What are your worst fear sailing events

[Dennis.G]

Going overboard at night in rough seas. Of course I use harness and jack lines in those conditions and move around like a spider, but that is mostly because the thought of going overboard to an almost certain slow death is a really disturbing thought.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Water

Not too hard to rig a diesel fuel polisher into your system...

Even easier to have clean diesel in your tanks,
Its very hard to get crap out of tanks that cant be removed,
On both these occasions, The tanks had been sitting for years,
And I had polished the diesel for 3 days,

Violent ocean transit certainly brings up the gloop, Algie, Etc, Hahahahaha

I now have this system installed in my cockpit locker,
I can see it and its very easy to clean the filters,
The crap just drops straight into a container under the filters,
Clogged filter, Motor stops,
Clean filters and restart motor, Maximum, 5 minutes,
You cant implement a system like this in the middle of an ocean with out spare parts,
The Pump, Filters and switch are all cheap Chinese ones,
But they do work perfectly,

The new pump I installed has an, Off - On, switch beside it,
The fuel goes thru both filters before it goes thru the pump,
The switch makes sure the injectors are fully primed before I hit the motor start button,
Which now fires up instantly,
I also gave the tanks a Biocide treatment as well, So my clogged filters are now a thing of the past, Hopefully,


Previously, I had to go out on the transom and reach down into the Engine bay standing on my head to clean the filters out,
Which to me was quite dangerous as the boat leaped around badly in bad weather with a stopped motor,
Fully exposed to all the weather that prevailed at the time,
Chest harness was essential out there,

Cheers, Brian,

PS, Hindsight is a wonderfull thing, Hahahahaha

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Even easier to have clean diesel in your tanks,
Its very hard to get crap out of tanks that cant be removed,
On both these occasions, The tanks had been sitting for years,
And I had polished the diesel for 3 days,

Violent ocean transit certainly brings up the gloop, Algie, Etc, Hahahahaha

I don't agree that it's hard to get it all out. It's those violent transits that work in your favor. Polishing fuel is much more effective when the fuel is sloshing around. Polishing fuel for 3 days in a slip will get you... what you got.

I think that I mentioned earlier in this thread that a friend of mine had her fuel polished, then lost her boat on the rocks when the stuff sitting on the bottom of her tank plugged the filters in rough conditions.

If you have a polishing system already installed, I highly recommend using it while underway.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Minggat

I don't agree that it's hard to get it all out. It's those violent transits that work in your favor. Polishing fuel is much more effective when the fuel is sloshing around. Polishing fuel for 3 days in a slip will get you... what you got.

I think that I mentioned earlier in this thread that a friend of mine had her fuel polished, then lost her boat on the rocks when the stuff sitting on the bottom of her tank plugged the filters in rough conditions.

If you have a polishing system already installed, I highly recommend using it while underway.

Hahahaha, For one, you cant slosh fuel around in tanks sitting on the hard,
I drained the tanks and took the diesel home with me to polish,
EG; Clean the crud out of it,
Im not wasting that much fuel,

I now have clean fuel, clean filters, and clean tanks, And clean fuel lines,

I dont need or want a polishing system on my boat,

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Hahahaha, For one, you cant slosh fuel around in tanks sitting on the hard,
I drained the tanks and took the diesel home with me to polish,
EG; Clean the crud out of it,
Im not wasting that much fuel,

,

Whether you take your fuel “home” to polish it, or you’re actually out cruising the world in your floating home, polishing in situ is very doable, regardless of what you might need or want.

And polishing while underway is helpful.

Glad that you enjoy your options.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Hahahaha, For one, you cant slosh fuel around in tanks sitting on the hard,
I drained the tanks and took the diesel home with me to polish,
EG; Clean the crud out of it,
Im not wasting that much fuel,

I now have clean fuel, clean filters, and clean tanks, And clean fuel lines,

I dont need or want a polishing system on my boat,

Draining tanks provides no guarantee that you’re going to get all the junk out of the tank. The fuel removed and taken home for polishing may be relatively clean with dirt still lying in the bottom of the tank.

I have a very similar setup to the one you pictured except that between the filters I have a take-off that goes via a tap back to the tank. This way I can polish fuel using one filter to catch the junk while preserving the second filter.

Picture may follow.

Edit: I can route the fuel back to a different tank to save having to re-filter the same fuel more than once.

[Deep Blue Water]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

For some reason I have this recurring nightmare where I look up and notice that our boat is almost completely surrounded by rocks sticking up from the water.

We never hit them... my heart is beating like crazy when I'm trying to turn around and navigate back through some obscure opening we had entered this rock constellation.. then I usually wake up.

"Usually"?

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Water

"Usually"?

Yes, I guess. I don't have very detailed recollections at hand. Wake up or start dreaming about something else, that's my guess, maybe of large wheat fields and the challenging future of humanity

[MadMaximal]

Flying Dutchman

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by MadMaximal

Flying Dutchman

Kraken!!! [emoji33]

[Lightwave99]

Deploying a drogue in severe conditions is far better than surfing down waves with the risk of broaching! When we deployed our drogue, en route from Mexico to Hawaii, after retrieving our parachute anchor--which was effective but scary because the waves were pounding on the bottom of our catamaran and we were going nowhere fast in a stationary weather system that wasn't moving off--we felt such relief that we were able to proceed safely, and gradually moved out of the high winds and waves weather system. It is worth it to learn how!

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Lightwave99

Deploying a drogue in severe conditions is far better than surfing down waves with the risk of broaching! When we deployed our drogue, en route from Mexico to Hawaii, after retrieving our parachute anchor--which was effective but scary because the waves were pounding on the bottom of our catamaran and we were going nowhere fast in a stationary weather system that wasn't moving off--we felt such relief that we were able to proceed safely, and gradually moved out of the high winds and waves weather system. It is worth it to learn how!

If a person has never had the experience of Surfing down a Wave In a 20000 lb.
Vessel, it's much like the feeling of when in icy conditions, you hit a patch of Black Ice, and lose traction & steering, then your car goes sideways or Yaws, then it's just hang on, you maybe okay, but there Will be some damage.
At least to your confidence level.
You cannot usually steer out of a surfing plane, as you lose your steering control, no water moving over the rudder, means little if any control.
And since there are No Seatbelts in your Cockpit, your likely to get pitch about violently. Use Something to slow you down, and avoid Dead Downwind conditions with large Swells.
SV Cloud Duster

[er9]

#1 Getting caught in a hurricane.

#2 Bottled gas leak / explosion.

#3 Someone stealing my boat in some remote anchorage.


#1 I would just wedge myself inside and say my final prayers.

#2 There wouldn't be enough time to pray so irrelevant.

#3 I guess I would just cry like a baby, pause to eat a Peanut Butter Cliff Bar then resume crying.

[Cloroxbottle]

Originally Posted by MccNeo

4. Loss of keel
5. Dismasting
6. Loss of steering/rudder

Those are my big three, and add survival storms, MOB in bad sea states and collision with another vessel @ night. Anchor lights can be surprisingly obscure.

[donradcliffe]

As usual, the internet comes up with some strange ideas.

First of all, losing your keel, mast or rudder are things that you have some control over. Start with a decent boat, then inspect to make sure that your keel fastenings and rudder post/ bearings/cables support structure haven't deteriorated. Then replace the standing rigging every 12 years.

Any surfer will tell you that slowing the boat down in big or breaking seas is a way to get into trouble. The faster you surf, the more water moving past the rudder and the more control you have. Things get a bit hairy with a spinnaker up when you slow down and load up. If you have a quick light boat with no drogue, you don't get on the steepest part of the wave and pitchpole, and don't get seriously pooped by a breaking face. Why do you think the extreme wave surfers are towed into the wave by jetskis?