|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+x+x+x+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Another Safety at Sea Thought A cruising skipper’s lot If I offered you the opportunity to engage in an activity where the dominant background emotion was one a low-grade anxiety, what would you say? And, if on top of that enticing offer, I were to suggest that, during this activity, you would ask yourself many times every day and with almost every decision you make, “What can go wrong with this?”, how would you respond to me? I would contend that, to a large extent, the above is a skipper’s cross to bear: looking for areas where the boat or crew might get into trouble. And it says something about the ultimate gratifications of cruising that most skippers bear that cross with grace and competence. A conscientious skipper has to not only tolerate, but actually embrace, a good deal of worry, or what I experience as “fretting”. This is more potently the case if the skipper has loved ones on board. And the skipper’s challenge is to transform this fretting, which starts well before the boat gets to the water, into action. For this fretting, this worry, this looking for where things can go pear shaped, is what keeps the boat and her crew safe. It is not the boat that keeps crew safe, it is the skipper: for the boat is only an extension of the skipper. The boat reflects her skipper’s capacity to imagine the challenges that might emerge, to make choices among the various options and take the action necessary to prepare the boat and to then be prepared with creative responses to meet the un-anticipated. We can continue these thoughts in the Forum. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, It's not just the skipper's responsibility. We sail short-handed most of the time so it's basically like single-handing half the time. I spend my watches at night thinking like an astronaut. I go through numerous 'What if...?' scenarios. What if we hit something? What if an alarm goes off? What if the steering fails? What if the wind vane breaks? What if we get a sudden and violent change of conditions? Visualising what to do is a form of advance preparation. We've had things go wrong, in fact we've just about all of the above happen. What we've learned is that if we don't panic, and act as a team, we can usually get through anything. In fact, we've learned most of all that neither one of us tends to panic and freeze. So far, we've managed to do the right things. Thanks for sparking these discussions. Stay safe. Daria Hi Daria, I write these Thoughts with about 250 words in mind which precludes the opportunity to deal with nuances and exceptions. The Forum is a great place for follow-ups so thanks for the opportunity. You bring up excellent points. Your habit of anticipation: the “what if” scenarios you describe, is similar to the “fretting” I describe. A crew that participates in this way makes for a safer boat better prepared to respond to challenges. There are some few boats that function well with shared skipper duties: the danger is to ensure that, in the shared responsibility, some important function does not fall between the cracks. For most boats, in my observation, there is a skipper who takes overall responsibility for the vessel’s preparation and safety, often delegating tasks and, hopefully, responding to and welcoming crew/partner suggestions and involvement. On most boats, there is one person who embodies “where the buck stops”. That said there will be crew on watch alone and this crew must be prepared to run the boat and make decisions about what needs doing, including when to wake the off-watch crew/skipper: the on-watch crew carries responsibility. I think it is an interesting to note the wide continuum of crew skills: the range being from skipper level skills through experienced crew to new crew to those who operate largely as passengers. (This is an important subject in its own right: especially the ability of crew /partner to take over for a disabled skipper.) So, in the real world, I think there is always some degree of shared responsibility on most cruising boats, but, also, most cruising recreational boats have one person who is considered skipper and who operates as such. (One can argue whether this is “best” and certainly proffer alternatives.) This person is the skipper I am referring to in my short piece of writing and who must, to my mind, shoulder the burden, the “Skippers Lot” I referred to. Being a skipper is a considerable responsibility. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy In the ongoing series of Thoughts on Safety at Sea Dangerous companions There are many unappealing companions to have on board: pests come to mind. Most are more annoying than dangerous. But one companion can join you while on passage and can sneak up as it is quiet, invisible, and insidious. Part of its power is that it reduces situational awareness. And it is largely unheralded for its capacity for catastrophe. I am referring to fatigue, particularly on the skipper’s part, arguably the underlying factor in many passage mishaps. Every skipper must be concerned with fatigue and must not only monitor their own fatigue level (not so easy without practice), but must keep a weather eye on the crew. Underestimating the danger this companion warrants contributes to many “incidents”. At passage’s end, for example a tired skipper may attempt a nighttime entrance to an enticing anchorage. An unfortunate outcome might be attributed to “navigational errors” when the more important contributing factor was fatigue. If, while sitting up, your eyes are drooping, take this as a warning. Less obvious signs of fatigue: rushing, clumsiness, taking (or tempted by) shortcuts, longing for the passage completion, and irritability. Preparation: know and remember that this companion is very likely to join the cruise. Know that a passage is not a race; slow down for comfort, heave to for a watch to have a good meal and sleep, adjust watch schedules. Tell your crew if you are experiencing fatigue. Know also that dealing with fatigue when on passage gets easier with experience. Please go to the Forum for further discussion on this topic. Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+x+x+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Another Safety at Sea Thought A cruising skipper’s lot If I offered you the opportunity to engage in an activity where the dominant background emotion was one a low-grade anxiety, what would you say? And, if on top of that enticing offer, I were to suggest that, during this activity, you would ask yourself many times every day and with almost every decision you make, “What can go wrong with this?”, how would you respond to me? I would contend that, to a large extent, the above is a skipper’s cross to bear: looking for areas where the boat or crew might get into trouble. And it says something about the ultimate gratifications of cruising that most skippers bear that cross with grace and competence. A conscientious skipper has to not only tolerate, but actually embrace, a good deal of worry, or what I experience as “fretting”. This is more potently the case if the skipper has loved ones on board. And the skipper’s challenge is to transform this fretting, which starts well before the boat gets to the water, into action. For this fretting, this worry, this looking for where things can go pear shaped, is what keeps the boat and her crew safe. It is not the boat that keeps crew safe, it is the skipper: for the boat is only an extension of the skipper. The boat reflects her skipper’s capacity to imagine the challenges that might emerge, to make choices among the various options and take the action necessary to prepare the boat and to then be prepared with creative responses to meet the un-anticipated. We can continue these thoughts in the Forum. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, It's not just the skipper's responsibility. We sail short-handed most of the time so it's basically like single-handing half the time. I spend my watches at night thinking like an astronaut. I go through numerous 'What if...?' scenarios. What if we hit something? What if an alarm goes off? What if the steering fails? What if the wind vane breaks? What if we get a sudden and violent change of conditions? Visualising what to do is a form of advance preparation. We've had things go wrong, in fact we've just about all of the above happen. What we've learned is that if we don't panic, and act as a team, we can usually get through anything. In fact, we've learned most of all that neither one of us tends to panic and freeze. So far, we've managed to do the right things. Thanks for sparking these discussions. Stay safe. Daria Hi Daria, I write these Thoughts with about 250 words in mind which precludes the opportunity to deal with nuances and exceptions. The Forum is a great place for follow-ups so thanks for the opportunity. You bring up excellent points. Your habit of anticipation: the “what if” scenarios you describe, is similar to the “fretting” I describe. A crew that participates in this way makes for a safer boat better prepared to respond to challenges. There are some few boats that function well with shared skipper duties: the danger is to ensure that, in the shared responsibility, some important function does not fall between the cracks. For most boats, in my observation, there is a skipper who takes overall responsibility for the vessel’s preparation and safety, often delegating tasks and, hopefully, responding to and welcoming crew/partner suggestions and involvement. On most boats, there is one person who embodies “where the buck stops”. That said there will be crew on watch alone and this crew must be prepared to run the boat and make decisions about what needs doing, including when to wake the off-watch crew/skipper: the on-watch crew carries responsibility. I think it is an interesting to note the wide continuum of crew skills: the range being from skipper level skills through experienced crew to new crew to those who operate largely as passengers. (This is an important subject in its own right: especially the ability of crew /partner to take over for a disabled skipper.) So, in the real world, I think there is always some degree of shared responsibility on most cruising boats, but, also, most cruising recreational boats have one person who is considered skipper and who operates as such. (One can argue whether this is “best” and certainly proffer alternatives.) This person is the skipper I am referring to in my short piece of writing and who must, to my mind, shoulder the burden, the “Skippers Lot” I referred to. Being a skipper is a considerable responsibility. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+x+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, We'd love to go to the boat and work on her or update our schematics. But they closed the marinas before we could launch and put a restriction on travel. We can't go more than 2 km from home unless we have to buy food or medicine. This coronavirus pandemic probably means we won't launch at all this year. What will that do to her systems? No use for two years? Daria Dick - 3/24/2020 Hi Dick, We'd love to go to the boat and work on her or update our schematics. But they closed the marinas before we could launch and put a restriction on travel. We can't go more than 2 km from home unless we have to buy food or medicine. This coronavirus pandemic probably means we won't launch at all this year. What will that do to her systems? No use for two years? Daria Hi Daria, Yes, I wrote that prior to many locations becoming as restricted as has become recommended. A beginning on schematics can certainly be started at home in one’s easy chair and a lot of the preliminary diagrams outlined to be fleshed out later. And it would be interesting to see how one’s memory compares with the reality of the boat. Your question about extended and unattended boat storage is a good one. I suspect most systems, if well winterized for one winter, will not be compromised by additional time with the caveat that battery banks should be charged occasionally for most battery types if not all. I will give some thought to this. At first blush, I would pay attention to the outside of the boat. Leaves in the scuppers comes first to mind. I have known of cockpits that fill with water and the water spills into the boat. Lines may have gotten loose, jack stands may need a firming up, etc. At the very least, I would hope that every boatyard had someone to look after the boats who you could talk with and have check things out. It is hard to say how realistic this is, but I am still hoping for some kind of season, but I know that is at least a month in the future as the border US to Canada has recently been extended for 30 days. We shall all see. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Daria Blackwell
|
|
|
Group: Administrators
Posts: 811,
Visits: 148
|
+x+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Another Safety at Sea Thought A cruising skipper’s lot If I offered you the opportunity to engage in an activity where the dominant background emotion was one a low-grade anxiety, what would you say? And, if on top of that enticing offer, I were to suggest that, during this activity, you would ask yourself many times every day and with almost every decision you make, “What can go wrong with this?”, how would you respond to me? I would contend that, to a large extent, the above is a skipper’s cross to bear: looking for areas where the boat or crew might get into trouble. And it says something about the ultimate gratifications of cruising that most skippers bear that cross with grace and competence. A conscientious skipper has to not only tolerate, but actually embrace, a good deal of worry, or what I experience as “fretting”. This is more potently the case if the skipper has loved ones on board. And the skipper’s challenge is to transform this fretting, which starts well before the boat gets to the water, into action. For this fretting, this worry, this looking for where things can go pear shaped, is what keeps the boat and her crew safe. It is not the boat that keeps crew safe, it is the skipper: for the boat is only an extension of the skipper. The boat reflects her skipper’s capacity to imagine the challenges that might emerge, to make choices among the various options and take the action necessary to prepare the boat and to then be prepared with creative responses to meet the un-anticipated. We can continue these thoughts in the Forum. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, It's not just the skipper's responsibility. We sail short-handed most of the time so it's basically like single-handing half the time. I spend my watches at night thinking like an astronaut. I go through numerous 'What if...?' scenarios. What if we hit something? What if an alarm goes off? What if the steering fails? What if the wind vane breaks? What if we get a sudden and violent change of conditions? Visualising what to do is a form of advance preparation. We've had things go wrong, in fact we've just about all of the above happen. What we've learned is that if we don't panic, and act as a team, we can usually get through anything. In fact, we've learned most of all that neither one of us tends to panic and freeze. So far, we've managed to do the right things. Thanks for sparking these discussions. Stay safe. Daria
Vice Commodore, OCC
|
|
|
|
|
Daria Blackwell
|
|
|
Group: Administrators
Posts: 811,
Visits: 148
|
+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, We'd love to go to the boat and work on her or update our schematics. But they closed the marinas before we could launch and put a restriction on travel. We can't go more than 2 km from home unless we have to buy food or medicine. This coronavirus pandemic probably means we won't launch at all this year. What will that do to her systems? No use for two years? Daria
Vice Commodore, OCC
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+xAnother Safety at Sea thought: Schematics They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue. Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board. But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends. Please add your thoughts in the Forum, Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Another Safety at Sea Thought A cruising skipper’s lot If I offered you the opportunity to engage in an activity where the dominant background emotion was one a low-grade anxiety, what would you say? And, if on top of that enticing offer, I were to suggest that, during this activity, you would ask yourself many times every day and with almost every decision you make, “What can go wrong with this?”, how would you respond to me? I would contend that, to a large extent, the above is a skipper’s cross to bear: looking for areas where the boat or crew might get into trouble. And it says something about the ultimate gratifications of cruising that most skippers bear that cross with grace and competence. A conscientious skipper has to not only tolerate, but actually embrace, a good deal of worry, or what I experience as “fretting”. This is more potently the case if the skipper has loved ones on board. And the skipper’s challenge is to transform this fretting, which starts well before the boat gets to the water, into action. For this fretting, this worry, this looking for where things can go pear shaped, is what keeps the boat and her crew safe. It is not the boat that keeps crew safe, it is the skipper: for the boat is only an extension of the skipper. The boat reflects her skipper’s capacity to imagine the challenges that might emerge, to make choices among the various options and take the action necessary to prepare the boat and to then be prepared with creative responses to meet the un-anticipated. We can continue these thoughts in the Forum. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
Another Safety at Sea thought:
Schematics
They would have been a great winter project, but it is not too late: use this virus plagued down time to make schematics. Do some research and start at home from the comfort of your easy chair and then go to the boat. Of all the tools that are important in diagnosis, and to then dealing quickly and effectively to an on-board problem, comprehensive schematics are likely the most neglected. This is important when in your home waters, but at sea, when all are tired and the boat is bouncing about, swift and easy diagnosis and repairs becomes a safety issue.
Even if you choose professionals to do the work, you will save him/her hours (and yourself money) by good schematics. Our boats have become quite complicated and even the best of us are wise not to rely on memory. Schematics can include the electrical system (AC and DC), plumbing (fresh, salt, sanitation, fuel), instrument wiring, and coax runs among others. You will learn a great deal, and be far better prepared with good schematics drawn up and carefully stored on board.
But note, include the details: wire gauge sizes, hose diameters, all junctions, etc. etc. Schematics can allow for “virtual” repair; instead of diving blindly into dark corners, take your schematic, settle into your settee and take the symptoms of your problem and apply them to your schematic. At minimal, this is a great stimulus to problem-solving and, more likely, save hours of chasing down dead ends.
Please add your thoughts in the Forum,
Stay safe, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+xDo No Harm It is in the nature of cruising widely that skippers occasionally have to repair a system about which they may have little knowledge. It has been my experience and observation that there are some skills which make it quite likely that one will succeed in the repair. My first “rule” is taken right out of medical training: “Do No Harm”. The primary danger where experience and knowledge are limited is that, in the poking around searching for a solution, that matters are made worse. Next worry is that you do not document how items came apart. Please! Do not rely on memory: your smart-phone camera is an impressive tool in this regard. The best insurance to doing no harm is to proceed slowly and thoughtfully: usually there is no rush. In addition to photos, take real-time notes: partly as the notes will be helpful, but also because the taking of notes is a marvelous stimulus to creative problem solving. It is far too easy to get stuck in a limited line of thinking. The next and last tool to be mentioned is persistence. If one persists in poking around and resists doing harm, the problem is very likely to reveal itself. Give yourself the mind-set to persist: tell yourself that you are learning about the system at hand, rather than repairing it. Make it fun and feed your curiosity and you will very likely execute the repair. At worst, you will have a better knowledge of the problem and what the next step is. Please find this Thought in the Forum where comments/thoughts/questions can be posted. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy In the ongoing series of Safety Thoughts: Alarms Alarms are a good thing. They warn of emerging problems and they do not get tired or lazy. That said, I think many would agree that we have so many alarms, that when one goes off, it is hard to know what the warning is or where to go to respond. Someday, an enterprising entrepreneur will come up with an alarm annunciator: in the meantime, it behooves every skipper to make a “vessel alarm list” and to try to differentiate the alarms by sound (buzzer, beep, two-tone, etc.). Then, highlight the “urgent” alarms: on Alchemy these are: engine oil pressure & water temperature, high water, bilge pump activation, propane sniffer, smoke detectors, exhaust hose temperature, and CO. Then there are the skipper-set alarms on AIS, radar, instruments and the DSC alarm on your VHF. And finally, there are the alarms that emerge from our “devices”. Post this list where it is easily accessible to remind/review (wall of the head?). One danger with alarms is that they can support a false complacency that inhibits regular inspections. For example, an eyes-in-the-bilge inspection should remain an every-watch occurrence during passages. Also, a reminder: many alarms need attention. Some beep when batteries are low: many do not. A beginning-of-season renewal of all alarm batteries is wise. Other alarms have expiry dates (CO are often 5 years) while smoke detectors can malfunction because of accumulations of dust or cobwebs. One’s confidence in propane sniffers increases when it activates when tested with gas from an (unlit) lighter. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
Do No Harm
It is in the nature of cruising widely that skippers occasionally have to repair a system about which they may have little knowledge. It has been my experience and observation that there are some skills which make it quite likely that one will succeed in the repair.
My first “rule” is taken right out of medical training: “Do No Harm”. The primary danger where experience and knowledge are limited is that, in the poking around searching for a solution, that matters are made worse. Next worry is that you do not document how items came apart.
Please! Do not rely on memory: your smart-phone camera is an impressive tool in this regard. The best insurance to doing no harm is to proceed slowly and thoughtfully: usually there is no rush. In addition to photos, take real-time notes: partly as the notes will be helpful, but also because the taking of notes is a marvelous stimulus to creative problem solving. It is far too easy to get stuck in a limited line of thinking.
The next and last tool to be mentioned is persistence. If one persists in poking around and resists doing harm, the problem is very likely to reveal itself. Give yourself the mind-set to persist: tell yourself that you are learning about the system at hand, rather than repairing it. Make it fun and feed your curiosity and you will very likely execute the repair. At worst, you will have a better knowledge of the problem and what the next step is.
Please find this Thought in the Forum where comments/thoughts/questions can be posted.
Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|
|
Dick
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 970,
Visits: 1.3K
|
+x+xBack to 2009 when I crossed from Galapagos to Marquesas, a 3200 miles route that took us 19 days to complete, I had a lot of time on hand to think about improving easiness and safety on board, so I made a few changes on managing the sails and on the ship abandoning procedures that included: 1. Reefing: when you have to reef a sail, is already because conditions are deteriorating so, the worst thing you can do, is going to the mast to reef the main sail. To resolve that, I installed one counter halyard (pull down) for each reef ( have 3), so I could pull down the sail from the cockpit, avoiding going to the mast. That significantly improved the effort of reefing the main sail. Recently, on winds over 50 knots, I found myself having to go to the mast to take the rest of the main sail down from reef 3 to zero, so I installed one small counter halyard to pull the last piece of main sail completely down, from inside the cockpit. Later, I had a chance to test the system on a real situation, and, provided that you manage that small cable well, avoided the trip to the mast on real bad wind or sea conditions. 2. Abandoning ship: Working on the "what ifs" of abandoning ships, came to mind that, the most important thing to take with you is water, so, I reserved a 3, 5L pet bottles of water, from which I took some wayer out to promote positive buoyancy, tie them together with a small rope, and tie the small rope on a longer rope, to take it out, throw it on the water, holding the long rope, and tying it up to the raft or other floating equipment to be used on the abandoning ship procedure. 3. Abandoning pack: using one of the waterproofed abandonig sacks, I put inside it: Spot, Epirb, TelSat, Batteries, Solar powered chargers, Portable, waterproof VHF, on abandoning ship, take this sack out with you. Hi Silvio, I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. And yes, long hours on watch is conducive to much good reflection. I will comment in turn here in this area of the Forum and may find better places to copy and paste your comments and my responses where those interested in, say, abandon ship procedures, can benefit from your thoughts. Where to reef from: I have participated in a number of discussions with respect to the debate of going to the mast for reefing vs staying in the cockpit. Experienced sailors fall into both categories so there is no consensus: generally, my take is that going to the mast prevails, but that may be a matter of boat design. Basically, I do not consider this to be a “better than/worse than”/ seamanship issue where one is safer than the other. Some boats lend them selves to one system over the other and some boat’s initial design makes reefing from cockpit a bear to retrofit. The “on-watch” crew should always be ready to go on deck in any case (kitted up to conditions and harnessed) and I espouse a “deck walk” every watch to look for trouble (parts on the deck, chafe, fouled pennants and the like). In challenging conditions, this can be done at change of watch while the crew going off-watch is still kitted up and available. I can certainly understand why one would not wish to go forward to reef in deteriorating conditions, but something is not right if the “worse thing you can do is go to the mast to reef”. If really nervous, reefing can always be accomplished from a hove-to position: about as comfortable as the boat can get. And, although not one’s idea of fun, it is never good to put off going forward: crew should always be willing, not necessarily excited, but willing to go forward and feel it is safe and reasonable to do so. On Alchemy, our first two reefs are done from the cockpit. One of the pluses of this is that it can be done single handed from a safe location and there is no need to bother the off-watch person. Our third reef I need to go to the mast and a crew is needed to lower the sail from the halyard lead back to the cockpit. Even if reefing could all be done single-handed at the mast, I might feel, if going on deck to reef, some wish to wake the off watch person and have them know that I was working the deck. Water etc. when abandoning ship: Similar concerns and appreciate your solution. On Alchemy, my offshore raft was equipped with water packets and a Katadyne hand-held watermaker. The latter was expensive, bought brought some piece of mind. My Abandon Ship Bag had more water in re-usable containers. I also carried a 20l/5g jerry can (handy where good water is scarce) which, when off-shore would be filled to 3/4rs filled. The jerry can and ASB would be tied together and all floated. Many of the items you mention are in our ASB at all times and ready to go. We also have a list of “last minute” items that started with the sat-phone and went down from there in order of importance. Having a waterproof bag for these items easily at hand when offshore is a wise pre-caution. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Not So Fast It is not an exaggeration that “going fast” is endowed with admiration world-wide and is universally aspired to in most aspects of life. It is likely one of the first adjectives used when a skipper is asked about his/her boat. But cruisers, especially passage makers, might benefit from considering that going fast, as an aspiration, is over-rated and perhaps dangerous. Take boat speed: on Alchemy, when on passage, I try not to exceed 75-80% of her speed potential. It is in that top 20% or so where there is little wiggle-room for the unexpected or forgiveness for errors. It is also the area where damage to the boat and injury to the crew is most likely. Similarly, in handling the boat, there is very rarely a call for speed. Working the boat and responding to problems benefit from a slow approach. Any really significant challenge likely benefits from a cup of tea before approaching. On Alchemy, we try to move at 2/3rds speed at all times: there is just no hurry. Moving slow is a constant reminder of the possible devastating result that might result from a serious injury at sea. Moving fast generates a constant temptation to cut corners: to leave the harness behind, tether unattached etc. Most of us are husband/wife or short-crewed in some way and an injury, even minor, can cause a whole cascade of misfortune. Going slow may not ensure a no-problem passage, but it certainly makes the completion of the passage in a satisfying way more likely. Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
|
|
|
|