Heel safety cord installation
Henry Law
so I had to install new heel safety release cords. To make it easier I
knocked up a simple gauge; it worked fairly well. Maybe it could be
used for checking cord length in normal use but I'm not convinced: too
hard to get it under the shoe.
I put some pictures of the Mark I safety release cord gauge at
https://picasaweb.google.com/belfasthenry/HeelCords?feat=directlink ;
comments on how to improve it would be welcome.
Two related thoughts as I was working on it:
* Could we all agree here to drop the designation "heel restraints"
in favour of something more meaningful and also useful-sounding?
I suggest "Heel safety release cords", or maybe just "safety
release cords": a "restraint" sounds like something one doesn't
want, whereas releasing for the sake of safety sounds much more
desirable.
* Installing the cords was really fiddly, even in my fairly well-lit
garage with a vice to clamp the footplate in. I suggest that it's
impossible to do a decent job of installing safety release cords
with the boat at the pontoon and the crew standing around waiting
for you to finish!
--
Henry Law Manchester, England
Carl Douglas
Very smart, Henry! But a tad over-engineered, perhaps?
We find that a piece of wood, 2"/50mm wide, acts perfectly as a setting
gauge when stood on edge under the raised shoe heel.
First, we make a single loose thumb knot (not a reef or granny knot)
with the 2 parallel ends the _4mm diameter_ braided nylon cord poked
through the board. After which, we slide the knot to the correct point
on the cord to allow only the required maximum lift & still hold the
gauge in place.
Next we sear the outer side of that knot with a small flame (don't do
this near the boats, outboard motors or fuel tanks!) to fuse its surface
enough that it can't undo.
Finally, we bond the cord within, & knot outside, the hole in stretcher
board - with an application of 1-pack polyurethane mastic sealant,
leaving the gauge in place to maintain tension in the cord while the
mastic cures.
The 4mm nylon cord can usually be found in DIY stores; it works
perfectly. Please don't go messing with a thinner cord with a fancy
name, it holds a knot less well & that knot can far more readily pull
through the hole in the board.
The PU mastic is available from boat chandlers (e.g. as Sikaflex) or
more cheaply (e.g. as Bodyline seam sealant) from car respray suppliers.
The purpose of the mastic is to prevent sliding & chafing of the cord.
Cheers -
Carl
--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing Low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: Harris Boatyard, Laleham Reach, Chertsey KT16 8RP, UK
Find: http://tinyurl.com/2tqujf
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1932-570946 Fax: -563682
URLs: www.carldouglas.co.uk (boats) & www.aerowing.co.uk (riggers)
Henry Law
> On 09/06/2011 22:26, Henry Law wrote:
> Very smart, Henry! But a tad over-engineered, perhaps?
>
> We find that a piece of wood, 2"/50mm wide, acts perfectly as a setting
> gauge when stood on edge under the raised shoe heel.
Well, it's Mark I, you understand. The process of simplicating, not to
mention the adding of lightness, has yet to kick in. But mine
definitely needed the channel because of the position of the holes in
the footplate in relation to the fastening on the back of the shoe.
> Next we sear the outer side of that knot with a small flame (don't do
> this near the boats, outboard motors or fuel tanks!) to fuse its surface
> enough that it can't undo.
Yes, I like that idea: searing I did, on the cut ends of the cord, but
the idea of searing the knot so that rowers can't undo it is a stroke of
genius!
> The 4mm nylon cord can usually be found in DIY stores; it works
> perfectly. Please don't go messing with a thinner cord with a fancy
> name, it holds a knot less well & that knot can far more readily pull
> through the hole in the board.
I happened to be in a climbing shop and bought a length of 3mm stuff,
designed to take knots and very strong. I know the 4mm stuff you mean.
It's used for the kind of curtain tracks that have a rope to pull, and
some other similar uses. White, braided, slightly stiff. I may have
some somewhere. Does it age, though? If I have some it's pretty old.
Carl Douglas
every day we are setting up heel restraints. maybe he'll be able to
share it with RSR.
BTW, I have a low confidence in the ability of that stretcher board,
with its long angular cutout along its centreline, to take much load in
any emergency.
Henry Law
>
> BTW, I have a low confidence in the ability of that stretcher board,
> with its long angular cutout along its centreline, to take much load in
> any emergency.
You're probably right. The very reason for my bit of carpentry was to
replace the original footplate, which pressure on the bottom bracket had
cracked just at the top of the cutout. It is original, though.
The boat is on its last legs, and either needs a complete refit, with
new cockpit coaming, repairs to the slide bed, new canvas (again -- this
is the boat which was the subject of my how-to article on the subject)
and revarnish, or it needs selling/scrapping.
It's a bear to row, too: something strange about the geometry of the sax
boards makes the rig hugely high, and everybody hates it, so I think its
days in our club are numbered.
Carl Douglas
If the riggers are too high, that's not the fault of the saxboard
geometry but of whoever specified (or made) those riggers. It seems a
shame to scrap an otherwise serviceable boat because of that - or is it
a case of a dog having been given a bad name, so it got abused, driven
down the slippery slope & may now be beyond help?
Are the outboard platforms (where the pins attach to the riggers)
horizontal? If they slope upwards as you move away from the boat, that
indicates the riggers were made for a more flared saxboard than this
boat has, in which case all you need is some rigging wedges (see
'Hyteners' in our website - approximately 1cm height change per degree
of taper on the wedge) and you have a neat & lasting correction.
I felt it appropriate to question the integrity of the stretcher board
only to alert others to the sort of unconsidered feature which could so
easily defeat a well-installed safety system. Every part of the system
has to be fit for purpose - something the folk at BR who obsessed at
length over magic cord material contrived to completely ignore, just as
you doubtless expect when the inexpert make up the rules on their
ownsomes. :(
Great stuff, Henry. I only questioned the complexity of your heel
restraint setting jig because even a slight hint of complexity is more
than enough to persuade a lot of people that the dead easy is impossibly
difficult & had best not be even attempted. You know the problem among
the chattering classes, always amplified by the Chinese whispers
doubtless already circulating among those who saw your excellent
illustrations: being lazy-minded they think it "too technical" for them
to tackle & reckon, by default, that it is better to do nothing (&
thereby risk the lives of others) than to engage their delicate brains
to remove a risk which, poor dears, they don't really comprehend.
Richard
> It fell to me to make a new foot plate for the club's elderly Sims 1x,
> so I had to install new heel safety release cords. To make it easier I
> knocked up a simple gauge; it worked fairly well. Maybe it could be
> used for checking cord length in normal use but I'm not convinced: too
> hard to get it under the shoe.
>
> comments on how to improve it would be welcome.
>
> Two related thoughts as I was working on it:
>
> * Could we all agree here to drop the designation "heel restraints"
> in favour of something more meaningful and also useful-sounding?
> I suggest "Heel safety release cords", or maybe just "safety
> release cords": a "restraint" sounds like something one doesn't
> want, whereas releasing for the sake of safety sounds much more
> desirable.
>
> * Installing the cords was really fiddly, even in my fairly well-lit
> garage with a vice to clamp the footplate in. I suggest that it's
> impossible to do a decent job of installing safety release cords
> with the boat at the pontoon and the crew standing around waiting
> for you to finish!
>
> --
>
> Henry Law Manchester, England
Looks like an excellent gauge to me. If you could adapt it so it can
be slid under the shoe from the side, then it might be more useful at
Control Commission. Then find someone who can injection mould it (in
club colours?).
Of course, for FISA regattas you'd need a 70 mm version too. Sigh.
Andy McKenzie
>
> - Show quoted text -
The short dimension of a credit card is fractionally over 5 cms. As
long as you don't make the mistake of using the wriong brand of card
and get accused of ambush marketing....
Andy
Richard du P
Gauge, and the credit card impro, both look excellent.
I'm still stuck where I was on another thread some time ago ..... if
the governing body of my sport in my country will enact a rule which
is both defensible and measurable [ie NOT a woolly and indefensible
RULE, in parallel with exact and defensible GUIDANCE] then I bet we
can all find means of measuring.
Or have I missed something?
Richard du P
Carl Douglas
As ever, Richard, you have hit the nail right on its head.
The problem, also as ever, is that those who set up the rules are
selected from among those who wanted the job, not from those who
actually understand the problem.
That could be why, although I devised this extremely simple system way
back in '75, & it first saw international exposure in the '76 worlds, I
have not even once been asked by any of the self-appointed rule makers
for my input.
If just one of those naive legislators had had the chilling experience
of seeing someone on the point of drowning because they could not
extract their feet from inadequately restrained shoe heels (as I have),
or had spoken with people who, by good fortune alone, had escaped from
such a predicament (as I have), or knew of people who have not survived
having their heels trapped in inverted shells (I do), then they might be
brought to their senses.
Until then, I don't know what to do to get this mess straightened out.
:(