Two arms/hands for loading/unloading gear from cabin top

B

baz

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Jun 19, 2009
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Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Subject: Two arms/hands for loading/unloading gear from cabin top

I've read may postings that describe the need for having both arms/hands at the ready for loading and unloading gear from the cabin's roof racks. This includes me as well.

Giving this some thought and knowing how lumberjacks handle this kind of situation when climbing trees for removing limbs and even for topping trees I have come up with a solution.

I have a 3" wide 4-5 foot long strap (length being dependent on body size for others :lol: ) that has largish hooks at each end. I wrap this strap around me and under my armpits and attach the two end hooks onto the cabin's longitudinal rails. The hooks are large enough to allow me to slide them fore and aft on the rails. I can now use both my arms/hands to deal with loading/unloading/arranging gear on the cross bars without the fear/chance of falling backwards.

Another alternative might be to have some form of body harness that two separate straps can be attached to and then attaching them to the cabin's railing.

Has anyone done this or has thought about doing it ? 😱

I found trying to get at stuff on the cabin's roof on my previous R-25 (Classic)'s was simply precarious and fraught with anxiety with the chance/thought of falling backwards if losing my balance and/or grip. The gunnel to cabin roof top for the R-25 (Classic) is a great deal more than on my new 2018 R-27 so this aspect may not be so pronounced for me on the new boat. 🙂
 
You pretty much nailed what I was concerned about as well. It's great that the boat comes with storage racks above, but my concern is how to lift something up there with one hand while using the other to hold onto the rail.

I too had thought about some sort of back strap, my only concern at the time is how do you lift a heavy-ish object from the doc up onto the roof. The twisting, etc while strapped to the boat - I just couldn't envision it working out the way I thought it would.

I tried to create my own crane to help lifting a heavy bicycle that could also maybe swing around to raise lower a hard shell kayak on the other side while on the water. Short story - that didn't really work too well.

In my case I simply stuck with the basics - an inflatable kayak on the port side which can easily be raised / lowered single handed especially if I'm standing on the bow. For the bike on the starboard side - a simple 2 step stepladder. I use the ranger single step ladder on the boat and the 2 step stepladder on the dock. This gives me the stability to straddle the boat and dock and not worry about falling backwards while using 2 hands to raise the bike over my head and onto the support bar.

I'm sure you have a different use in mind for reaching / accessing items stored above for which I'm sure your strap is an ideal solution.
 
Yea.... at this time I'm figuring I can slip my Sea Eagle 385ft FastTrack kayak onto and off the cross bars by leaving it up onto the cabin roof's cross bars while standing on the foredeck. Once having the kayak on the foredeck I can launch it over the side rails without issues. For retrieving the kayak from the water I would simply use a line attached to the kayaks bow handle and heave it up onto the foredeck's side rail and than get it up on top if the cabin's crossbars from there.

The Sea Eagle 385ft FastTrack kayak hull weighs 35 lbs. This weight should not be too difficult for me to handle. The awkwardness comes from the kayak's length of 12.5 feet.

I have yet to test my method, so it may have to change as my requirement is for me to be solo doing this task. 😱

Once the kayak is kind of on the cross bars, the back strap facility would allow me to safely adjust the kayak's position on its formed carrier brackets and then to strap it down securely into its final position for cruising about.
 
I often thought that a sailing harness would be helpful or a roofers fall protection harness. My biggest concern is when I am on the hard, washing and waxing. Taking a dive off the boat could be the end of life as we once knew it.
 
I just got thru pulling two ABS kyacks off of roof racks. I put together climbing endless loop straps and two large aluminum caribiners, big enough to clip over rails. Under my arms as you describe, also climbing pulleys for control ropes for kyack ends and ropes. clip the rope caribiners into kyack ends, unstrap the thule hold downs. The trick is not taking off my head as the kyack goes by, I have lost bill caps, one on stern my pilot/wife handles we lower the kyack to the water. They are a Perception 12 and a Necky Santa Cruz 14 the dead lift from the water is interesting, pull thru pulley hold, then reach down and pull again but the transfer over my head is even more exciting for me, the stern person helps control the roll as we invert it onto the rack 🙂
 
We pull our 15 foot kayaks up thru the bow spirit opening in the front rails and then load them into roof rack cradles from the front deck. No problem for the person staying on the front deck, but it is the sideways one hand shuttle for whoever walks the stern end off or onto the cradles... I like the idea of a sliding underarm strap for fall insurance - need to figure how hard it will be to clip on and off the roof rails as I pass the cradles...
 
One of my PFDs is the Mustang Inflatable PFD with sailing harness D-Rings. By adding a sailing safety tether that can be hooked to the Mustang PFD D-rings, then you can attach the other end of the tether to the grab bars along the cabin when you walk along the gunwale. That other end of the tether has a snap hook to attach to the grab bars.

However, the problem that I see with the standard length sailing safety tether is that it is too long at 1.8 meters (6 feet). There are some reports of sailing accidents with the 1.8 meter length where there was more harm than good due to the length of the tether. With a 1.8 meter length you would likely be dragging in the water upon a fall. Plus that is more distance than I would want to fall. I think I would rather fall a very short distance then be able to pull my self back up.

Fortunately, I've recently discovered that Wichard Pro Line makes a 0.8 meter safety tether, which seems like the best length for our Ranger Tugs. I plan to buy one of these.

http://www.mauripro.com/us/product/WIC7032.html#tab01
http://www.windcheckmagazine.com/new_ra ... ty_tethers
 
Dale777":35vgsoof said:
Mike,

I have the Mustang 3184:

http://www.mustangsurvival.com/recreati ... country=25
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.... I have the Black/Red Auto Activation PFD III Mustang DLX 38 (Model MD2981 and cost me approximately $150 and is offered in Black, Black/Red and Black/Gray) that has 38 lb buoyancy. Unfortunately it does not have the D-rings. This PFD is specially designed to be a lot more comfortable for wearing all day. I purchased this PFD primarily because of its neck design that does not cause any rubbing as many other similar PFD of this type do. I've worn this PFD around the house for a whole day and it certainly lives up to this claim.

The model MD318402-13 you mention can be purchased for $210 at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Mustang-Surv...ZB&pd_rd_wg=03uyi&refRID=35P1P59GDARQCYWYHYCM

Dale wrote: Fortunately, I've recently discovered that Wichard Pro Line makes a 0.8 meter safety tether, which seems like the best length for our Ranger Tugs. I plan to buy one of these.

Yes, but the 0.8m tether has ONLY a single hook which is unfortunate..... however, I guess another one for the loose handle end could be added.
 
Maybe just one D-ring could be used with the teather looping around the rail and back to the PFD.
 
If anyone buys an auto inflatable PFD, I highly recommend that you buy it from some merchandiser that can tell you what the actual Expiration Date is on the inflating mechanism. If there is a big discount for one of these PFDs, then I would wonder if the Expiration Date is something significantly less than the 5 years from the purchase date, for a Mustang auto inflating PFD.

I ordered my Mustang 3184 over the Internet 6+ years ago from LFS Marine in Bellingham, WA, but I called them first to get the actual Expiration Date before buying. By doing so, I got the full 5 years of life for the inflating mechanism. Since the 5 years was up last year, I have since replaced the inflating mechanism with the Mustang Re-arm Kit.
 
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