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Hi Richard:
As someone who, with my wife, ventures into the Pacific in the Northwest for
long trips North and South (although never more than maybe 15 miles
offshore), we have considered the issue of MOB retrieval at sea in rough
conditions very carefully and often. We discuss this often amongst our
Coast Guard acquaintances and with others who run the West Coast.
Surprisingly we find that most folks just never think about it. Those that
do, think they can get a MOB back aboard over the swim-step in some vague
manner.
As we've discussed here on the list before, the over the swim-step retrieval
is extremely dangerous (read deadly) in anything but a flat calm sea.
That's a condition that doesn't happen much in the PNW oceans. Furthermore,
we wanted a system that could be handled just by the other remaining
crewmember aboard, in a two person boat. Attempting to haul a
semi-conscious 180 plus lb. body over a swimstep in rough weather is almost
impossible.
The concept is so important to me, because I could not imagine losing my
beloved wife just because she was overboard with no way to get back on
board. And I am a big man and far too heavy for my wife to be able to
manually assist were it me overboard. Apparently this scenario happens
several times a year. It must be horrific.
So aside from the normal obligations such as always wearing a life jacket
when outside the vessel cabin, we have adopted some additional items that
are mandatory in the Coast Guard and CG Auxiliary. Each primary lifejacket
aboard our vessel is now equipped with the whistle, mirror, auto-strobe
light and 3 pack of pyrotechnic flares. That's so I can locate the MOB in
the rolling waters and sometimes darkly overcast days of the PNW and at
night. But then how to retrieve.
We are fortunate to have an electric davit aboard our Tollycraft. It was
originally installed on most Tollycrafts to lift a dinghy back up on to the
sundeck. We have our dinghy on the swimstep so we didn't use it. Many
boaters have it removed altogether as ugly. It's no big elaborate machine.
Just a curved piece of heavy wall tubing with a little pulley welded on the
end and a 12 volt electric "speedwinch" mounted at the base. It is about 15
feet above the water at the tip. It uses 1/8" stainless wire rope.
Capacity is about 1,500 lbs. But whatever you have there, you somehow must
provide a hoisting mechanism. It can be manual block and tackle with a
lifting pad mounted high on the vessel. But somehow, you have to provide
that capability.
In our case we purchased a "LifeSling" and have that mounted on the sundeck
as well. The one thing we were unsure of was how to hook the winch hook to
the LifeSling, once the MOB was secured in the LifeSling harness. That
problem was elegantly solved by one of the long-time members of this list.
The solution was simple. Just splice an additional 6 foot piece (length
depends on your boat lift) of 1/2" polypropylene line (floats) into the
LifeSling harness. Now we have a large floating loop that we can grab and
lift with the boat hook and throw over the winch cable hook.
(Note: Our sundeck is also called the boat deck - The deck above the main
deck usually over the aft cabin.)
So here's our process.
Once I have located the MOB, I can turn back and circle the MOB with the
LifeSling deployed. As the LifeSling's main retrieval line floats, it's
easy to encircle the MOB in the bight of the line, while keeping the vessel
well clear. Now the MOB floats down the line to the LifeSling lifting
harness at the end.
I ease the vessel into a position upwind of the MOB and stop engines. As
our vessel drifts down towards the MOB I am also manually retrieving the MOB
with the main LifeSling retrieval line. The retrieval is to the amidships
area on the lee side of the vessel. That's the only safe recovery location.
Now I can reach down with the boathook, pull the loop of that extra short
retrieval line we added, up into the winch hook and hoist away with the
electric winch. Retrieval is up to the main deck on the lee side. A good
place to retrieve.
The advantage of this process is that the only effort that the MOB needs to
make is to float down to the LifeSling harness and slide it under their
arms. After that, there is no conscious effort required by the MOB.
We have tested this on calm waters on a sunny day and it works. I hope I
never have to test it in real life, rough conditions and freezing waters or
at night. But I think it will give us our best chance to get a MOB back
aboard.
Another Method:
There is one other option that should be kept in mind IF you have a
inflatable type dinghy mounted on the swimstep. This is a common
configuration around here.
When retrieving a MOB, to reduce the danger of retrieval over the swimstep
in rough weather, unclip the upper supports of the dinghy and let the dinghy
pivot flat into the sea (just like you would normally launch it, still
hooked to the transom as normal) The dinghy will tend to ride up and down
on the water and provide a rubber tube (soft) buffer with handholds for the
MOB to grab. You could even jump into the dinghy in rough weather and
sitting down in the dinghy, drag the MOB over the outside tube. This seems
logical, but we have not tried it in rough water.
Joe & Debbie Engel
Marine Computer Services & JRE Consulting, Inc.
MV Freda Fly - 40' Tollycraft Tri-cabin
Portland, OR
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Tomkinson [mailto:
Subject: TWL: retrieval of MOB
The recent posts regarding the concern folks have for the brief engine-off
period for inspection/oil top-up at sea raises the question (again) of
retrieval.
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