would be surprised how many foolish people are out there, they don't have tools because they don't know how to use them. On another forum, a guy asked if someone could advise where his rear heads and galley seacocks are located. Turned out he had owned the boat for 7 years!

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

I must admit that Aussy list is not bad although I would fail on the flares (out of date) and EPIRB.
 
Most of the foregoing is sound stuff, but I'm going to make a very emphatic recommendation... No, don't run or hide - this is free, and possibly the best-value guidance available anywhere.

I'm presuming you're somewhere in the UK. So, contact the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's 'Sea Safety Scheme' via this link.

They offer personalised, face-to-face guidance on every aspect of small craft safety, given by a deeply-experienced volunteer ( several members on here are such volunteers ) who will come to you and your boat at a time to suit you. S/he will be able to comment on and guide, answer questions, point you in sound directions.... for free. They are practical people and will usually show you the most economic way to achieve a desired result - such as where the cheapest fire extinguishers are to be found and how to check your family's lifejackets for fit and serviceability.

Not much of real worth is free today. This is.

Enjoi!

;)
 
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/19089.asp#Safety_equipment

Do they really need to enforce laws to get complioance with this list??:eek:

It is so basic who wouldn'y comply? Only a fool with no experience of the sea and who hadn't thought about what to do if something goes wrong? Who'd go to sea in a motor boat with no tools?

As you say it is a very basic list. Incidentally they do not enforce flares in date.
They do however enforce the rules by patrolling boat ramps where people depart for fishing. Fortunately they tend to pick on the trailer power boat. They also patrol harbour exits and demand you stop and show your safety gear. You get turned back more than fined though.
I did traverse the harbour last sat morning an 8knot speed limit area only to see a patrol boat lurking with laser speed checker operating. No in answer to your question, I was way below the speed limit in a RIB but towing 3 dinghies at 6 knots. good luck olewill
 
As said, nothing is foolproof. We all have inspections from the MCA, but they disregard what I see as essentials, like a bilge alarm in decked boats at least. The inspector went from my boat to a 30ft open boat alongside me, the hand bilge pump was under the bottom of a 4ft deep net pound...just when you need it, loaded down...They seem to have no remit about basic construction, there was a boat which had the electric bilge pump outlet on the waterline, probably caused the deaths of the two men aboard when it sank.
There was even a boat with no hand bilge pump, had an interesting and thought provoking incident (one of these
http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=...2.0.121.956.0j8.8.0...0.0...1ac.1.4J7f7nxf2U4)
A substantial boat, coming home overtaking a quartering sea, went up one wave and started to 'twist', took off and carried on twisting, landed on its side with the crew standing inside the bulwarks leaning against the deck waiting to see which way it would fall. Upright fortunately, (after about three weeks, they said) but then found the belts for the engine driven bilge pump were under water and not working. They think it was only the offset-to port wheelhouse in the water which tipped the balance.

Sorry, more thread drift and my penchant for cautionary tales, but in 40 years you see a lot.
 

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