Who Wears Safety Gear?

Very situational for us. Definitely not a routine thing. Night? Ocean? Rough? Cold? Some situations where the answer is yes...

Trawler Micki said:

Pop Quiz: You're at the helm when someone discovers that a person on board may be missing. Lets say you don't have a chart plotter, or that it's not turned on. What's the VERY FIRST THING you do??

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I'd toss something in the water to keep track of the position, and then get someone to do a head count.

No set rules for safety gear. I assess the situation and decide what it needs. Sometimes nothing, and sometimes PFD,harness,safety lines.

We don't normally wear PFD's except when we're heading into one of the locks on the Snake or Columbia. It's mandatory there for anyone on deck. I sometimes go out to help GW with something so I put it on before we enter the lock.

Other than that....nope

BruceK said:

Spy, it did not connect for me.

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Hmmmm. Try this one then.

Northern Spy said:

Hmmmm. Try this one then.

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Much better, thanks for the fix.

We do not wear PFD's when docking, but we stay inside and let me get the boat in position.

When we cross the cockpit door the swim step, we always have a pfd on, same in the skiff.

Any paper on boating trauma should feature a jetski on the front page.
Our Maritime authority(now oddly called "Roads & Maritime Authority") has a saying " No one`s day on the water was ever ruined by wearing a life jacket". I guess they are right but I rarely wear one. They are compulsory for bar crossings. Some posts are food for rethinking the subject, we don`t have the low water temperatures you do, but I`ve seen longer offshore swimming events cancelled for risk of hypothermia.

Brooksie said:

Speaking of safety, have you seen the remote engine stop device that you can wear and stop your boat if you fall in. Seems cool. Requires shutdown solenoid not pull cable like my old engines.

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Our 25' Regal had that, the PO disconnected it.

Baker said:

You question was somewhat vague. Is there someone in the water or not? Yelling MOB is one of the first things you do to set off the alert to the entire crew. You also designate someone to watch the MOB. And you also throw the Type IV. All of these should be done almost instantaneously...while stopping the boat and getting it turned around.

And if you are looking for something like...."Stay calm...don't panic"...then there you have it!

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John, I haven't looked ahead here, but I think he was after tossing in the life-ring, (hopefully with danbuoy light attached), then calling man overboard and doing all your other stuff.

Daddyo said:

... stop the boat (kill the engines to listen for shouts) ....

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Excellent point!

I have to say that we don't ware the PFDs as much as we should, but they're always within a hand reach. However, the crew always puts the PFDs on when we get in more than comfortable conditions out in the open.

Great points on the different regions and climate, which makes a huge difference in the decision making. When water temp in 70s or better, obviously makes people think that there's "more room for error".

I hope that with time we'll eventually learn to deal with minor inconvenience of waring the PFDs in exchange for grater safety margin.

We wear inflatables when docking or moving about topside in rough seas. An ounce of prevention.......

Northern Spy,

Once again you post a great post reply. The data from this paper is daunting but pretty clear. If you want to increase your chances of survival, wear a properly fitted PFD. A lot of info in that paper and worth examining.

Thanks!

Trawler Micki said:

Nope.

Hint: it's something you do, not say....

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First I would find out who fell over the side. Depending on their identity I might do one of the following:
1) Kill the engine, yell MOB and throw a flotation device
2) Review the life insurance policy for beneficiaries, double indemnity, that sort of thing
3) break out the bubbly, the WOW is gone!
4) Devise an explanation for how she got those prop marks on her head..

<relax, just kiddin'>

I thought the first thing you did was shut the boat down, then check the head to see if they're puking their guts out from the rough seas......

Or do you guys not boat like I do?

Bay Pelican is a mixture. We operate from the pilot house when underway and thus do not wear PFDs. In general the high gunnel on a Krogen 42 make it safe to go out on the back deck in calm conditions. Rare however that we do that.

We do wear PFDs if we go on deck, fore or aft at night, also day or night in any wave conditions where the boat is rolling at all, of if anyone has to go on the upper deck other than when anchored.

I generally wear a PFD if I go on the foredeck while underway (other than in an anchorage) regardless of conditions.

I do not wear a PFD during the day if I am raising anchor or setting the bridal, but in both cases we are already in the anchorage. We drop anchor from the pilot house.

Marty

Float coat in the winter. Float coveralls off shore in winter. Auto inflate if not in the ICW. Call me a wimp. I don't care. Life is too short.

Ron T said:

Float coat in the winter. Float coveralls off shore in winter. Auto inflate if not in the ICW. Call me a wimp. I don't care. Life is too short.

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Just look at the coast guard, law enforcement and any marine contractors they all wear PFD's anytime they are on the water.

Must be a reason?

Ron T said:

Float coat in the winter. Float coveralls off shore in winter. Auto inflate if not in the ICW. Call me a wimp. I don't care. Life is too short.

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Definitely not a wimp! Good for you.

press the MOB button on the GPS so you can stay in the area.

We wear auto-inflates whenever the boat is under way including docking and departing and whenever we are launching, running or recovering the dinghy.

Aboard Seaweed there is no one to put the engine in neutral should the worst occur so over both doorways in the pilothouse I have net (like the sailboat guys use around their boats)

I've heard of folks being waked, and going over the side. This way there's protection:



Janice aboard Seaweed, living the good life afloat
http://janice142.com/

How do you get in and out?

Trawler Micki said:

Almost. Good stuff for sure! But before you do all that... and even more important than where you are is:

Where have you been?

Step #1 - Look at the compass.

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Ahh - I skipped over the correct answer.

!00% agree.

If your dinghy outboard has a cut out cable to attach to your clothing, use it. We had a recent death here from a fast circling boat hitting occupants tipped into the water.

AusCan said:

Ahh - I skipped over the correct answer.

!00% agree.

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Thanks AusCan,

In case anyone else skipped over let me repeat:

You're at the helm and it's been discovered that someone aboard MAY be missing. You don't have a chart plotter or it isn't turned on. What's the VERY FIRST thing you do? Answer: Look at the compass.

Assuming you're under power on anything wider than a 200 ft canal, there can be no other answer. Your first thought must be what course is the boat headed - otherwise how would you know which way is back?

An action I train is to spit on a finger and mark the compass in the exact opposite direct the boat is headed; since short term memory can go blank as panic escalates (I imagine some thinking they wouldn't panic - but - everyone panics at some point). Good that all aboard are trained this way, and frequent guests reminded regularly.

If there's any doubt about taking the advice of a TF newbie/anonymous boating thread troll then please do this: Next time you're in 1- 2' seas throw out a bright orange PDF and turn the boat around in 5 or 10 minutes to find it (without a compass or bread-crumb plotter). It'll make you a believer

Safety. In the hierarchy of what matters which comes first: Flotation assistance or being retrieved? Hint: The answer isn't that simple.

My boat does not move without pfd's on everyone aboard. It doesn't matter what the weather is like or how experienced crew I have. If you don't wear pfd's you are not coming with me... Simple, has always been like that and will always be so... It's the same with seatbelts in a car..

beachbum29 said:

How do you get in and out?

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Hello Beachbum... Fender hooks hold the netting to the frame of the doorways so it's rather simple to remove. Mostly though I leave it up. It secures the mosquito screen in place too.

Because I live off the grid (at anchor 350+ days a year) being safe and comfortable is important to me. Thus the wind gen, solar panels, etc. And soon (this coming week! -- I'm beyond excited) a new to me MD11C diesel for my girl. Life's great afloat.

No more 350 block Chevy (in a 23' displacement hull mini-trawler!! -- heavy pharmaceuticals must have been involved in that decision) and the reconditioned Borg Warner goes too. That part hurts (paid $1100 for the tranny re-work over on the east coast in Jax)

Still, I'm going to have a diesel -- (smiling at my good fortune)
Five years on, my home is shaping up right nicely!

janice142 said:

Hello Beachbum... Fender hooks hold the netting to the frame of the doorways so it's rather simple to remove. Mostly though I leave it up. It secures the mosquito screen in place too.

Because I live off the grid (at anchor 350+ days a year) being safe and comfortable is important to me. Thus the wind gen, solar panels, etc. And soon (this coming week! -- I'm beyond excited) a new to me MD11C diesel for my girl. Life's great afloat.

No more 350 block Chevy (in a 23' displacement hull mini-trawler!! -- heavy pharmaceuticals must have been involved in that decision) and the reconditioned Borg Warner goes too. That part hurts (paid $1100 for the tranny re-work over on the east coast in Jax)

Still, I'm going to have a diesel -- (smiling at my good fortune)
Five years on, my home is shaping up right nicely!

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Sounds very cool. We are transitioning onboard as we speak. No solar panels or wind generator but that will happen on our next boat which will most certainly be a trawler.

beachbum29 said:

Sounds very cool. We are transitioning onboard as we speak. No solar panels or wind generator but that will happen on our next boat which will most certainly be a trawler.

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I bought Seaweed 5.5 years ago and over time have added a lot to make her more comfortable. For a soloist, she's just about perfect (except for the stuff that needs fixing)

The family home (was conceived, born and raised aboard a 40' sedan cruiser) was all I knew until I grew up and married a land lubber. (What was I thinking?!?) It was natural that I'd return to the water. Because I knew that over time boats can be remade into what you wish, I was not afraid to buy a boat that wasn't totally suitable and have had a lot of fun making her mine.

There is absolutely nothing so fine as life aboard, provided you pick the right boat to start with. Any ideas about what your Dream Boat will be? And where will you cruise?