Two Sturdy Buckets

[Expat Canuck]

We actually had to run out and buy a fire axe to pass the inspection for Van Isle 360 a few years ago.

I asked the inspector where he would actually use a fire ax on an all carbon & epoxy boat with mostly crawling head room. Other than to scuttle the boat. Safely storing the damn thing was way scarier than any possible use scenario.

I believe most off-shore Cat 1 and 0 rules require 2 buckets. Fisheries Supply in Seattle carries good ones.

Yep, we've carried the fire axe for Swiftsure, Van Isle, etc.
Note that the OSR bucket is not the same as the TC Fire bucket.

 

[Expat Canuck]

Canadian Fire Bucket:

View attachment 567329

Had this curious note at the bottom:

Long lasting, coated red finish. Canadian Coast Guard regulations require all boats over 12 meters to have fire pails on board. Fire pails feature a domed bottom to prevent the pail being used for other purposes.​

So I Googled a bit more and found this:

View attachment 567333


With this note:

The round bottoms of these buckets were designed to ensure that they could only be used for firefighting. They also discouraged theft, which at the time was a potentially common occurrence. Round-bottomed buckets deterred potential thieves because they would not stand up on their own.​

The requirement I gather is this:

312 Every fire bucket must have a capacity of 10 L or more, be made of metal with a round bottom and a hole in the centre, be painted red and be fitted with a line of sufficient length to enable the bucket to be filled from the surrounding body of water from any deck."​

This brings up these philosophical questions:

1) Would I be fined by the Canadian Coast Guard if I used my fire bucket to bail out my sinking boat, as I am not fighting a fire (intent - only be used for firefighting)?

2) If a fine is possible, should I set a fire on deck before bailing, to follow the intent of the law?

3) If I put out a (water extinguishable) fire with a flat bottom bucket, would I be subject to fine (round bottom - can only be used for firefighting)?

4) ...with a blue (green, yellow) painted bucket - same as No. 3?

5) Wouldn't a bucket work better without a "hole in the center", sorry "centre"?

6) Since these have round bottoms, they appear to be designed for hanging. Do I have to have one of these on the transom?
View attachment 567340

Asking for a friend.

Also, is a pail for sand, a bucket for water?

From one of my projects:

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

I remember back in the 70's Victoria city rescinded a law that was still on the books that required all males to carry a sword after dark.

Currently working with an Aussie bloke, straight off the boat, on an electrical project...they refer to the hinged door assembly on an electrical panel as an “escutcheon”...talk about a term from grizzled old Scotsmen! An escutcheon brings to mind a battle shield to me...

 

[Zonker]

Isn't the axe is also intended for chopping lines....quickly? Towboats, etc.

Maybe in the 1970's tugs used axes for freeing towing lines in an emergency. Now we have these things called emergency releases. Just push the big red button.

Since few pleasure boats are build of wood now and usually have an escape hatch in the forward or aft cabin that is separate from the passageway, I question the requirement for an axe that is still on the books. Try chopping a glass anything with an axe and get back to me. Fiberglass is tough in that way.

 

[LB 15]

He’s a cunt.

 

[TBW]

Isn't the axe is also intended for chopping lines....quickly? Towboats, etc.... I've also heard of people inside a capsized, but floating, boat chopping their way out. Wood, fiberglass, doesn't matter. Might be able to hack a hole in an aluminum hull as well, eh Panope? Axe's are handy. In the fire service they're used to open windshields in car wrecks,hacking next to the window frame goes quickly.

I have always found axes to be pretty handy things in any environment. I just carry a hatchet on my boat, it's a big hammer more than an ax

 

[Elegua]

A Hudson Bay axe is the perfect sized axe. I have one for damage control, but mostly kindling.

 

[Mid]

All boats should have buckets.

Bucket 'n chuck it .

 

[Mid]

obtaining a bucket of the briny whilst underway is a good test of seamanship ......

 

[SloopJonB]

Make sure you have a strong bucket and a really good purchase for yourself - the alternatives are the bucket getting yanked off the retrieval line and/or you getting yanked over the side.

 

[toddster]

feed buckets

View attachment 567285

Yes, I've had two like that on board for several years and they're doing fine. Last summer, I bought two of the "soft" 5-gallon horse buckets to do laundry and they didn't even make it on board. Rotted out from UV, just sitting in the yard for a few weeks.

 

[DriftingWithoutGrifting]

Funny post - funny as in cannily timed, as it’s something I’ve thought about recently.

My bucket —and I only have one— is actually a stainless steel champagne/white wine chilling one! My wife and I were trying to remember where it came from, and we think it was a wedding present many ago. Then again, it might be a stainless steel kitchen compost bucket.

Regardless, it’s a sturdy bucket that has served us well over the years. I took the core out of a piece of Dyneema, like 3/8 or 5/16, and spliced an eye around the handle as a lanyard, with an eye on the other end for your hand. (Dyneema doesn’t absorb water.)

The only downside of this bucket is the little spot welds that hold the handle bracket onto the bucket. Eventually they’ll rust off. Mine have lasted for a number of years - but imagine the weight of a bucket of seawater, and the force exerted on the handle when dunked in the ocean from a moving boat...one of my winter maintenance projects is to simply drill out the spot welds with a cobalt bit and install #6 bolts and nuts. The bucket should last for years. But maybe I oughta buy a second one?!? (My second bucket is a collapsible canvas one.)

View attachment 567251

Yeah - something like this is kind of my debate right now. I have a ~3gal canvas and also similar sized stainless underneath in the galley that we press into service for boiling crab.

Totally understood on picking up freebies as they come around, which is kinda what I have been doing. Thinking through it again, the pic here, and thinking about boiling/steaming crab, I think I will go with a more permanent solution for the old 'utility bucket'. Thanks!

 

[DriftingWithoutGrifting]

Make sure you have a strong bucket and a really good purchase for yourself - the alternatives are the bucket getting yanked off the retrieval line and/or you getting yanked over the side.

Haha!

Depending on boat speed and weather conditions, I will require crew to be tethered in tight. Especially if they are new to gathering seawater with a bucket while underway . Over the years I have seen enough fall overboard at anchor trying to do it. Luckily at anchor (usually there was a reason they were assigned that chore) they come back onboard very refreshed and much more respectful.

 

[DriftingWithoutGrifting]

These work surprisingly well, but they’re $23 each.
View attachment 567315

Yeah - I was looking at those. I think the option of being able to boil more crab is the decision maker for me on this one.

 

[DriftingWithoutGrifting]

We actually had to run out and buy a fire axe to pass the inspection for Van Isle 360 a few years ago.

I asked the inspector where he would actually use a fire ax on an all carbon & epoxy boat with mostly crawling head room. Other than to scuttle the boat. Safely storing the damn thing was way scarier than any possible use scenario.

I believe most off-shore Cat 1 and 0 rules require 2 buckets. Fisheries Supply in Seattle carries good ones.

Hey @Zonker, I carry a hatchet on my boat. It's about 16" head to handle end with about a 4"x4" blade and solid flat/hammer on the backside of the blade.

Did they have any specifics about what they meant about a 'fire axe'?

 

[DriftingWithoutGrifting]

Isn't the axe is also intended for chopping lines....quickly? Towboats, etc.... I've also heard of people inside a capsized, but floating, boat chopping their way out. Wood, fiberglass, doesn't matter. Might be able to hack a hole in an aluminum hull as well, eh Panope? Axe's are handy. In the fire service they're used to open windshields in car wrecks,hacking next to the window frame goes quickly.

I dunno but for whatever reason, beyond the bucket, I have always had keep what I call a 'hatchet' , basically a small axe, around on the boat. Agreed that using it to try and bust out of fiberglass would be a useless endeveor, especially if one was underwater already. 3-foot manual bolt/wire cutters are also an always 'must have', right?

Long lanyard, throw forward in an arc so bucket enters at a 45 degree angle and be hauling up and near out of the water by the time it is abeam. Technique learned on fish boats...

Haha! Yeah. Some things just practice too, right? I have never been good at the whole bit about tossing a loop up on a piling and snatching it rodeo style + having the line set reasonably correct ahead of time and not doing something dumb like trying to hold it by yourself.

 

[Zonker]

Did they have any specifics about what they meant about a 'fire axe'?

Usually it has a hooked end and is painted red.

But honestly if you have anything vaguely axe like I'm sure CCG would say "yeah fine".

I'm of the opinion that 3' bolt cutters are hard to use on big rigging wire in any sort of seaway. Just knock out the clevis pins with a sharp whack with a hammer and punch. Or get a cordless angle grinder and a bunch of cut off wheels. Heck a Dremel tool with a fiberglass cutting disc cuts through 1/4" s.s. wire in about 20 seconds.

 

[robtoujours]

I have two sturdy buckets and one collapsible bucket.

The collapsible I paid a few dollars for; the sturdy buckets are usually found on the shoreline - lost by some commercial fisherman. Benefit is the lanyards are already made up for me and attached.

Same with fenders. A bit of acetone and they will clean up nice.

 

[bmiller]

Having been a bricklayer in a previous life I fully appreciate the value of a bucket. In fact I have a big stack of them mixed in with all the scaffolding out back.
Tool buckets, every bricklayer carries his stuff to work in a bucket. As well as many other trades.
We did big commercial work, grouting block walls was almost a daily chore. I cannot begin to put a number on how many buckets of grout I poured into walls. No wonder my left shoulder is fuckered.
Two buckets and a plank make a handy little scaffold. Many times you'd be up a few frames high and did that on top to get that last little bit of work done.
And stilts, buckets can be great stilts.

Humankind's greatest accomplishments:
Harnessing fire
Inventing the wheel
Inventing the bucket

 

[Kris Cringle]

Having been a bricklayer in a previous life I fully appreciate the value of a bucket. In fact I have a big stack of them mixed in with all the scaffolding out back.
Tool buckets, every bricklayer carries his stuff to work in a bucket. As well as many other trades.
We did big commercial work, grouting block walls was almost a daily chore. I cannot begin to put a number on how many buckets of grout I poured into walls. No wonder my left shoulder is fuckered.
Two buckets and a plank make a handy little scaffold. Many times you'd be up a few frames high and did that on top to get that last little bit of work done.
And stilts, buckets can be great stilts.

Humankind's greatest accomplishments:
Harnessing fire
Inventing the wheel
Inventing the bucket

I knew Canadian sheetrockers that would put a scrap of wood inside the plastic mud bucket, take their sneakers off, and fasten them through the bucket into the scrap of wood with a sheetrock screw.

Wearing two sneaker/buckets, off they would go taping whole ceilings. Tricky to use, they were referred to as 'killer buckets'.

They also used the empty buckets as ready - one time - toilets. You never opened a used mud bucket, ever.