Lifejackets for our boats?

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burgundyben

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TCM's bilge pumping paraphenalia does sound much more manly than pissy little plastic crappy bilge pumps uk boat builders fit.

Makes me wonder why we dont have life jackets for our boats? Mine weighs just under 4 tons, so 4 * 1 mtr cubes of air would hold her up, reckon you could make em like car airbags/auto lifejackets, obviously would need to be fastened in a proper manner not with one inch self tappers into rotten fablon coated deck. One cubic mtr of air would support one metric ton of sinking boat so would need strong webbing. One on Foredeck, one in cabin, two in aft cockpit

On my boat it would be a piece of piss to do and would prevent her ending up like the P65/56 in Poole.

Might be a bit harder on say P65 or Leopard 23M as boat weighs mebe 30 tons so 30 cubes of 1 mtr req'd...praps slightly impractical. not only does boat not sink but might prevent taking to liferaft which is a desperate move to have to take.


<hr width=100% size=1>Sod the Healey - I think I'll buy an E-Type.
 
Re: no chance

We have discussed this before, but I think that the idea of boat lifejackets is a non-starter:

1 structurally, the boat would have to be able to stay in one piece whilst effectively being dangled from the superstructure - cos thats the main area of the structuire where the balloony thing would exert it's force and stop the whole lot sinking. I think this may be too much for that bond.

2. practically,the balloons would only stop the thing from qctually sinking - it wouldn't stop it from taking on a great deal of water - perhaps as much as that p65 has done before (it seems?) it has hit the bottom

3 The costs could be loads and loads - and the only benfit being that (if it works) you don't need to take to the liferaft quite so soon. I bet that (if at sea rather than in a marina) it would still be a total loss as the balloons deflate a bit, or it gets turned over, and you would still need liferafts in case it didn't work. Worse, instead of geting a new boat, you'd have a salty refitted boat. It would need a lot of Fablon to cover the very soggy wood and peeling veneer.




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Re: no chance

So how about a really radical approach with built in buoyancy? Lots of empty spaces in hull voids below decks, under lockers, in covered deckheads etc that could be either sealed airtiight compartments or filled with inert foam of some type. Or even a six inch thick inner skin?
Cant be feasible or someone would have done it I 'spose............and sunk boats make good pics..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatsontheweb.com/> Website, Photo Gallery, Chat Room, Burgees</A>
 
What would be practical would be a simple combination of a compressed air powered horn (about £10), and the auto-water sensor from a life jacket, fitted about six inches above the bilge floor, piped to the air horn on the roof.

At least this should alert someone once the level started to rise.

Even capable auto bilge pumps will run out of power soon enough if the problem is not spotted.

Add one of those Nokia spy camera thingies as well, and you'll also be texted " ur boat iz sinkin"

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Re: rearrange into a ......

<<Cant be feasible or someone would have done it>>

er

Whaler Boston

rearrange into a well known phrase or saying

at least that's what it says on the tin and I seem to remember seeing some filled w water + people + not sunk

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Heath robinson

hm. What about a balloon tied to the "sockets" switch on the fusebox to turn on the CD and play a recording of someone shouting "help!" at maximum volume when the water rises to a certain level? That would work. Also, how about semi-floating Acrow props under the hull to support the boat on the seabed in case the bilge pumps didn't turn on? And perhaps tie a long non-stretchy rope from the flybridge to the harbourmasters office door so that when the boat moved it opened the door alerting him to the problem? And for extra effect, some metal chairs and teatrays supported by rolled-up newspaper which would crash about when there was a lot of water and the paper went soggy, i think.


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Re: no chance

No Limit 1500 from Holland?


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<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.begleys.com/kevin/weather.htm>Useful links for when cruising Ireland.</A>

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Reminds me of an idea I once had airbags all around the boat with a big red emergency button you can press if you are about to bash a pontoon at speed.

The really cunning part was that I thought that it would be possible to charge people a considerable amount of money to repack the airbag and recharge the system withi gas, and they would still end up pressing the button on quite a frequent basis when they were panicy (sometimes even by accident if you didn't make it hard to press!!!) - OK so I was thinking of this as a money making scam rather than a real safety device!

However I'm sure it can be adapted to keep the boat afloat as well!

Chris

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How about having a word with Henshaw, I'm sure they'd quote you for a set of tubes - Hmmm, a Fairey Huntsman 28 RIB

V. stylish - I think not!

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Re: Heath robinson

Guess you not interested in providing the funding to market my invention then?!

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A lot of that displacement is fuel (and tanks may be empty) Even when full they would have a marginal positive bouyancy effect.

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There was an article in a boating mag about somone who had done this on a sailing boat. He had fitted bouyancy bags just under the deckhead all round the inside, activated with compressed air cylinders(he was a diver so these were on the boat). If I remember, they were all linked so they blew up together but each had an isolating valve which was shut after inflation. Don't know wether it was ever used in ernest though.

<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... :-) /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
I was thinking the same thing, but for motor cyclists.
Wear an inflatable jacket that inflates when you fall off and roll to safety.
Only problem, squashed by lorries

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No, leather is the correct material on motorbikes. Zipping along tarmac will rip any inflatable item. Or if it doesn't you'll bounce along into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Extra weight on the person should be discarded - so imho rucsacs shd be illegal as these massively inhibit re-control of the bike if unbalncing starts - the rucsac takes you over. Should you find yourself about to unavoidably smash on bike, correct procedure is to line up and take the smash head-on - not try to squeeze past which will smash your leg and maybe deflect you into other traffic. You need to stop the bike, esp in traffic. The tendency at emergency time is to grab all the brakes - which may dump the bike on its side after which it will continue at speed into or under the obstacle, so resist the temptation and use all the distance to attempt to reduce speed in upright position, lighten and bring in arms at impact. This needs a bit of practice. You can lock up and control screech skid in the last ten yards from 20mph. I have done this altho bit freaky for the pedestrian who at close quarters is rooted to the spot and might faint dead away even tho you have (only just) not touched them.

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when I read the test report on my boat, it said that there was injection-moulded foam in all the bulkhead voids making her bouyant if holed, but a) I can't see any and b) I can't confirm whether this is the case or not. the boat is a cruisers Intl holiday 224. Anyone have any info on this?

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when I read the test report on my boat, it said that there was injection-moulded foam in all the bulkhead voids making her bouyant if holed, but a) I can't see any and b) I can't confirm whether this is the case or not. the boat is a cruisers Intl holiday 224. Anyone have any info on this?

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Hi nick.

Don't know the boat. But there are some other boats designed such that internal foam will hold them up - the Etap sailing boat frexample, and boston whaler. This is fine, though having seen the pics you should note that these unsinkable boats are a bit undriveable when flooded - the hull almost entirely submerged, just decodes not to zip off down to the seabed. So all you have is a comfier place to sit waiting for the helicopter. So "unsinkable" boats actually stop sinking by becomeing a raft. To avoid this one still needs to prevent the ingress of water, and can't (unfortunately) say hah hah! - we've got an unsinkable boat so never mind the water coming in.

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