🔍 Key Concepts

• Purpose of an automatic towing engine in maintaining safe towline tension • How an automatic system should respond when tension increases vs. decreases on the towline • Ways an automatic towing engine can protect the hawser from shock loading and chafing

💭 Think About

• Think about what could happen to the tug and tow if the towline tension suddenly increases in heavy seas. Should the system pay out line or heave in line to reduce the risk? • Consider how an automatic system would behave if the towline suddenly goes slack. Would it keep paying out, heave in, or hold? • Which statement describes a behavior that would actually make the tow less safe or increase the risk of towline failure?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you know whether the winch/engine is designed to keep a nearly constant tension or a constant length of line. • Check which option describes a reaction to increasing tension that would add even more load to the hawser instead of relieving it. • Confirm that the correct statements match a system that helps prevent shock loading and parting of the towline.