Adding a second lifeline

[skier842]

One thing that I felt was a serious safety concern was not having a second life line between the top life line and the deck so I had one added to "Independence" by having a welder make up the "U" loops and welding them on the life line post. I also had to get the rest of the equipment made/buy at a West Marine store. I feel it makes the deck much safer. Has anyone else added to the life lines to increase safety?

George

[Dale Tanski]

George,

I also added the lower lifeline to Maruska.  I took a different approach to accomplish the same thing.  I located some stainless tubing of sufficient inner diameter to allow the passage of the lifeline wire and end fittings through the diameter of the tube.  To do this, I worked with my rigger and he had to use a small outside diameter threaded male end fitting.  I drilled each of the stanchions to accept the outside diameter of the tubing and I cut and deburred short sections of the tube approximately 3/8 of an inch longer than the stanchions outer diameter. I also made flaring tools out of a pair of socket head cap screws that I had by tapering the inside of the head using a lathe.  The taper was designed to act like a flaring tool when pressed into the tube. You can see the hole in the stanchion, short section of tube and the modified cap screws in this photo.

I then slid the tube in the stanchion and placed one screw in each end of the tube.  I used a heavy duty vice and pressed the cap screws into the short tube flaring each side into a nice smooth flare. The flare does two things.  First it locks the tube into the stanchion.  Secondly and most importantly, it provides a chafe free passage for the vinyl coated lifeline cable allowing the lifeline to slide back and forth if necessary for changing loads.  You can see the stanchion in the vice here.

The finished stanchion looks like this.

The end connection at the stern rail was accomplished with standard wrap around stainless lifeline brackets that I purchased from my rigger.  You simply spread them, wrap them around the upright and close them back up and secure them into place with a screw and nut through the bracket no drilling required.  The boarding gate was another challenge in that the diagonal brace interfered with the lower lifeline.  To solve this problem I purchased two very deep shackles, cut the two hoop ends off, and welded it to the stanchion brace to make a crotch for the lifeline to pass neatly through.  You can see it in the following picture which I believe is the George Washington Bridge as we sailed up the Hudson River on our way to the Erie cannel.

All in all, the addition of the 2nd lifeline was a great improvement to the boat. 
Dale Tanski...  Good Sailing