Winching system

claymore

claymore

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I was rather taken by a pulley system attached to the topping lift on a boat I saw. The family were young but were lifting a fairly hefty male up sufficient to have got him out of the water and onto the deck. Does anyone have a similar system and if so, what sort of purchase and rope size do you use?
Thanks
 
On the supposition that a "hefty" male is around 100kg - aye, I saw the pocket picking photo - and the average wee wifie can pull about 25kg, unless there is a hefty life policy when it drops to ~5kg, and blocks and pulleys are about 70% efficient, that makes about 6:1 with the rope being nice soft braid on braid about 12mm. Whether your topping lift would take such a load is another matter for conjecture but if it does just winding it onto a winch might do the job. Now the employer insurance is ended the incentive for leaving you in the drink has diminished.
 
We didn't have a topping lift, but could swing the spinny or spare genoa halyard back.
We experimented with a 4:1 mainsheet tackle which had been discarded from an earlier boat.
Not ball bearing or anything.
About 12mm rope.
We led that to a sheet winch, it worked really well in high gear.
I think in 'real life' the boat is not going to totally stop, the sea won't be flat etc, so more the power of the winch is worth having.
Leading the line up from the casualty end rather than down from the halyard fed the winch better, you may need to check this.
 
A halyard or topping lift will have a lot of friction. So while it might seem attractive having winches available much effort will be lost. I say this on the basis of difficulty lifting a man up a mast on a halyard. Not easy. A halyard or topping lift will generally have a lot of strength to hold a boom or pole up. So a tackle from the pole down to the MOB would be a better bet. (especially as said if the first pull is upward) However a winch in itself is very efficient in multiplying power so the trick is to get a tackle from the end of the boom or pole but to lead it to a winch. It does seem to me that any tackle more than 4 to 1 tends to tangle easily and begiins to lose so much in friction as to become alost cause.
My own opinion is that a ladder up the stern is best. A tackle can be rigged on the backstay so that the person can be hoisted or better assisted up the ladder or at least held from falling at each rung. However then you have the real problem of the waves threatening to hurt the MOB against the hull. Or perhaps making it easier for him to climb up.
All I can suggest is that you try out what you have in mind. good luck olewill
 
Fair enough - I had thought to hoist the Topping lift and tie it off so give me some height for the top of the pulley system.
Perhaps its a bit of a naff idea and especially as has been pointed out, my Death in Service £165K is no longer applicable
 
We have a 6:1 tackle that lies extended along the guardrail. It's about 3m long fully extended. There's a carabiner at each end. It can be clipped to the boom end or onto a halyard, whatever is convenient. The carabiner will clip easily onto the D ring of a lifejacket or harness.

The case of MOB without LJ or harness is still to be dealt with.

Threading the tackle is complex and it is easily tangled. In a test it worked OK for Jane to lift me out of the dinghy. But since then, she's got older and I've got heavier. It's never been tested in anger.

Derek
 
Do you have a strut or a conventional kicker arrangement? The boat was in Ardfern, it was an HR 30+ - the gizmo did look a bit cumbersome but as we are ageing a tad, I'm not sure of our ability to mantleshelf off the toerail!
 
cpedw said:
Ordinary kicker. The topping lift would support the boom.

The dinghy is almost always inflated so would I think be the preferred route to MOB recovery.

Derek
Click to expand...
Yes, ours is in Davits and features in our sometimes practiced drill - run of course in fine weather wi nae wind!
 
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