What's the difference between lifeboats and a normal boat?

Other than some foam in between hull layers, fire protection and always coming in orange?
Can I use a lifeboat like a normal boat?

 

Welcome to the Forums...

To answer the question....Yes, but.... Lifeboats tend to be burdensome but very slow and very inefficient. They generally contain very little in way of hotel outfitting or fuel tankage. They are designed to support X number of people for ~72 hours and nothing more. That said, their ability to carry load and stability makes a fair starting platform for a 1 or 2 person liveaboard...as long as you don't plan to move it very far or very fast.

 

It might help if you can send a more detailed description or picture, if that's possible. Some regular boats also have at least some foam between the hulls and Fire protection, but very few are orange, ha.. My guess is it depends on how often, where, and for what purpose the lifeboat will be used.

 

I took it as something that meets Chapter 6 of this document.
https://marineredition.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/LSA-Code-2017.pdf

 

The boat here looks similar to the lifeboat I'm thinking of:
Inadvertent Release of a Freefall Lifeboat https://www.westpandi.com/news-and-resources/loss-prevention-bulletins/inadvertent-release-of-a-freefall-lifeboat/
It's the get away boat for larger ships. It's enclosed and built to survive storms.

 

Thanks. I was starting to wonder if lifeboats are built with other single use materials because the salesman's worry is infectious.

 

Here is a link to an interesting thread a few years ago about some lifeboat conversions - I think that generally one could say that these lifeboats are being used like 'normal' boats (but there again, what is a 'normal' boat?)

Lifeboat Conversion to a Houseboat during COVID https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/lifeboat-conversion-to-a-houseboat-during-covid.65166/

 

Sure, but they drive like dead pigs with a motor!

 

Curious if it any better if they are stripped down to lowest possible weight and occupancy, plus using a more powerful engine? Wonder if they are designed so occupants can remain uninjured in a roll?

 

@portacruise I have been able to watch various ship's lifeboats being taken on a little jaunt around the harbour when carrying out an annual flag state inspection on the mother vessel - here is a photo of one of the lifeboats from the sailing cruise ship Wind Surf.

They have a lot of windage, and not a lot in the water when they are being manoeuvered in the lightship condition with no passengers on board and hence they are a bit skittish - they are much happier when they are loaded down to their design load displacement with a full complement of passengers. It says a lot for the coxswains of these lifeboats re their ability to take the boats away and return them to their davit falls in order to be hoisted back on board, especially with it is rather breezy.

Here is a photo of one of the enclosed lifeboats from Seabourn Quest underway, again in the light condition.

They do not have safety belts for the passengers - if conditions are very treacherous when the order to disembark into the boats is given, the Master would try to provide a lee with the ship if at all possible when launching the boats and sending them away.
And generally the boats and the liferafts on each side of the ship are able to accommodate the full complement of crew and passengers.
The rules stipulate that they have to carry water and emergency rations for each passenger - but in reality now, the odds are good that another vessel would be not too far away and would be on the scene fairly quickly to rescue survivors.

 

Are you sure? Maybe they actually drive like hydroplanes if they sit that high in water. I think I saw one with a flatter hull somewhere. Should I get a stronger motor and check?

 

Thanks Bajan. I didn't realise a lot of other people already looked into what I was considering. Although, I should have known.

 

Yes, I'm sure. I've driven one during a Marine Emergency Duties course.

 

Back in the day, I was coxswain for Coast Guard Monomoy lifeboats. The Monomoy does not resemble the pictures here, in the slightest. It is a double banked open boat with 10 oarsmen. The boats are capable of surf landings if the crew and cox is skillful. Not the lifeboat that one would use for the cruising life but a plenty capable boat in all kinds of weather.

(A bit of nostalgia here)

 

The same for a 26 foot Motor Whaleboat; very capable, but not a modern lifeboat the OP was thinking of.