How to audit safety kit
Huw Williams looks over the safety gear set-up aboard a friend’s Jeanneau SO 40 and implements a series of upgrades
An exhaustive safety kit review pays dividends for skipper and crew
Taking the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) commercial certificate course a few years ago opened my eyes to the possibility of things going wrong afloat.
This was backed up by my experience prepping boats and sailing offshore on my round-the-world trip, aboard two different boats on the World ARC and ARC+.
More recently a friend who owns a Jeanneau SO 40 was planning a few cross-channel trips, so when he asked me to help make it safer and easier to sail I was glad to... particularly as one of the people sailing on it is going to be me.
In my experience the culture on board is the most important aspect of boat safety. It comes direct from the skipper and is particularly important with new or inexperienced crew.
If the skipper doesn’t wear a lifejacket the crew probably won’t either. If the skipper is drinking copious amounts of alcohol under way, then the crew probably will too – it’s party time! These are two of my no-go rules when I sail, but there are other cultures on board that are potentially just as dangerous – how many times have you watched a yacht about to dock, with the skipper urging the crew to ‘Jump, it’s not far!’. Or late and shouty commands that stress and confuse the crew.
Get the culture right and you only have to worry about the boat’s equipment and making sure it’s stowed in the right place. As always, it’s the details that count.
With this in mind we walked the boat and made notes using the principle of ‘what if this happens’. It’s more fun to be
on deck, but we started below – it’s important to resist the temptation to skip things and go sailing.
Keel bolt photos
The boat has been surveyed and pronounced sound, but we back this up by photographing the area around the six retaining nuts. Now we have a visual record of any hairline cracks etc. and we can use them as a reference if something like a grounding occurs in the future.
Bungs for skin fittings
I once saw a boat in New Zealand that had just arrived from Fiji. It was on the hard standing and the owner was examining the plastic skin fittings. He gave one of them a fairly gentle tap with a screwdriver and it fractured. He tapped another – same result!
Thankfully, our Jeanneau SO 40 has metal skin fittings, and each of the hoses is held in place with two stainless steel clamps which inspires confidence. I’m sure they’re not likely to fail, but If they do we’ll need to react very quickly. There were already a set of timber bungs on board, and some of them were the correct size, but they were stowed under one of the saloon seats. I can imagine the scene trying to find them in an emergency, with the crew tripping over cushions and shouting:’Where’s the mallet!?’. And it’ll be 3am, of course.
Firstly, we worked out which bung matched which fitting. Then we taped each bung to a length of cord and tied this onto the appropriate hose, taking care to prevent them ‘tap-tapping’ with vibration and driving us crazy. If they’re needed, we can just yank them off the cord.
A mallet was given a wrap of luminous tape and prominently positioned near the nav station.
Fire hazards and extinguishers
Only 1% of RNLI call-outs are fire related, but everyone I know who has sailed offshore says it’s their biggest concern and the STCW really brought home to me the seriousness of a fire on board. I did the course at UKSA on the Isle of Wight, and with perfect timing a large motorboat in East Cowes caught fire during one of the lectures.
Within a minute it was an inferno and was quite a sobering experience. As always, prevention is better than cure, so we went over the Jeanneau looking for potential fire hazards and discovered a plastic bag of oil and WD40-soaked rags under the sink. Organic materials in confined spaces can generate heat and have been known to combust.
There were already 0.6kg extinguishers in the forward and rear cabins, all in date and showing green. We resolved to change them for larger models when they got closer to their expiry dates. We fitted a 1kg model in the saloon, and applied luminous tape to the cylinders, ring pulls and retaining straps. The starboard cabin has an access port to the engine bay and this was also highlighted with tape.
The fire blanket was already installed in the right place and so we simply applied a luminous strip.
First aid kit
The contents were checked, and we added a bottle of saline, sterile tweezers and more pain killers. We also included a list of any allergies and medication relating to the regular crew, a First Aid Manual (left on the saloon table to encourage study) and a SOL Emergency Bivvy Bag. This is like a space blanket, but in a bag shape and is great for warming up cold people. I’ve used them in the mountains and they work well. Hypothermia, remember, is one of the leading causes of death in boating related fatalities and you shouldn’t hesitate to call for assistance if you need it.
Finally, a small roll of clingfilm was added – it makes a great sterile dressing, particularly for burns. The cupboard was already labelled ‘First Aid’ and we added a luminous cross.
Torches
Everyone has a head torch, but we mounted a water and shock-proof torch near the nav station, just in case.
Checklists and equipment location chart
This is a very good idea. Once all the work was done we produced laminated versions of the list, and they were placed in the saloon and in each cabin.
Companionway
This is where a lot of falls occur – I’ve done it myself, and it’s worth remembering that contusions and fractures caused by falls are the most common injuries on a boat.
There were already grip strips fitted to each step, and we added two short lengths of luminous tape to each step to make things easier at night. We also positioned a small sponge there to inculcate a ‘dry steps culture’. Then we climbed up the dry steps to the cockpit...
purge and the remaining gear was stored in plastic crates. The new offshore flare pack was stored here also.
Harness tether strong points
There was a padeye at the front of the cockpit next to the companionway, but no clip on point for the helmsman so another padeye was fitted between the wheels. There were already jack lines fitted and these were deemed to be sound, but the shackle pins weren’t wired and we attended to this.
Dan buoy stowage
Of course, no one is going to fall off the boat because the culture promoted by the skipper will ensure that everyone will be wearing a lifejacket and tether, and they’ll be clipped on when necessary.
But an MOB situation can still happen – if it does, how long will it take to deploy the dan buoy?
The existing set-up was stored in unextended mode, outboard on the starboard side of the pushpit. The flag clip had been replaced with a length of plastic tube (tethered to the back stay) and the longish drogue line (minus the drogue) was tied on to the pushpit as a tether. To deploy it, you must stand on the helm seat (trying not to fall over the lifelines), pull the plastic tube off the flag, unroll the flag, extend and lock in place the three sections, untie the tether line from the pushpit and lob it over the side.
This took 40 seconds in the marina. I wouldn’t want to do it in a blow, and certainly not on port tack.
A revamp was required. Firstly, we moved the holder inboard to a more central position next to the stern gate and mounted it as low as possible.
Then we extended the sections and found them to be slippery with green mould – delightful. We gave them a clean, locked them in place and taped the joins to prevent them working loose. Then we pleated (not rolled) the flag and held it in place with the tube. The long tether line (guaranteed to foul the prop) was removed and replaced with a short length of line and a clip.
To deploy, you pull down the tube (it stays on the pole), unclip the tether and over it goes. Aesthetically, the new set-up looks a little top heavy, but the new deployment time is under five seconds and that’s more important
Horseshoe degradation
The original-equipment horseshoe was suffering from UV degradation and the attached light was found to be full of water, so a new model fitted with an LED light was installed.
Interestingly, most of the horseshoe stock in the chandlery was white because ‘people like them to blend in with the boat’.
We chose a yellow model which doesn’t blend in with the boat... or the ocean.
Finally, the MOB recovery system (found in the depths of a saloon locker) was stored in the port cockpit locker.
Non-slip hatches
None of the deck hatches had grip strips fitted, so we rectified the situation with several self-adhesive strips per hatch (radiused ends of course). When we unzip the sail bag we stand on the sliding hatch over the companionway, so we did the same here.
Releasing jammed winches
A riding turn doesn’t often happen, but it’s something you need to be prepared for, particularly if there are less experienced crew on board. Think trapped clothing, or worse, fingers. As we know, a jammed winch can be unloaded with a length of line and a rolling hitch, but this can only happen quickly if the line is to hand, so a dedicated line was located on the pushpit.
Personal protective equipment
Have you ever test-inflated your lifejacket? We asked the regular crew this very question and not one of them had. Their reasons were ‘It’s new’ and ‘I’ll have to repack it’. These seem to be popular responses, and like getting someone else to do the re-arming I think they’re based on a little techno-fear (and having to read the manual). But if you’re one of those who haven’t done it, how do you know for certain it will hold air? It’s not unknown that it won’t.
Before you next go sailing, test inflate your lifejacket using the mouthpiece, remove and refit the inflating mechanism, inflate and deflate it again and re-pack it. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did it. Then show a friend how to do theirs. Everyone on board did this, and everyone was glad – particularly the person who found their light to be defective.
The importance of crotch straps, hoods, lights and tethers have been covered over and again in the pages of PBO, but put a knife in the pocket and make sure it has a lanyard. I also keep a 60cm climbing sling on the waist belt, which is a useful aid in clipping on to parts of the boat that don`t have convenient pad eyes or jack lines. Most importantly, as the RNLI tells us, a lifejacket is useless unless worn – so just wear it.