check lists before leaving, on anchorage, before storm at anchorage and on arrival

[bumpman]

Lots of great points discussed. I'd add in a list/routine safety inspection - bilge, fuel smell, propane secure and sniff, PFDs ready, harnesses, backup radio works, EPIRB, etc. and depending on how long you're out, those things you might need for safety on longer cruises - check med kit, water tank not fouled, etc. And don't forget... enough beer for happy crew (after sail at anchorage)

[SaylorMade]

Where i live, you usually get a key-card for the marina you visit, for which you pay a deposit.
Returning it, is an essential part of our departure check list.
Otherwise it gets quite expensive over time

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Oh, damn, Gamayun - I shoulda remembered that. Thirty years ago ;-)

While I have you - thanks for what you said on that long, long snarly thread about personal conduct :-)!

TP

Well, thanks TP. No idea what it was I had said though....

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Well, thanks TP. No idea what it was I had said though....

That 50 thing again..

[TrentePieds]

@Gamayun

Yes, you do - but for the sake of peace in the forum, let's leave it that way ;-0)!

Cheers

TP

[kriskro]

Originally Posted by Shrew

1) Do you mean Battery #2, or BOTH batteries. IF both, why are you running off of both batteries?

2) Are your bilge pumps wired directly to the batteries? Will they still run if batteries are turned off?

I usually run on both battery when starting so that i load them with the engine running. As soon as i hoist the sails, i set the switch to house only.

The bildge is connected straight on the house battery

[kriskro]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

@Kriskro

Thinking back on your previous posts, I commend you for all the thinking you are putting into these things. Thinking and making lists is essential work, but it doesn't take long before you enter the region of diminishing returns.

In real life you do not work off physical lists because when things are going well you don't need them, and when things are going badly you don't have time to mess with them.

So now that you've thought enuff to get things straight in your head, go down to your little boat and:

1) Go through your pre-departure safety check. Then do it again. And again. Two dozen times. Or whatever it takes to get the routine IMPRINTED on your mind so you'll never have to use a physical checklist.

2) Go through your sail-raising procedure. Then do it again. And again. Two dozen times. Or whatever it takes to get the routine IMPRINTED on your mind so you'll never have to use a physical checklist. You should be able to do the procedure perfectly. With one hand tied behind your back. In the dark. With green water sweeping over your deck.

3) Go through your engine start-up procedure. Then do it again. And again. Two dozen times. Or whatever it takes to get the routine IMPRINTED on your mind so you'll never have to use a physical checklist. You should be able to do the procedure perfectly. With one hand tied behind your back. In the dark. With green water sweeping over your deck.

4) Go through your anchor-weighing procedure. Then do it again. And again. Two dozen times. Or whatever it takes to get the routine IMPRINTED on your mind so you'll never have to use a physical checklist. You should be able to do the procedure perfectly. With one hand tied behind your back. In the dark. With green water sweeping over your deck.

5) Etc.

6) Etc.

n) Etc.

Now when you've all that IMPRINTED on your mind, you can begin to think about laying a route for your little boat to take twixt Oz and France. You won't learn seamanship from making written lists! Unless the list-making is substitution activity, put it aside and go out and learn to be a sailor. In your boat. On the water!

All the best.

TP

That is a quite negative answer but still with good infos..

I dont think that having a check list actually stops you of learning and remembering. But it is for sure a good way to not miss an easy and simple step. I dont know how many times i realised that i left the front hatch open while already in the car...

And when you see stories of people's boat that sinks because they forget to close a seacock or blow up because of gas left open... i think the check list is valuable.

Also, i notice that it is when you think you know everything 150% that you tend to forget little things

Doesnt cost much time and effort too !

[goat]

I saw movie on sailing and the advice was I picked up was, if you see a storm heading your way and your choices are;

1: get your storm sails ready.

2: shave.

You should pick 2. I know, I totally would have picked the wrong one too.

goat

[TrentePieds]

Kriskro:

Not meant to be negative at all! Quite the contrary - meant to get you on your way without a lot of spinning your wheels :-)

Your boat - herself - IS the checklist. You don't need a written one in addition. What I do, also in a 30-footer, is this: On deck, I go to the stem-roller for the anchor rode, I get on my knees and I examine it closely and make sure everything is tikkety-boo. I back off two paces - still on my knees - and examine the shackle that connects the chain-rode to the anchor. I back off two paces - still on my knees - and examine the capstan-cum gypsy complete with the deeky little finger that's meant to keep the rode engaged in the gypsy as it comes in but never does. I examine the chocks P&S. I examine the pulpit to deck fastenings for integrity and the clevises that hold the lifelines to the pulpit....I back off 2 paces...I back off two paces... And so on, all around the deck. Starboard side first until I've come back along the port-side rail to the pointy end.

You get the picture. It's the equivalent of the "walk-around" pilots do.

Remember that a 30 foot sailboat is NOT a 747. In fact not even a 172. Admittedly I have never flown anything more complex than a sailplane, and that's a long time ago, now. I'm pretty sure, nevertheless, that I can still do an okay pre-flight inspection on one of those without a checklist in my hand. A 747 not so much :-).

So to return to earth: Below decks the boat IS your checklist. Start at the very pointy end and proceed down the starboard side. Starboard always takes pride of place. Except in COLREGS. As you proceed, open EVERY compartment and inspect it. If a compartment has a sea-cock in it, make sure it's closed - except if it's s'posed to be open. If there is water in the compartment, get rid of the water and determine the where it came from. Etc., etc., Keep going like that till you come all around the boat and back to the pointy end. After that you verify the operation of all electrics. Then you do your engine run-up and test the steering gear.

Just like an airplane. Look at everything. Feel it up if you are not satisfied with what you see. The Germans have a wonderful expression for the faculty thus brought into play: "Fingerspitzengefühl". It means "knowledge in your fingertips". It comes back to my comment about being able to do your work with one hand. In the dark. With green water rolling over your deck. You have to KNOW the condition of your gear. If anything at all is amiss with an airplane you don't go. In a boat you MAY be able to go, depending on the nature and severity of the deficiency. Your competence as a seaman will enable you to evaluate that. And remember that boats have it all over airplanes. If something goes awry while you are under way in a boat, you won't fall out of the sky. And it'll take you ages to sink, so you have time to fix the problem. In an airplane, if you get confused, or if you need a kip, you can't just heave to and get on with sorting yourself out.

You won't get water in the boat if your seamanship is okay. It is axiomatic that a well-found boat will take care of her crew better than the crew can take care of her. So there is another difference between planes and boats. Your very first post indicates that you are well advised to work up a list of what is required for YOUR boat to be "well-found", but after that, it is what it is [till YOU change it :-)] and you don't need a list. You just have do a conscientious walk-around before leaving port. And, on a long voyage, another one periodically. Every boat is different, so when you get aboard a different boat than your own, it's best if you can crank up a list in your head really quickly :-)

Now, where lists ARE useful is for such things as Provisioning Lists and Stowage Plans. In TP the mooring lines are all different lengths and therefore NOT interchangeable when preparing to come alongside. Each one of the four mooring lines AND a heaving line (for when an assist is needed, which is not often) has a specific hook in the locker, so I can say "Jack, Prepare to come alongside, port side to!" and Jack will know precisely which line to put where because the stowage system IS THE LIST!!.

Another list that I find useful is the Routine Order, though given the aversion most people have to being "ordered" to do things, the Routine Order that is contained in the Deck Log is headed "Stuff to be Done". Just a sop to the overly sensitive. :-) The Routine Order has a cousin called the "Voyage Plan". It is just an itinerary for the voyage taking account of tidal flows, the times of slack water in any narrows, of which we have many tricky ones, we have to negotiate, the required departure time from harbour/anchorage determined by working the TSD equation back from the critical time at the narrows in question.

So you see, I'm not "down on lists" as such. There are things for which they are essential, and in fact my last post started by commending you for putting a great deal of thought into making the ones you are making. I do believe, however, that if you really want to take a 30 footer from Oz to France (was it?), either single-handed or with one more person aboard, then, based on your first post asking about lists as well as your second one, you should be spending your time on internalizing fundamental knowledge rather than making unnecessary lists. HOWEVER, if making lists is the tool by which YOU internalize knowledge, then by all means have at it. I'm just hoping you won't confuse the tool with it's product!

Let me finish this post by thanking you for your smile and your gracious comment that my last post had "good infos" in it :-)

Cheers

TP