Boat Ditch List For Dry Bag

[Cacia]

Looking for suggestings from experienced boaters for my West Marine Trip. I guess it is called Ditch Bag for when things go badly and you are waiting for rescue. We lost an impellar the other day (20 dollar part) and my son was on the boat with his crutches and broken leg......there was big south surf, it kinda made me think a bit. Yikes. Killing your kids would be bad. :11:

So far:

1. Dry Bag for Contents

2. IPIRB with GPS interface (ACR, cat 1?)

3. Handheld VHF

4. Handheld GPS

5. 40 ft of line for capsized boat (make a line to hold on, in high seas)

6. Duct tape, surgical tubing

7. Hydration

8. Waterproof Lights, velcro strap, chem lights

9. Carabiner

 

[deeper thoughts]

first aid kit, life preservers, flares or flare gun maybe binoculars, extra line for docking

 

[Cacia]

This bag has to be pretty smallish. Hopefully, we have the life preservers on by the time the boat sinks or flips.

Flare guns....ok

Guess the IRIRB is gonna cost some money. ....biting bullet...argh

 

[CAPT HOOK]

Have you taken a Power Squadron or Coast Guard safe boating course?
If not, it would be a good idea.

 

[fdog]

>Signal Mirror

>Make the flashlights the LED headband kind

>Stow lots of water next to the ditch bag, at least a gallon

>I would carry smoke before flares, and I'd include this, too.

>Knife

>Unless you are considering commercial use of your boat, you may be better served with a PLB instead of an autolaunching Cat 1 EPIRB.

All the best, James

 

[Bob3]

A very important item is thermal protection, hypothermia gets the most folks croaked. Being in warm water helps a lot, so something as thin as 0.5mm can extend your time considerably.
Don't forget the sea dye, and some of those long plastic ribbons. People can look real tiny from a ways away in case the boat heads to the bottom.

 

[DennisS]

Smoke and flares last a couple of minutes. This is like a big arrow pointing to you.

http://www.rescuestreamer.com/

 

[Nemrod]

Personal locator beacon. Expensive but sometimes you may need it. Do some research on them. Personal Emergency Locator Beacons.

Uh, perhaps a boat that does not sink?

N

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Personal locator beacon. Expensive but sometimes you may need it. Do some research on them. Personal Emergency Locator Beacons.

She mispelled it, but she said EPIRB (PLB on steroids).

Stow your water in jugs with a bit of air in them and they will float on their own. Be sure
the jugs have something you can thread a line though to keep them together.

A safety sausage, the kind you blow up by mouth and has a valve. This is partly to
mark your stuff on the surface.

A dive light with a narrow beam (the Ikelites PCa lites works) so it can be seen for
a long distance.

 

[Nemrod]

Oh, I see that now, sorry. I lost my glasses and I have to sit here with my fogged over prescription mask to read the screen at all. I sure wish those would get down in price a bit. N