search and rescue boats from JPW

History of JPW rescue boats

The early days on the upper animas Daddy paddle cats

Casey Lynch and Milt wiley, Wayne Walls, started running the Upper Animas, and some of their earliest crafts were out Daddy cats. Milt produced a paddle frame that worked well. We kept stretching the concept. Daddy cats were used as rescue craft early on. Now most companies use Self bailing rafts. JPW is at the front of raft design. Just have a look at what we are doing for the Animas Amazons race team. If you have a specific self bailing concept that will work better for rescue operations, JPW would be a logical choice. However because we have been in the Search and rescue business for a long time, the Culebra and certain cataraft modifications seemed to be the ones that work best.

Catarafts let much of the water energy through the space between the tubes. When they are empty, it is virtually impossible to get them stuck on a rock because the water does not pile up on the floor.

3d models using a free program called Edrawings are available for most of these products, but you can see all the culebra products in 3D here

Zion National park

Zion National Park Rescue Craft
The head ranger of Zion National Park, Ray O'Niel, approached us. He had seen our Pack Cats in action, and thought that a small cataraft built to custom specifications could carry a Stokes Litter down the Zion Narrows on the Virgin River as a litter for injured People. Before this they used a conventional raft, and it kept getting hung up on the rocks, and it was heavy.

Note the handle placements. Four rescuers can walk beside the victim while he is strapped to the stokes litter. The Stokes is strapped onto cat's frame system. When the water gets too shallow to float, the rescuers simply carry the boat and the victim. Any amount of water can act as a lubricant on PVC. Therefore it doesn't take much water to be able to move this boat down stream. Even with a double bottom the whole boat and frame weigh only 50 lbs, so it is light enough for 4 people to transport on thier backs including the Stokes Litter. As with all catarafts, it is easy to straddle rocks in the river. In this way evacuation can happen with the least amount of stress to the victim.

3D Concept Drawing with the Stokes Litter on Top
End View of the Concept Drawing with the Stokes Litter on Top

Zion Rescue Boat in Use

Comments of Ray O'Niel Head ranger after the first use of "EDDY" the boat we made for them to rescue injured people from Zion National Park Narrows:

We had our first Narrows carryout of the season yesterday which means that we had our first use of the rescue boat that you built for us. Our first patient had the last name of Eddy which gave us a great name for the boat.

It worked extremely well. Our old rescue boat was an Avon 8 footer with a solid floor. The Eddy was very manueverable. We used to use seven people to move the Avon down the river. It was easier to move the Eddy with five people than the old Avon with seven. The Eddy is also lighter, more stable, and kept the patient drier than the old Avon. Conditions were not ideal yesterday. The river is at record low levels, and the patient weighed around 200 pounds. The Eddy slid right over all of the exposed rocks, So, thanks for building us an excellent rescue boat.

Here are the pictures
Loading Mr. Eddy on Eddy
Getting Eddy ready
Walking Eddy down through the rocks view from the front
Walking Eddy down through the rocks view from the side(note the belay strap from behind)
Belaying Eddy around a big rock in the middle of the stream

Later we built them a second rescue boat, and put a double bottom layer of material on the first one. Now they have 2.

Cutthroats and the River Rescue course on westwater canyon with CFI

In the early 1990’s Barry Miller (who was then the river ranger on the Selway) invited us to become part of the River rescue course on westwater canyon. I was running a rescue boat, and it was a Cutthroat with oars. I pulled a couple people over to shore, but most of the time I just watched. The main idea in the course was to learn self rescue, rowing techniques, Belaying a raft upside down into an eddy, rescuing an upside down raft, flipping an upside down raft in mid stream with a full gear load, and a bunch of other tricks like zip lines, throw bag techniques. We purchased a couple of tickets for the crew, and had a real good time. It was one really fun and informative 3 day weekend. The point is that the Cutthroat is a nimble craft to row and catch a victim. The problem is they do have to rescue themselves on to the boat if they can. It does take some practice to know when and how to approach a victim with a cutthroat. And the oarsman does have to stay alert to other dangers. Continuous whitewater is always a problem for rescue. This boat has oars, and getting into a side surf with a narrow craft can be a serious problem with oars and with a rescue going on at the same time.

Gresham Oregon Search and rescue, and learning how well the culebra works for ice rescue.

Search and Rescue Culebra
This Culebra was custom built for the Gresham Oregon Search and Rescue. Our customers looked at the Culebra handle configuration and came to the conclusion that this would be the best swift water rescue boat they could get only if it had some more handles in a different location. The custom lettering on the side of the boat is another option that we are capable of.

Later on these folks sent me a web site that I forgot to keep. But it showed them rescuing a Labrador retriever that was stuck in middle of an iced over lake. The rescuer simply teathered the boat with a rope, and then equipped with a dry suit, pushed the boat across the ice until it cracked. Then he jumped in the cockpit, and paddled out and pulled the dog into the cockpit. The rest of the team pulled them ashore. It would work even better with a Stretched model because of extra support on the ice.

The stretch rescue culebra- Dr Michael Coslin, and some car rescues

The second time we considered using the culebra for a rescue boat was when Dr. Mike Coslin approached us at the OR show. He was supposed to pay us for the boat eventually, but said it was stolen. Be that as it may be, we did get some good press from this boat. At one time there was a rescue where the boat was lowered from a bridge to a car that was caught in a flash flood, and was wedged against a tree. People on the hood of the car were able to jump into the boat and get pulled to safety despite the fact that the boat was momentarily broached on the car hood. The water ran through the boat easily enough that it was not too heavy to pull off. Many forward facing D rings made this work, and they were mounted low on the tubes. This was a stretched version of the culebra.

Here is a picture of it with a frame in out shop.

Note the wooden deck used as a self rescue seat.

Lincoln County Ca stretched culebra

This was the first stretched culebra that we sold to an actual Search and Rescue operation. I can not remember the year, but Lincoln county is the area around Fresno, and the Kings river. That year they had a 250% snow pack. I never did a follow up on the boat. I assume no news is good news. Note the top off pump tied in a handy spot. Handles on the inside to lower the boat to a victim.

King county search and rescue motorized culebra with a drop down Drop stitch panel.

Bloomfield search and rescue outfitter culebra with a drop down Drop stitch panel

Outfitter Rescue Culebra
There are a number of unique features with this boat. First it is a cataraft, and that means that the learning curve for whitewater is short. This is because catarafts let the majority of the waters force through between the tubes. Secondly this is a frameless cataraft, and that means it is a blow and go unit. There is no rig time that is associated with catarafts. Third is the versatility of this craft. It can be a cargo, a passenger, or a rescue craft.

Looking at this picture one sees the relative positions of the parts. There is a fabric floor that goes more than half way up the middle. On the edge of the fabric floor there is an inflatable “foot thwart” for stability and to give paddlers a place to lock in their feet if necessary. (More foot thwarts can be added if necessary. The standard Outfitter culebra has 3.) There is a drop stitch floor with handles in the middle that is suspended above the water while the craft is in the whitewater position, (including low head dam rescue) and iseasily loweredto provide a spot where a victim can self rescue, or it can be used as a dive platform. Note that there are d rings on the inside of the front and back that point toward the end. This allows the boat to be lowered easily to the water off of a bridge abutment. This craft can be customized to fit individual rescue needs. If you are interested in seeing more detail, the ability to zoom in out, and rotate this model, please go to this site, and read about edrawings, then email me and I will send you an edrawing file of the latest versions of this craft.

Look at the actual boat from the front toward thedrop stitch floor while it is suspended.
Look at thetop of the boatwith the drop stitch floor up suspended.
Look at thedrop stitch floor loweredfor a rescue.
Look at rescue training in actionphoto 1,photo 2,photo 3.

Motorized Resuce Culebra for king county Washington

This motorized version of the Outfitter Rescue Culebra is designed to be a multi purpose rig for the King County Sheriff dept in the Seattle Wa. area. The cataraft style makes this craft more suitable for swift water rescue because much of the river’s energy can proceed unimpeded between the tubes. The boat is designed with a drop down floating drop stitch platform. This platform allows the victim to self rescue on to the platform, and then get out of the cold water. It is held up by 4 straps, and is deployed in seconds. The frame incorporates a transom, and a diamond plate floor in the back for a motor well. This motor well serves as a planning surface for the boat under power. There are forward facing D rings that allow the craft to be lowered to a rescue site.

Have a look at thedrop down platform, the forward facing D rings, and how the strap and cross tubeworks to make a air frame system. Have a look at theSolid Works Design drawing here.

Fremont County Rescue culebra with a motor on the back of the frame.

Fremont county over by Pueblo has a difficult problem in that it needs to occasionally search for bodies of people lost in the Arkansas river. We sent them this stretched culebra with a frame for a motor. Some variation of this and the rescue culebra from clear creek may actually work better because of the stretch down mesh on the front for divers. Or possibly the ridged wood deck, or even a floating drop stitch platform. They all can work differently for different purposes.

Wilderness aware and Clear creek rescue culebras

Wilderness Aware Rescue Culebra
This craft was designed by the folks at Wilderness Aware in Buena Vista, Co. They are using it now on the Salt River as a rescue craft. It can be paddled, or rowed with a simple row frame. It is a stretched version of the rescue culebra 13 ft long , but the cockpit is in the middle of the tubes. This allows for rescue of swimmers on each end. There are some changes on this model over previous models. They include an extended mesh platform that has foam floats in the front and back. The mesh can be moved to an up position for the use as a larger cargo sling. The foot cups are replaced with 2 foam foot thwarts. Have a look at an actual rescue here.

Have a look at theSolid Works design drawing.

If you would like to see the 3D model of this. Download Solid Works Edrawings afterreading this information. This is how the Wilderness Aware folks were able to verify design issues via email.Email meand I will send you this file to view with edrawings. After a person pulls himself into the mesh platform, they can get out of the cold water by sitting on thecross tube like this.

See an actual rescue in ashort video on YouTube.

Here is what Jack Gunkle ofWilderness Awarehas to say about the boat.

I’m just settling back into the office after a month on the Salt. It’s not that easy to sit down in front of the computer all day after 4 five days! Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for working on this boat with us. The final product is pretty much exactly what I envisioned. From the moment I took it out of the bag it’s been getting much attention. Some of our guides and I have taken it out on the Salt and tested it. Everyone really likes it and I haven’t really found anything I would change. The only modification I have done is to add locking carabiners to the cam straps that attach the adjustable floor. It just makes switching from the up to down position a little quicker. The dropped floor does create a little drag, but I don’t see any way around that and it’s very minor anyway. Remember if you want to have a fantastic spring river adventure, we highly recommend theSalt River in Arizona with Wilderness Aware.

Have a look at the latest version of the Clear Creek Rescue Culebra

This may look the same as the wilderness aware culebra, but it uses a bungie cord placed inside a special foam covered pvc pipe that is wraped in fabric. This bungie cord keeps the mesh floor in the up position untill a swimmer pulls it down and enters the boat. It may seem like a small detail, but it is difficult to build, and Clear creek will have some good feed back for us at the end of this first ultra high water year. To learn more about the kind of water that Clear Creek runs,see them on the web here.

Motor rig recovery platform for Western River Expeditions.

This is a google drive presentation about the project. This product is used on the side of a Western J rig, and is mostly for out on lake Powell on their Cataract canyon trips. Because it is muddy out there, it is nice to have a platform that customers can find the clear water without getting stuck in the mud. What we really want to show in this case is that there are other ways to use inflatable products and although this is not really a rescue scenario, it does make things very convienient for customers, and some ideas may be gleaned from this concept.

Other companies boats

The oceanid boat at NRS

http://www.nrs.com/product/1179/oceanid-rdc-swiftwater-rescue-boat

This is the only raft that is offered on a regular basis as a rescue boat from NRS.

You can see that jpw could easily build this product. In reality I feel that one single product for rescue is a tuff sell. Each situation has different problems that need to be overcome. It just does not seem like a single boat would address all situations.

How JPW designs and builds products with customer collaboration.

How we collaborated with the Animas Amazons race team.

Design collaboration explained in a different way with the recovery platform for Western Rivers Exp.

Thanks for having a look. Remember purchasing a rescue boat does not have to be a gamble when you go with the pros who hold all the cards... The wild cards at JPW. We have been working with the rescue personell for at least 20 years. We are worth a shot.

Order inquiries: shop.jpwinc@gmail.com
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