Previously, I explained why I’ve concluded that a combination parbuckle/boarding ladder may be the best person-in-the-water (PIW) recovery device for use on a small, low-freeboard boat like my C-Dory. It’s time for me to put my theory to the test, and for that, I need some equipment. First, of course, I need the parbuckle/ladder!
I wasn’t able to find one commercially available in just the right size. So I decided to make my own. Well, to be honest, I decided to have it made for me. I don’t really have a sewing machine for this sort of work, at least until I get one of those Sailright Ultrafeed machines we saw at Strictly Sail Pacific. I asked around in Ballard (a Seattle neighborhood with strong seafaring roots), figuring that there had to be some sort of rigger capable of building what I wanted. Sure enough!
George Broom’s Sons is the place to go. Actually, it’s been the place to go since 1910! Take a look inside, and you’ll see why:
Some of the sewing machines they’re still using on a daily basis are scarcely newer than 1910, in fact. Take a look at this World War I-era Singer, being used here by Fabricator/Rigger Brent Mason:
I explained what I envisioned to Nick Baker, and he was confident they could whip it up for me in a week or so. It turns out that the bread and butter at George Broom is the local fishing fleet, and once most of the big boats are out for the season, things slow down a bit. Little projects like mine are a welcome addition to the summertime revenue stream.
A week later, and it was ready. George Broom’s Sons was able to produce my little webbing ladder/net thingamajig for about 2/3 the price I was able to find online at U.S. Netting, and they included sewn webbing eyes at each corner. Also, George Broom customers generally demand heavy duty rigging, and for my ladder, they used some kind of super-ultra-mega-strength 1-inch webbing. It’s the stiffest, sturdiest 1-inch webbing I’ve ever seen, anyway. Probably overkill, but it’s kind of nice knowing we could use it to lift my entire boat!
Once I got it home, the kids wanted to know what it was for, so we did some bunk-bed parbuckling:
Next time, I’ll explain how I fabricated the hardware to attach it to my boat.
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Dear Tim
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Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information.
You should be able to find us just by surch on google.com for Markusnet or Markus Lifenet or man overboard recovery systems.
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