Boat safety:Cabinets, Lockers, And Hardware
Marlon, Turning, In-set Door/Cabinet Latch. Excellent Product!
Welcome back to the channel, thanks for tuning in!
I know we all have things about our boats that we’re quite used to, even if we don’t totally dig ‘em. We use ‘em everyday, and how we use ‘em has become… natural muscle memory and routine. We might not even notice they’re not comfortable, or not ergonomic, or they don’t move in a natural way, or worse, we might not even notice that they’re unsafe or hazardous.
Because there’s a lot of open water here to discuss, we’re gonna break this topic down into a couple different area of a yacht,...One is be above decks and this one is about below decks… The “topic” is cabinets, lockers, hatches, doors, and storage areas that are examples of some of these possibly unsafe and/or dangerous things I’ve mentioned, the way these spaces function with their accompanying hardware, and how these things can present unsafe scenarios or hazards. Either actual physical hazards to you or your crew, or hazards to the seaworthiness of your boat, which in turn are of course also hazards to you and your crew's safety. And remember YOU might be used to how things operate on your boat (which doesn’t mean they’re safe) but crew probably aren't familiar…. With anything on your boat.
And some of these things we’re gonna discuss may actually exist on YOUR boat, and it may seem like there’s no problem with them. It could be that you're so used to using them you don’t even notice there’s problem, or it could be that you’ve never even considered how they function, and how that might translate to real life scenarios under which they, you, or your yacht haven’t been tested, unawares of their hidden dangers. Or maybe you’ve felt like you didn’t like some particular aspect of something but always felt like it was too much of a hassle to replace or change it, or maybe even that it was irreplaceable. So I would urge you to take a look at these things in this vid today and seriously consider the solutions we’re going to discuss when fitting out your yacht, or actually changing them if they already exist on your boat.
Because here’s the thing, and I can’t stress enough how important this is; Nothing, and I mean nothing should be able to get away from its place when underway. Especially if there’s weather approaching. This means all compartments need to have secure closures. Closures that STAY closed no matter what. And those compartments NEED to have very good latches or closing mechanisms,... however they open and close they need to work perfectly, and they need to operate SAFELY to prevent injury, and be operated easily and quickly by everyone on board,... including those who aren’t familiar with your boat. I always suggest a tour and tutorial for all new crew, on where everything is, and how to get to everything. Including how to operate all latches and all the closing and locking devices if they're unfamiliar types of devices. Basically you want to let everyone on board know how to operate all cabinet and storage area hardware,... and what’s in those cabinets.
This may not seem like a seriously important topic and that I might be making a big deal out of it just for a “vid Idea” or for sensationalism, but I will assure of two things. One, I am very serious about this, these seemingly simple things. Left unattended to these thingscould either injure you, or literally kill you in a bad seaway, and I’m gonna give you examples. Two,... I take this channel and it’s content very seriously! I won’t be using sensationalism to buy views….except in my thumbnails maybe. The purpose of this channel is to help people prepare their yachts for safe, comfortable, ocean voyaging, and I am dedicated to those ends.
Later we’ll cover examples of these types of scenarios above decks, but in this vid we’re only gonna look at those things below decks here on Bella Sera, because there’s a number of good examples of bad things on her! …and we’ll also look at some things that we’ll pull up off the internet and dissect, so we can have a clear understanding of what’s available out there in marine world, and the hows and whys these things work… or don’t work.
