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Dear Tom,
I’m looking for a boat to sail offshore to Hawaii and points beyond in the next couple of years. When I pick up a national sailing magazine, I am bombarded with advertisements about the perfect offshore blue water boat. It portrays the perfect boat as a boat built beyond compromise, and having the important features such as refrigeration, a stall shower, and other “necessities of life”. Bull! All I would like to find is a boat that will keep me safe and secure in any kind of weather, be able to sail to weather off of a lee shore and get me where I want to go. Steel, fiberglass, wood or aluminum, I don’t really care as long as it meets my requirements.
I’ve been looking at number of boats and would like your opinion on some shortcomings I have noticed. The most common undersized hardware I have noticed are the lifelines. The installation of some of these are flimsy at best. There were some boats I was aboard that, when I pushed back and forth on the lifelines, the deck around them would flex.
My question is, what should I look for when inspecting the lifelines? One of the reasons I like some of the metal boats I looked at was that the lifelines were welded to the decks, adding a lot of strength to the structure. Most of the fiberglass boats had lifeline bases that didn’t look to me to be strong enough.
Julie Barnes
Edmonds, Wash
Ask the surveyor
On a routine survey, the lifelines and the stanchion bases are examined both above and below deck. Lifelines are another component on an offshore cruising sailboat that are as strong as its weakest link. Meaning, each part of the lifeline: the stanchions, bases, lifelines, fastenings and bedding must be first class and built of high quality. If not, you might wind up in the water, watching your boat sail away without you.
Going below deck, I would look to see if there is any evidence of leaking. This would show as a stain running down from the base’s fastenings or a discoloration around and under the base on the interior overhead.
On most production boats, the bases are through bolted in the deck, and could become an invitation for water to penetrate the bolt holes and leak into the interior, as well as deteriorate the underlying core material in the deck. The use of good, high quality bedding compound will help prevent any leaks, but if the stanchions are not supported strongly at their bases, leaks will develop. I always suspect the stanchions in holding the lifeline gates to most likely show the most signs of fatigue. Those stanchions are abused the most from the side to side forces imposed when boarding the boat. If you’re coming aboard from the dinghy you’ll probably grab the stanchion and pull yourself up. Eventually, this will loosen the stanchion bases if they are not fastened, supported and bedded properly. Using the stanchion base as a main boom preventer will do this also, as well as other applications that the stanchions are not designed for.
A surveyor will typically tap around the deck area surrounding the stanchion base lightly to determine the condition of the deck. Then push and pull the stanchion forcefully, while looking closely at the base to see if there is any movement. A close look at the base and stanchion for corrosion or cracks is next. I have come across cracks at welds more than any other defect. Also, if the stanchion base is a socket type, I sometimes see cracks at the top lip of the base running vertically. Deck cracks around the stanchion base, even if it is only through the gel coat, is a sign of excessive movement and possibly a deck that is under built for the task, or water saturation in the deck, weakening the structure. If there is any movement at the base when side force is applied, it’s time to rebed and refasten, what I call R&R. Having large backing blocks for the through deck fastenings and not just washers under the deck will strengthen the base considerably. On most production boats, the base is a socket type where the lifeline slips into and is held in the socket with set screws. Take a look at the base to see if the upper lip of the socket has any cracks or has elongated. One of the reasons I like a deck that has bulwarks is the stanchion bases are fastened to the deck and bulwark. This provides a solid installation, less prone to side to side movement.
Lifelines that have plastic coatings are almost impossible to inspect, except for the ends where the terminals are connected. If the lifelines are over ten years old and have seen a lot of sailing, I would recommend replacing the lifelines before heading offshore. Also, if you can see substantial corrosion where the wire is visible, replacement of the lifeline should be considered.
For an offshore cruising sailboat, I would recommend double lifelines running along the deck. Having the lifelines at a height above the knee level would be more secure, eliminating the possibility of hitting the lifeline as you go backwards, buckling the back of your knee. While a higher lifeline might impede the headsail sheeting angle, it gives a much safer deck to work on.
Other items to look at are the bow and stern pulpits and the lifeline attachment points on the pulpits, including the smallest of items such as cotter pins in the turnbuckles. Look at the welds along the tubing for any cracks.
This is the most common type of stanchion base, a stainless steel socket type welded to a deck plate with through bolts. Look closely along the bottom edge of the base and you will see cracks in the deck, most likely caused by excessive side loads exerted from things such as running into a dock and the lifeline taking the brunt of the collision, or climbing on and off the boat and grabbing the stanchion to hoist yourself aboard. Eventually if enough side pressure is imposed the tubing of the lifeline will buckle.
The photo on the previous page (Figure 1) shows a stainless steel stanchion base that’s fastened to the deck and the aluminum toe rail. This is a good installation but notice the residue of what must be water accumulation right over the base. If the base is not bedded properly the risk of water saturation into the deck and the boat’s interior are compounded. If this were my boat, R&R would be the maintenance task of the day.
Figure 2: This base is too small for an offshore cruising sailboat. These are screws (not through bolts) fastened into the FRP (fiber reenforced plastic) toe rail which is over the deck to hull joint. When I went to look under this base in the boat’s interior I couldn’t see anything. It was covered up by a FRP liner. In any case, screws are unacceptable as a means of securing a stanchion base.
Figure 3: A high bulwark, such as on a Westsail 32, offers a more secure stanchion base installation. Note the fastenings through the bulwark where the base is attached.
Figure 4: This arrangement provides an excellent lifeline stanchion base attachment, plus a tall lifeline, makes this installation good for offshore sailing.
My personal opinion about lifelines is that they give one a false sense of security. I believe in running strong, well secure jacklines and clipping in with the best safety harness I can buy. When I’m walking around a deck, I always try and lean inboard and hold on to something attached to the cabin top, such as handrails. Lifelines have functions such as a place to hang laundry and attach weather cloths but should not give one a feeling of complete security.
For more information on lifelines and stanchion bases check out this excellent article I found online. It’s at:
http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/lifeline_study.htm.
Tom Averna is an independent marine surveyor and consultant to boat buyers, specializing in sailboats. He can be reached with any questions or comments by calling him toll free at 1-800-544-5757 or emailing him at chartert@rockisland.com or by writing this magazine.
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