Survival craft and rescue boat construction, equipment and outfit
Construction, equipment and outfit
This domain tests how a survival craft is built, kept buoyant and equipped for its rated persons. Expect questions on totally enclosed lifeboats, rescue boats, buoyancy, watertight integrity and the LSA Code equipment scale.
Core rules
- A totally enclosed lifeboat is self-righting, watertight when closed, and has retro-reflective tape, a release hook arrangement, an engine and fuel for the required endurance.
- Rescue boats are fast and manoeuvrable and may be rigid, inflated or rigid-inflated; they carry a rescue sling and are equipped for recovery of persons.
- Buoyancy must remain effective if the craft is damaged; foam or air tanks are arranged so the craft floats upright and is stable.
- Equipment is scaled to capacity and type: oars, boathooks, bailers, painter, sea anchor, compass, torch, first-aid kit, rations, water, pyrotechnics and thermal protective aids.
- All items are secured but accessible; expiry dates on pyrotechnics, rations and water are checked.
Worked example
A candidate is asked whether a 30-person lifeboat may carry fewer thermal protective aids because it has an immersion suit for each person. Reasoning: the LSA Code equipment scale is capacity-based, and thermal protective aids are additional to immersion suits for persons not wearing them. The correct answer is no: check the actual scale and the suit complement before accepting the boat as complete.
Traps
Confusing lifeboat equipment with rescue boat equipment; ignoring expiry dates; treating a lifejacket as a thermal protective aid; forgetting the painter and sea anchor; accepting equipment stowed where it blocks the exit.