Incorporating safety features

I would like to suggest the incorporation of a dedicated liferaft compartment. Perhaps, when opened, the raft could drop off the boat, into the water (with a line already attached, of course). Also I'd like to hear about having inflatable floatation bags pop out of a sinking small boat to keep it above water (enough time to get survival suits/PFDS/lifejackets and whatnot). Any thoughts?

 

Boating is so inherently safe (safer than bathtubs, and far safer than cars) that many people can't be bothered to even put on their lifejackets (although almost all boating fatalities are people who weren't wearing them).

Automatically deploying liferafts are mandatory on most commercial vessels; I would love to see recreational craft with at least nicely designed mounts for them. Too often they're tucked away and forgotten. I've toyed around with the flotation-bags idea now and then; hey, it works on helicopters so why not boats? The extra cost, that's why. On a $500,000 boat, an extra $10,000 on safety gear that will likely never be used is considered wasteful (but somehow, $10,000 on chrome and DVD for one's Lexus is not, hmm....) Quite simply, people are more worried about the safety of their wallet than the safety of themselves a lot of the time. I would love to see features like this on boats.... but I don't think the market really demands it at present.

 

Most items to assist a boat are already USCG required on any commercial bucket bigger than a 6 pack shoebox.

Fire Retardant resin has been required for 3 or 4 decades , as is a colision bulkhead and compartmented subdivision.

I have all these built into a 33ft MS 90/90 built 30 years ago , so its not rocket science.

Just convince the builder to pay 2c a pound more for better GRP FR resin.

DEMAND it from the builders , and they WILL build "safer" boats.

FAST FRED

 

I'll demand it, but we all ought to! It'll keep boating as safe as it is.

 

We can build boats as safe as we want. While there's a few craft out there that are built to minimum legal standards only, saftey's a good selling point and good builders know it. So many small craft get better flotation then they need; big ones get compartmentalization and crash pumps. Bombardier and others are now fitting rudders and off-throttle steering to the jet-skis; radar, VHF and GPS are common on even tiny boats.

But there is always the one ***** who has no idea what he's doing, and has no respect for the power of the boat and the power of the sea. The one who hops on a jet-ski and guns it, not realizing that when he releases the throttle to make an evasive turn he's also eliminating the steering control. Or the one who puts 20 cases of beer and a month's worth of gear in his 16-footer, then capsizes it because he couldn't see the rocks over the pile of gear (actually had that one last summer, lol). A cardinal rule of engineering is if there is a way for people to screw something up, they will. Putting airbags, crumple zones, etc. in new cars has saved many lives- but it's also made other people too overconfident and cocky to be smart on the road. Safety is good- but there will always be those who will abuse and render useless whatever we try to do.

 

My comments here are to be read wrt ocean going yachts.

Safety ideas always sound very sensible but surely in the boat is where safety should really lie.

The place for the liferaft at sea is under the saloon table. If the ocean is washing you from end to end too many of these fancy lifesaving ideas just end up self deploying. So often the crew end up double lashing the liferaft and dingy to keep them on deck in heavy weather. If the mast comes down it can smash up the deck mounted raft and likewise trap your fancy deployment gear to boot.

The only time the boat goes straight down without any time to deploy alternative floatation is when she has a massive breach of the hull through structural failure due to poor design or collision. Of these only collision should be a likely candidate, (the others should be barred from the sea). Massive failure due to collission with reef shoal or shore mean you're far better of in your dingy pulling hard away from the vessel.

If youre hit by another boat they should be standing off, unless its a ship then you're likely cactus anyway.

Even a thoroughly sprung garboard on a trad wooden vessel gives you a several minutes of panicked activity. Few yachts are lost with all hands despite their non-auto safety gear. I think a strong hulled well found yacht kept in good condition has little use for a liferaft, and that the money would be better spent making your boat more sea worthy, and adding some extra floatation to your dinghy.

So called life-rafts end up killing many people because they expect them to be somehow safer than the strong hull that they are having such a miserable time in. ( eg See the fastnet reports). The old rule was not to deploy any last chance floatation untill the vessel was clearly and utterly lost. Even then if conditions allow it seems wiser to take to the Dinghy if possible and keep the blow-up as a reserve. (see "survive the savage sea")

We do see some abysmal structural hull failures and if you have a vessel that is likely to break in half or have its keel fall off taking the hull bottom with it then it doesn't need a fancy raft deployment sytem , it needs taking to a landfill whether or not it wins races.

 

Rubber/hypalon/whatever the material is life rafts are not good enough. I'd like a rigid hull inflatable or a rigid life raft any day along with a strong boat. Yes, I agree with you, Mike, and yes, I have just reiterated what you have said, but anyway, safety is important, regardless of those "idiots."

 

MikeJohns has it right. The best safety system in the world is an operator who is aware that nothing is ever as easy as it looks, that systems fail when they're most likely to do damage, and that it's hard to walk home from mid-Atlantic. If we had more cautious (even wary) sailors, we'd have fewer statistics.

 

How do you design around reckless driving and or reckless weather conditions. Too many odd balls to allow for. Shape up AND be lucky.

 

It i my understanding that the boat standards developed in the European Union (ISO) does require hatched storage for liferafts on the "offshore" category of boats.

 

For my own boat I'm installing a permanent serial drogue that I can easily deploy and retrieve, and a collision bulkhead, and making it extremely strong. I'll sacrifice a little speed for seaworthiness and comfort any day. If you have a good sound boat and plenty of sea-room, there is a lot of peace of mind in knowing that a good blow is just that, a good blow. In fact, a good blow can be beautiful, very interesting, and not at all life-threatening --- if you prepare for it in advance.

 

Marshmat has the right idea, your own vessel is your best liferaft, together with a competent seaman/seawoman. Like all things if you don't know what your doing find out or stay the Hell away from it!

 

"The best safety system in the world is an operator who is aware that nothing is ever as easy as it looks, that systems fail when they're most likely to do damage, and that it's hard to walk home from mid-Atlantic."
"Few yachts are lost with all hands despite their non-auto safety gear."
"your own vessel is your best liferaft"

Very true, folks, very true indeed. It is not easy to sink a modern yacht, and a competent captain who knows his boat's limits will likely never get into trouble. I couldn't name a single yacht I know of lost with all hands in recent years.

As for the liferafts. I've always been told/have read that the time to board the liferaft is when you have to step up into it from the gunwales of your sinking boat. As long as the boat's floating you're better off in it, uncomfortable though that may be. And I agree completely with Billydoc- storms can be quite impressive and beautiful (so long as you're not caught in a 15' aluminum in the middle of the lake when it arrives, right?)

 

You got it in one!