From: "Simmo"
Organization: ntl Cablemodem News Service
Reply-To: "Simmo"
Newsgroups: rec.boats.paddle.touring
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 21:36:40 -0000
Subject: Boat trouble!

Can anyone suggest where this guy went wrong!

http://www.officeclips.com/clips/barge1.mpg




There should have been some kind of spanner at the top of the rig to keep
the two slings separated. That would have helped but would not have
guaranteed success. The slings should have been farther apart too. It
looks like the balance of the weight of the boat was outside of the slings
which could cause it to slip out even if the slings were rigged with a
spanner. My hunch is that this barge was a bit larger than the crane
operator was used to and this is how he normally rigs boats that are smaller
where the balance of the boats weight is between the slings. The barge's
complete lack of rocker also contributed to the problem. Had the boat had
some rocker to the hull it would have been less likely that the stap would
have slipped as it would have had to overcome the weight of the boat.

The video is cut off too early to tell what the final outcome was but it
looks like it could have gone down as a "close call" rather than a disaster.
I hope that's that case as I'm sure it was the owner's first time putting it
in. Why else would one video tape such an event?

Let's hope the crane operator learned something too.

DV