Heres a thought?

[TheBoatman]

On the question of liferafts, what about the boat manufacturers fitting "airbags" to all new boats. These could be inflated manually or by hydrostatic charges. They could (possibly) be fitted into the main cabin so that you could keep the boat afloat in case of flooding?

I commend the suggestion to the house!

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[wishbone]

They would come supplied with a sharp knife, for when your pinned to the roof after malfunction.

Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?


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[BrendanS]

Someone had a similar thought after a similar thread on liferafts last year.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ybw.com/cgi-bin/forums/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=ym&Number=320597&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1>http://www.ybw.com/cgi-bin/forums/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=ym&Number=320597&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1</A>

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[AndrewB]

What prompted the earlier thread was an item in YM whicht suggested that those yachts that used their liferaft during the 1979 Fastnet would probably have done better to inflate it INSIDE the cabin. Thanks to some elegant maths by Peterb, this theory was thoroughly routed - the floatation is nowhere near enough to make a difference.

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[TheBoatman]

Ok I give up.
It seems that maths and science have defeated me<s>


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[BrendanS]

Yes, remember that one too, but different to the link I posted

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[Jacket]

Didn't some australian company make them for a while? If I remember correctly, insurance companies wouldn't insure these boats, as most boats sink in shallow water, and apparently its cheaper to salvage the boat from the bottom rather than pay to repair all the damage the airbags did when inflating.

I could never work out why they didn't fit them arround the side decks, so when inflated, they formed a collar, a bit like a rib. OK, the boat will float quite low, but at least you'd be able to get below to fetch the EPIRB, grab bag and so on.

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[Peppermint]

Re:Rejected

I'm sure it was looked at in the yottie press in the 70's/80's.

Loss of storage and maintenance of the system were big negatives.

The idea that you can't get to your safety equipment for your deployed airbags springs to mind.

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[kingfisher]

One word:.....

....FIRE !

A large number of "abandon ship" events are triggered by an onboard fire.

So making your boat unsinkable (i.e. ETAP) does not provide full safety coverage.

<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
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