[Public-list] Boarding ladders

[Gordon Laco]

Interesting points -

Personally I would never try to pick up a MOB with a ladder in rough seas.
As Dan says, the plunging action of the boat would transform any firmly
mounted device into a weapon.  Similarly, a temporarily mounted ladder is
both highly unlikely to remain in place and also nearly impossible to mount
if the boat is moving.

Our rescue drill counts the stern mounted ladder as a card to play only in
flat water.  In a seaway our plan is to heave to to weather of the rescuee
and make the pick up amidships or toward the cockpit. Either way we have a
Life Sling ready to bring the person alongside.   I have had to do this once
(without Life Sling, but was successful so it has become one of my favourite
funny stories; I call it the Mermaid Story; you have to come aboard Surprise
to hear it).  

We have our mainsheet landed on the traveller with a large snap shackle so
that at a moments notice the boom and sheet can be transformed into a
lifting derrick.   We practice as a family once a year (only once because I
think we are good at it)

Really hope never to use it but wouldn't it be horrible to have somebody in
the oggin and be trying things out for the first time?

Gord #426 Surprise







> Re: Boarding ladders
> Hello A-30 people,
> 
> There's an article in a recent practical Sailor magazine about MOB
> rescue maneuvers, and they also compare boarding ladders for rescue
> effectiveness. As I recall, windward, as it were, metal legs and pegs
> could be spears, transom platforms and steps in a seaway were "hammers"
> and flexible ones without weights were useless on curvey hulls...
> (Liffeslings still get the top rating, and they integrate a harness.)
> The steel and plastic ladder I have is a pain at best.
> 
> How about something removable with hardware? Maybe hang the ladder on
> the toe rail with bent sheet metal, padding and pins (fore mid and aft
> locations), and clip it to the lifelines for a backup? If the rails can
> take the load, it's a cheaper alternative to adding any structure to
> support a ladder aft, just be careful with it far aft. Different metal
> piece for aft rail. Anyway, might work, or not, but no time for a
> project right now...
> 
> --Dan S.
> Watcher of the Skies #201, 1966, Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, NY
> dans at stmktg.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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