Deck stowage on Joletta
Stowing a hired liferaft
We don't own a liferaft but follow the old practice of lashing the rubber dinghy, half inflated, on the coachroof. However on longer cruises, as in 1998 to Ireland and last year to St. Petersburg, we have hired a liferaft just for the trip.
Now if we owned one I would fix a cradle permanently to the coachroof and buy a raft in a canister. But since we are only hiring it a permanent fixture on the coachroof would be a nuisance next time we put the dinghy there.
Finding stowage space on Joletta
The hire company insist that the alternative, a valise, is kept somewhere under cover. Since Joletta is one of the few Twisters with five berths in 1998 we put the raft in the 1/4 berth. A pretty hopeless place if the problem happens to be an engine or galley fire. Last year, being away for 16 weeks, we needed the quarter berth for other storage.
But if it went in the cockpit locker then the warps and fenders would have to festoon the pushpit and look an awful mess.
Storage bag solution
Our contact in the hire company showed us an American catalogue
that had in it a storage bag to strap on the coachroof. An excellent
idea we thought. We built a neat pile of our usual warps and
6 fenders (4 cylindrical & 2 flat) measured the size required
and had it made to measure.
Our bag is 34"x 32"x 12". A zip runs round 3 sides close to the top. There is a loop at each corner to tie it to the grab rails and, for greater security, 2 straight loops were fitted on to the top to retain an overall strap.
An excellent result
We were delighted with the result and the warps and fenders are just where you want them to be instead of having to compete with the helmsman in the cockpit. The one modification this winter was to put drain holes in each corner.
John Weddell, Joletta