When to snap a morse control cable!

[steve yates]

Brought JoJo up benfleet creek today, for her final run to get hauled out, prob till next spring. On the way we put her aground at the crossover in the creek, 5 mins before high tide, it is a very tight crossover! Anyway, she powered out of it after a few minutes wiggling, and we carried on.

Got to the yard, and took her into the cradle, had to back out a wee bit and come back in, just as we did that, the gear control lever snapped!

What are the odds, it snapped literally with 2 foot to go Chucked a rope ashore and wiggled her into place with that and out she came.

Would be a different story if it snapped when she went into the mud at the crossover

A new cable (and morse lever) was on the refit list anyway!

 

[FairweatherDave]

Nice one! You should never replace anything before time if you don't need to

 

[fisherman]

On a normal day I probably put the engine in and out of gear 500 times, that's twice per pot while hauling, plus all the others. After the last string I put the boat ahead and went 18nm into Newlyn, up the pontoons, and as I approached the lifeboat found the cable had fractured, luckily was going slowly, stopped the engine and no. one son lassoed a cleat. Lesson: always try the controls in open water before berthing, although one movement more or less might not help.
My friend was a full ahead or stop merchant, three of them in the for'd wheelhouse approaching the latticework of the Eastern Arm in Falmouth docks. the chap on the quay said "We saw the moment he went astern, then the next moment he realised the cable had gone, then he said two words, both of which ended in 'uck'. One was 'duck', and the wheelhouse came off."

 

[Resolution]

On a normal day I probably put the engine in and out of gear 500 times, that's twice per pot while hauling, plus all the others. After the last string I put the boat ahead and went 18nm into Newlyn, up the pontoons, and as I approached the lifeboat found the cable had fractured, luckily was going slowly, stopped the engine and no. one son lassoed a cleat. Lesson: always try the controls in open water before berthing, although one movement more or less might not help.
My friend was a full ahead or stop merchant, three of them in the for'd wheelhouse approaching the latticework of the Eastern Arm in Falmouth docks. the chap on the quay said "We saw the moment he went astern, then the next moment he realised the cable had gone, then he said two words, both of which ended in 'uck'. One was 'duck', and the wheelhouse came off."

Crumbs. I have said far worse things than that and never even shaken the sprayhood.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I thought that I'd impress the kids and sail off the quay at Weymouth. Since we were pointing inwards in a light Westerly breeze it meant backing the genoa to get off, and then bearing away round onto a run towards the entrance. Nothing was done terribly deftly and the turn took longer than might have been hoped for; t-boning the lifeboat looked like a probable outcome. The engine was started and nudged into gear for a moment to give a little wash across the rudder which saw us back sailing, with most of the audience none the wiser.

Once out of the harbour we realised that there was even less wind away from the funnelling effect of the town and we started the engine for the trip to Lulworth. At which point we found that the gear cable had dropped off.

I nearly t-boned Britannia once, but that's another story.

 

[Yngmar]

It always breaks when maneuvering in tight quarters, never out at sea when you want to use the engine to go a bit faster because it's too calm.

I've helped rescue two in Brighton. One hadn't even realised his gearbox cable was gone. I was watching him cast off, heard the engine rev up but saw no propwash come out and the boat didn't move forwards. He was slowly being blown off by the bow, so I shouted at him to throw me a line. He looked at me in utter puzzlement and said "No, I'm going out sailing." Eventually he realized he wasn't going anywhere but slowly drift into the breakwater (I don't think he had it in him to sail himself out of the situation - he normally needed a tea break halfway into raising his mainsail). Eventually he managed to get a rope ready and I had to clamber onto another (much bigger) boat and pulled him alongside and left him rafted up. He couldn't get off though, as the other boat was a steel motorcruiser and far too high. He radioed marina staff for help and together we warped him back into his berth.

The other one I spotted on the way to the showers. There was some commotion and I saw a boat driving full throttle into the pushpit of another, with two people on the other boat shouting and trying to hold it off. The guy on the full throttle boat was uselessly flipping his lever back and forward, which seemed to spin freely. Somehow it hadn't occurred to anyone to stop the engine yet.

 

[Tomahawk]

It is the nature of the beast that it will work prefectly until...

 

[solent clown]

Ours failed the first time we ever moored in the marina, chugging gently forward toward the pontoon, I put it in neutral, then reverse with son the ready at the pulpit, we did not appear to be slowing , so I gunned the engine in panic, only for the boat to lurch ahead at speed, ramming the pontoon and climbing up by bow like the Campbeltown at St Nazaire. Fortunately it slid back into the water, no real harm done, but not the best introduction to the marina...

 

[Yealm]

Could I ask - what does 'morse' mean ?

And what does it mean in the context of a switch panel ? I have a switch which has three positions and is labelled anchor/morse. I assumed the anchor position is for anchor all-round white light at masthead. Or is it to control an anchor windless ? Currently it doesn't do anything at all. (there are other switches labelled steaming, navigation, masthead respectively).

 

[peteK]

Sends out sos when your sinking☺

 

[Dan Tribe]

In a lock and a heavy Dutch iron scow about 30 ft came in quite enthusiastically. He tried to engage reverse, lots of revving but no slowing. There was a loud clang as he hit the lock gates. Luckily he already had a flat bow!

 

[weustace]

A similar adventure a number of years ago on a family canal boat holiday: we had been descending a flight of locks (the Tardebigge Flight on the Worcester & Birmingham canal, if my memory serves me correctly) for some time, and mother had finally been persuaded to take the helm while I worked the lock we were using and my father went ahead to prepare the next. The routine established itself well, until I had wound up the paddle on my side of the lock and was about to go round to do the other, when I was rather startled by a maternal distress call—although unassisted by radio, it reached well beyond the next lock, and my father presently appeared. I had immediately closed the paddle, and it became apparent that the gear cable had snapped as she made a minor correction to the boat's position—leaving the thing pinned against the top gate of the lock and about to settle onto the cill. We warped the boat forwards and into the next basin, and summoned the hire firm's engineer; on arrival I gave him my (~15 year old's) opinion on the problem, but for some reason despite this [doubtless welcome] advice it took him a considerable period to triangulate the fault...

We have been again since, so clearly it wasn't that traumatic!

 

[mm42]

Could I ask - what does 'morse' mean ?

And what does it mean in the context of a switch panel ? I have a switch which has three positions and is labelled anchor/morse. I assumed the anchor position is for anchor all-round white light at masthead. Or is it to control an anchor windless ? Currently it doesn't do anything at all. (there are other switches labelled steaming, navigation, masthead respectively).

Morse is a brand of engine controls, usually lovely shiny levers, either one each for gear and throttle or more usually a combined gear and throttle in one lever (eg push the lever a small bit to go ahead slowly, push it further to go faster).

From the sound of it someone used your all round white for signalling hence the legend on the switch panel, for morse code, not morse controls.

 

[Yealm]

Many thanks

Tho’ it feels like the word morse has been used in this thread to refer to any engine throttle control rather than a specific make? Like hoover?

Yes - tho’ looks like standard contessa switch panel (40 years old)..still not totally sure if refers to doing morse code with the anchor light or controlling the anchor windless!

Morse is a brand of engine controls, usually lovely shiny levers, either one each for gear and throttle or more usually a combined gear and throttle in one lever (eg push the lever a small bit to go ahead slowly, push it further to go faster).

From the sound of it someone used your all round white for signalling hence the legend on the switch panel, for morse code, not morse controls.

 

[Kylora]

Could I ask - what does 'morse' mean ?

And what does it mean in the context of a switch panel ? I have a switch which has three positions and is labelled anchor/morse. I assumed the anchor position is for anchor all-round white light at masthead. Or is it to control an anchor windless ? Currently it doesn't do anything at all. (there are other switches labelled steaming, navigation, masthead respectively).

On my panel, I would need to switch on the switch marked " masthead " , then use another ( 3 position to select either anchor light or mast head tricolour.

Maybe your panel is the same, though I can't think how / why the tricolour would be labelled "Morse".

Ash