18
SAFTEY
Safety should be paramount to your daily cruising. A man overboard drill (person?)
should be discussed and practiced with an unlucky PFD as the victim. (please rinse
and dry afterward before stowing). Remember that your lifejackets are stowed in
the locker on the port side of the quarter berth in the pilot house. A few should
always be readily available. Flares, conventional as well as electronic, and other
safety equipment are located in the locker under the chart drawers or in the drawers
under the settee in the pilothouse. Also consider how you would retrieve someone
from the water since there is no swim step. There is a collapsible boarding ladder in
the port side lazarette and a rope ladder in the rope locker.
Always have a sharp lookout posted for logs, deadheads, or other flotsam and
jetsam. A log hitting your prop can ruin your vacation. As you are traveling, the
debris does seem to gather along current lines. It is sometimes best to go around
these areas and miss the “mine fields”.
Mary K is equipped with two automatic bilges pumps that can be activated remotely
from the switch to the left of the helm chair. The switch should normally be left in
the “Auto” position
, but
can be switched for a minute or so to “manual” to pump the
bilge. If you continually hear the bilge pump running,
check your bilge!
You may
have a serious problem! When in the engine room make a habit of looking below the
engine at the aft pump. It is normal to have an inch or so of water. If concerned or
even curious lift the float switch and release. The pump should operate and quit
when the water level is reduced.
The aft bilge pup is located in the engine room and is the lowest of the two. The
forward pump is located under the bed in the master stateroom
An auxiliary hand-operated bilge pump is located just forward of the engine on the
port side and operated by pumping up and down with the attached handle. This is
used in an emergency situation.
The engine spares are located the engine room. They include extra oil filters,
impellers, etc. Extra oil (SAE 30 engine, SAE 15-40 Genset) and coolant is located in
the engine room.
Crabbing is fun but requires the correct license and season. Please be sure not to
crab off the stern as the crab line can easily get tangled in your prop as you swing
with wind or current. You certainly don’t want to be the person who has to dive over
and cut the line out of the propeller. It is best to use the dinghy to set your crab
pot/ring away from the boat. A partially open can of seafood cat food works as well
as any other bait and is less messy. Please clean up any seaweed or crab shells
afterwards to keep the boat neat and tidy.
