Rescued by mr bilge rat and tango

[Daniel TD5]

after reading zippys weekend bit with kill cords and flat battery it all ways the simple things be warned

me and richard were going for a small trip to the forts off herne bay to
day i put the rib in the water and left the engine running to warm up went to
help rich with his boat fitted his c map card in my GPS it works

then off we went for about a mile very bumpy i stopped to put my gloves on
and the engine stalled turned over fine but no go checked tank vent fuel
blub so we go for towing back to herne bay not at all as i would think thanks
rich for the help it was very hard just to get the tow rope fitted

got back to the harbour checked over it again still no joy just going to put it back on the dry when i spot the quick clip fuel line connector and come off the tank so back on it went and its fixed

so only a few pics and its all ways the small things that go wrong

[Daniel TD5]

two more

[Louise]

Glad to hear it's all OK! New boat and shiney new tow car look great!

[The Jackeens]

Looks like you made the most of a beautiful day

Nice photos and helpful advice

Us

[Daniel TD5]

louise

thanks red and black go so well

it would be black but its done about 2k this month picking boat up from devon
in one day and runing around for work with all my spare time with me in the garage cleaning wireing the rib
its very dirty back someone from work wrote on the back i wish my wife was as dirty as this truck must wash it one day

[Louise]

Dan, what was the problem with getting the tow rope attached? Was the problem at your end or with the tow boat? If it was at you end, was it because you have to reach over the bow to attach the rope to the bow eye?

[Daniel TD5]

it was just getting to boats side by side. herne bay is known for sort lumpey
waves so with one boat with no power and rich trying to sort the rope with out wraping it around his prop then jumping from boat to boat with the up and down stuff

it may be well worth a practice before hand we fixed to my bow line with rich
tow line say 20m of rope then pulled it home when its calm it very easy
any waves make it hard

live and learn

Dan

[Louise]

Did you do a 'side-by-side' tow or 'in-line'? Know what you mean about the waves making it a lot harder! We've used a bridle arrangement with floating rope for the couple of (in-line) tows we've done and that seems to work very well. No-one needed to move between the boats either, although it helped that there were two of us on the 'towing' boat so Richard could helm while I passed the rope to the skipper of the boat we towed. He then tied the rope on at his end. Richard's just looking for a piccie...

[ashbypower]

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

it was just getting to boats side by side. herne bay is known for sort lumpey
waves so with one boat with no power and rich trying to sort the rope with out wraping it around his prop then jumping from boat to boat with the up and down stuff

it may be well worth a practice before hand we fixed to my bow line with rich
tow line say 20m of rope then pulled it home when its calm it very easy
any waves make it hard

live and learn

Dan

In open sea a long line tow is by far the best (and more comfortable!!) Along side should only be used for close quater manouvering, I agree it's well worth practising both being towed and towing!!

Brian



PS glad all turned out well

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by Louise

Richard's just looking for a piccie...

it's here! http://www.rib.net/forum/attachment....achmentid=8476
Both lines used were 10m long, floating line, but I would prefer to use 20m for the one that goes from the bridle to the towed craft to keep it further back from the wake.

[ashbypower]

Great Piccy RB shows Vwell how to rig the tow. We use a shorter bridle and Shocj cord it from the "A" frame to lift. But great shot

Brian

[brucehawsker]

Idiot question (as normal) why floating line?

And I assume you have attached the yoke to D rings in your transom?

Where do you get such a yoke? Is there a particular design? This looks like a very sensible bit of kit to carry.

[Louise]

Originally Posted by brucehawsker

why floating line?

It prevents the rope slipping underwater and out of view where it can snag the prop.

And I assume you have attached the yoke to D rings in your transom?

Correct

Where do you get such a yoke? Is there a particular design? This looks like a very sensible bit of kit to carry.

Richard ties it himself if we need it. We always carry 4 or 5 ropes in addition to the fixed bow line, two of which are yellow (good visibility) floating ropes. Richard will do a more detailed reply about rigging the bridle in just a minute!

[Richard B]

It's dead easy to rig (and needs to be 'cos you're inevitably trying to do several things at once in less than ideal conditions)...

1. With the first 10m floating line, attach each end to each transom eye using a bowline.
2. Pull the line taut to both transom eyes to find the middle (approx, but works quite accurately enough) and tie a knot - either an overhand or figure of eight (either of these will be better known to climbers) to produce a loop.
3. With the second rope, use a bowline to attach one end of it it to the loop in the centre of the bridle.
4. Attach the other end to the towed craft.

I've found that the only problems have been chafing at the attachment to the towed craft, and the knot used in step 2 will jam very tight, but at least this can be undone in "quiet time". Maybe a variation on a sheet bend would be better.

[Bilge Rat]

Originally Posted by Daniel TD5

it was just getting to boats side by side. herne bay is known for sort lumpey
waves so with one boat with no power and rich trying to sort the rope with out wraping it around his prop then jumping from boat to boat with the up and down stuff

it may be well worth a practice before hand we fixed to my bow line with rich
tow line say 20m of rope then pulled it home when its calm it very easy
any waves make it hard

live and learn

Dan

Absolute nonsense Dan...... I've been towed and towed others lots of times in far worse conditions that Sunday, due to lack of space my anchor line doubles up as a tow line (this works as i dont normally need to tow that oftern) on this occasion and knowing that the casualty was not going to go aground or hit anything the safest thing to do was hold off and get myself ready to take the casualty under tow, therefore i needed to disasemble the anchor line from its shackle and attach to my towing bridle around the back of the engine, then make sure the coiled rope was ready to pass over to the casualty boat, i then came alongside and whilst you held the two boats together i had you board my boat and then climbed across to the casualty boat to tie of the tow rope to your bow painter, then once you were aboard my boat i instructed you to gently feed the line out whilst i motored forwards gently until the tow line took up the strain on your boat.

The skill is in controling the situation and being ready

In this particular case it was better to have Dan aboard my boat as he's a heavy old lump and we needed some weight up the front to help keep the bow down. We motored back into Herne Bay at a respectable 15 knots and once tied up along the slip way addressed the problem in hand.

[Louise]

Sounds like a very professional operation, Mr Rat. I guess it always feels worse when you are the 'casualty' rather than the 'rescuer'! Anyway, glad it all worked out OK.

[Bilge Rat]

MY God Louise...not only do you not work but you dont sleep aswell

No it was an easy rescue really, it was as Dan said a little choppy but not that bad, i find it better to get myself sorted before coming alongside, this way theres less chance of an accident or something getting cocked up, of course had Dan been going aground or about to hit a fixed object the situation would have been a bit different, i'd then have had to race in and and tow him to a safe point with a shorter rope i have handy before making fast with the long line.

I'd only consider a side by side tow inside a harbour or for a short tow as its better for close manouvers, long line always seems to work better the longer the line is, my anchor warp is 20 metres long.

[Louise]

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

MY God Louise...not only do you not work but you dont sleep aswell

Given up on the beauty sleep now - you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

On a serious note, it would be nice to think someone may have been helped by the discussion above. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Edit: just reread this - hope I don't sound patronising - certainly don't mean to!

[Bilge Rat]

Towing is essentially really easy stuff, what makes things difficult are the conditions and the lack of knowledge of the casualty crew, therefore i tend to plan to do everything myself, then i know its been done correctly and if i'm prepared in advance its easier to get sorted when you really need to act fast.

One good point though that i've thought about whilst writting this stuff up...... for a while now i've really only been going out with the one long rope (the anchor warp) if i needed to do a lee shore rescue i'd be stuffed becasue as you know with a lee shore you need to deploy your anchor as close to the beach and casualty as possible and once fast pass a line across to the casualty boat before you can pull them off the beach or obstruction.
So next time out and especially with TD5 i'll make sure i take more rope

[Louise]

Originally Posted by Bilge Rat

So next time out and especially with TD5 i'll make sure i take more rope

Or maybe Dan should take the extra rope so he passes his rope to you, thus ensuring you can't sting him for salvage! (Only joking Mr Rat - I know you're a nice man who helps his mates. )