Stantion idiots..

[thinwater]

This thread is so full of anger from the simple statement of please don't pull on my stanchions. By the tone of some, 'It's the boat owners fault" that the stations are not better built. A lot of sailors really are a - holes.

The trouble with brief mesages, like email, is the continuous potencial for unintended ill-will. We're not a-holes. We just don't take the time to sugar coat it.

But a thread of "oh my poor dear" would not educate, and the OPs thread pointed to a list of misconceptions (that stantions are more than net suports) and boat handling errors (the OP is correct, that folks use them for the wrong things).

I've been straightened out, sometimes roughly, when I posted something incorrect. I learned from it.

 

[alexco38]

I've just made my stanchion quickly removable from the base with 1/8 SS backing plates.

Asking Maine Sail for his opinion of the bedding compound. Is it better to use 4200 or butyl?

 

[sandpiper10471]

Tommays - now those look really good. How they all should be!

 

[centerline]

Most stantions and lifelines are nothing more than trip hazards. They are too low and too weak to really stop someone from going overboard. False security if you ask me. I don't have them on my boat, and no one has gone overboard yet.

the life lines arent there to keep grownups from falling over board, you should use common sense for that.
double lines with netting can prevent kids or dogs from falling over if they are playing on the deck....
they do offer some kind of security but its not really false, but neither is it absolute....
but if you sail in good strong weather and arent wearing a harness when out of the cabin, the lifelines will give you or someone else a chance of grabbing onto something when leaving the boat the event of a knockdown.
its hard to get a good hold on gelcoat or deck fittings, but a lifeline can give you the chance you need to stay with the boat when you need it most.....

 

[centerline]

Anger? Nah

I see some rib jabbing and suggestions is all

For the cost, I don't think you can get much stronger than as designed. You can engineer them to be strong enough to survive impact loads, but the reinforcing at the hull and deck makes it very impractical. . .unless you have a steel hulled boat, that wouldn't be that bad

I agree...
no matter how strong you make the stantion or what they are bolted/welded to, when the time is right, the weak link will fail and I would rather replace a stanchion post than do deck repair. they work great for what they were designed for....

 

[Ross]

If the mounting is strong enough to allow bending of the vertical portion then that is all you can expect. You can take them to the extreme and use 3 inch pipe and weld that to half inch plate a foot square. Newell posts in house stair railings are built into the frame of the structure when installed properly.

 

[petersea]

This thread is so full of anger from the simple statement of please don't pull on my stanchions. By the tone of some, 'It's the boat owners fault" that the stations are not better built. A lot of sailors really are a - holes.

ANGER ? You may be correct, some one posted they get angry,l another posted he hates it when someone touches his stanchions.
But I think this post started out angry and was even described by the original poster as a "vent". Just look at the title and the name calling starts "Stantion Idiots" (sp). I think most of the responses were very reasonable some were even educational trying to help.
So I got to say was it really necessary to add to the anger with more name calling ?? Now who is angry ??

 

[hackettscovebill]

Hello, just registered, looking for some advice from anyone re stantion bases for 1985 C & C 29 Mark II. Mine are showing cracks, 3 should be replaced all together...any recommendation on where I can get replacements? thanks all....spent time at the boat yard today amidst ice and snow...cover still in tact, she's stilll looking good even on the hard.... B

 

[kenn]

We were at an in-water boatshow last year, looking at some boats on display. One was a real salty, well-founded beauty. One of the features that the owner pointed out was that the boat's lifeline stanchions were to "LLoyds of London" construction standards, because the stanchion mountings were secured into the deck, rather than bolt-ons.

So, it seems that the bolt-on stanchion bases we are most familiar with are a bit of a compromise. However, if the stanchon bends before the deck cracks, I guess the base isn't the weakest link.

 

[Maine Sail]

Hello, just registered, looking for some advice from anyone re stantion bases for 1985 C & C 29 Mark II. Mine are showing cracks, 3 should be replaced all together...any recommendation on where I can get replacements? thanks all....spent time at the boat yard today amidst ice and snow...cover still in tact, she's stilll looking good even on the hard.... B

Holland Marine Products in Canada should have those bases. They have lots of parts for C&C and CS Yachts boats...

 

[Chris Patterson]

You know really, I mean REALLY, the idea that these things are called "lifelines" to begin with is the illusion of security. When they were "named", that probably sounded pretty good, but come on. An OSHA standard handrail/guardrail is made out of 1 1/4" schedule 40 pipe, is 42" off the surface, has a mid-rail, and a 1/4" X 4" toe plate, and is welded solid through and through. The standard is also supposed to withstand 200 lbs. of force, (which I've always thought a little minimal), but that's the MINIMUM STANDARD. The idea that a 1" piece of schedule 10 tubing, with a piece of 3/16", or 1/4" cable running through it just barely over your knees is again, "The illusion of security". I know that it helps keep you on the boat to a certain degree, I've bounced off of them a hundred times. But even if these silly contraptions are screwed onto the deck with a SCREW of any kind is ridiculous.
However, on a well built boat, (and I don't need to point out the cheap ones, you know 'em), with 4-1/4" or better bolts holding it, with good backing plates, there's no reason to think it'll break before the stanchion will bend, which ideally should also be reasonably supported with their associated lines. This is also provided that the boat is also of decent manufacture, as opposed to a cheap one with a chopper gun blown deck that won't rip out.
And every time I read the title of this post, "Stantion idiot", well.....

 

[Maine Sail]

And every time I read the title of this post, "Stantion idiot", well.....

Are you suggesting it should have read....."Stanchion Idiot's"......

 

[DAVA390]

If we had to apply Osha construction standards to our boats,we could never leave the pier. That might be a little bit of apples and oranges to put Osha in here.
As a relative rookie,I`ve had a few bumps when the deck of our small boat slips under the pier,fenders wouldn`t have hekped too much in those cases...

 

[capta]

Actually, this is a two sided thread. When we're standing on a dock and an inexperienced sailor comes at the dock with evil intentions, then I find myself fending off with the stanchions, even should I not wish to. It's just the most convenient spot to put your hands, and anyway, if you don't, damage WILL result. I cringe, but I do it.
On the other hand, when Nikki and I are docking, all lines have BIG bowlines in them, fenders are out and we have done this enough that we really would prefer no one help us. Should it be absolutely necessary to hand a line to someone on the dock, and some of the West Indians can be awfully insistent in their wanting to help, then the line is free to run in case they decide to tie it off before being asked. We always assure whoever is on the dock that we're fine; we don't need any help, thank you.
I'm pretty sure that Pearson designed the stanchions on this boat to keep a person aboard the boat, NOT take the whole weight of the boat when screwing up a docking. I'd much rather do a bit of gell coat repair than repair a stanchion, base and/or deck, if it came to it, so PLEASE do not use the stanchions to fend off OUR boat.

 

[AnchorDragger]

I've been thinking of installing some huge truck innertubes on my rails with a big air tank and remote high volume inflation valves. Coming in too fast just hit the port, starboard, or bow panic switch.

 

[Rich (P303)]

I don't have much use for them (stanchion/lifeline). I you don't have em... your going in feet first. If you have them... your going in head first.

 

[NotCook]

. . .unless you have a steel hulled boat, that wouldn't be that bad

Actually, we do have a steel boat, and the problem is even worse, since the boat displaces 39 tons... It is pointless to pull or push on the stanchions, or anything else for that matter. If I didn't put the boat where it needs to go, or the wind or current aren't going to do it, nobody pusing or pulling on anything is going to do anything but risk getting hurt, or potentially break off the stanchion if they push/pull hard enough. No stanchion will handle the 39 tons.

Still, I'm with BillyK - it drives me nuts the people who want to reach out and try to "help", without knowing what they are doing. Some of these you see doing the same thing with their own boat, so there's no hope for them. Even if you politely ask them to just stand back. But don't get me started on "dock boys". It seems to me, if you are going to hire someone to tend docks, that you would train them on some basics, like how to tie a boat to a cleat. For Pete's sake, some of the twisted up messes they make, or hauling in on a bow line as if the bow should be right up agains the dock like the stern is...

I think I like Squidd's idea best! But then, I think a big cannon mounted on the deck is a good idea...