[Alberg30] lifelines, shrouds, and ballast

[Pat Drenning]

J,

You are the second person that I know of who has been told they have
problems with the stanchions.  The first actually installed another set
of stanchions.  It appears the ABYC (or whatever) has come out with a
maximum distance between stanchions; however, the Coast Guard has not
made any effort to alter the "grand fathering" of stanchion
installations by boat builders as they did with running lights and
heads.

If I was forced to do something I would run the life lines between the
pair of lowers and the upper.  I would then loosely shackle the life
line to the upper. The shackle should be made of bronze or some marine
metal of less hardness than the SS of the uppers.  Better to have the
shackle wear away than the uppers.

			Good Luck
J Bergquist wrote:
> 
> Dear list,
> 
> When I had my boat surveyed before purchase, the surveyor (Fred
> Hecklinger) told me it was a problem that my lifelines are not secured
> to the upper shrouds. He said that the unsupported span of the lifelines
> was too great between the stanchions forward and aft of the shrouds and
> that they should be secured to the uppers. I have no stanchions in way
> of the shrouds, and I assume the rest of you also have none. I (not
> really knowing anything about this particular nuance) simply assumed he
> knew what he was talking about.
> 
> So I went to Bacon's to ask if there was any kind of hardware that I
> could buy for securing my lifelines to the uppers, and they looked at me
> like I was from Mars and said my surveyor was full of baloney.
> 
> This is fine and good, but my insurance company thinks the surveyor is
> on his rocker and that I should be doing something about this. Can any
> of you verify yes/no whether your lifelines are secured to your uppers,
> how great is your unsupported span between stanchions forward and aft of
> the shrouds, and if this is a problem, or if it was just my surveyor
> being overly anal retentive.
> 
> And while I'm at it, he gave me another recommendation that I am not so
> sure about. On top of my encapsulated ballast, there is an area where I
> have some failure in the fiberglass cap (this is internal to the boat -
> under the cabin sole. The crack begins forward, just aft of the forward
> bulkhead between the head and v-berth. It extends aft about 5 or 6 feet
> until  there is a false floor which I haven't yet removed and which my
> batteries are currently sitting on top of. The crack may extend farther
> aft, but since I've never looked under that false floor, I don't know.
> 
> The surveyor said that this failure was a big problem and that I would
> have to grind it out, down to bare metal, rebed with polysulfide, and
> then re-seal the top of the ballast with fiberglass. The area is not
> currently very wet (at least it's not SUPPOSED to be), so I figure it
> can wait until the wintertime, because it doesn't look like my ballast
> is about to jump ship, and I don't figure this is something that will
> happen rapidly. There were no signs of corrosion externally when the
> boat was on the hard. However, the insurance company also is asking
> questions about this and I just thought I would ask some of you if you
> had any experience and/or advice about this problem. I realize that
> corrosion of the ballast would cause it to expand and potentially crack
> the encapsulation.
> 
> I asked a colleague who used to own an A30 what he thought, and he said
> that he thought they were all like that and I shouldn't waste my time
> worrying about it. However, I need to be able to explain that to the
> insurance company...
> 
> Thanks for all the great posts and advice!
> 
> J Bergquist
> Calliope #287
> 
>  //===============================================================//
>          Cruising the Chesapeake: A Gunkholer's Guide
> 
>   My favorite Chesapeake Bay guidebook. While it mentions marinas,
>   it concentrates on anchorages--the kind of places I prefer to spend
>   my time. And in addition to listing shore facilities, it rates each
>   location for Beauty/Interest and Protection. This is the guide you
>   need to really cruise the Chesapeake Bay--a smorgasbord of small
>   creeks and coves.
> 
>    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071363718/alberg30-20
>  //===============================================================//
> 
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