R 22

Rhodes 22

 

Safety on Deck

Initially I had a knee-jerk reaction that lifelines would improve the safety of sailing on the Rhodes. But in the video from GBI, they offer some mild counsel against them. And at 6'3" with big feet, I find that it is hard to find a place to put my feet flat on the deck of boats in the 20-25' range. Leaving lifelines off might give me some more options for walking around on deck. Furthermore, the lines are so low it seems they might serve to lever my feet off the deck if I were thrown against them. Before I take them off the list, I'd like to hear if anyone has had experience with them in rough conditions where they were a help.

I figure there are two kinds of situations: one where you get hit unexpectedly with a wave or a sudden gust and another where the wind and waves are consistently high, so you are somewhat prepared if you have to get up on the deck to do some work.

Does anyone have other ideas about safety devices to use in place of the lifelines?

Edward Finan


Do not get the lifelines; they are a 'trip hazard'. I think John Ward has the latest story about them.

Necessary safety gear, in my view, would include: an inflatable life vest with built-in harness, (if you need one you should have the other), 2 precut jack lines with clips from the aft cleat bases to the front bow cleat routed up the sides, a double tether (straight six 6-foot and an elastic 3-foot) with a quick-release on the harness side, 2 through-bolted padeyes on the cabin top.

The cabin top padeyes should keep you in the boat at the tiller, the jack lines when going forward. The double tether permits always having something to hook on to, including using the padeye and the aft cleats at the same time.

MJM


We installed a standard jack line running from the stern cleat to the bow cleat and back around to other stern cleat. If it's rough enough to wish you had lifelines, it's rough enough to clip on to a jack line. The three shrouds on each side of the Rhodes give you plenty to hang on to; if you get pulled out of that handgrip, it will be by something that will also take you right over (or maybe through) the lifelines. I have trouble regarding lifelines as much more than a psychological aid and another way to allow water to intrude into the deck.

Even when not used to clip on, the jack line provides another good reliable thing to grip, especially on the foredeck where there are no grab rails or shrouds. If you contemplate night sailing or single- handing in aggressive conditions, I'd consider the jack lines and the ability to clip on absolutely essential. I wear an inflatable with integrated harness both for the lightness and comfort, but also so I'll have no excuse not to clip on when it's appropriate.

Some people are going to see this as overkill. But all it took for me was one little crew overboard drill in windy conditions to convince me that leaving the boat unintentionally is to be avoided.

David Dawson
S/V Ardent


I'd like to install some padeyes on my cabin top. To those of you who have installed deck hardware, how do you through-bolt the hardware and not create a hazard within the cabin. I don't want to worry about people getting scrapes on their head when they go below.

Thanks.

Marc Beroz


I installed mine above the cabin bulkhead on the same surface as the cam cleats for the lines. That area is solid fiberglass for hardware mounting. The underside is the aft corner above the fuses and above the bunk, which is not exactly a head-banger area. Barrel nuts (as per Roger), crown nuts, eye nuts, or a simple hex nut with the bolt cut flush and filed will complete the job.

What you have to watch out for is to use a good backing plate, IIRC most fiberglass fails at 1700 psi, your harness and tethers are sized for 4000 pounds (like 220 pounds dropping 6.5 feet), so you must spread that load over as much fiberglass as practical (also why I picked this spot).

Second thing: like all deck hardware, don't be stingy with the bedding; if it can leak it will.

MJM


Consider using a Wichard 6504 folding pad eye for your lifeline harness attachment point on the cabin top. This pad eye uses three 1/ 4-20 UNC machine screws and is rated at 4410 lbs safe working load (SWL). Look on p.827 of the WEST Marine 1999 Master Catalog.

A nominal 1/4-inch ID stainless steel fender washer has an OD of 1 inch. Three of these 1 inch OD fender washers should provide more than enough backing plate area to withstand the pad eye's SWL on top of the cabin in the area port and starboard of the companionway.

The folding padeye will be much less of a line snagger and toe stubber than a fixed pad eye.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
11 Janu 2000


Thanks Michael & Roger for info. Next question is how do you prevent the tether hook from marring the gelcoat around the padeye?


Make a 6-inch diameter disk of 16-gauge stainless steel, drill it in the center for the hole pattern of the folding pad eye & bolt it down, in between the padeye & the top of the cabin. In addition, glue it to the cabin top with 3M 5200 urethane adhesive. I have several "bash plates" like this on Dynamic Equilibrium.

You might also prevent the tether hook from marring the gelcoat by installing a few large backing plates around the pad eye. Look on p. 827 of the WEST Marine 2000 Master Catalog at the Schaffer #78-26 backing plate. This backing plate is 3 inches long. About three of these backing plates arranged in a triangular pattern around the pad eye would give you the protection you want. The backing plate won't have any load on it, so you could simply screw them down with a couple of stainless steel pan head sheet metal screws. You could also accomplish the same concept with three stainless or plastic rub strakes arranged in a triangular pattern around the padeye.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

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