Wally wrote:

How neccessary are lifelines on a small boat like my 18-footer?

It depends

.... They don't
seem very functional to me - they barely reach knee height, there's no deck
to speak of along the sides of the coachroof, and they come down to the
sides around the cockpit - there's no pushpit, only a pulpit, and the most
aft stanchion is level with the back of the cabin.


That's true on most small cruisers. It makes slightly more sense to have
lifelines on a raised deck small boat.

It makes no sense whatever to have lifelines strung on stanchions that are too
weak to hold a person on deck if they fall heavily against the lifelines. But
it's a fairly common weakness.

My advice FWIW would be to take off the lifelines & stanchions, fiberglass over
the holes properly, and remount the bow pulpit properly. A bow pulpit can be a
godsend. Much more useful than the usual lifelines.



Before I make the final decision to remove them, is there anything I'm
missing about their function, such that removal would be a mistake?

Well, do you need them to hang fenders from or secure spring lines? Drying
towels & other laundry? Clamping a tent cover onto? Those are the usual
functions, since lifelines as commonly installed are next to useless for
preventing crew overboard. It sounds to me like you'd be better off removing
what you've got, fiberglass over, and if you decide you want them back, start
over from scratch.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King