What is it for???

[toddbrsd]

I have not been able to figure out what the "U-Bolts" on the cabin top are for. My only guess is for life lines, but just that, a guess. There is one on each side of the cabin top as shown in the pictures. Getting ready to add a winch and run some of the running rigging to the cockpit and this is bugging me.

Thanks

 

[Emerald]

any mystery fasteners forward on the cabin top or elsewhere on the bow? Thinking for holding jack lines.

 

[toddbrsd]

Yes..

There is another smaller one pretty much smack dab in the middle of the forward deck. Is a jack line used to tether to. I called it a life line in my post, but being new to sailing, I have never actually seen where or what you attach your tether to when soloing. So that might be it.

BTW, I picked up a harness and tether on Saturday at Minnie's annual swap meet, so I guess I should figure this out before the admiral gives me permission to go out alone!!!!

 

[tenders]

Jacklines, when used, pull substantial side force and the height of those u-bolts would just multiply that force. I'm guessing those are designed for the spinnaker pole downhaul rigging (the foreguy).

 

[Loren Beach]

another unscientific guess

Jacklines, when used, pull substantial side force and the height of those u-bolts would just multiply that force. I'm guessing those are designed for the spinnaker pole downhaul rigging (the foreguy).

Yeah, the height of those aft ones concerns me too, for anchoring jack lines. OTOH, maybe the prior owner just used them to clip onto directly, when in the cockpit.


LB

 

[Ericsean]

Jack Lines & Solo sailing

On Memorial Day, our club had its annual singlehanded race. One of the captains sent himself forward on the leeward side to skirt the jib, and lost his footing on the deck.

Luckily his legs straddled a stanchion which is the only thing that stopped him from going overboard. (Ouch, bet better than the option)

After the race we were talking about jacklines, and most of us agreed that we'd rather let the boat go and try to swim or get picked up by another boat.

I would hate to be attached the the boat if I was in the water. I'm sure I couldn't get myself up on the boat while being dragged at 6 knots, possibly totally submerged.

Of course I'm talking about coastal cruising in a Bay, not single handed on an ocean crossing.

By the way, we do have a rule that all racers must wear flotation devices for the single handed race.

 

[treilley]

You should make sure that your tether has a quick release that is easy to identify with your eyes closed and always have a knife handy.

My tethers have a piece of line with a handful of large(1") plastic beads that can be easily found and pulled if I need to cut loose.

 

[toddbrsd]

Good Information

You should make sure that your tether has a quick release that is easy to identify with your eyes closed and always have a knife handy.

My tethers have a piece of line with a handful of large(1") plastic beads that can be easily found and pulled if I need to cut loose.

Thanks for all of the good input. So where do you guys attach your jack lines? Do you have dedicated "attachment points" or do you just use existing cleats, etc?

treilley,

I happened to google "jack lines" yesterday and came up with a Youtube video. One of the things that caught my attention was the quick release with some red beads attached, just as you described. The tether I purchased did not have that, in fact it was just "tied" to the harness buckle! I will obviously make it a priorty to fix that since it all makes perfect sense to do so.

 

[wheelerwbrian]

Mine run from the existing bow cleat to the cleat just aft of the main winches. I tend to unclip from the jack lines when in the cockpit and clip onto some a couple of existing very large u-bolts that have deck and backing plates installed for that purpose. I'm with the others - those u-bolts are too tall for to clipon to or for jacklines - putting lateral pressure on them will at best bend them, or at worse do that and create a leak into your deck core.

 

[Emerald]

I've run jack lines the same way Brian has, but I honestly don't like them running down the side of the boat, as it's too easy to still fall overboard and get dragged. I intend to install some pad eyes centrally for running jack lines with the objective of having a tether of such a length (short) that getting outboard of the life lines would be difficult. The issue I see is that the jack lines will have to be segmented or they will have too much side movement. This would leave one having to possibly clip off one line and onto the next when moving fore or aft, and I'm not crazy about that idea either. Anyone come up with a good solution for this?

 

[tenders]

The oceangoing response for the problem of having to unclip one jackline before clipping onto another jackline is...have two clips and don't undo one until the other is clipped on.