Coast Guard will no longer except life floats for inspected vessels?

[jrmiah]

Ive been told that after 2015 life floats will no longer be accepted on inspected vessels..they will have to be replaced with rafts or inflatables. Is this true? I have found some info online that talks about this being true for commercial fishing vessels.. thoughts?

FishSafe.info | Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety

 

[Wookie]

It's the truth ane here's why. Passengers will no longer be allowed to have any part of their body submerged while in a lifesaving situation, so life rafts or bouyany apparatus will be the new standard. I suspect that the Coast Guard wants to get out of the emergency equipment inspection business, so they are driving us to having an independent inspector inspect lifesaving equipment (fire extinguishers, life rafts, etc.). The only problem I have with the Coast Guards excuse of no part of the body submerged is that you will still only be required to have life rafts for 67%of the passengers on the vessel. What are we supposed to do with the other third? Put them on the roof?

 

[mitsuguy]

life floats, aka shark feeders?

seriously, do you think you would want to be stuck at sea in or hanging on to one of those things???

 

[Akyla]

It has nothing to do with marine predators, someone has been watching too many movies.

I would gladly hang onto the life float as opposed to just floating in the water without one. Life floats have saved many lives over the years and are a very proven piece of equipment. They are durable, low maintenance and almost always work as intended.

The main issue the CG is thinking of is hypothermia and cold water survival. The inflatable raft does have that advantage over the life float. However, the additional up front cost and the rediculously expensive repack and inspection fees will be another burden upon our industry. I have had both on my vessels over the years and the costs of the inflatable is really at least ten times or more over that of a life float and that is for simple smaller 6 to 10 person rafts. The larger ones are even much more expensive.

The costs coupled with the weight and storage issues of large canister rafts will cause a lot of issues for most boats and operators for very little gain in safety. For near coastal operations that mainly occur in warmer summer water conditions the difference in survival percentages would probably not be measurable. A better investment would be backup pumping capabilities and other vessel preventitive maintenance to eliminate the causes of fires and foundering to began with.

 

[nolatom]

It's the truth ane here's why. Passengers will no longer be allowed to have any part of their body submerged while in a lifesaving situation, so life rafts or bouyany apparatus will be the new standard. I suspect that the Coast Guard wants to get out of the emergency equipment inspection business, so they are driving us to having an independent inspector inspect lifesaving equipment (fire extinguishers, life rafts, etc.). The only problem I have with the Coast Guards excuse of no part of the body submerged is that you will still only be required to have life rafts for 67%of the passengers on the vessel. What are we supposed to do with the other third? Put them on the roof?

Frank, I think the trick here is to put only 2/3 of each passenger in the liferaft. I would think if you made them leave their legs on board, then their torsos could still use the life float without getting wet--problem solved!

Tom ;-)

 

[Wookie]

But Tom, that's how Melanie puts lost divers in the chase boat. Torso only, let their legs hang out. We have practice.

 

[mitsuguy]

It has nothing to do with marine predators, someone has been watching too many movies.

I would gladly hang onto the life float as opposed to just floating in the water without one. Life floats have saved many lives over the years and are a very proven piece of equipment. They are durable, low maintenance and almost always work as intended.

The main issue the CG is thinking of is hypothermia and cold water survival. The inflatable raft does have that advantage over the life float. However, the additional up front cost and the rediculously expensive repack and inspection fees will be another burden upon our industry. I have had both on my vessels over the years and the costs of the inflatable is really at least ten times or more over that of a life float and that is for simple smaller 6 to 10 person rafts. The larger ones are even much more expensive.

The costs coupled with the weight and storage issues of large canister rafts will cause a lot of issues for most boats and operators for very little gain in safety. For near coastal operations that mainly occur in warmer summer water conditions the difference in survival percentages would probably not be measurable. A better investment would be backup pumping capabilities and other vessel preventitive maintenance to eliminate the causes of fires and foundering to began with.

Sorry, I should have put the /sarcasm note in there...

Near coastal stuff may not even require life floats at all... For instance, our boat does not have a life float, life raft, or anything of the sort, as USCG regulations don't require one for our itineraries...

 

[kjlong]

When we had our annual, the CG didn't mention anything about the our life floats but when our neighbor had his annual they told him they won't be able to be used "in a few years". They actually told him he had to change now but he is appealing it.

We are located in the PNW. In reality, the life floats aren't a lot of good here because of water temps (40 - 52F), but man the expense of purchase and maintaining the rafts!
:depressed:

 

[ComputerJoe]

And I wonder why I choose to stay un-inspected.

 

[billvi]

Most of the dive boats in our area have gotten rid of their floats. USCG says if you stay within four miles of land and have an epirb you do not need a float or raft. So why carry one if you don't have to. One less thing to maintain.