Outfitting a little bare boat

[Tally Ho]

Drag line saved me once. I couldn't pull myself up it but I held on until my inexperienced crew heard me yelling to free the mainsheet and the tiller tether. And I'm an old curmudgeon. Don't drink and hat the idea of AM, FM, tapes, CDs, discs, or live Mariachi bands while I'm sailing. All that racket blocks out nature's song. But your point about a tether is well taken.

Remind me not to go out with you

I could not pull myself up either (I was testing my idea…with my boys at the helm). I single-hand a lot and thought it was a good idea for self-rescue. Not so easy though.

I do like to turn the music off sometimes, but I like listening to some Jimmy Buffet on the water!

Have fun with her.


Greg

 

[dLj]

Remind me not to go out with you

I could not pull myself up either (I was testing my idea…with my boys at the helm). I single-hand a lot and thought it was a good idea for self-rescue. Not so easy though.

I do like to turn the music off sometimes, but I like listening to some Jimmy Buffet on the water!

Have fun with her.


Greg

I read somewhere about someone having looked at pulling yourself back on-board at various speeds. I don't recall now but it seems to me at about 4 knots, you aren't making it without help. But I don't recall exactly... It might have been 6 knots... I do know at 4 knots you are going to have a real hard time of it...

dj

 

[Urban Hermit]

I read somewhere about someone having looked at pulling yourself back on-board at various speeds. I don't recall now but it seems to me at about 4 knots, you aren't making it without help. But I don't recall exactly... It might have been 6 knots... I do know at 4 knots you are going to have a real hard time of it...

dj

At my age I'll do well to get to the line and hang on. But here's a thought: suppose the line was rigged so that it would release a cleated mainsheet and/or tethered tiller? Maybe if it were looped around the mainsheet between a lower block (couldn't be a fiddle) and a jam cleat, so that if the drag of an old fool got on to it, it would pull the sheet out of the cleat. Hmm. I don't suppose any mainsheets are rigged without a fiddle block, though.

 

[dLj]

At my age I'll do well to get to the line and hang on. But here's a thought: suppose the line was rigged so that it would release a cleated mainsheet and/or tethered tiller? Maybe if it were looped around the mainsheet between a lower block (couldn't be a fiddle) and a jam cleat, so that if the drag of an old fool got on to it, it would pull the sheet out of the cleat. Hmm. I don't suppose any mainsheets are rigged without a fiddle block, though.

There has recently been a long discussion on Cruisers and Sailors forum about single handing and getting back on board.

Essentially if you fall overboard while single handing, you aren't getting back on board without some serious good luck.

Far better to direct your preparation efforts to staying on board.

The five main tenants of preparing for off shore:

1) keep the water out
2) keep the people on
3) keep the mast up
4) keep the keel down
5) keep the rudder on

Once those five are well covered, the rest is gravy.

dj

 

[kappykaplan]

The five main tenants of preparing for off shore:

1) keep the water out
2) keep the people on
3) keep the mast up
4) keep the keel down
5) keep the rudder on

Once those five are well covered, the rest is gravy.

And don't forget about treating the deck edge as a 500' cliff - don't fall off!

 

[Tally Ho]

I read somewhere about someone having looked at pulling yourself back on-board at various speeds. I don't recall now but it seems to me at about 4 knots, you aren't making it without help. But I don't recall exactly... It might have been 6 knots... I do know at 4 knots you are going to have a real hard time of it...

dj

That sounds about right. I had to have my boys round up and slow the boat down from 5 knots so I could get to the boat.

Maybe Will’s “sled” thing would allow a person to sort of skim on top of the water a bit. But it isn’t easy.

I gave up dragging a line after I tested the theory.


Greg

 

[shemandr]

Does OP have dry storage for all this stuff?
Too much crap on a small boat makes getting at any particular item a PITA.
Move this to get at that. Or even difficulty in remembering where it is. After a while it's really annoying. I'd try to pare back some.
Like the rescue line: If you have a life jacket and can attach a water resistant VHF radio to it you can use DSC to alert nearby vessels. It even broadcasts your position. Much more likely to effect a rescue than that trailing line.
Or lights. I'm not sure but I don't think a 16' boat needs lights but if it does a portable version will be sufficient. Lose that battery!
150' of rode in Pensacola Bay? How deep is a typical anchorage? Seems like on those islands you would anchor close to shore in not much water.
I don't think you need complete bed cloths. A couple of light fiber filled (Not down) sleeping bags would suffice and can double as pillows.
Yes to a fan (In Florida). and yes to making sure the boat ventilates well while you are not aboard. Yes to a simple tool set with some cotter pins and clevis pins. A light assortment of bolts, nuts and washers in a cigar box with some silicate gel packets.
Yes to electronic beacon. Flares are moisture sensitive and you will possibly set your boat on fire with the slag adding to your problem of being lost to include being lost and on fire. I believe an orange flag meets the requirement for day signaling. No updates and can double as a cover for rain.
As for engine repairs, it is a sailboat. That's your ticket home. If confronted with severe T Storms, beach it and take shelter.
Small boats are different. But I don't think they need to be smaller versions of larger boats. They have capabilities that larger boats don't. Use them to adhere to the KISS rule.

 

[Will Gilmore]

There are self-rescue systems that integrate with the self-steering and the radio. They detect when your handheld radio is no longer aboard and steere the boat into the wind.

-Will

 

[Urban Hermit]

Shemander raises some good points, especially mentioning spare cotter and clevis pins.

As to lights: A 16' boat, under sail, does indeed not require navigation lights but there must be a torch to shine on the sail when another boat approaches. However, under power, full navigation lights are required. It is prudent to have navigation lights on any boat at night, required or not (rowboats, I suppose, excepted).

As for "too much crap": I'm Murphy's favorite lab rat. The one thing I leave on the dock will become the one critical need before I return. I've became a belt-and-suspenders man due to life lessons -- and Murphy. Properly stowed, I don't believe my list constitutes too much. Another poster was kind enough to share a link for a book about two (of his friends?) who used a pair of Compac 16s as cruisers for an extended trip through the Florida Keys. I'm not even approaching that level. On the other hand, remembering where "it" is, is an issue. I can remember three years old but I'm having trouble remembering breakfast. Labels, labels, labels.

Getting home with sails: Do I hear a bit of superiority here? Shemander, take a look at a nautical chart for the ICW from Ft. Walton Beach harbor to Bayou Chico in Pensacola. When the Yanmar 10hp completely lost oil pressure at the entrance to the harbor, I sailed my Bayfield 29 back to a boatyard in Bayou Chico, in very light air, a good part of it after dark (and reported to the USCG that the Bob Sykes Bridge from Gulf Breeze to Pensacola Beach was entirely bereft of clearance and channel lights). Not Joshua Slocum, but capability. In all my sailing days I've never failed to get home on my own except for one time I misread the channel in an unfamiliar canal, hit a very soft mud bottom, and had to get pulled off, heeled over, with the main halyard. But if there's no wind, it's hot as blazes, and a plug fouls, I'd a damn sight rather be able to change it than sit in the sun until I get heat stroke.

150' of anchor rode: It's not the depth, it's the scope. We have microbursts and sneaky summer thunderbumpers that can gin up 40 mph winds in a jiffy. Fifteen feet of water -- and a lot of our water is 25 feet -- gives only a ten-to-one scope and the light anchors our small boats carry don't hold well in our sandy bottoms, which need a deeper bite to set well. The lower portion of Mobile Bay is know for square three-foot waves when a northwest wind's been blowing for a few hours. Mean depth there, eleven feet. I don't want to be limited to a ten foot rope when I need eleven to be hauled up out of the well. Fifty or even a hundred feet of five-eights rode doesn't take up significant space than 50.

The battery: You have a point there. I've made accommodations for a Group 27, ridiculous overkill, but it's what I already have on hand. The issue will be that it will stow were I would ordinarily put a reserve gas can. Hmm. I might do better with a motorcycle battery secured immediately under the companionway. Thanks for raising that issue.

Flares? True, holding one over the boat risks marring the fiberglass but isn't going to set it on fire. Yes, they do get damp and unreliable if not stowed in something as simple as a Ziplock bag and they have a nasty habit of being out of date when the USCG or the marine police takes an interest. I'm probably out of date here. LEDs have become de rigiour since I got landlocked. Good suggestion as a flare substitute. But you seem to be aiming at a minimum level just to be legal. I'm belt and suspenders, remember. I trailer with a hydraulic jack and 70 lbs of tools.

See ya on the water.

Bedding: Your suggestions are very reasonable. I was thinking more of something cushy for my old bones to lie on, and keeping warm. No sheets. Did I mention pillows? Not sure. If I did, nonsense. Type IIIs with a towel over them work fine.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Another poster was kind enough to share a link for a book about two (of his friends?)

Nope, never met them. Just read their book on Kindle.

The lower portion of Mobile Bay is know for square three-foot waves when a northwest wind's been blowing for a few hours.

I know how Mobile Bay can get. Shipwrecked there when I was 15 maybe? It was the year the first Rocky movie came out. Our anchor line broke and we went aground in the middle of the night. Much bigger waves than 3'. I was pulled out of the raft by a coastguard 40 footer. The rest of my family spent the night wedged in the sand bar. Too rough to make a second attempt after they yanked me aboard. Everyone was fine. You can't sink when sitting in the bottom.

Here's Blitzen the next morning, keel deep in the sand. We spent almost a month on Dauphin Island overseeing repairs.

Yes, they do get damp and unreliable if not stowed in something as simple as a Ziplock bag

I've never known a simple Ziploc bag to keep things dry for more than a few minutes in water. Use a solid case.

-Will

 

[dLj]

I've never known a simple Ziploc bag to keep things dry for more than a few minutes in water. Use a solid case.

-Will

Just as a note - if using Ziploc bags they really should be doubled up. As Will says above, a Ziploc bag doesn't seem to keep things dry. But taking the first ziplock and getting as much air out as reasonable, then putting that into a second Ziploc will help a lot more. Don't think immersion, but ambiental moisture it works pretty well. I carried flour, rice and that sort of dried foods that way and it seemed to work well enough. Oh, get freezer bags, not standard Ziploc bags.

dj

 

[Urban Hermit]

Will, where in Mobile bay did you go aground? Blizten looks like it might draw seven feet. I can imagine that being the eastern shore of Bon Secour Bay back there. If you got over the flats, southeast of Weeks Bay and north of the ICW, it's dang near pool table flat at about 6' for thousands of acres. (I was being conservative about 3'. Yeah boy they can get bigger when all that energy reverberates off Ft. Morgan peninsula, moving north into south-running waves. There's a 45-mile reach for winds out of the northwest (winter typical) and Mobile bay is a saucer not much deeper than 11 feet except in the ship channel.

 

[Will Gilmore]

We were helping the owner deliver Blitzen back to Clearwater. Her husband was lost at sea and Blitzen was found adrift in Texas. We were only anchoring inside Mobile Bay during a storm, so not far in. I was just crew. The second anchor was secured to the cabin top under the dinghy. We couldn't get it unleashed in time before running aground. The change in motion woke my father up instantly, but still, as you say, Mobile Bay is shallow and it wasn't long before we were too far out of the channel. I believe Blitzen draws 12', but she use to sail out of Clearwater, so maybe only 8'.

-Will

 

[Urban Hermit]

Wow. I think maybe Blitzen is a bad luck boat. Without knowing where the storm came from, inland or offshore, I can't hazard a guess what the shoreline in the background is, but the odds favor the boat facing between 300 and 360 degrees with the Bon Secour (town) shoreline showing. The Executive Department and I got caught in that area twice in clotheswasher conditions, both times at night, both on Mobile-to-Pensacola runs, first in a Chrysler 20 and the second time in a Bayfield 29. Interesting. As in Holy Cripes! interesting.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I think maybe Blitzen is a bad luck boat.

My father thought she might be haunted. That was the second time he had to call a mayday to be rescued. The first time was off New Orleans.

-Will

 

[capta]

I think you are thinking of way too much gear. For instance, a Leatherman has enough tools that you should not need them individually; pliers, wire cutters, screw drivers, a knife blade, etc. are already included in the Leatherman. I suggest you have several paddles, in case you lose one. Why or when would you want to anchor in 50' of water? Unless you are actually going to need to anchor in 50' of water I would also cut back to 50 or 75' of 1/4" polypro and no more than 5' of 3/16 chain, your boat just doesn't warrant much weight or scope.
Dragging 100 feet of line from a 16' sailboat? Why not add a block of concrete instead? It is totally impractical, unnecessary, and very dangerous. Imagine a power boat doing 20 knots or so getting fouled up in it? Your little, light boat, would be ripped around and drug through the water backwards until the other boat stopped moving.
A small boat like that will round up pretty quickly if the tiller is no longer being held. A much more serious problem will be getting back in the boat without capsizing it, ESPECIALLY "when solo sailing in marginal conditions". I don't know what you consider marginal conditions, but @ 80 (I'm 77 and still boating), I would consider crawling back into that boat impossible. More likely, you'll capsize her and then be under the sail. Like I recommend to all who are going sailing and are spending time pondering various methods for returning aboard a moving boat, just do not, under any circumstances, fall overboard, period.
Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before, "but sh*t happens". It most certainly does not have to. I have over 6 decades of professional and pleasure boating experience, and I have never had anyone aboard any vessel I was captaining fall overboard, unintentionally. Nor has anyone, guest or crew, ever had a more serious injury than a couple of cracked ribs, or a broken finger or toe.
So no, I do not believe sh*t happens.
I suggest you cut your list down to what will fit in your boat size cooler, which should be reasonably watertight and easy to manage. Then have fun.

 

[Urban Hermit]

I think you are thinking of way too much gear. For instance, a Leatherman has enough tools that you should not need them individually; pliers, wire cutters, screw drivers, a knife blade, etc. are already included in the Leatherman. I suggest you have several paddles, in case you lose one. Why or when would you want to anchor in 50' of water? Unless you are actually going to need to anchor in 50' of water I would also cut back to 50 or 75' of 1/4" polypro and no more than 5' of 3/16 chain, your boat just doesn't warrant much weight or scope.
Dragging 100 feet of line from a 16' sailboat? Why not add a block of concrete instead? It is totally impractical, unnecessary, and very dangerous. Imagine a power boat doing 20 knots or so getting fouled up in it? Your little, light boat, would be ripped around and drug through the water backwards until the other boat stopped moving.
A small boat like that will round up pretty quickly if the tiller is no longer being held. A much more serious problem will be getting back in the boat without capsizing it, ESPECIALLY "when solo sailing in marginal conditions". I don't know what you consider marginal conditions, but @ 80 (I'm 77 and still boating), I would consider crawling back into that boat impossible. More likely, you'll capsize her and then be under the sail. Like I recommend to all who are going sailing and are spending time pondering various methods for returning aboard a moving boat, just do not, under any circumstances, fall overboard, period.
Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before, "but sh*t happens". It most certainly does not have to. I have over 6 decades of professional and pleasure boating experience, and I have never had anyone aboard any vessel I was captaining fall overboard, unintentionally. Nor has anyone, guest or crew, ever had a more serious injury than a couple of cracked ribs, or a broken finger or toe.
So no, I do not believe sh*t happens.
I suggest you cut your list down to what will fit in your boat size cooler, which should be reasonably watertight and easy to manage. Then have fun.

You raise a good point about a power boat crossing the line. That had not occurred to me. Otherwise, 80 or not, don't sell me short.
Shit does happen. One black night we did an unintentional jibe in brisk air and the boom hit my wife on the neck -- hard. If it had hit her head she'd have gone overboard, unconscious. Before we took the boat out again I had preventers rigged. I consider a Leatherman a standby, emergency tool. I cannot loosen a strongly tightened bolt with one; I can't get good leverage with the stub of a Phillips. Granted the knives are very sharp. The tools I listed would fit into a shoebox. There is plenty of 20+ water around here. A 7:1 rode deployment comes to 140 feet. I consider chain a weight for the shank of an anchor; our sand bottoms don't set as easily as mud.

 

[pgandw]

On my 19ft Mariner, rigging a preventer is a guarantee the boat will go over if the main gets backwinded in any kind of wind. Same as if the vang isn't tight enough, and the boom catches the back stay on a jibe.

Do you have any form of self-steering that keeps the boat sailing sort of on course while you tend to other things? I have a tiller clutch that allows the boat to sort of self steer for a few-to-many seconds, depending on wind and seas. What the tiller clutch does really well is allow me to heave to for minutes at a time and tend to the boat.

Capta is right - going overboard involuntarily when single-handed is about the greatest disaster you can have in a small sailboat. Right up there with getting cut and bleeding out (I'm on blood thinners) or my heart deciding it's had enough of this world. At the recommendation of a friend whose judgment I trust on another forum, I am treating myself to a pressure-activated inflatable vest which will have a flashing strobe and PLB attached. If the boat rounds up within swimmable distance, and I am capable, I have a folding ladder hard mounted on the transom to reboard. Don't have to worry about catching a trailing line - try it with a crew on a nice day to see if it's a workable solution. If I can't make it back to the boat, hopefully they'll find me before I pass.

15ft of chain seems like excess to me, I consider mine long at 10ft, paired with a 7lb anchor. I use a small laundry basket in a cockpit locker to store the anchor rode and chain, anchor mounts on the bow pulpit. Connect the two with a heavy duty carabiner when I'm anchoring.

On the manual bilge pump - why? Are there bilge spaces where your bucket won't fit? I have a small (2 gal) bucket and big sponge for bailing, washing, cleanup, or whatever. Simply sit on the centerboard trunk and lift water into self-bailing cockpit with the bucket. One scared man with a bucket can out-bail a flimsy manual pump any day of the week. The beauty of a small boat is that you can run it aground at the nearest land point rather than sinking if it's leaking too much. Then walk ashore, give thanks, and swear to God you will never sail a leaky boat again.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133 Sweet P

 

[Will Gilmore]

I have a folding ladder hard mounted on the transom to reboard.

That's a good suggestion. Make sure you have a way to climb aboard easily. Don't want to take a dip only to find you can't pull yourself back aboard. Listen to a Mariner owner, they're all kinds of smart.

-Will

 

[Urban Hermit]

pjandw, some good points. -- thankee. Easy one first: Yes, on my 16 footer the lazarette hatch, the only access for bailing, isn't big enough for anything above a child's beach pail and there's stuff down there. Besides a manual bilge pump is a non-emergency convenience, too.

Chain: Depends on the heft of the chain, doesn't it? And I practice overkill. Belt and suspenders. Extra studs in the walls, always pack one more pair of underwear and socks than I anticipate needing. Etc. Danforths really don't set easily in our hard-packed sand bottoms and the 16 is just too small to carry a CQR.

I s'pose I could mount a step bracket at the bottom of the transom. If I can get one elbow on the gunnel I can get back in.

Can't argue with the inflatable vest with strobe and PLB. I guess I oughta.

The prospect raised earlier about a powerboat idiot being discourteous by passing too close astern and running over my trailing line deserved more thought. As far as the concrete block comment -- trailing a polyprop line would only be a consideration racing, and trying to race a Compac 16 against almost anything else would be like entering a drag race with a dump truck.