Adding Stanchions and lifelines

[rhr1956]

After my recent experience with an unexpected blow and having to douse the headsail very quickly in bouncy conditions...I have to get some lifelines on the boat. After some preliminary online shopping I can see myself spending $1000 pretty easy. I would really like to get the cost down. Any ideas from personal experience would be appreciated.

[WDS123]

what boat ?

[rhr1956]

Pearson 26

[WDS123]

I'd be surprised if you could do it for less than $2k.

Why not go with a roller-furler instead ?

[dhays]

Originally Posted by rhr1956

After my recent experience with an unexpected blow and having to douse the headsail very quickly in bouncy conditions...I have to get some lifelines on the boat. After some preliminary online shopping I can see myself spending $1000 pretty easy. I would really like to get the cost down. Any ideas from personal experience would be appreciated.

You mean you went on the foredeck to drop the genny in that squall without lifelines!? Wow.... yours are much bigger than mine.

I agree with Schock. Look at a roller furler first.

Dave

[CaptainForce]

Less expensive and more reliable as a safe way to stay aboard would be a jackline running taut from your cockpit to the bow. clipping onto this line with a short teather to a harness will give you more security than the presence of lifelines and this can be completed with harness, teather & about 20 feet of nylon web strap. Also check the rock climbers supply for the materials at a good rate. Climbers are just as interested in protecting their lives, but they seem to buy at less cost that mariners,- just rinse the salt off your equipment and care for it well. You can do it all for $100. Of course many use the jackline, harness, teather and lifelines, but the lifelines are secondary to the safety of the harness. Take care and joy, Aythya crew

[PaulinVictoria]

Rig a downhaul.

[SloopJonB]

Shop consignment stores, Craigslist, Ebay etc. Now that plastic boats are being scrapped there are LOTS of these sort of things out there.

It will still cost $$ but you shouldn't have to spend $KKK. Check Minneys for stanchions on E-Bay - they used to have lots of surplus new ones from (I think) Catalina going cheap. There are lots of pulpits out there for a couple of hundred $.

[L124C]

Originally Posted by CaptainForce

Less expensive and more reliable as a safe way to stay aboard would be a jackline running taut from your cockpit to the bow. clipping onto this line with a short teather to a harness will give you more security than the presence of lifelines and this can be completed with harness, teather & about 20 feet of nylon web strap. Also check the rock climbers supply for the materials at a good rate. Climbers are just as interested in protecting their lives, but they seem to buy at less cost that mariners,- just rinse the salt off your equipment and care for it well. You can do it all for $100. Of course many use the jackline, harness, teather and lifelines, but the lifelines are secondary to the safety of the harness. Take care and joy, Aythya crew

Sage advice. IMO, lifelines provide a false sense of security, especially on small boats or boats with narrow beams. Generally, they are well below your center of gravity, and may therefore put you in on your head. I removed mine and they won't go back on as long as I own the boat. If it's nasty enough that you can't hang onto the boat, you need to be attached to it. The jacklines and anchors need to be substantial though. I read a study related to the Forcenet disaster that reported that the force generated by a 150 lb. person being thrown 6 feet, is 3000 lbs! Lastly, and least importantly, stanchions create leaks. Some other benefits I didn't anticipate (which are REALLY unimportant, but pleasant ones) are the improved view from the cockpit, and ease of getting on and off the boat when docking. Let us know what you do.

[chef2sail]

As previously posted, our stanchion design does not promote leaks.

Dave