Single Handling

I single hand a 46 SF for short trips.
Anything more than a few hours or in open water i usually have crew or passengers.

It also depends on the conditions. Something as simple as a filter change in rough seas can be a real problem if alone on the bridge.

When things go real bad, its usually a number of things going bad at once

Agree to all above.

BTW, dual Racors are a must!

Going it alone does not have to mean being brash or taking unnecessary risk.
Solo is sometimes better than having people aboard who don’t know what they are doing, or worse, the macho guy who likes to leap off the stern to tie off a line when you haven’t asked for it.

My family grew up on board. Before my sons could walk, we were having holidays on our boats. What this meant for me was a huge responsibility and effort to make certain I knew what I was doing.
Most importantly; choosing the right time and places to boat. No anchor was dropped before careful thought. If in doubt, pull up the pin and head for safe waters. Having a young family aboard was more serious than being “alone” or single handing. Worrying about those aboard can be worse than being alone.
My wife is a very capable crew member, but 20 years ago, when she had to take care of the boys I was on my own. Looking back, going solo is a lot easier.

I think it depends on whether it's your own boat or one you are getting payed to run.

If it's your own boat do what you want. But you need to understand that your desision to run single handed can ultimately have a negative effect on others around you in the event you have a problem.

If you're getting payed to run the vessel it's my opinion it's irresponsible and unprofessional unless absolutely necessary to run single handed. And even then it should only be for a relatively short distance or time. Unless perhaps you are running in tandem with another vessel or vessels.

As a professional you have an obligation to run a vessel you are getting payed to handle in the safest manor possible. And IMO, running single handed for no good reason betrays that obligation. Especially when running inshore or on the ICW.

There are to many even simple things that can go wrong on a vessel that can instantly require the need for more than one pair of eyes or hands to deal with that situation safely. Especially on larger boats.

And no matter how experienced and competent you might be, there is no way you can be in two places at once.

And as to what you're saying, CaptBill, with the captains I'm around most, it doesn't matter the size of the boat. It could be a 45' they could easily handle alone for a delivery of a few hundred miles and they will always take a mate with them.

I agree with this as well. There are very FEW times that I've run boats single handed and of those times they're smaller ones. The largest I've run single handed was a 45' center console and 36' Cabo. I've had enough mechanical issues over the years where a mate was invaluable in mitigating the situation that I feel it's a necessity to have a second person on board. If I didn't have a second person it would've resulted in a huge loss in a couple of those instances.

One was an electrical fire on an engine harness on startup. Which happened to be 6-8" away from a fuel tank. The Mate was on the dock getting the fenders, and I smelled it, ran to the engine room, yelled to him to get a fire extinguisher which happened to be 50' down the dock while I ran to the bridge shut everything down, as I got back to the cockpit he handed me the fire extinguisher, I immediately shut off the battery switches, put out the fire with the fire extinguisher and there was zero damage to the overhead ceiling or anything else besides the engine harness. The flames were about a foot tall and about 1.5' wide. Given another minute and the ceiling and everything else would've been on fire.

Yes, I have done both with a mate. The difference was getting to our destination at midnight in one scenario or spend 20 minutes on fixing it. The other scenario was just entering New York Harbor on one engine in a 75' MY with no thrusters, and well very limited docking on one engine, or put the licensed Mate at the helm where the boat handles fine on one engine at 7 knots, and I ran down there and popped it out and changed it. Generally if the impellor is hot, it slides right out. As long as you have access to get water pump pliers in there to get it out without burning yourself.

Kafue

Our family fortunately seems to have had the very same "growing up" experience aboard. We and the kids would not trade it for anything. Of course when they got to their mid teens, we were a little less"cool" for a while.

I single hand My Post regularly. If we are going out east for a long stay and need a car for a few weeks, CZ brings the car, I bring the boat. Years ago one of my children, who both learned to handle a boat very young, was aboard with me. Assuming competence, the peril of single handling. IMO, is a catastrophic health issue. The younger you are, the less risk, I guess. 25 knots on autopilot with 900 gallons of diesel on board can cause a lot of excitement along the way with me hanging over the wheel?

A quick aside, Isn't my wife going solo when she drives the car out?

JR

No fire extinguishers onboard?

Being an "on the job Skipper" versus an owner is a valid point. If I were working for an owner there would be other considerations.

There is the liability to consider. Licence. Insurance. Plus if I am getting paid the same whether there is extra crew or not, then I would err on the side of caution and want crew.

If it was a delivery then it is a completely different issue, as Capt. J is referring to. In this case the captain is on a strange vessel with systems that are an unknown quantity until underway. Especially on boats that have been for sale for a while, you could check hoses, pumps etc. and still not know condition.On my own vessels I know when pumps were changed, general condition of equipment and systems are in good condition.

The one serious incident I have had would have occurred whether I had crew or not.
The one serious accident I had was due to speed and racing. Only Charlie Darwin could have intervened on that one, in which case this post would be a miracle and I am extremely grateful he did not!

There is no argument that it is easier having crew both experienced and “in tune” with your vessel. However, there is no compelling argument to making it compulsory.
And having said the above, I humbly add "So far, at least","knocking on wood" and"with the Grace of G_d" !

Getting away with something, even multible times, doesn't make it right or responsible. It just means you got away with it. And you may continue to, till you don't.

Other than to save a few bucks, I don't even see what the point is to running single handed on a long delivery? Or any delivery for that matter.

Once again I say, you can't be in two places at once. And in a lot of cases when the $h!t hits the fan, you quickly find out you need to be.

It was the first time I ever saw the boat. Mate was already standing on the dock, boat was stern to, engine room access was through the aft deck, and there was a big fire extinguisher directly in view on the dock that nobody had to look for, so it was the quickest route and the fire was out within 30 seconds of noticing it. I needed to shut down the motors and wanted to cut electrical power to everything with the battery switches which were in plain sight right inside the engine room door.

I agree with this totally. Especially on a delivery where you're encountering multiple weather patterns along the way, even scenario's where a second set of eyes and brain come into play, you also cannot be in two places at once, and mechanical failures that could pop up. What happens when you need to dock on one engine, or have a fire, or spring a good leak, or who knows, you really cannot even safely do engine room checks with one person and nobody at the helm. Sure people get away with things all of the time, but what happens when the day comes that you don't.

I've had several where a mate meant getting the boat back to the dock or getting towed. One I blew out the proportioning valve a mile out of the inlet, mate held the rudders straight with a pipe wrench while I ran the boat back to the marina on the engines.

I am not a delivery Captain. I agree if I was one, I would insist on crew.
Docking on one engine: crew are little help, considering a good Skipper has done this many times, delivery or social.
Fire on board: that can happen on a small runabout, not to mention a Jet Ski. Knowing your boat, multiple extinguishers, EXPERIENCE, and a cool head all come before a mate or multiple crew.

Let's break this good argument up into categories.
Delivery: No argument, there should be crew.
Professional Captain: Depends on your boss; is he/she/they going to act as crew? are they competent (notice "competent" rather than qualified.
Size; Yes it does matter.
How long is the trip: to the yard for a lift out on a vessel that is well maintained and well used?etc.
How competent is the operator?
etc. etc