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removable lifeline stanchions?

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Jefffriday
Navigator

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USA
198 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/19/2009 : 09:59:38

Has anybody modified their lifeline stanchions so they can be removed? I was thinking of cutting them just above the bracket and inserting a tube/rod into the top part that could slide into the reaming bottom tube and be secured with a bolt and nut or a pin. I get concerned every winter with the high snow loads that the tarp ends up putting on the lifelines. Also, considering having the option of removing them easily (yes I have read all the threads on no lifelines) I sail on a very small lake and have everything lead to the cockpit (reefing, halyards, everything)

infinity
89 wk/sr #5860
Basalt CO.

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TractorJohn
Deckhand

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USA
24 Posts

Response Posted - 10/19/2009 : 10:42:34

I have not done it, but I don't see any problem outside the obvious. It may affect resale value.
I was thinking if your considering removing the stancions all together, consider 1st all the holes you'll have to plug. 2nd try just pulling the lines and go sailing with bare stancions, you may find like I did that I felt insecure when on deck. Regarding the snow load, I think adding additional bracing (2x4's or something)may be the best answer. I bought a 20' tarp garage from costco that covers most of the boat and then knock the snow off when it begins to sag at about a foot depth. To make it high enough for the boat, I extended the legs about 5 feet with abs pipe so I can crawl around on deck under the tarp. The total cost was under $200
and I have four seasons of use.
TJ

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/19/2009 : 18:51:25

Those stanchions are important, original equipment. You can deal with snow in other ways.

I made my winter cover last year by using flexible PVC pipes as arches resting on the boom. They were spaced evenly by tying each center to the boom. Each PVC pipe was curved down to the deck at the port and starboard side and tied vertically to the top of a stanchion and also at the bottom of the stanchion using plastic zip ties. These cheap tubes made a nice strong frame for a blue polypropylene tarp. The last tube at the transom was bent to form a tighter curve against the stern rail and the tarp was closed around it. I could easily crawl in under the other end of the tarp at the mast.

If there were a lot of snow around here, I could have added more arches between the others to make the whole thing sturdier.

And if I had 10 feet of snow or something during the winter, I could have added a horizontal 2 x 2 maybe a foot or two above the boom extending from the mast to a support at the stern rail. That would make the top of the tarp angled down from a peak to the curved PVC pipes, instead of being flat on top of the boom.

If I had 10 feet of snow and 50 mph winds, I would find a barn for the boat.

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 08:22:45

I agree with JohnP. I think you'd be better served (and probably do less work) by building a frame under a tarp with sufficient pitch to allow the snow to slide off. Some use PVC, others lumber. I use the mast and form a web of line to act as "rafters".

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 11:50:43

I used to construct a rather elaborate roof for a tarp, weaving lines to and fro, constructing pipe supports, using swim noodles,...etc, but it seamed that I'd still have issues with the tarp abrading, snow melt refreezing into several hundered pound ice blocks that put undue strain on the tarp, and other issues that I finally abandoned trying to hermetically seal the boat. For years now, I simply put a tarp directly on the cabintop and another over the boom forming a tent. The bow and the rear of the cockpit are left exposed.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 12:20:12

I thought about this for a bit last night. What if you constructed some stanchion supports from 2x4s to take the load off of them? You could glue & screw 2x4s & 1x2s into a "C" shape to create a pocket for them to sit in. 1x2's won't actually work (they're only 3/4" thick), so you'd have to rip some 1" stock to form the pockets. Make the supports high enough to remove the load from the stanchions, then maybe make A frames from more 1x4 stock to support your tarp over the top of the mast (assuming it's laying down the length of the boat for a rafter as suggested) and give the snow a way to slide off. This is a half hatched idea, but might give you a way to solve your snow problem.

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Jefffriday
Navigator

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USA
198 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 15:12:51

Thanks for the suggestions, I have tried sailing with just the lines removed, leaving the stanchions. I did not feel at all unsafe moving about, however, I had to do it almost every tack because the jib sheets would wrap around the stanchions. A friend called and offered me his barn for the winter, she will be very happy there, but I still might modify the stanchions to be removable. I do not want to completely remove them for resale/pain in the neck reasons. I had to re-bed on of them a few years ago, getting to the backside was not easy at all. Thanks for the ideas! 10 feet of snow is not out of the question if it lives at the club through the winter, and, no way to get to her once the road snows in till spring. I cam across a photo last year of a West Wight Potter in Idaho that the trailer bunks had been driven up through the bottom of the hull from excessive snow load. It kept me up nights...

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 16:59:38

Ten feet of snow is no joke. I've been to Montreal.

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 10/20/2009 : 17:58:12

The sacrifice of their structural integrity is not worth the convenience (IMHO)...

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.