Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Readers share their thoughts and opinions

Letters

Email [email protected]

or write to us at the address on page 5.

Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited.

THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF TETHERING

Heavenly reward

 Re Ivor Durrant’s account of the

restoration of his Heavenly Twins

catamaran (PBO December), he is

a man after my own heart. The

boat now looks great, and I

imagine Ivor did not spend much

north of £7,000, about the same

as PBO spent on the project boat.

The catamaran is quite capable of

crossing oceans, and his

endeavour is a credit to him. This

contrasts with one of your

competitor magazines, which

featured an entry-level yacht at

£600,000, and a refit costing over

£200,000 on a 14-year-old boat

which itself cost £385,000. Most

yachtsmen I see have ancient cars

and a boat they can hardly afford:

I recently spent three hours with

my brother-in-law, becalmed

mid-channel, making a temporary

fix to a blown engine exhaust.

I can only dream about

professional conversions – but

at least we know how to carry

out repairs. Thanks for a

great magazine.

David Buckpitt, by email

 Re ‘Is it safe to use a tether?’

(on the PBO website at http://www.pbo.

co.uk/seamanship/is-it-safe-to-

use-a-tether-25125), I have never

understood that the point of

tethering is a rescue. For us,

tethering is about keeping an

MOB in a known place.

Our procedure is as follows:

1. A tethered person goes
   overboard. You know where he is.


2. Crew spots the MOB in
   distress. They throw the lifebelt,
   danbuoy and so on overboard.


3. They cut the MOB loose (cutting
   someone loose is a brave thing).
   You still know where he is: he is
   beside the safety kit in the sea, he
   is easy to find, and can rest and
   recompose himself to help with his
   recovery. Even if he’s unconscious,
   he’s still by the danbuoy.


4. The crew then focus on getting
   returning the boat to the scene.

Dr Jeremy Smallwood with his tabla

Nailed it!
 As a PS to Richard Johnstone-
Bryden’s excellent article
‘Replacing hull fastenings’ (PBO
January), I’d like to add the
following. Should a copper nail
refuse to budge despite the
described technique, I have found
that the application of heat – in the
form of a soldering iron applied to
the head – will cause the nail to
expand over its full length and also
to dry out the surrounding timber,
thus easing the ‘grip’! Then, having
left the nail to cool, it will have
shrunk again, making it far easier
to withdraw and thus reducing the
risk of pulling the sacrificial screw
out of the soft copper. (Also, it is
clearly essential to drill the hole for
the sacrificial screw into the dead
centre of the nail.)
Richard’s technique does
not cover woodscrews, which
obviously have to be unscrewed
rather than pulled, but heating
copper nails has proved very
successful in the course of
rebuilding our 1969 12m/40ft
former ocean racer Wizard of
Paget (see PBOs March-June and
September-October 2004), and the
process often works on bolts too.
Mark Grimwade
By email

5. They bring the boat to a
   rescue state and throw the MOB
   a long line. We think stern-to is
   best – there are usually things
   for the MOB to grab hold of.


6. The crew haul the MOB over
   the stern. The boat ought to be
   moving forward slowly to stop
   the MOB from going under the
   boat or getting tangled in the
   rudder or propeller.
   Sailing boats should approach
   the scene under mainsail only.
   They are unwise to start the
   engine in case the MOB goes
   under the boat. Motor vessels
   should approach, kill their
   engines and rely on lines.
   Dragging someone in the water
   alongside a boat with a view to a
   rescue must surely get the MOB
   killed, and put the remaining
   crew and boat in serious danger.
   Chris Power, by email

PBO replies:

We carried out the trials to show

just this – that a tethered MOB

cannot survive for long and that

the boat must be stopped ASAP.

We found that a short tether gave

the best chance of remaining on

board, or at least keeping the

MOB’s mouth above the water.

Cutting the tether loses vital

contact with the MOB: in the

time spent throwing lifesaving

gear and cutting the tether, you

could stop the boat.

While a stern pickup can work

on a motorboat, sailing boat

transoms overhang and slam in

waves, making a side pickup

safer. It’s fine to approach under

engine, but stop the motor before

bringing the MOB anywhere near

the transom. Don’t just select

neutral, as the gear lever might

get knocked during the rescue.

Keeping an MOB in a known place

Keep taking

the tabla

 Seeing your ‘Blow by blow’

picture (Letters, PBO December)

of reader Nick Carter playing his

plastic trombone on board his boat

brought to mind my own exploits.

Bypass surgery

 While installing some fuse

boxes with LED warning lights that

come on when the fuse is blown,

I discovered that the LED

bypasses the fuse. I wired up a

battery monitor to the fuse box

without any fuses in it, and the

battery monitor started to work.

These fuse boxes are sold by

many websites and retail outlets

selling 12V products. After thinking

about it, it’s obvious that as these

fuse boxes do not have a negative

terminal for the LEDs, when the

fuse has blown it must bypass

the fuse for the LED to light. I

appreciate that it should only let

a small current flow due to the

resistance of the LED, but if a fuse

PUZZLE 198

blows I want no current to flow

in that circuit – that’s the whole

point of the fuse! These small

fuse boxes are compact and

I had limited space, so I wanted

to use them: I found that you

could take them apart and

easily remove the LEDs,

thereby solving the problem.

Neil Parsloe

Amersham, Bucks

On nice days, I sometimes practise

my tabla (Indian hand drums) while

perched on the best clear space I

can find on our Westerly Konsort.

Back in the summer, I was

playing in a marina and a chap

nearby was running his engine.

He emerged from his boat looking

puzzled, then saw me. ‘I heard

an unusual tapping sound and

thought my engine was going

wrong,’ he grinned.

Dr Jeremy Smallwood

Southampton

Which of the following sets of circumstances can cause fog?

A. Air blowing from a warm area of sea to a cooler one

B. Air blowing from a cool area of sea to a warmer one

C. A warm night after a prolonged spell of summer sun

D. A clear night on land with a light breeze

E. An approaching weather front

 Find the solution at the bottom of page 106