survival boat

Walker Bay www.walkerbay.com produces such a craft. Sailing rig/center board/floatation collar/ It's my favourite of all the dingys. I have a similsr type craft but there are no factory mass produced custom features as with the Walker Bay. In the old days i blue water sailed with not as much as a car inner tube until I got a couple of big storm scares. That made me a fast learner. Nowdays i possibly over do it a bit --my off shore oil platform cold water emersion suit travels with me - on my boat or on others. I have two, that plus an cannistered auto inflateable 4 man life raft. On most coastal or semi coastal trips i drag the dingy also for gunkholing. I have one big concern with liferafts --I get the shudders from just about every life raft survival story i've read about sharks bumping and biting the craft. I rather go down with the ship that to be torn up by a shark or worst yet see a loveone go thru it. I have been doing some research on the new divers electrical field shark protection system with the idea of adapting it to a life raft. Anyone have any info if this is already available. As a backup to it's battery power one could have a rechargeable battery pack and a hand generator that could also suffice for comm. and lighting gear.

 

how about 1/2lb chunk of shark bait and hook and line?

Wont any shark start to "run" once hooked like any fish?

I don't think I've heard of boats being bumped by other sharks once they got one on the line, or even seen sharks circling.

Figure any hungry sharks will suddenly be more interested in their erratically swimming ex-buddy and the smell of the bait still stuck in his mouth and spewing out his gills.

 

Don't think i'd want to create that wounded fish attraction-no sireee -- In known shark waters it is even recommended that one not even pee into the sea so might be a good idea to stash some freezer bags in the survival kit--they're also good for collecting and storing rain water and a multitude of other things.

 

Something like this......12' by 5' pram with and without collar...

 

Give me a; well designed and provisioned mothership, ready at hand survival suits and survival gear in bags ready to go, and adequate life raft. In a true emergency there is seldom the time to launch a dingy.

Of course dingy/survival boat would be nice extra if it makes it.

 

I agree but i'm still attracted to the idea of some sort of a solid bottom--that maybe could unfold in place as the raft inflates. Just thought of another idea re the inflated sidewall ring especially if there are two rings stacked. Possibly to offset a leak or the possibility of a leak or to make it stronger against possible shark biting. The raft package could be equipped with a foam cylinder -- the raft would inflate with air initally for speed of inflation but you would have the option of injecting foam while bleeding air. I know some of you think i might be obsessed with this but from written reports of many survivors this has been a terrifying ordeal they had to go thru while stranded in a raft at sea. It's also a subject that promotes the ostridge syndrome and since we're on the subject why not throw out some ideas. This is where the survival boat would have a plus over the raft but I don't think a boat could ever sustain the storm conditions that a raft could, especially one having water filled stability chambers.
I think i mentioned this before but a gentleman here in Nova Scotia developed a small survival egg shaped boat. I recall it passed all the tests and was very impressive. It was suppose to go into production and if i recall correctly was to be available in different sizes. I think as a non inflatable this has great potential. The mothership could be built to allow it to nest in place possibly as part of the stern.

 

what a beautiful boat Tad, would even be better in yellow

 

I do not know about the Nova Scotia guy but have look at these guys: http://auld-rasmie.blogspot.com/2010/06/urd-first-covered-lifeboat.html they crossed the atlantic in it.

A commercial application might be http://www.ovatek.com/index.cfm/1,113,0,0,html/Outside It would be even better if you could remove the top part for use as dinghy in the harbour. maybe we could make a jacuzzi of the top part

 

I may have made an error on the designers province --506 is New Brunswick but I think that was the design. Neat little craft--No reason why that couldn't be incorporated(nested) into a mother hull. Did you have a look at the Walker Bay set up.WWW.walkerbay.com. That factory produced boat modified with TAD's design might be an economical option. Thanks for the Norwegian piece of history first i knew of it. They were tracing their forefathers trip to Newfoundland some 950 yrs. later. Wonder if they found it strange encountering Newfoundlanders(speech) at both landfalls as there were hundreds of transplanted Newfoundlanders involved in the fishing industry in Gloucester. The most famous Captain Ben Pine who defeated Angus Walters in the Bluenose in his Gloucester built schooner, Columbia.

 

First rule of small vessel abandonment is always step up to the lifeboat/liferaft (from 1979 Fastnet race).

A inflatable raft does not guarantee successful launch. Read the STV Concordia report for horror stories of trying to launch rafts with the ship on her side. (I think they managed to successfully launch 2-3 out of 6?)

As Peter says every situation is different. But I have talked with a number of folks who floated off a sinking boat, no time for launching.....If the mother ship is sinking there is no need to launch the dinghy, just get in.......If there's a fire it's completely another matter.......

 

Hi Taniwha

I sketched the exact same thing as Tad, though Tad drew it much better. I was going to post it when it was ready...l sigh.

You might be able to find someway of using a some frames that pivot up to work as bridge pole supports to keep the canvas out of the way. Though if the canvas support structures are light, you might just leave them there, as the boat will work well as a tender with those permanently in place. Maybe if your in a safe harbour the canvas top could be removed and you have a conventional tender?

If you are set on not wanting a life raft (it is up to you anyway), what Tad drew is very very hard to beat. I think you need something that is totally enclosed, so that even if it is rolled, the water stays out. Note that Canvas topsides was good enough for Shackelton to go from Antartica to South Georgia, it being noted that it was not an easy trip. Thus a canvas top (or modern high tech fabric if that is better) could work as a watertight cover if it is built well.

I might be tempted to lace it to the boat hull. Lots of little attachments on the hull side, and thread a line which goes through grommets in teh canvas cover. Like stiching, back and forth.

Will leave it with you..... I cant really improve on what Tad drew.

 

Hmm, I could start out modifying a 1,000 gal propane tank!

Are you guys talking about lashing an inflatable raft upside down on top of a pram and supporting the bottom of the inflatable with an arched pole?

I have a military 14' raft. It takes six guys in the water about two hours to blow it up, I know. I don't have an automatic inflator thingy, but I do have a hand pump, still a slow process. Seems an inflatable would be OK if it were secured so that it could be released from either side and automatically to go poof!

As you all know, I'm not a bluewater sailor type, but I agree with Bataan is having a better mothership. I'm sure I'll get sloppy out there having clutter in the boat, as I see most of you do, but if there was any indication of bad weather and I could not run away, my thinking is to secure everything. and have the launch ready if needed.

Survival? Bataan asked for how long....for the afternoon or two months?

And what is survival? I'm sure what was meant and assumed by all so far is a boat to survive after the main sinks, but what about a boat to survive on, as a main craft that is unsinkable, has redundancy built in, sail or motor or break out the oars, with the intention of staying away in an emergency, like the disaster in Japan. People were living in a tent or in a box, a boat would be much better. For something like this I know must would think of a 30/40 footer something, 12' would not do for 4, but what about a 20 footer, could that be possible?

Not trying to hijack the OP's thread, but the time for rescue seems to have alot to do with what you should be floating on or in. If you sink, are you to continue your voyage or are you to give up on the "mission" and wait for help? What's the plan to survive?

 

Every situation is different. Some will be better with a liferaft some will be better with a dinghy, some will be better if you stay onboard. So this discusiion is not about choosing. I have the luxury to be able to have both solutions. A liferadt is easy to buy/find. A survival boat is almost not available on the market. Sure I am not the only one who is able to have and a liferaft and an easy deployable dinghy onboard. And if you can survive with 4 in a liferaft why can you not survive with 4 in a 12 ft dinghy with sufficient buoyancy?

 

Hypothermia is the killer. Your survival tender must protect . Not easy. The cover would have to be a tent that is errected once the tender is boarded.

Bouyancy as a collar outside the gunwhales sounds good, but it would deteriorate long before you have a chance to use the rescue tender.

 

What Tad drew is very good

My idea was folding brackets that move up to provide a ridge pole effect for canvas covering. Even a plywood end piece that has the hatch, which pivots up. Idea would to keep the canvas covering in place all the time, but it could be removed when you come into harbour and want a tender, a bit of a pain though.

The collar could be made in plywood, no need for it to be rubber. What is it mean to do, provide a degree of buoyancy around the gunnel. Even increasing the flare at the gunnel a few inches and putting styrofoam on the inside would work. Styrofoam is cheap.

Bye the way, I did like that solid fiberglass liferaft that you mentioned, ovatek, very nice